It was almost a month since Eric left the island he called home all his life, and Tanya had not heard a word from him...radio silence. Tanya was still in the dark as to where he was. Lloyd stepped in to do most of Eric's fatherly duties.
Lloyd faithfully transported Ericka to and from school every day and once a week he carved out time to spend with both Ericka and EJ...Eric insisted. Ericka looked forward to spending time with her uncle Lloyd at the beach house. She missed her old room, the beach and most of all her Dad and his guitar that he always taught her to play.
Tanya walked by Ericka's room as she packed her overnight bag for her night over with her uncle. Tanya watched unnoticed as Ericka sang as she packed her bag. She was pulling down all her clothes from her closet and cramming them into her overnight bag. The bag was full to the brim as if she was going away for months and not just one night.
And her hair was pulled out of the braids her mother did earlier that day. She looked a hot mess with a headband barely securing all that hair from her tiny face. That was Ericka's idea of making her hair pretty.
Tanya hid her smile. 'She looks like cousin IT.'
Tanya walked into the room as Ericka struggled to close her overnight bag. "Ericka, you don't need all those clothes baby," Tanya began to pull some of the stuff from the bag."
Ericka cried out so loud, that Tanya flinched. "Mommy no! I need them."
"You are going for only one night, now chose three outfits you want to take with you."
Ericka pouted. "No, I am going home to live with Unky Yoyd."
Tanya thought that with each passing day, she was becoming more like her father...cambative and argumentative. "If you dont do as I tell you, then you will go no where with your uncle."
Ericka's lips trembled as she began to cry. "Ok, Mommy, ok."
"And you can't leave the house with your hair looking like a mad woman."
Ericka gently touched her hair. "My hair is pitty."
"You look like cousin IT with your hair like that." Tanya teased.
She wiped her eyes. "I don't like you...I want my Daddy. I am going to tell Daddy that you are mean."
"Tell Daddy? Ericka you know that your father is away."
"He is NOT! I talk to my Daddy and I am gonna tell him you are mean."
"When did you talk to Daddy?" Tanya asked quite puzzled.
"I talk to Daddy. He is not gone."
Tanya was flabergasted at the revelation from Ericka.
Lloyd gave her the impression that Eric was not in touch with him since he left.
'That little prick.'
***********
Lloyd walked into the apartment Tanya shared with her kids. He kissed Tanya on the cheek and took EJ from her. There was a commotion on the stairs and their eyes immediately went in that direction. Tanya shook her head. There was Ericka struggling with her bag to get down the stairs. Lloyd hurried up the stairs to get the bag from her before she tumbled down and hurt herself.
"What do you have in here? Rocks?" Lloyd joked.
Tanya fumed. "That little girl is getting on my last nerve. She listens to nothing I say."
Lloyd looked down at Ericka. "What do you mean, she doesn't listen? Is that true Ericka?"
Ericka nodded no. "Mommy is mean."
" I told her that she could take three outfits and the minute I turned my back, she packed everything from her closet into that bag."
Lloyd looked around the apartment, then at Tanya. "I really think you should move back to the beach house. It would make life much easier for everyone, especially the kids."
"That all you have to say?"
Lloyd shrugged his shoulder. "What do you want me to say. She misses her home and her Dad."
"Tanya eyed him suspiciously."So you keep saying. Did you hear from Eric?"
"Tanya, he doesn't want to be heard from. You said you wanted space so he is giving you that. What else do you want now?"
"Why are you angry at me Lloyd? Did I do something to you?"
Lloyd sighed. "I am not angry at you Tanya. I just don't understand you. You don't know what you want or who you want."
"What?"
"Look, I am frustrated just looking on from the outside. I can only imagine what your indecisiveness is doing to Eric. One minute you can't do without him and the next minute you want nothing to do with him."
"You are right, you don't understand. No one does."
Their eyes met and locked. His intense stare reminded her of Eric. "Make me understand."
Tanya quickly looked away. "Ericka tells me that she spoke to her father. Is she fantasizing or has she spoken to him?"
Lloyd closed his eyes. He was obviously caught in the middle.
"Yes she spoke to him."
"When Lloyd? So you lied to me?! I thought you were the one person in that family that I could trust."
"Look, you and Eric have me caught in the middle. You are asking me not to tell him certain things and I have honored your request. He has also ask me not to tell you certain things and I must honor his request too. I did not lie to you. I just did not offer up any information."
"So you know where he is and you dont think that I should know?"
"No, I did not say that Tanya. He is on the move all the time. He doesn't stay in anyplace too long. He calls from time to time and yes he has spoken to Ericka and EJ."
'He spoke to the baby too? Is that why EJ has been singing Dada recently?'
"Does he know that EJ is saying Dada?"
"Yes, EJ enjoys talking to his father. And yes he calls Eric Dada."
"Did you tell him anything about ... me?"
"No Tanya I said nothing. You asked me not to say anything and I have honored your request."
Tanya began to tear up. She quickly wiped her eyes. She missed Eric, but she would never say it to anyone. "I am glad he talks to EJ. I was afraid that he would miss that EJ is talking."
**************
Eric was hold up in a bed & breakfast somewhere in Louisiana. He had worked for a month in Guatemala, building homes for people who had lost their homes to floods. He was now back in the United States doing the same thing. A storm had passed through leaving devastation behind. Seeing the condition that most people lived in humbled Eric considerably. He thought how unfair life was. Some people had so little while others like him had so much.
The B&B he was staying at was owned by a charming retired couple, Ida and Frank. They treated the eight members crew more like family than guests and agreed to provide not just breakfast, but dinner and anything in between.
Eric's room was scantily furnished with a queen size bed and a single bed side table with a lamp. There was a small desk by the one window in the room...far from what he was accustom to. He felt like he was back in boarding school on the island. He was grateful, however, that the team was sent south and not north where the weather was still cold and snow still on the ground.
But then there was the raw issue of racial tension that was bubling beneath the surface in the south as people of color continued to fight for their piece of the American pie. It was not lost on him that because he had a priviledged life on the island and went to an ivy league college in northeast USA, he did not have a personal story to tell in terms of disparity. He was lucky in that sense.
Last time he spoke to his uncle Linden, he got a tongue lashing. "Eric what the hell are you thinking going to that part of the United States?" Linden asked.
"I go where I am needed Uncle Linden. A huricane passed through and have totally distroyed this community and we are here to help build it back."
"BUILD IT BACK?! Eric people like us build that country before. What good did that bring them?"
"These are poor people Uncle Linden. Most of them have nothing left. Black or white, they are all in the same boat." Eric countered.
"Get the hell out of the south and don't make a mistake and look at a white woman. They won't see you as being there to help them. They will see you first and foremost as a man of color and only that and they will lynch you!"
'Lynch?' That was an eyeopener for Eric. For the first time in his life he was coming face to face with racism.
Eric grabbed his toiletries and a towel and headed to the bathroom he shared with two of his team members. He looked at his reflection in the mirror and he did not recognize the person looking back at him. He had a full beard and his hair had grown pass his shoulders. He hadn't seen a gym in a month but he was still in good shape from all the manual labor he did building the houses.
On his way back from the bathroom, Eric ran into Sheryl, one of his team members. She was a civil ingineering student, a very attractive brunette, very smart, and in her last semester of college. She was doing this stint as part of her thesis for graduation. They worked closely on the projects since she was responsible for design and he for drafting and putting the plans together. Eric tried as best he could to keep things professional.
Sheryl blocked his exit. She pulled gently on his curly locs that was hanging down and wet. She bit under her bottom lip, and Eric found his eyes wandering to her lips. 'Tanya, that simple gesture remind me of her.'
"I had no idea you had so much hair beneath that hat," She teased moving in closer. "I love a man with lots of hair." she continued. She reached up to touch his pecs.
Eric quickly grabbed her hand. "You shouldn't mess with a lion when he is sleeping."
She brought her head back and laughed. "Even if I am a lioness?"
Eric smiled, side stepped her and headed back to his room.
"You should smile more Eric. even under that beard, I can see that you have the most gorgeous smile I have ever seen on a man. And I know there is a hansome face hiding under that beard." She hollered after him in that southern drawl.
He thought of the story his uncle told him of Emmett Till. 'She is nothing but fucking trouble. All women are.'
He went back to his room, quickly pulled on a tee shirt, put his hair back in a topknot and headed downstairs. He did not want to be up there alone with Sheryl.
The rest of the crew was already seated. Eric took a seat between Pete and Edie as the two discussed the current project at hand.
Pete, the project manager looked over at Eric. Pete was a giant of a man in his forties, with hair so red, it looked more like burgandy. They took to each other the moment they met. Eric liked him instantly. He didn't know if it was because of his green eyes that reminded him of Ericka's.
"Everything ok?" Pete asked.
"Great. Just hungry."
Ida announced that dinner was ready and brought in the food. "Meatloaf and mash potatoes." she announced. Eric made a face. He was not in the mood for meatloaf. 'What happen to the southern fried chicken, I have been hearing about?' The phone rang and Frank hollered for Eric to take the call in the reception area.
"Hey, what's going on?" Eric greeted his sister. He had asked Lila to take Steph and raise her as her own. It was a big ask, but that was best for everyone and would present less questions from Steph as she grow up and from nosey people in general. With what they found out about Steph, he decided that it was best if Steph was raised by one of his sisters instead of his uncle. Linden agreed.
"Hi Eric what is going on? Dad said that you have turn into a homeless bum."
Eric couldn't help but laugh. Did he expect anything less from his father? No he didn't.
"Yea, you could say I am a bum, but it's because I want to live this way, not becasue I have to."
"Why Eric?"
"Lila, I am working with Habitat For Humanity. This is an organization that build homes for those in need."
"You are crazy. Mom was right about Tanya, look what she has done to you. She has brought you to your knees Eric. Why don't you see that?"
'Yes Tanya has brought me to my fucking knees.'
He did not want to discuss Tanya with Lila of all people who shared their mother's view about Tanya. "So which of you is going to take in our little sister?"
Lila sighed. "I can't believe Mom would be pregnant and have a baby and not tell us. We were close Eric., especially you and her."
"Well I guess not close enough. She had her reasons Lila."
"Are you telling us the truth about Stephanie? Are you sure that she is not your daughter and you want her out of the way to please your crazy wife?"
Eric closed his eyes. "Lila, Stephanie is not my daughter. I can show you the paternity tests. At one point I too wondered if she belong to you, so I understand your question...realy, I do."
"So she really belongs to Mom and is our little sister?"
"That is the only explanation. You see how much she looks like Mom."
"Is Daddy her father?" Lila asked.
Eric paused, careful of how he answered that question. "I don't think so Lila. That is probably why Mom lied about the kid. Dad claims that it's been years since he was intemate with Mom, so that rule him out."
There was a pause on the other end of the phone. "Lila? You still there?"
"Yes, I am here. She cheated on Dad?"
"Yes, I think she did. But you have to know that their relationship was never a great one. Dad fucking cheated on her too."
"Do you really think Mom is dead?"
"Yes Lila, I believe she is gone."
"I will take Stephanie, but you have to help out with her financially."
Relief washed over Eric. "Of course I will do that. Thank you Lila. She needs to be with family and my situation is deffinitely not ideal for her."
"I will take her. She is all we have left of Mom, and she looks so like her."
'If only you knew. She is Mom.'
************
Well do you think Eric did the right thing giving Steph to his sister? And do you think he did right not revealing what he knew about Stephanie?