War by AlTonya Washington

Author:AlTonya Washington
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: AlTonya Washington
Published: 2022-10-01T00:00:00+00:00

~12~

“Goodness Lynnie, catch her!” Leslie McClendon cried.

All the women, Lynette McClendon included, hurried to Della who had stumbled back. One of her feet slipped free of the house slipper she wore. Lynette and Patsy got Della in the nearest chair and kneeled close, both of them patting her hands.

“Lil’ Lee Lee?” Della said, her eyes on an old Polaroid.

“Yeah Dee Dee, yeah...” Lynette gushed, her eyes watering.

As one, Seela, Moira and Ellia settled to the loveseat opposite the sofa. Leslie McClendon moved closer until she too was kneeling at Della’s feet. The photo; a shot of the McClendon family in happier days, drifted from Della’s hand as she moved to touch Leslie’s cheek.

“She just like Mama...”

Lynette could only gush in response.

“So pretty,” Della smiled softly as her fingers drifted with a feather light touch across Leslie’s high cheekbones.

“Losin’ you, what broke Mama,” Della said.

“What happened, Della?” Moira gently probed.

“We got split up again after we left Buetree,” Della said. “We took Leslie. We begged to take Leslie ‘cause she was a baby. Lee Lee, Mance and Reggie was old enough to stay back. Wasn’t no choice ‘bout that no way. Plans was set for that already.”

“Whose plans?” Seela asked.

“The Stys.”

Seela, Moira and Ellia traded looks.

“Were they on the island, Della?” El asked.

“They had people come take us to ‘em,” Della said.

“Do you remember where?” Seela asked.

Della was already shaking her head no. “I never knew where. Time pass and then I didn’t care ‘bout nothin’ ‘cept surviving. After Mama passed they send me back down to Buetree. It happen like that for some- movin’ back and forth on work trips. Sometime Lord smile and you never went back. Seeing how it killed our Mama losin’ Leslie, it made me do whatever I had to so I wouldn’t have to go through it.”

The others watched Della pat the scarf covering Patsy’s head.

“Della?” Moira questioned, frowning at the adoring gesture.

“I raise you like my sister so I won’t feel like my Mama when she lost her own baby.”

A collective gasp swelled the room. Everyone looked stunned. Everyone except Patsy.

“I always knew it,” Patsy bowed her head, nuzzling her face into Della’s thigh.

“It didn’t work,” Della said. “I love you just as much no matter the lies I told myself.”

“Do you know Patsy’s father, Dee?” Lynette asked and then swallowed visibly. “Were you forced to-”

“No. No,” Della shook her head quickly. “It was special ‘tween Patsy daddy and me. Special as it could be with our lives what they was. We found each other, though. We found each other in a miserable life. Knowing him, him knowing me, made it not so miserable.”

“What happened to him?” A tear leaked from Patsy’s sparkling gaze.

Della pressed a hard kiss to the top of Patsy’s head. “He left on a work trip. Never came back. I used to think he got away and plan to come back for me and you when he got settled. We used to talk ‘bout it if one of us ever got free.

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