Page 48 of Quiet as Kept

“Where are we?” Xarielle questioned as I pulled the truck to a stop on a barely-there road in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere.

I turned to her with a smirk. “We’re in the middle of what will soon be the Destin Sky subdivision.”

Her hand flew to her mouth as it fell open in surprise. “I love that name. What town is this?”

“Atterson. I was waiting to hear if I was approved to build from the Village board of trustees. It’s finally a go. Twenty houses, twenty different elevations. No two houses can look the same on the outside.”

She basically yelped. “Get out of here. And you can do that?”

The fact that Xarielle always seemed so interested in my work made my heart do weird things in my chest.

“Yeah. I can do that, baby.”

“So, why are we just sitting in this truck? Let’s go see the land. I want to explore the future home of Destin Sky. I wanna know the price range. This might be where I buy my first house.”

I didn’t even bother to comment, because as far as I was concerned, she already lived exactly where she was going to live for the foreseeable future.

She opened the passenger door. “I wanna look around, Kept.”

I turned off the truck. “Let’s look around.”

Back at the house, the four of us had lunch: pulled chicken, a broccoli salad with a homemade vinaigrette, and potato wedges.Xarielle poured cold filtered water into glasses and set them on the table.

“No soda for you, huh?” I confirmed, watching her take a long sip from her glass.

“Surprisingly, I discovered that I prefer the taste of water to all of those sweet drinks. It quenches my thirst more . . . thoroughly? I don’t know. Since I’ve been drinking it more, I want it more.”

I nodded. “Let’s go over this week’s family memory verse.”

Xarielle started us off. “Mark, chapter twelve, verse thirty.”

“Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind, and with all of your strength.Mark 12:30.” We recited it as a group.

The words my great-grandmother used to pray over me when she thought I was asleep came to mind every time we recited a memory verse. “This child has suffered so much in his young life, Lord. A woman who loves you, may you bless him to find.”

Granny Bernie’s pastor used to preach that some people were living off their grandparents’ prayers, prayers that were prayed before the grandparents passed away. Looking at Xarielle across my kitchen island, I knew he’d been talking about me.

Fourteen

Xarielle

Mama Reese’s surgery was scheduled for the second Tuesday morning in August. Kept, the girls, and I flew in the night before to get settle in the rented house. Gannon and Vivienne offered to let us stay at their place. It was a large house with room enough to host us but Kept decided that he wasn’t ready to stay under the same roof as them. He did agree to meet up with them for dinner one night before our visit came to an end.

Trinity showed up bright and early with plans to take the girls for breakfast then to the Londynville Zoo. She had to promise Kept more than five times that she would make sure Destin remained in her stroller at all times.

“For real, Trin. I don’t want to see my baby on the news in the Big Cat habitat making friends with lions and tigers. You know how Destin is—all gas and no brakes.”

“I know. I know my niece. I helped raised her the first two years of her life, remember? I know she’s a wild child.”

He sighed. “Why don’t you take them to the children’s museum, where it’s okay for her to touch stuff? I just don’t know about the zoo . . .”

“Look.” Trinity’s directive was followed by a sigh. “I wasn’t going to tell you this until you got to the hospital, but Priscilla and Ganniece are going with us to the zoo. So, there will be three sets of adult eyes on Miss Destin.”

Kept scrunched up his face in a frown, and I had to admit that he still looked handsome to me. Even while giving Trinity the stank face.

“Priscilla and Ganniece? Since when is the zoo a place that Priscilla visits? It stinks there, and there are animals. She hates animals and the smell of funk. And Ganniece? Since when does she pay attention to anybody that’s not Ganniece? I can’t picture either of them at the zoo. Please keep your eyes on my daughter. I don’t trust your mother or your sister.”

“First of all, she’s your sister too.”