Back Like She Never Left

DRAYA:

When I heard Kannon had asked Brielle to marry him, I had to make my grand return to see what the hype was about.

The invite didn’t come from my sister herself. Instead, our fake ass mother called me and said I should come show some support.

But why?

The Champagne family never did anything for me but rub shit in my face, show Brielle more love than they ever showed me, hide our daddy’s nasty ass secrets. Oh, and support the fact that Brielle stole my man and pawned it off as being an accident.

And not one man. But two.

“Is that Draya?” My aunt Judy was already two sheets to the wind long before brunch even started. “That is Draya! Well, I’ll be damned!”

She came into the brunch hall slurring her words and tripping over her own two drunk ass feet to give me a hug. I don’t know why. Because she knew ever since I was a little girl, I couldn’t stand her ass.

All she did was drink and run to my dad with her hand out.

Knowing the things he did to me as a child, I swear I think she was always drunk and being paid off because he did something to her, too.

“How are you? My beautiful niece.” She hugged me, and I cringed. “It’s been so long since I seen you. And look at ya! You looking good.”

“I’m fine,” I said, trying to sound polite.

“Your mama told me you stopped working at the firm and moved to London to write stories. How is that coming along?”

“I don’t write stories. I report the news,” I corrected. “And it’s coming along great. I ain’t been back home, have I?”

She looked at me like she wanted to slap the taste out of my mouth. And I wish she would’ve tried.

It wouldn’t have been the first time we threw hands with each other, and I was sure it wouldn’t have been the last.

“Well, I’m glad you doing good and looking good,” she said. “Maybe one of these days you’ll bring yourself a man around for us to meet. Until then, enjoy watching your sister and that devil of hers plan this big old wedding.”

She walked away to grab another mimosa, and I sat in my seat, shades and sun hat on, waiting for the couple of the hour to witness my grand return.

I couldn’t wait to see the look on my daddy’s face, either.

I knew he would shit a brick seeing me at that table. Hell, I wanted it to be a heart attack after all the shit he did to me.

My mom, cousins, and the only person I liked in the family—my uncle Carlton—came in first.

I was so happy to see him after so many years.

My mom was happy to see me, but I wasn’t happy to see her. I was happy she extended the invite, though. She was the reason I was able to go through with my plan.

“There’s my Draya,” she smiled as she made her way to me for a hug. “How are you, sweet thang?”

I can admit, even though I hated my mom, it felt good to be embraced by her.

She wasn’t shit to me growing up, so I don’t know why I enjoyed her hug. I guess as she got older and started reflecting on life, she wanted to shorten the distance between us.

“Hey, Mom,” I said, fighting back tears that came out of nowhere.

“It’s so good to see you, Draya. It really is. I’m happy you made it.”

She brushed a gentle finger across my cheek and smoothed a curl away from my eye.

“I’m sure your sister and your daddy will be happy to see you, too. He asks about you a lot, you know?”

I figured he did ask about me. I was probably the only one giving him any sexual pleasure. And since I stopped talking to him, he probably wondered if I told anyone about the nasty shit he did to me.

“There’s my favorite girl! Move out the way, Linda. Let me see my niece.”

My uncle Carlton squeezed his way in between me and my mama and wrapped me in a big old bear hug.

I missed that man more than he knew. He was the only one who ever listened to me and tried to protect me from the emptiness I felt as a child, and for that, I felt like I owed him my life.

Because I did.

“I thought you forgot all about old Uncle Carlton.”

He smiled as he canvassed me from head to toe to see how much I had grown. I was a grown ass woman then, but he still saw me as the little girl who could do no wrong in his eyes.

“I’ll never forget you, Uncle Carlton. You’re the one who kept me sane all these years.”

I watched my mom’s energy go from missing me to hating me within seconds. But I ignored her. She was always jealous of the relationship I had with my uncle Carlton because—they didn’t think I knew—but her and Uncle Carlton fucked around while my daddy was out of town one year. And ever since he put it down on her, she was ready to leave everything except my daddy’s money to continue getting dicked down by his brother.

My daddy walked in next, and the look on his face was priceless.

He looked pleased to see me, but scared shitless at the same time. Even though we were the only people who knew what went down between us for so long, everybody in the room got quiet as hell as we stared at each other, waiting for the other to speak first.

I didn’t have much to say. Not in front of the family, at least.

And not because I wanted to protect his nasty ass, but because I didn’t want to give the family anymore to talk about when it came to me.

“Draya,” he smiled as he stepped to me with his hand extended. “How are you?”

I looked at his hand like it was a stain on my brand new Balmain dress.

It was old and more wrinkly than I remembered. Almost like he was on the verge of a heart attack.

“Dad,” I fake smiled, but didn’t shake his hand. “Long time no see.”

My dad must have had his tongue, because he didn’t say shit after my greeting. He read my energy and got the fuck out of my face before I spoke about all the things he didn’t want anyone to know.

“Where are Brielle and Monty? I meant Kannon! Kannon. That’s his name.”

Aunt Judy’s drunk ass corrected herself before my mama had the chance to.

“Don’t mind me,” she looked across the table at me. “I’m a lil tipsy, but it’s no secret I wanted my girl to marry Monty instead. Shit, everybody knows that”

The lovely couple walked in moments after Aunt Judy’s reminder.

She only brought up Monty because she wanted to get under my skin. And she did, a little.

But the looks on Brielle and Kannon’s faces when they saw me … made me forget all about Aunt Judy being a hating ass bitch.