Don't Play With My Soul

Ethan Junior's POV

Zenia and I got into the car and drove to my parents' house. Mom had requested us for dinner. It was always like Mom to request her family's presence and catch up on our lives since we were apart. Evan, Jasmine and Jevan had already arrived when we got there. I led Zenia to the dinning room area.

"EJ, Zenia. You made it," Mom greeted us and pulled us into her arms.

"Hi Mom."

"Hello, Mrs. Hollen."

"Call me Emma, sweetie," Mom gestured to Zenia.

We gathered around the table and began dinner. Dad started talking about his 'school days' and what he did after graduating from high school. According to him, he got high for the first time. After laughing and airing out some secrets, one of my father's security guards kindly interrupted us.

"Sir, ma'am, I'm sorry to interrupt, but there's a gentleman at the gate to see Mrs. Hollen."

"Who is he?" my mother asked.

He hesitated but then found the courage to speak up. "He claims he's your father."

Mom's fork dropped to the floor and her mouth opened with surprise. Her entire body language was on pause. Dad looked at her, and so did everyone else in the room.

My mother had been abandoned by her birth parents since birth. She grew up in foster homes and group homes and had been treated badly all her childhood.

"I'll meet him," Dad said and got up from his chair. He followed the security guard outside.

The atmosphere in the room became heavy and uncomfortable.

I circled Zenia's waist and watched the door with undivided attention.

After five long minutes, Dad walked back in and a other man followed very close behind. He was a dark-skinned man with no traces of black hair on his head. He looked as if he was rapidly approaching seventy, but he still had a solid body structure to him.

Mom's eyes teared up and she held her chest as she lowered her head to the surface of the table. Regaining her composure, she got up and stood in front of him.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I heard her ask.

"I couldn't Emma."

She threw her arms around him and he returned the hug. Mom's shoulder shook from the sobbing.

We were all confused.

"Mom, have you met this man already?" Evan asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

Mom nodded. "Yes, I did."

"Why did you never say anything?" Dad asked.

"Because I didn't know at the time Ethan, but now it all makes sense to me. You spared my life because you're actually my father." She hugged him again. "Did I missed something?"

"Ethan, there's something I didn't tell you." She offered her father a seat, but she remained standing. "Remember when I was taken away?"

Dad nodded his head and his eyes turned sad.

"Well, I was first found by this man and he saved me."

"Saved you how?" I asked.

"It's alright Emma. Go ahead and tell them. I'm a changed man now."

"He was mixed up with the wrong crowd of men, and he was involved with drugs. I stumbled upon them when I was thrown into a swamp and was looking for a way out. Pat was instructed to kill me but he didn't. He said that I had turned into a beautiful young woman, but I didn't put the pieces together."

We were dumbstruck by what she had just said and confessed.

Dad's jaw tightened and his eyes grew dark.

"Dad," Evan called, snapping him out of his state.

"Ethan. He saved my life."

"And you kept that information from me for what reason Emma? How are you even so sure that he's who he said he is?"

"Ethan!" Mom scolded but Dad left the dinning room and left the house.

Mom and Pat, my grandfather, sat down in the living room. He had brought along an album filled with pictures, and I hovered over them so I could have a peek.

"That's you when you were newly born."

Mom's eyes teared up. "I was such a fat baby girl. Who's the white woman holding me?"

"That's your mother."

"My mother?" Mom asked as she held the picture closer to her. "I'm biracial?"

"Yes, you are."

"Where is she? Do you know where she is?"

"No. Not exactly. We haven't spoken in years."

"Oh," she said and her face fell.

I rubbed my hands on her shoulder, comforting her.

Evan stood right next to her with his arms folded. Jasmine, Jevan and Zenia were across the room, looking on, but respecting the moment my mother ought to be having with her immediate family.

"I'm really sorry for abandoning you, Emma. I was young and dumb, and, I guess, I loved drugs more than I loved my little family, so I left. I got on the streets to hustle and, later on, I met a crowd that I thought I'd fit perfectly into.

"Your mother was left alone to raise you, but she couldn't. She was jobless and I was the provider, but when I left, she had no one to depend on. She gave you up, contacted me, and told me what she did, then she disappeared. "Last I heard about her was that she had landed a job as a live-in chef for some rich guy's family in their mansion. But I do miss her. Agnes was the love of my life." "Agnes?" Mom asked. "I know an Agnes. She used to work here when I was a maid."

Pat retrieved his phone from his back pocket. "This is the most recent picture I have of her." He handed Mom the phone and she let out a squeal.

"Oh my goodness. That's her. That's Agnes, but I used to call her Aggie."

Mom called over her best friend, Halley.

"Halley, who's this lady?" she asked and handed the phone to her.

"That's Aggie. Oh, I haven't seen her in ages. She looks so beautiful."

"Did you know that she's my mother?"

"What?" Halley asked in astonishment. "Aggie is your mom? How is that possible?"

Mom showed her the album and they saw the resemblance from the younger Agnes to the older Agnes.

My mother had met her parents all along. And I was happy for her. I hugged her as she cried with happiness.

Evan and the others hugged her too.

Dad came back after an hour.

Mom told him who her mother was and his eyes lit up.

"She has to know," he said to Mom. He took the telephone and dialed a number, which I assumed was Agnes'. He put the phone on speaker when there was an answer. "Hello. This is Ethan Hollen, and I'm calling for Miss Agnes. Is she close by?"

"A pleasure hearing from you, Mr. Hollen. Mom talked about you all the time, but I'm guessing you didn't hear the news?" a woman's voice spoke. "What news?" Dad asked.

"Mr. Hollen, my mother passed away two months ago to cancer."

"Oh my God. I'm so sorry. I had no idea. Actually, why I was calling was that my wife has found out that Agnes was her mother."

"Your wife? So that means she's my sister?"

"Correct."

The woman began sobbing and so did my mother.

"I can't believe I have a sister. This is unbelievable. I have to see her."

"I'm sure my wife would love that as well."

"Yes I would," Mom answered.

"Well, I better get out of here now. It's a long drive back to Long Island," Pat said as he rose.

"Where do you think you're going? You left Emma once and you're not doing it again. You're moving in here," Dad insisted.

Everyone started hugging each other and I wrapped up my future wife in my arms. "I love our family."