That night Sherrie came in the front door with an excited expression.
“Where’s your mom?” She asked.
“In the kitchen.” I replied, feeling annoyed not only because she had left me trapped with her kids all day or the situation with Emmanuel, but also because the place I went on the interview with still hadn’t called me.
Sherrie walked quickly to the kitchen, avoiding her kids that immediately surrounded her. She grabbed my mother’s hand and pulled her to the living room. My aunt, who was in the kitchen with my mother, followed slowly behind.
“I have a surprise for all of you.” Sherrie said, standing in front of us smiling widely.
I glanced over at my mother. Sherrie was interrupting her favorite soap opera and her cooking. I stood up and walked over to stand beside my mother in case she tried to kill her.
Sherrie moved to the front door.
“Get ready for the best Christmas present ever!” Sherrie exclaimed throwing the door open.
For a second nothing happened... and then my brother walked in. I felt my mouth drop and my mother grabbed my arm as if to keep herself from falling to the floor. The kids went crazy, running over to him as he picked each of them up and kissed them. My mother walked over to him and hugged him long and hard before letting my aunt and me near enough for us to touch him. I glanced over at Sherrie and nodded at her, as if to thank her. When I finally had the opportunity to hug my brother, it felt unreal. He lifted me up like I was one of his kids and I laughed while frantically trying to get him to put me back on the floor. We broke away and I stood smiling at him along with my mother and aunt.
“What happened?” I asked. “I thought you were in for another two years?”
My brother smiled.
“I did a lot of praying.” He said.
I smiled at him. I felt guilty, I hadn’t been there for him. If I had then I would’ve known that he was coming out sooner. I was sure of it.
“I’m sorry that I didn’t keep in touch more.” I whispered, softly.
“Don’t worry about it. Actually, I got lucky.” He said. “There’s no explanation, they just came to me one day last month and said ‘you’re going home in December’ and that was it.”
“Que milagro!” My mother exclaimed, watching him in astonishment. It was a miracle. She clasped her hands together, unable to find words to express how happy she was, and motioned for him to follow her into the kitchen.
“What are you making for dinner, Ma, because I am hungry?” Xavier asked.
She grabbed his hand and he followed her into the kitchen, trailed by Sherrie and the kids who were fighting with each other for the chance to talk to him.
My aunt and I stayed in the living room. She smiled at me and rubbed my arm as I stood beside her. I smiled back at her and sat down on the sofa in disbelief, my mouth still slightly ajar. Within a minute my aunt snapped out of her state of shock and began calling family members telling them excitedly that Xavier was home.
I stood up and walked into my room, closing the door lightly, knowing that my family members would start to arrive soon as many of them lived in the area. I sat down on my bed, and stared at the wreath for a moment before laying my head on my pillow and falling into a deep sleep.
Surprisingly it was the smell of food that woke me up and not the numerous voices in the living room. I wiped the sleep from my eyes and walked out of my room. Four of my cousins that lived nearby were already there with their kids and talked excitedly with my brother about his prison stay. I felt guilty, hearing that some of them had sent him letters and spending money. I had never thought of doing it myself. I had been so wrapped up in everything that Travis wanted and everything that he thought was wrong or right, rather than caring about the needs of my own family. I spent hours listening to everyone talking before going back to my room. I felt out of place, since I had disassociated myself from my family.
The next morning I woke up early and had coffee with my mother.
“Mija what’s wrong, you look so sad?” My mother asked.
I shook my head and smiled lightly at her, thinking of how out of place I had felt the night before. “Mom, do you ever get upset that all of your children are back home with you?” I asked. “I mean, not even just your kids, it’s your grandkids now also.”
She stared blankly at me.
“Don’t you wish you had the house back to yourself?” I asked, thinking of how Travis was not family oriented in the slightest.
My mother shook her head as she stared across the table at me.
“Mija, having you all back home with me is the best gift in the world to me. I feel complete when I’m with my family.” My mom said quietly as she leaned in toward me. “Those kids were like a godsend.” She shook her head and stared at me intently. “I was all alone. All alone and God brought those four beautiful children to fill that void in my life. You and your brother and those kids fill my life with happiness. You are all my greatest success, my will to live and what keeps me going.”
She smiled at me, before standing and turning around to wash the dishes.
“Family is everything. You’ll see.” She said over her shoulder to me. “You have to have faith. God has a plan for everything that happens to us, good or bad.”
I smiled at her and stood up, letting out a long sigh as I went back to my room.
Nearly two hours later my phone rang. I bolted across the room to answer it, attracting my brother’s attention with all the commotion that I made to get to it.
“Hello.” I said, looking around to make sure that none of the kids were in the vicinity.
“Hi, is this Yasmin?” A female voice asked.
“Yes.” I replied hesitantly.
“This is Monique Alazar, we met this past Monday.” The voice said.
“Hi. Yes, how are you?” I responded, eagerly.
Monique laughed into the phone politely.
“Yasmin, I know that you interviewed for the position we had in customer service, but we filled the positions with candidates that were a better fit for the job.” Monique said, pausing briefly.
“Oh.” I replied halfheartedly, wondering why she called me to tell me this.
“Yasmin, the reason I called is that we have a position open as a Customer Service Manager and based on your skills and education we thought that you would be a better fit for that role.” Monique continued. “Does this sound like something you would be interested in?”
I sat down on my bed, my hand on my chest, trying to catch my breath.
“Yes.” I breathlessly whispered.
Monique quickly gave me the rest of the information, including my start date. When we hung up, I was in a state of disbelief.
Seconds later, my brother knocked on the door and entered the room without waiting for me to invite him in.
“What’s going on?” Xavier asked smiling. “You look like you just got some good news.”
“I did.” I said happily, showing him the information I had just written down about the job.
He rubbed my back and smiled at me.
“It’s crazy.” I said. “I was thinking my whole world had hit rock bottom and then I moved back home and your friend Emmanuel took me to church. He made me believe that things were going to get better and look, they did.” I smiled at him.
“Did you say Emmanuel?” Xavier asked with a surprised expression.
I nodded. My brother shook his head and leaned away from me.
“The only Emmanuel I ever knew, Manny died three years ago.”
I felt all the blood leave my face.
“Don’t play with me Xavier.” I whispered. “That’s not funny.”
My brother’s expression didn’t change.
“I’m not playing, Yasmin, he died not long after his wife passed away. I remember because it was Christmas Day.”
I shook my head as I stared at him.
“No, you’re wrong.” I said. “Must have been someone else.”
“I’ve only known one Manny.” My brother said. “He couldn’t live without her. He had just taken a test to become a Chicago Police officer and didn’t have time to study for it because he was in the hospital with his wife night and day until she passed away.”
My brother paused and looked at the wall briefly, as I stared at him in disbelief. The story was coming together and as much as it was making sense to me, I didn’t want to believe it.
“I went to see him on Christmas Eve.” He continued, “I told him to have faith, because great things were going to happen, but he didn’t listen. He killed himself the next day.”
I stood up and walked into the hallway outside of my room. “Mommy.” I called out.
My mother emerged from the kitchen.
“Who were those two police officers that came to Titi Maria’s when my car was stolen?” I asked.
My mother gave me a worried gaze, slowly walking toward my room. “There was only one officer, Mija.” My mother said. “Don’t you remember?”
I shook my head, going back into my room, frantically looking through my things for the receipt from the cell phone store. My mother appeared in my doorway moments later, exchanging worried expressions with my brother.
“Mija, what’s wrong?”
I spun around.
“Mommy, there were two officers.” I said. “Don’t you remember that one stayed in the living room with me, while the other went with Titi Maria into the kitchen?”
My mother stared at me for a moment and then sat down on my bed next to my brother.
“Mija, there was one officer.” She said, slowly. “I stood in the living room that day to make sure that you were okay. You were talking to yourself like you were crazy.”
I turned back around and began moving things on my dresser.
“No, Mommy.” I insisted. “He was real.”
“Sweetheart, it’s perfectly okay for you to talk to yourself, I do it all the time.” My mother said.
I exhaled heavily as I tried to push her words out of my head. I knew I wasn’t crazy. “I’m going to find the cell phone receipt from when he took me to get my cell phone.” I said, firmly. “I’m going to prove that I’m not crazy when I find it because he paid for it.”
Suddenly there it was, folded neatly on top of my dresser. I unfolded the paper, turning around and smiling at them, as I prepared to prove them wrong.
“See?” I asked, my expression suddenly changing as I read the receipt.
It said warranty replacement across the top and there was a zero dollar amount at the bottom of the page. At the bottom of the page, these words printed in blue ink.
Family is everything. Enjoy them and don’t lose your faith now that you’ve found it. ~Merry Christmas.
The words disappeared within a moment of me reading them.
I glanced up and smiled at my mother and brother as I nervously crumpled the receipt and let it drop out of my hands. I thought of Emmanuel and remembered his soft lips kissing the side of my face days before. Originally I thought that he was brought into my life to help me forget about Travis, but now I realized that he came into my life to restore my faith and to make me realize all of the good things that I had. I smiled as I stared at the wreath on my bedroom door, knowing that this Christmas would be one that I would never forget.