4 Coming Home

Jess woke up with a start, it was the nightmare again. She was disoriented and confused at first, but slowly memories of last night flooded her mind as her eyes wandered to the man beside her whose arm was draped over her waist.

The first time, they made love on the beach, but slowly as sanity return, they wandered their way to a motel nearby where they made love over and over again with an insatiable thrist for each other until they finally collapsed and slept in each other's arms.

Looking over her shoulder through the window pane, she realize it was nearing dawn. It was time for her to leave inorder to catch her flight to Texas. She reluctantly got up, got dressed and called a cab.

With her hand on the knob of the door, she hesitated once as she turn back one last time to look at the man lying on the bed. He was sound asleep and she was glad she didn't wake him up. It was better this way without the awkwardness of the morning's after. Whatever magic they had, in the long run it was just a one night stand. Nothing more nothing less. So she turn the knob and walk right out the door.

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She was back, back to the place where it all began, back in Roseville. Sitting behind the wheels of her rental car, Jess felt her heart pounding by leaps and bound, her hands sweating as she held on to the wheels and her throat dry as she tried to catch her breath. A little voice inside her head was urging her to turn back, to run away back to New York, back to safety, but thoughts of Aunt May kept her moving forward.

Aunt May meant the world to Jess. She was her guardian, her benefactor and the closest thing Jess had for a mother. Born to ordinary parents, with a dad the principal of the town's highschool while her mom a schoolteacher, in a small little town in the outskirts of Texas, Rosville, May short for Mary Agatha Wright, led an ordinary and quiet life. So it took the town by surprise when after graduating with laurels, she rejected offers from prestigious universities and went on to medical school. Later on she left to work for a non profit organisation such as Doctors without borders in the jungles of Africa. When she returned 10 years later with 3 little girls in tow, no one knew what to make of her anymore. Once again she rejected offers from hospitals in the city but opened a small practice in her hometown. A spinster by choice, she dedicated her life to the care of the girls she adopted and the town she grew up in.

Jess avoided the town's main road and took the old rounded country road to the place she called home once upon a time. As the car approached a familiar two storeyed white house lined with a white picket fence, she turned the engine off and got out. With each step, the years were stripped away as memories of a lifetime ago came rushing back.

"Miss Jess, you gonna stand there all day or you gonna come inside"

At first, Jess thought she was hearing things from the past but as the mist in her eyes cleared, she saw the face of the old heavy black woman standing on the steps of the house.

"Mammy" Jess cried out as she ran and was engulfed in a warm hug by the woman whose wrinkled fave was wreathed in tears as hers were.

"Welcome home Miss Jess.....Welcome home.....its been a long time coming"

Being held by Mammy, Jess felt she was finally home. How many times had she been held this way as the older woman dried her tears through every cut, every bruise, every heartache in her growing years.

Mammy was more than just a hired help, she was family. She was hired as a Nanny for Aunt May but she became a second mother to her. They lost touch when Aunt May went away but when she returned 10 years later, Mammy was right beside her again helping her out in taking care of the girls when Aunt May got tied up in her practice. Later on, when her grown children left the town for the city, instead of leaving with them, Mammy decided to move in with Aunt May supporting and comforting her through the tough times ahead, a decision Jess was grateful for with all her heart. The years had been kind to Mammy, though she was not robust as she was 12 years ago. Her hair was greyer now more than before, but she was still dearer to her as she was before.

"Mammy, where is Aunt May? I got her mail.. Is something wrong? Is she alright?"

"Now...now Miss Jess, you better come on inside and rest. Plenty of time afterwards to answer questions when rest of them come...."

As Mammy ushered Jess inside the house, she called out "Miss May....Miss May....Look....look who is here at long last"

Jess eyes swept throughout the interior, filled with nostalgic memories of the past. Every pattern on the wall, every drape, every piece of wood right down to the carpet beneath her shoes were just as she remembered.