140 - Collage

*Pictures show not only your family and friends, but where you came from and what you value. Take lots of pictures, there’s going to come a time that the only thing you have are pictures and memories. – Becks*

With just a week of school left, there were a dozen things that still needed to be done. But they took a break from everything that was going on to have a family meeting. They had it up in Camille’s office and she told each one which stack of boxes on her day bed belonged to them. Darkness was surprised to find that he also had a stack.

“I think Mitch should open his first,” Vin declared.

“Really?” he asked as he sat on the floor with a stack of boxes in front of him.

“Yeah,” the older brother smiled at him. “I want to see what you have.”

Camille smiled at him and Vin ducked his head, not meeting her eyes. Mitch opened the first box and removed the carefully folded tissue paper. He stared at the inside of the box for what felt like forever, then he slowly looked up at Camille.

“Is that Momma Dee?”

Nodding, she told him, “Yes, it is. I found a picture of her in Tribune from when she was working in the factory.”

“I want to see,” Vin said holding out his hand.

Mitch handed the box to his brother on the day bed and then he moved to open the next box. Vin gently touched the picture in the box and Nicki leaned over to look at it. She gave a small gasp and then handed the box to Darkness.

The picture had been taken while they were at the WWII Museum in New Orleans. Mitch stood at the helm of a Higgins landing craft in a picture that looked like half of it had been ripped away to show the past. The other half of the picture showed a black and white picture of Momma Dee in her youth building a landing craft.

“How did you do this one?” Mitch demanded as he handed the picture to Vin.

Camille smiled at the boy, “A magician never reveals her secrets. But my brother found a box of pictures that I was able to digitize and use.”

Mitch had played the Baker in the school play, *Into the Woods, and she had taken a picture of him after the play standing center stage. Shadows of his parents flanked him in the spotlight.

The next few were of the three siblings out along the bayou. Then there was one of them with Zydeco. His final picture was a collage with Keisha holding him in the hospital when he was only a few minutes old. Jasper sat on the bed pressing a kiss to her temple as she looked adoringly at the baby in her arms.

All of the pictures framed this center one had him at his first birthday, first day of school, kindergarten graduation, and other similar events. Each picture had at least one parent with him and the pride in him showed in their faces.

Mitch handed the picture to his brother and then moved to hug Camille. She hugged him close and rubbed small circles on his back. His body trembled as tears and sobs flowed easily.

Vin and Nicki both stared at the collage picture of their younger brother for several minutes. Eventually, they handed the picture to Darkness and moved to hug their brother and Camille.

She embraced the three siblings as she also shed tears with them. Her husband looked at the picture and saw the loving parents that he was certain his brother and his wife truly were. Before joining the others, he wiped away his own tears and placed the picture on the day bed.

“They loved me,” Mitch finally murmured. “They really did love me.”

“Of course they loved you,” Camille assured him, her own voice warbled with emotions.

“Sometimes…” Mitch trailed off.

“There were times…” Nicki started and then moved away from the group hug. Darkness shifted and leaned against the desk next to his wife. He opened his arms and Nicki moved into the open embrace. He kissed the top of her head and held her against himself.

Nicki took a deep breath and let it out softly as she seemed to build up her strength. Build up her courage.

“There were times when it seemed like they did not love us. That no matter what we did, it was not right, not good enough.”

Vin nodded, “We always seemed to disappoint them. I always felt like I had to go to Arkansas, and it wasn’t up for debate. I did not want to go to their Alma Mata; I wanted to make my own way. I ummm… I remember dad telling me that I should quit being stupid. I was a legacy and guaranteed to get in.”

Camille shifted and cupped Vin’s face forcing him to look at her. “You can go wherever you want to go. If you want to go to MIT, you can. If you want to go somewhere else, you can. You are smart and you can get into any school on your own merit. You don’t need a legacy to get into any college.”

Using her thumbs, she brushed the tears off his cheeks and then pulled him down to kiss his forehead.

“Don’t ever question how much you are loved,” Camille whispered. “Darkness loves you; I love you and your parents loved you. They loved you enough to guarantee that when they were gone, you were taken care of. That you went to the best place for you.”

Vin pulled her to her feet and hugged her tight, “I love you, Momma C.”

Hearing that caused her to release a sob of her own. She wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him tight.

“I’m glad that we came here,” he continued, “and I’m glad that you welcomed us. And even more, I’m glad that you didn’t try to force anything on us.”

She looked up at her adoptive son and smiled through her tears, “The only thing that I’m going to force on you will be my parents. But that’s only because I won’t have a choice.”

Darkness chuckled from where he was holding Nicki and Mitch in a light embrace, “Don’t let your dad drink.”

Camille laughed as she moved away and swiped tears away, “Oh god.”

“What happens when Opa drinks?” Mitch asked.

“You get a sex education lesson,” Camille chuckled.

“No, thank you,” Nicki said as she moved to her stack of boxes. Moving to the bottom box, she pulled out her own collage picture.

Her own pictures were very similar but also included her having a tea party with Jasper. Gently touching that picture she smiled at Camille. “Momma C, I remember this.”

“I’m glad,” she whispered, wiping away more tears. “And I like being Momma C.”

“You seem too close to my age to be mom, but…” Vin shrugged as he also opened his collage, “you are definitely a mother figure.”

“Can I still call you, *Moeder*?” Mitch asked.