*THE HOLLEN SERIES 03*
????????????EPISODE 47????????????
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*?? MORE THAN FRIENDS ??*
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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 prese-nce and catch up on our lives since we were apa-rt.
Evan, Jasmine and Jevan had already arrived when we got there. I led Zenia to the dinning room area.
“EJ, Zenia. You’ve 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 guard 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 he 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 bo-dy 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 her birth. She grew up in foster homes and group homes and had been treated badly all her childhood life.
“I’ll meet him,” dad answered and got up from his chair and followed the security guard outside.
The atmosphere in the room became heavy and uncomfortable. I circled Zenia’s wa-ist and watched the door with undivided attention.
After five long minutes, dad walked back in and another man followed very close behind.
He was a dark skin 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 bo-dy structure to him.
Mom’s eyes teared up and she held her che-st 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 asked.
“I couldn’t Emma.”
She threw her arms around him and he returned the hu-g. Mom’s shoulder shook from the sobbing but we were all confused.
“Mom, had you met this man already?” Evan asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.
Mom nodded. “Yes I did.”
“Why you never said anything?” Dad asked now.
“Because I didn’t know at the time Ethan but now it all makes se-nse to me. You spared my life because you’re actually my father.” She hu-gged him again.
“Did I missed something?” dad asked her again.
“Ethan, there’s something I didn’t tell you,” mom said.
She offered her father a seat but remained standing.
“Remember when I was taken away?” she asked. Dad nodded his head and his facial expression was that of sadness .
“Well I was first found by this man and he saved me.”
“Save you how?” I asked now.
“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 my mother had just said and confessed. Dad’s jaw ti-ghtened 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.
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Mom and Pat- my grandfather, sat down in the living room. He had brou-ght along an albu-m 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 ru-bbe-d 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 guessed 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 knew that she’s my mother?”
“What?” Halley asked her in astonishment. “Aggie is your mom? How is that possible?”
Mom showed her the albu-m 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 hu-gged her as she cried with happiness. Evan and the others joined in and hu-gged her too.
Dad came back after an hour. After he had boiled down.
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 @$$umed was Agnes’ number. He put the phone on speaker when there was an answer.
“Hello. This is Ethan Hollen and I’m calling for Miss. Agnes. Is she close by?”
“A plea-sure hearing from you Mr. Hollen. Mom talked about you all the time but I’m guessing you didn’t hear the news?” a woman’s voice spoke.
“What news?” dad asked.
“Mr. Hollen. My mother p@$$ed 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 had found out that Agnes was her mother.”
“Your wife? Her mother? 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 hu-gging each other and I wrapped up my future wife in my arms. “I love our family.”
*THE HOLLEN SERIES 03*
????????????EPISODE 48 FINAL????????????
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*?? MORE THAN FRIENDS ??*
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Four Years Later
Zenia’s POV
“Zenobia, please slow down baby,” I called after my daughter as she pla-yfully raced throu-ghthe open park with her cousins Jevan, Jase and Jada.
Zenobia was an energetic little thing, a tomboy at best, and although she had arrived three weeks earlier than expected, she was a healthy bouncing baby girl who was full of life. She brou-ght delight everywhere she went, and everyday, she made it a new learning experience for me.
She loved her three adorable cousins and at times, I would have to take her over to their house so she could have sleepovers and have extra fun with them.
Ashley, Alex and Madison were her godparents and they loved her dearly.
Believe it or not, Madison started dating Jack. They had been going out for over two years now and she’s in love with him. Rumors have it that Jack is about to pop the question very soon.
Ashley and Alex, well, they’re Ashley and Alex, but with a little bun in the oven. Our double wedding was beyond spectacular.
My mom and my father rekindled their relationship and he moved into the Penthouse with her. There’s still no answers as to what mom did with all the money my father had se-nt her but I really don’t care about that anymore.
Jasmine and Evan had been fighting lately, mainly Jasmine.
And why are they fighting you might ask?
Because my sister could be extra when she wants to be.
“He said that he wants me to be a stay-at home-mom because he doesn’t trust anyone else with the kids.
I should be a stay-at-home-mom because of his trust issues with people? That’s so unfair!” she rants as we walked over to a park bench.
“Jasmine, if you’re his @$$istant, he’ll have to pay you, right? And what are you going to do with that money when your accounts deposit limit is already maxed?”
“Open a new account.”
“That’s so silly. You could be blocking someone who really nee-ds that job to support their family.
You don’t nee-d a job, you already have one. Being a mom is a job and it’s the best job ever. Can you imagine how torn the kids would be when they wake up and you’re not at home?
They’re already so attach to you and I think that’s what Evan is trying to say to you.”
She sighed softly. “You’re so right. I nee-d to apologize to my husband for being so stubborn.”
“I’m sure he doesn’t mind that. He loves you.”
The children then ran up to us.
“Mommy, can I have an ice-cream?” Zenobia asked.
“Mommy, can we have one too?” The three J’s asked Jasmine.
I call them the three J’s. (Jevan, Jase and Jada).
We walked over to the ice-cream stand and brou-ght the children their choice of ice-cream.
Jada had cookies and cream, Jevan had chocolate and the twins had chocolate mint.
__________________
Three months later
“Zen, no sweetie don’t climb that high. Zen, get down. Let daddy help you down.” I heard EJ’s voice coming from downstairs and the cheerful squealing from our daughter.
“Daddy, I can get down by myself,” she protested.
EJ had a pla-yroom installed just for her but instead of pla-ying with dolls and ri-ding her tricycle, Zenobia would rather climb the tables and chairs.
I got out of be-d, took a shower, got dressed and went to join them in the pla-yroom.
After a few hours, the house became extra noisy. My nephews and my niece had came over and taken over the pla-yroom.
I looked on and smiled. Never had I thought that I would have become a mother and the wife of a man who held the whole package, from looks to personality and everything else.
Zenobia completed us. Zenobia Miracle Hollen.
There were lots of unforgettable memories and lots of bad flashbacks. The decisions and encounters in the past still la-id beneath my feet but I’d much prefer to have the past un-derneath me than above me.
I gave up on life once upon a time but life wasn’t ready to give up on me because it had so much in sto-re and so much I still nee-ded to experience.
I smiled again as I watched my daughter climbe-d Jase’s back when they were all in a dog pile.
EJ spa-nked my bu-tt and shook me from my thoughts.
“Hey mommy,” he tea-sed in my ear.
“Hey daddy,” I tea-sed back.
“Don’t say that. I don’t want to give the children a show.”
“Boy, you nee-d to stop.” I laughed loudly. EJ was still a walking temptation.
We left the children in care of one of our house maids. EJ and I found Evan and Jasmine outdoor by the pool.
“Moving out to LA was the best decision yet,” Evan said.
“Best but not easy. Turns out that it’s not so easy to restart a Tower,” EJ stated with a chuckle.
We sat down together and took in the new environment.
_____________________
Six Years Later
“Mommy! Mommy!”
“I’m in the kitchen!” I called back.
My daughter appeared with a bright smile on her face.
“Why are you so jolly today? Was school that wonderful?”
“No and yes. I have something.”
“What do you have?” I asked. I @$$umed it was a postcard for Valentine’s Day since it was tomorrow.
“Close your eyes mommy,” she said and I did just that.
“Okay. Open them!” she said after ten seconds.
I opened my eyes and saw a little boy, around Zenobia’s age, standing next to her.
“Who’s he?” I asked.
“I made a boyfriend, mommy.”
THE END
Season 4 start tomorrow