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Reginald Miller watched. He watched Jo Robinson raise her nephew Rashon after his parents passed away, raising the boy as best she could, never indulging him yet always being there. And then Rashon —Rush—married, having his own kids blessing Jo with a new generation to be a part of her life until Rush ’s wife passed away and he moved out to his own place, wanting to get the kids away from the painful memories.
She would go every day to his place, making paper sack meals as she did for Rush growing up, not because Rush didn ’t have the time, but because he remembered the paper sack meal she always made for him when he was growing up. Every so often, she’d drop a line about Rush’s kids being spoiled simply because he was trying so hard to fill the role of both parents.
And every Christmas, Reginald offered to decorate her home with lights to make it as beautiful as he thought she was. It wasn ’t until Rush moved back in the job folded despite having worked as hard as he did, the company doing wrong by him simply because they could when the girls—Jo’s grand-nieces—got lights from him when out looking for their older brother Jamal who had taken off, having a lot to deal with.
A knock came on his door, and he opened it to see Jo smiling, the kids with her. She opened her mouth to say something when one of the twins said, “Would you come to listen to the radio with us?”
“Daddy’s going to be on,” the second said.
Jo smiled. “Rush is finally able to get WBQL on the air. Would you like to join us? The girls have dropped some hints.”
“Oh, have they?” Reginald said, quite amused. “Shall I join you?”
“Of course,” the one he’d already met—Mya, who’d grown up so much since they’d moved out, as had Jamal. He’d not had the chance of seeing much of the twins, being that they were born right before Rush’s wife passed and they moved out.
“Then I’ll be happy to join you and that beautiful family of yours,” he said, walking down the stairs of his home before locking arms with her to walk her back to her place, knowing there would be a bit of time until Rush would get to the station to get on the air. He also took in the lights, remembering how they sparkled the night before. “And I love what you girls did with the lights.”
“Thank you,” Mya said while the twins giggled. It was, after all, Jo’s delightful and beautiful family.