One Little Piece

They had been trying to get her to speak for days. At least four. Maybe five. It was all starting to blend together. The day of the wedding, she was at her worst. She didn't just not talk. She stared through everyone as if they weren't there. Her mother, Elise, finally got tired of it.

"Where's Big Momma's chocolate cake?" Elise asked her eldest daughter, Cassie.

"Right here. Why?"

When Cassie pointed her in the direction of the decadent, mouthwatering chocolate cake baked by Elise's mother, sitting on the granite countertop, placed on a pedestal, Elise smiled. This was the key. She took the last piece off the plate before heading outside, back straight and head held high like she was going to battle. Her youngest child, Haven, sat beneath the elderly oak tree on their family's farm in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Haven heard someone coming but refused to lift her head, picking at the grass like she used to when she was a little girl.

"Guess what I got here?" Elise got down in the grass, sitting across from her baby girl. "The last piece of Big Momma's chocolate cake." Haven did not even flinch. "Either you gonna eat this or they gonna come out here and get it. There's a reason there's only one piece left." No response. "Girl, I raised you better than to sit there and ignore me when I'm talkin' to you. I know you hear me."

Haven finally lifted her head, her doe brown eyes red and puffy from all the crying she had done since she found out.

"What do you want me to say, Mama?"

Elise had five children, three girls and two boys. She loved all of them with every fiber of her being and there was nothing that hurt her worse than to see any of her babies in pain. Her husband had been her soulmate, but her children were the loves of her life. No one had any right to cause them the kind of pain her baby was going through in that moment.

Elise placed the plate with the chocolate cake between them and said, softly, "That man ain't deserve you."

"That's what all of y'all say," Haven scoffed, eyeing the cake. "Well, guess what? He thought he deserved better and he got that. What did I get?"

This was why she had not spoken to her family about it so far. They wanted her to say forget him and keep it stepping like she had not spent the past four years of her life with him. She never dated anyone else while they were in college. The point of even going to Louisiana State University, instead of Jackson State, as she had originally planned, was so she could be with him. It was the most ridiculous decision she had ever made, looking back on it, but hindsight was 20/20.

"The chance to move on to a man that wouldn't dare put tears in your eyes," Elise told her, placing her finger under her chin and lifting it. "Look at me. I know you loved him. I know you wanted to be the one marrying him. But, if he ain't gonna put you before the world, if he ain't gonna choose you, then he ain't the right man."

Fresh tears welled in Haven's eyes and her voice broke as she said, "No one ever chooses me."

Elise had raised her children to be strong, independent, loving people and she thought she did a pretty good job. The first thing she always made sure to tell them when she spoke to them was how proud she was and how much she loved them. They were her babies and no matter what mistakes they made, whatever struggles they were dealing with, it didn't change the fact that they were her reasons for living. A mother's love could do a lot, but sometimes it just wasn't enough and she was starting to realize that.

"You are a beautiful, intelligent, kind woman. You are a queen in every sense of the word. You are my little chocolate drop." That made Haven smile just the slightest smile. "I take what I said back. Forget about him choosing you. You know why? 'Cause don't nobody get to decide whether they want my baby girl. It ain't even a choice. They recognize what a blessing she would be and they spend their life wondering what they did to deserve such a gift. That is what you are, Haven Marie Bordelon. You are a gift. Sometimes people receive things that they can't appreciate and so they treat it wrong. That don't make it the gift's fault. But when it's given to the right person, when it's given to someone that knows how to be grateful...that's when you know everything is the way it should be. Now, I know one little piece of chocolate cake and a little speech that I've been working on for a few days ain't gonna mend your heart, but it's a step further than where you were yesterday. So, go on. Eat some cake."

"I love you, Mama," Haven told her.

Elise leaned over, pressing her lips to the crown of her baby girl's head, "I love you forever more, lovebug. Which is why I know you're gonna give your mama a piece of that."

Haven laughed, for the first time in what felt like ages. Her mother was right. One little piece of chocolate cake wouldn't fix everything, but it made that day just a bit better than the one before.