Part 25 – Through the Looking Glass
The Uber ride had felt too short.
Now, standing in front of his apartment door, Deon could feel the weight of the broken family behind him.
He resisted the sigh rising in his chest and unlocked the door. A warm, unfamiliar scent drifted out — something savory. He gestured for them to come in.
They shuffled inside without a word. Stacey drifted toward the dining table, Juan following close behind.
Amina and Sierra lingered near the entryway, scanning the space as if the walls might offer them answers.
"So this is Casa de Deon?" Amina said, forcing a smile. "Very quaint. Cozy."
"Yeah, it's small, I know."
"It's cute," Sierra added softly.
"...Thanks."
He made his way into the kitchen and found the source of the smell — a lasagna cooling on the counter, a folded note beside it.
"Thought you might not be feeding yourself."
— Jordy
He smiled, faintly. Of course.
Amina peeked over his shoulder. "Who's Jordy?"
"A friend," he said.
"Right."
He chuckled awkwardly. One fire at a time, he thought.
Moving to the couch, he sat down. Amina joined him, slipping her trembling hand into his.
Sierra chose the armchair across from Juan and Stacey. Deon gently nodded toward Amina.
"Maybe sit with her," he said quietly.
Amina obeyed, crossing the room to sit near Sierra.
The air grew still.
"Where should I begin?" Stacey asked finally.
Sierra didn't answer. Her expression was blank — almost glassy.
"Mom, just... start from the beginning," Amina said. "How did this happen?"
Stacey inhaled. "Well, I suppose it began in high school. When I met Juan."
Her voice softened. "We were young, reckless. It all happened so fast. It felt like I'd known him my whole life, but it had only been days. I started doing things I never did before — sneaking out, skipping classes... just to see him again."
A warmth flickered in her eyes — nostalgia wrapped in guilt. Amina noticed the way she looked at Juan, and didn't like it. Nor the way he looked back.
"I used to watch her all the time," Juan said, half-laughing. "Not in a creepy way — my eyes just... followed her."
He glanced at Stacey brushing a strand of hair from her face. "I liked her for so long without acting on it that, when I finally could, it all just overflowed. I couldn't hold it in anymore."
"Dad. Gross." Sierra winced.
"He probably didn't mean it that way, sweetie," Stacey said before she could stop herself.
Juan chuckled. "Well... maybe a little. That's kinda how we got here, right?"
Amina snorted despite herself, covering her face to hide the laugh.
Juan smiled at her. "I do that too."
Amina's laugh faltered, caught somewhere between awkward and warm.
Deon looked at her, then at Sierra — two versions of the same woman trying to decide if they were allowed to smile.
For a split second, it almost felt like a normal family conversation.
Then the silence came crashing back, sharp and heavy as glass.
Deon let the silence sit for a while.
Four hearts, each resisting a connection they all clearly wanted — for their own reasons.
From the outside looking in, it was obvious why.
And honestly? He was kind of jealous.
What they were having, this chaotic, painful, real thing — it was something he'd never really had. Not like this.
A raw connection.
Messy, unscripted, undeniable.
He glanced at Amina.
Maybe they had that. Maybe. But it felt foreign — something still growing, fragile and strange.
Then his eyes moved to Juan and Stacey.
The way they looked at each other... maybe this was a second coming.
And Sierra —
the way she turned her head slightly, her hoop earring catching the light — damn. That glint almost made her profile sparkle.
He swallowed hard.
Damn, she's pretty.
Then Amina crossed her arms, shifting her weight. Their eyes met for a split second.
Fuck. She's gorgeous too.
His heart was racing. Side by side, the two of them looked like reflections — a matched set he couldn't look away from.
Damn. This ain't funny.
He cleared his throat. "So uh... what went wrong? You two sound like a smash hit. Typical high school breakup? Fizzled out love?"
But one look at them told him that was a dumb question. The air between them was still charged — thirty years old and still burning.
Stacey folded her hands. "Well... my father wasn't very fond of me being with Juan."
"Why?" Sierra asked, speaking for the first time.
"I wasn't worthy?" Juan said, a bitter edge cutting through his voice.
"Juanito," Stacey said softly, the name trembling out of her.
"I was just a kid from the projects," he continued. "No dad in the picture. My mom... she did what she could. She immigrated here from Mexico, barely spoke the language. Work was hard to come by. She had to do things — things I shouldn't know about. Things I'd never tell her I know. But I'm grateful for all of it."
His tone was steady, proud even, but his jaw tightened as he spoke.
"You shouldn't be ashamed, Juan. Your mom is wonderful," Stacey said, warmth in her eyes.
"You know my abuela?" Sierra asked quietly.
"Yes," Stacey said, smiling faintly. "She's a lovely woman."
"So... Grandpa didn't like Juan because he was poor?" Amina asked.
"That probably didn't help," Stacey admitted, "but it was less about Juan and more about me. My father had a plan for my future. I was supposed to marry a well-to-do young man. Someone with a secure future. Someone like your father, Amina."
"So you don't love Dad?" Amina's voice cracked halfway through the question.
"No, honey. Of course I do. Now. He's a good man."
"But not the way you love Juan."
"Mimi—"
"No! This is bullshit!" she shouted, the word slicing through the room. "How can you sit there and say all this — talk about sneaking out and making googly eyes like Dad doesn't even exist?"
"Amina, that's not fair. You should understand how I feel."
"How could I ever understand this?!"
Stacey's breath caught. Her eyes flicked toward Deon for a moment — then she said quietly, "Ra'Quan stopped by recently."
That was all it took.
Amina went silent. Completely.
No one spoke for a while.
Then, barely above a whisper:
"Sorry, Mama," she said. Her voice broke with a small sob, and suddenly she looked so young.
Looking at the four of them in that moment, Deon couldn't help questioning everything he thought he knew about nature versus nurture.
Sierra and Stacey were meeting each other for the first time today — and yet, their mannerisms were nearly identical.
Small things only he would notice. Maybe Juan too. Someone who'd spent years watching closely, quietly.
"I knew it," Juan said suddenly. "That little twitch you do with your lip. You get that from Stacey. I knew it all these years — I just couldn't prove it. Thought maybe I was imagining things."
"My lip doesn't twitch," Sierra and Stacey said in unison. Then froze — eyes locking. Neither looked away.
"It does," Deon said carefully. "When you're anxious."
"Exactly!" Juan said, snapping his fingers. Stacey nodded too.
"Deon," Sierra said, blushing. "Find something else to look at."
"Just take a picture, Juan," Stacey teased. "Give your eyes a break."
Juan laughed — loud and free.
Amina tried not to, but a smile crept across her face anyway.
She must've noticed the resemblance too. She looked at Deon and pointed from herself to Juan.
Deon shrugged and gave a forced smile.
"Okay," Sierra said, her tone flattening again. "So my grandpa was a jerk. But it doesn't sound like he made you break up."
"No," Stacey said softly. "He didn't. He just didn't approve. We made the choice ourselves."
"What for?" Sierra asked.
"I got pregnant," Stacey said.
"Okay," Amina jumped in, voice sharp. "So you decided to what — split up the family because it was too hard?"
"No, sweetie," Juan said gently. "Your mom — Stacey — had a bright future. She was top of our class, student council president, tennis star. Kids would've ended all that."
"And Juan had a full ride to his dream school," Stacey added. "We went to my dad for help. He made us an offer."
Her voice started to shake. "He said he'd provide for the baby — for one of them — on the condition that I walk away with the other. I could never tell her she had a sister. And if I ever contacted Juan again, the support would stop."
"I did what he asked," Juan said, his voice lower now. "I was able to finish school. Stacey kept her life."
The room fell quiet.
Deon hadn't meant to speak, but the words slipped out anyway.
"...Was it worth it?"
They all turned toward him. He didn't back down.
Now that he'd said it, he wanted an answer.
They all did.
Juan was the first to speak.
"I was able to give my daughter a better life than I had. I won't apologize for that. I didn't have any siblings, so I can't pretend to know the pain of what we took from you girls... but I tried my best to make sure you didn't miss it, Sierra."
He paused, eyes distant. "I found a great woman to be your mom. She loves you, and you love her. She couldn't have children of her own, so it was a blessing for both of us. You two even ended up with a lot in common. I have regrets, sure... but the good outweighs the bad. The bad just happens to be really bad."
Amina shifted in her seat, the air too heavy to breathe comfortably. Sierra looked at her father — a mix of disappointment and reluctant understanding flickering across her face. Then she turned to Stacey.
"And you?" she asked quietly but firmly. "How could my mother just give me to another woman?"
"I didn't give you away," Stacey said, voice trembling. "I gave you to your father. And it wasn't by choice."
Her throat tightened. "I threw the biggest tantrum of my life. I nearly bled to death from the fuss I kicked up when they took you away. When I held you for the first time, I changed my mind immediately. I didn't care about school, or sports, or even if Juan would be there. I just wanted to be with you — with both of you — for as long as I could."
Tears shimmered in her eyes. "I fell in love with you, from the first moment I saw you."
Sierra held her gaze. Amina couldn't. She turned to Juan.
"Mom," she whispered. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"
Stacey exhaled shakily. "Do you like reliving the worst decision of your life?"
Amina thought about the night with Ra'Quan — the guilt, the shame — and shook her head.
Juan spoke softly. "Hindsight's twenty-twenty. Maybe we'd know better now, but back then? We were just kids. I won't tell you not to hold it against us... but I'd ask you to try and understand."
Sierra looked at him — fire in her eyes.
She opened her mouth, ready to speak. Maybe even yell.
But she stopped herself.
A slow breath.
Arms crossed.
She turned to Stacey, opened her mouth again...
No words came out. Her face twisted — pain caught somewhere between anger and restraint.
Then she stood abruptly.
"Deon, thanks for having me over, but I need to go. Keyon's flying back in tonight, and I want to be there when he arrives."
"Yeah." That was all he could manage.
She turned to him, and her eyes said more than words ever could.
"That's all I got for you right now, Si. Text me when you get home, okay?"
She didn't respond. She just left.
He couldn't blame her.
This was a lot.
They all needed time to process.
Stacey and Juan stood next.
"Amina," Stacey said gently, "I'll see you back at the hotel. You wanted to spend some time with Deon today, right? We'll get out of your hair."
Amina didn't look up, but she nodded.
Then they were gone too.
Deon looked over at her — shoulders drooped, head low.
Like gravity was getting heavier by the minute.
"Damn," she said quietly. "That was a lot."
"For sure."
"If I sell the rights to my story, I could be rich."
"You're ready to sell a story you don't know the ending to?"
"I know how it ends," she said, looking up at him.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah. My parents make up — my birth parents. Sierra stops hating me. We find out we have a lot in common and live happily ever after."
Her voice was light, childlike.
"It's a beautiful dream," Deon said.
"Right?" He could hear the tears in her laugh. "Why did the whole world have to change like this?"
"It didn't," he said. "The only thing that changed is how you see it."
She wiped her eyes. "I like that. How do you come up with this stuff?"
"I live in my head too much. Ask myself too many questions. It keeps my feet on the ground when I think I might fly away."
"Sounds restrictive."
"Like shackles."
"But you said you found a key."
"Yeah." He smiled faintly. "But I've been adrift most of my life. I think staying anchored might be good for me for a while."
She stood and walked to him, falling into his arms. His embrace was tight — solid — the kind that said you're safe here.
"It's strange," she whispered. "I know I should feel something about all this, but I'm just... numb. And that's what scares me."
"I get that," he said. "Been there."
"So you get it? It's all shocking, but I'm not broken up about it. My parents were good to me. I love them. But I think I want to get to know Juan too. Is that wrong?"
"I don't think so. It's not betrayal." He gave a half-smile. "I'm biased, but I think a heart can be big enough to love more than one person."
She looked up at him. She knew he wasn't just talking about her.
"It's hard on you though, isn't it? Loving two people?"
"Nah. Loving people's easy," he said. "What's hard is not knowing how your love's impacting them."
She sat up so she could see his face.
"My whole life, people told me love was hard," he continued. "But that's never been my experience. It's complicated, sure — but not hard. Even children can do it."
"I think I get it," she said softly.
"In my opinion, people think love's hard because most of it goes unanswered — or ends in failure. Loving something doesn't guarantee it'll love you back."
"That's true. I had a pet turtle I adored, but it always tried to bite me."
He chuckled. "Rejection, breakups, reconciliation — it's all part of love. It hurts sometimes, but real love? Real love's easy." He met her eyes. "You taught me that."
"And what did Sierra teach you?"
"I'm still taking that class."
"You could always drop it if it gets too hard."
He grinned. "I got a thing for the teacher."
"You're so weird, Deon."
"I know."
"I like it."
"I know."
"What don't you know?"
"What's next."
She rested her head on his chest. "Me either. But I'm not worried."
"Why's that?"
"My time with you is limited. I'd rather focus on this moment."
He smiled faintly. "My thoughts exactly."
He tilted her chin upward and kissed her softly. She kissed him back.
"Let's hold each other together today," she whispered.
"We can fall apart tomorrow."