FINDING ROOTS - A NOVELLA

Forever

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When you chose me,
You healed me
For that, I am eternally grateful
~ Alisha E.
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"Mora, sweetheart, sit still for me!" Ruelle pleaded as she tried to give the child a bath. Kamora smiled a toothy grin, mischief clear on her three-year-old face. When she started slapping her arms on the water, effectively splashing water everywhere, Ruelle gasped but did not chastise her.

Kamora giggled loudly, her voice carrying to Zachari who sighed in exasperation. He calmly walked towards the bathroom and found Ruelle playing with Kamora. "Rue. Look the at floor!"

Ruelle peeked to find that her tiled bathroom floor was covered in soapy bathwater. She looked up innocently at her husband, pouting because she knew she would be getting the chastisement she saved Kamora from earlier.

"You can't let her get away with everything, sweet love. She'll end up being bad as hell," Zachari said as he stood by the door. Kamora kept playing in the water, completely distracted.

"I know, I know. But she's a baby! Babies are supposed to be bad," Ruelle argued pointlessly. Kamora wasn't a baby but no need to sweat the details. Zachari nodded at that, "Yes to a degree. What happens when she stays with someone else and expects it to be okay to make a mess of the bathroom? It's better if she learns from you rather than someone else."

And it was. Ruelle would be gentle with her, coaxing life's lessons into her small brain without much fuss. Another person would yell and the very thought brought tears to Ruelle's eyes. If she had it her way, no one would ever raise their voice at Kamora.

Zachari opened his mouth to close his speech but Kamora interrupted. "Mommy, look!"

Ruelle gasped. Zachari froze.

The small child paused, her brows furrowing. "Mommy?"

By the time Ruelle tucked Kamora into bed, she was in distress. Her hand laid over her stomach — the one which had yet to carry a child of her own — and felt herself cry. Zachari stood behind her, giving her the space to cry but letting her know he was there with her.

—

The very next day, Ruelle was at Kwaye's doorstep, Kamora's hand in her own as the child stood beside her. The two had become good friends over the years, bonding over their obsession with everything Kamora and their love for tv shows.

After three years of knowing each other, Ruelle could honestly say that Kwaye became one of her best friends. Oh, he took forever to open up but once he did, he was one of the kindest people Ruelle had ever met.

Everyone told her that he was different without his wife and she agreed, though she did not know him before grief plagued him. It had been her absolute pleasure to stand beside him as he went on a journey to rediscover himself without his soulmate. He was different but he still had a beautiful soul.

Now, she nervously paced around his living room as he watched her panic. "Ruelle, you good? You and Zachari are fighting or something?"

Ruelle shook her head, "No, it's something much crazier than that. I'm talking mind-blowing, axis tilting, and earth-shattering!"