Glimpse of Us ⇽ Roman Reigns

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen; Rosalia Amani Anoa'i

"Rosalia Amani Anoa'i," Joe whispered as he started at the name and date etched upon the headstone.

The headstone reads
Rosalia Amani Anoa'i
March 2005
So small, so sweet, so soon

Joe and Laniyah sat in front of the small grave, beautifully covered with flowers. Joe places his hand over the handprint on the tombstone. He kept his sunglasses on to hide his teary eyes. Laniyah's knees are hugged into her chest as she watches Joe.

"Amani refers to peace in Swahili and wishes in Arabic, I wanted her to be at peace and I wish that we will meet one day again," Laniyah said.

"You can't deny it's positive energy," Joe said.

Laniyah visits Rosalia's grave as often as she can. She came most days to talk to her daughter, and she told Rosalia of her problems, fears, and hopes. She looked at Joe and sighed. Now, Joe knows where their daughter is buried and hopefully he can do the same.

"I bet she's really happy to finally meet her father," Laniyah said.

"I'm happy to finally meet her too," Joe said, glancing at Laniyah as her hair swished around her in the wind. "What was your experience like?" Joe asked Laniyah. "You know with your pregnancy and her birth," He added.

Laniyah started crying. As always talking about Rosalia made her emotional.

"I found out that she was pregnant with Rosalia after I broke up with you. I had already completely cut off any contact with Leati. It was over. That fairytale ending I thought were going to have, the perfect life we planned, wasn't happening. The cheerleader didn't get to marry the football player. And now I was pregnant and we weren't talking.

So I went on with my life and I wasn't ready to share the news of my pregnancy with you. The first month was hard. I missed you so much. You had been my everything since our senior year of high school. Now you weren't. I needed to move on.

Then when I gained the courage to tell you, I found out you were dating Galina and it felt like my heart had been ripped out. You moved on so fast and the courage had to share the news of our baby with you was gone. So I decided that in the fourth month of my pregnancy, I would be a single mother and things became easier for me.

Although there were rumors about me being pregnant, I hid my pregnancy from everyone and started work study at the registration office, taking on more than I probably should have taken on to make sure I would be able to take care of the baby once she came.

Then around the sixth mark of my pregnancy, I went into early labor. I was still months away from my due date. I hadn't even planned a thing like things for a nursery, let alone planned my maternity leave from school. All of a sudden I was heading to the hospital, where I spent a week and a half trying to keep myself from going into labor by sheer force of will.

But in the end, I gave birth in the hospital alone with no one in the hospital room with me aside from the doctor and nurses. After, Rosalia was born. I immediately knew something was wrong with her. And I was right. She looked so small and like a lifeless doll," Laniyah said before she paused.

"What happened?" Joe asked her.

"Rosalia's heartbeat had dropped, and she was clearly in distress. She couldn't breathe without a ventilator. Her lungs weren't as developed as the doctor had thought. I was devastated after six days of survival, Rosalia had passed away. I held her. The doctor gave me some quiet time with her and so I took photographs of her and collected mementos, such as footprints, handprints, and the blanket Rosalia was wrapped in at birth.

My body started producing breast milk, which caused discomfort and distress. My doctor prescribed me medicine that stopped my breasts from producing milk. It caused a few side effects but it also helped me feel better emotionally. But mentally I was a mess. It took a long time for me to come to terms with Rosalia's death.

I buried Rosalia, a week later back in Pensacola with only my immediate family, attending the funeral. Then, I returned to school and made a promise to myself that I would become the woman that Rosalia would have been proud to have as a mom," Laniyah said.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through this all by yourself," Joe says his voice emotional as he merely squeezes Laniyah's hand in support of taking a moment, to finally come to terms with everything.

"I have pictures of her if you want to see them. She had your eyes and the deepest dimples I've ever seen on a person," Laniyah said as she wiped the tears on her face.

"I would love that," Joe said.

Joe pulled her into a hug as Laniyah wraps her arms around his neck.

"I still love you," He whispered softly. "I hope you know that," He added.

Laniyah looked at Rosalia's tombstone and sighed.

"What are we going to do, Joe?" She asked him.