Mend

𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒏

"Daddy, I don't like when my hair is like this!" Rufaro whined and bounced on the balls of her feet on my bathroom counter, her pretty eyes filling with frustrated tears as she shook her head at her reflection.

I sighed and put the comb and leave-in conditioner back on the counter and carried her off. "You don't like having an afro, princess?"

"No! There's nothing in it." she said, kicking her legs. "Do it like Mommy does."

My eyes landed on all the colourful ribbons and charms Tendai loved adding to her hair and I was immediately overwhelmed. I didn't even know the difference between a clip and a pin, how would I add these accessories to her hair without making her look like a maniac?

"When did you become so fussy about your hair, Faro? You never used to care what I did to it." I whined, mimicking her and getting a small smile in return.

"I just want it to be pretty when we go to Grandpa's house."

"Okay, why don't we go eat breakfast?" I asked in a soothing voice, holding her legs still so she could relax. "I'll add berries to your cornflakes like Mommy does and while you eat, I'll watch a video to see what we can do with your hair, okay?"

"Okay, fine." she said, wiggling out of my arms and running to her bright pink bedroom. "Can I wear my pink butterfly wings with my Princess Tiana dress and pink sneakers?"

"Anything you want, princess." I smiled, grateful that I now had an idea of the colours to use in her hair after breakfast.

It was a Saturday morning and we'd be joining family for lunch in Musomi. Rufaro loved visiting my family because she was always being spoiled by her aunts, uncles and grandparents.

I kept my promise and watched hair videos, paying close attention to how the ladies' fingers moved on the heads of their children or clients. The surgeon in me had handled more delicate things than hair and ribbons, so I was pretty confident when I made Rufaro sit cross-legged in front of the bathroom mirror after breakfast and sectioned her hair into three parts, making three buns using green ribbons to match her dress and putting pink butterflies at the base of the two buns in front to match her wings.

"Wow, pretty!" Faro shrieked and hugged my neck. "Please can we show Mommy?"

After a brief video call with Tendai, some vigorous twirling from Rufaro once I'd gotten her dressed, and a quick tidying up session to make sure we came back to a clean house, we were finally on our way to Musomi.

I made a quick stop at GreenMart, where I got Rufaro some snacks for the road, since Musomi was a few hours away. We were at the checkout till when I heard the words, "Hey, Dr. Mujulizi," in the  sweet, melodic voice I'd gotten used to hearing.

I turned in time with Rufaro to see Cheyenne standing behind a trolley full of plastic bags. The outfit today was an orange t-shirt dress and white sneakers. Simple, but she'd accessorised with her signature golden jewellery and had put a white visor around the thick hair she'd combed into a simple afro today.