Fortitude

25-Falling

Moyo wa kupenda hauna mithili.
(A loving heart has no equal)

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Taji

"You said your name was Taji right?" Raziya's mum asked.

"Yeah. Thank you for allowing us to meet in here. You have a really lovely home," I said with my best perfect son in law tone. She had a really easy going aura. She seemed like the kind of woman you can sit with and talk and laugh all day long on a bench in the backyard on a nice sunny day. I honestly wondered why I was so tensed up the first time I met Raz's parents.

"You're just being nice. I'm just glad to see that my girl is doing something different for once," she said as she laughed.

Should I ask?

"I probably shouldn't have said that. But it's true. All she ever does is read and work. When she's not doing the two, she's in someone's hair about mishandling her things. It's a great thing, to have such a cultured daughter, but I needed her to have some fun you know. I think that's why I like her blue haired friend so much. She's been taking her out of her comfort zone of late. I know I'm overstepping a line here and she'd probably burry me alive if she ever heard me say this. I don't really know you that well, but my spirit has a good feeling about whatever it is the two of you have. I'm not insinuating anything, but even if she's just a friend, you seem like one she'd have for life."

Oh wow.

"Anyway, I'm done being a motherly mother, now get out of my house," she said as she playfully pushed me out.

Raziya walked up to us as we laughed at the little scene her mum pulled off. She let out a nervous chuckle, trying her best to hide a blush. She'd been blushing quite a lot around me. If she was lighter, her face would always be red. It was a cocky thought but it made me feel more confident about whatever it was that we were doing. She walked me to my car, pleading with me to tell her what her mum and I were discussing.

"We were negotiating the number of cows I'd bring for bride price," I told her with a smirk.

"You want to marry my sister?" She asked leaning back with her palm on her chest, acting shocked.

I laughed out loud since I honestly wasn't expecting that. "I'm quite sure that isn't even legal strawberry."

"She'll be eighteen in a few months so we can push the wedding if you like."

"At least I have more time to look for more cows." We just laughed at our silly conversation for quite a while before her mother popped her head out of the gate. She gave us the I'm watching you two stare then left. That just made us laugh even more.

"I have to go, you working tomorrow?" I asked. I honestly didn't know why I did but the silence that followed her shocked reaction gave me enough time to think through it.

"Uhm, no, why?" She asked then started chewing on her bottom lip.

"Second date?"

"Was there a first?" She asked regaining her composure.

"Come on, let's just call it as it is," I said with a chuckle.