‘I’m sorry.’ Ife says to her children. Talking with Tristan wore her out, but it was talk that needed to be had. Talking to their children, however, is harder; they did not deserve what she put them through, any of it. She should not have laid her burdens at their feet in the way she did and then run off like a coward; they deserve better, especially from their mother.
‘We went to The Hope, to the church.’ Astor says, she is still nervy from the whole ordeal.
‘You did? All of you?’
‘We had to do something instead of sitting around reading the articles and comment sections.’
‘Blythe is now a fan of yours, by the way. She wrote a rather glowing piece about you as a follow up because of all the hate you were receiving on her previous article.’
Ife groaned, dreading the press fiasco that awaits her back home, but that is worry for another day. ‘So, I take it you met your grandmama, Maya.’
‘We did.’
‘How mad is she at me?’
‘I think giving her two grandchildren went some way into easing that.’
‘That mad huh?’
‘Mum…’ Zachary reaches for his mother’s hand, ‘it’s going to be alright.’
Astor put an arm around her, ‘at first, we were mad at you, at the way you dropped this on us, then dad told us his side of the story, then Aunt Relly, uncle Jacob and Aunt Zainab came over and talked to us and thinking of the sacrifice everyone was willing to make, the sacrifices you’d made. Granny told us about her and Granny Josephine. Everything they did to you, especially how they manipulated you. Daddy not being with the person he loves but having to see him every day with you, and you being reminded of the love of your life with the two of us. Grandpa and his evilness…I think we deserve some peace in our family, and we want to be the ones to bring it.’
Ife cannot find the words to say in gratitude to her children, so the tears fall, and she let them.
‘Oh mummy.’ Zoya reaches out to hug her mother hard, letting her know she will always be loved by them. She loves them fiercely, is the best mother anyone on the planet can ask for, and she is all theirs; there will never be a trade. She raised them to be fearless and kind, loving and generous, theirs was the home their friends wanted to visit over the holidays, the sleepovers growing up as children, the vortex that brings everyone in and it was all because of her. Her fierce, brave and kind to a fault mother. The love Zoya feels in this moment for her mother will never be understood or shaken by anyone. They grew up in the biggest house in the county and children who grow up in such big houses are not meant to be happy, but they were, their lives were meant to be cautionary tales but theirs is a live well lived; a rich tapestry of love, and goodness. Everyday was filled with much joy, they were brave because of her, curious because she taught them to be, kind because of her innate kindness to one and all, fiercely loving and protective of one another because of their parents. Ife the intelligent and wild one, and Tristan the kindhearted and cool one; their parents. And now they will gain another who by all accounts is a hell of a person. They got all the luck when God was dishing this out, in her opinion.
One by one they children pile in on the hug and Tristan too; it is always how they hug each other, something that started when they were children; whenever one cried, the other twin would hug them, and then the other set would join in, then their parents, and it has become a family thing. The family they are in this moment, is the family they will always be. Forever. Tristan will always be the father they know, he will always be in their lives because of the love they share for each other, and Ife did love him, loves the man he is today, loves him more for the hell he’d been through when he should never have. She is glad she walked into the church that day and said yes to everything instead of running off to be with the man who dropped her off some thirty minutes before.
‘So, what do you think about Hendrix?’ Ife asks the children. The tears were shed and are still being shed but she reckons they will be alright.
‘He’s pretty cool. Did you know he’s a math genius despite him being dyslexic? And he says you helped perfect the taste of his best-selling whisky, Love.’
Ife shakes her head. ‘I only had a bit part in that. His was the formular and mixture.’
‘Well, we know he is in love with you and if anything were to happen between you two, we’ll be fine with it.’ Arthur says.
Ife palms her son’s cheek in her hands, more tears falling. She hasn’t done anything to deserve the unconditional love they have given her and for that she will always be thankful.