Zaylie paced back and fourth outside of Fatima's room, Will stood behind her alongside her grandfather.
"Just do it go ahead buggy." Her grandfather spoke, he was in awe just seeing her face. He hated how her and Zac did things even now.
He never thought it was right to split the two girls up for life and when he found out "Zora" was actually Zaylie his heart melted.
He thought he'd never meet her, Zaylie nodded and completely opened the door, she slowly walked to her mother as Fatima sat her phone down.
"Hi lovely, come here." Fatima put her hands out as if Zaylie was a young infant waiting to be picked up by their mom.
Zaylie jumped in the bed and cuddled up to her mom, "I'm jotting down some lyrics but when I'm done you and I can go eat."
"What'd you say kiddo?" Fatima playfully poked Zaylie, "I can't mama, I have to go out of town today." Zaylie said with her head under the covers.
Fatima laughed, "And where might you be going?" She asked, "I have to go see Zora. I need to see Zora." Zaylie admitted.
Fatima smiled at her, still unaware if it was a joke or not. "And where is Zora if I can ask." Fatima went along with it.
"She's in New York City with her dad, Zachary
Taylor."
Fatima's eyes widened in shock, her mouth was slightly open. She snapped her head towards her father, he nodded and giving her a small smile.
Fatima took the covers off Zaylie's face. "You're not Zora Faith?" Zaylie stared at Fatima with fear in her eyes. "That would be correct."
Fatima gasped and smiled, tears rolling down her face."I'm Zaylie Fiorelle." Fatima put her hand over her mouth and stared at Zaylie.
"Zo and I met up at camp and we decided to switch places. I'm sorry, but I'd never seen you and I dreamt of meeting you my whole life. All I had was just one crinkled up picture. And Zora felt the exact same way about Dad, so we sort of just switched lives."
Fatima stared at her with adoration, tears still flowing from her eyes. "I hope you're not mad, because I love you so much."
"And I just hope that one day you can love me as me, and not as Zora."
Fatima opened her arms and Zaylie threw herself into them, tightly hugging each other. "Oh, lovely. I've loved you your whole life."
Fatima turned back towards Zaylie and sweetly smiled at her. "I guess you have to switch us back now." Zaylie sadly said.
Fatima took a deep breath and looked down. "Well, technically, you belong to your father and Zora belongs to me."
Zaylie sighed. "No offense, mama, but this arrangement totally sucks."
Tima giggled with teary eyes. "I agree. It totally sucks. God, you've gotten so big!" She hugged Zaylie.
"We'll fly to NYC, see Zora and your father and we'll figure this whole thing out, alright? Don't worry, I've got this." Zay nodded.
••
Fatima was tempted to drink an entire bottle of wine at that point. She had velcro rollers in her hair as she frantically paced around her room.
"I'm sorry. I can't handle this." She cried out as she walked out of her closet. "I mean, I haven't seen or heard from Zachary in over eleven years, and suddenly I'm flying halfway across the world to.."
She groaned. "I'm not mature enough for this. If the man didn't make me so crazy, I'd still be married to him!"
Will and her father, Joseph, listened quietly as they helped Fatima with her suitcase, knowing that she needed to be left alone to deal with her feelings.
"We came up with this arrangement so that we didn't have to see each other ever again!" She cried out. "Look at me, have you seen me like this?"
"Don't answer that." She began pacing once again, "What if he doesn't recognize me? I look old, don't I? Wait, don't answer that either." She groaned as she pulled the rollers out of her hair.
Zaylie giggled from the doorway, overhearing and making sure that Fatima didn't see her there. "Zaylie says that he's very handsome." Will said.
Fatima groaned once again. "He's always been handsome. He had a smile that made me go weak at the knees, if you can imagine that."
"Wait, what else did Zaylie say?"
Papa Wilson tried to contain her laughter. "That he's never remarried either and he's really playful, a bit of a dork."
"So the exact same Zachary Taylor from over a decade ago?" She whined. "I'm all set, mama." Zaylie said as she walked in.
Fatima quickly recomposed herself and smiled at Zaylie. "Yes, me too. Almost." She frowned. "Mama, your suitcase is half empty."
Fatima sighed. "Oh, right. Sorry. Zaylie, lovely , did you speak to your father?"
Zaylie looked at Will and the two locked eyes for a second, before Zaylie smiled at Fatima. "Yeah, I just hung up with him, actually. He said he's really anxious to see you." Jospeh stared at Zay.
Fatima smiled. "Anxious nervous like he's totally dreading having to see me, or anxious excited, like he's looking forward to it?"
"Anxious excited." Fatima smiled at her, "Anxious excited, a hundred percent." Fatima let out a breath of relief.
"He said he'll meet us tomorrow at noon at the Stafford Hotel in San Francisco."Fatima nervously laughed and ran her fingers through her hair.
"Tomorrow? Well, oh my, that's so incredibly soon. Well, why don't you run downstairs and gather up our tickets in my office while I finish up here?"
"You want us to go with you, right?" Will asked, making Fatima shyly nod. "I already bought both our tickets. We wouldn't let you go by yourself."
Fatima's eyes widened and she threw herself at both of them, giving them a tight hug."I love you daddy! And thanks Will always!"
