...that keeps giving

XXIV

I have a surprise for you in the media as you will notice.  I finally decided on
EFA IWARA as Abisade.

I like Efa in romantic roles. 

The foremost thought was to take a stealthy step backwards but she couldn't imagine anyone going through so much pain and she wouldn't be able to offer a form of comfort. She rustled some leaves close to her to announce her presence.

Abisade looked up at the interruption, he hurriedly wiped his tears and tried to stand up.

"You don't have to," Naomi quickly joins him on the bed of carpet grass.

"Do-you-do you need me for something?" He stuttered

"Nothing, Abisade don't worry about me for now. How are you?"

"Coping," he sniffed.

"It is okay to cry, I have seen families go through different stages of grief and I may not get it but I know it hurts."

"I didn't know it was going to hurt this much," he sniffed again.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

He shrugged.

"At first I thought, it was all a dream, all the meetings with the directors and family members sort of occupied my mind so I didn't have time to think about it. It felt as if he was on one of his numerous trips. I went through a document today that required his signature," he paused and sniffed "It dawned on me that I will never see him append his signature to any document ever again.

Driving in tonight and seeing his cars, I realized that I will never see my father in any of those again." This confession was accompanied by another bout of tears.

Naomi was helpless. "Do you want me to get Sanmi for you? It may help to discuss the way you both feel about this loss."

"I don't want him to see me like this."

"I don't like seeing you like this too to be fair."

"I didn't think you would care," he tried to smile.

Naomi moved close to him, knelt in front of him and pulled his hands. "I can be a friend if you want, I have never lost a parent so, I may not understand how you and Sanmi feel. I have tried to be strong for him and I can for you too."

"I used to think I was strong, but this hurts badly."

Naomi couldn't withstand the pain in his eyes so she moved closer and pulled him into a warm embrace. That was all he needed to break down all over again.

Abisade held on to her as tight as he could. The warmth emanating from her soothed his bleeding heart.

"You can tell me about the good memories if it will help. People never really get over the pain of losing a loved one but usually find a way to deal with it."

He sniffed and wiped his face with his forearm and stared into space as if trying to retrieve the memories.

"When we were young, every time he travelled, he brought stuff for myself and Sanmi, even when we were away in the boarding school, he sometimes called the school to tell us a bit about his journey and what he got us, what he was able to accomplish even though we did not understand. It gave me a sense of pride amongst my friends because I felt that I knew what they didn't. There are times I feel so close to him as an adult and at times so far away.

"Wow!"

"You know, when they had that meeting with me about getting married, and Mother told me that my dad was ill, I didn't think it was serious, I thought it was just a ploy to get me to do their will. I should have asked questions but I was so angry. Then when we were supposed to meet your parents and I was making excuses, when they cited my dad's health as a reason for changing the venue of the meeting, I assumed it was just to cover up."

Naomi stared at him sadly. This is the emotional side of him she has never seen before and didn't know how to act. Even though he had hurt her so many times in the past with his words and trying to be in control she couldn't help but feel sorry for him. She moved close to him and tried to pull him to herself as much as his weight could allow.

"Now he is gone. My daddy is gone." He busted into tears afresh.

She didn't know when tears streamed down her eyes and she held him to herself once again.

Abisade wrapped his arms around her this time and wept into her neck. Naomi patted his back. He felt as if she was consoling a kid who had lost his favourite pet. It would help him to let out his emotions rather than bottle it up and being close to them in the last few days, she has not seen him break down at any point.

A few minutes later, she felt the sobbing subside as he tried to rein in his leftover emotions. She put a kiss on his head closest to her and continued to pat his back. Suddenly she felt a warmness that was different from the exhaled air from her husband. Then she noticed the position of his head change as he placed kisses into the crevice of her neck

"Abisade," she called but couldn't hear his response, there were shots of fire from the contact and it was sending delightful messages to her nervous system. Even though she liked the way he made her feel, and had tried too hard in the past months to ignore how manly he would feel against her, she needed to be sure he knew who was eliciting such emotions from him

"Abi...hmmm," she moaned she couldn't complete her thoughts as the inferno seemed to be burning through the whole of her body. All she did was communicate with her body because at this point she knew her resolution and her body was speaking in parallel tongues.

He hurriedly moved his palms through her back in search of what she wasn't sure. Maybe he wanted her close, she thought to herself as she adjusted to fit into him but the wandering did not stop until she felt the zip at the back of her dress give way.

He groaned into her ears while he continued to remove everything he perceived as an obstacle.

"Are you sure you want to...?" Naomi tried again and gasped when the cold evening breeze hit her chest. It didn't take a minute for the coldness to be replaced by a warm wet tongue and then felt his warm lips close around the nipple.

At that moment, imaginary walls crumbled, resolutions destroyed, differences set aside, and time was suspended as she felt her dress pushed into a pool at her waist. Naomi took comfort in the lush green and took Abisade, a willing accomplice with her.