Something New

Epilogue

Fred

"Zion. Down. Now." I amble past Dayo, reaching out a hand to ruffle his hair as he keeps the youngest in check. The twenty-four-year-old ducks without even looking. "Gotta be quicker, Dad." His deep voice says. I chuckle to myself.

"Give your old man a break."

He scratches at his beard, grinning and patting my back roughly. Zion, our eleven-year-old hops over to his big brother, grinning at him with two teeth missing. He hugs Dayo tightly, quite a bit shorter. Dayo ruffles his hair lovingly and Zion just melts. He's always loved physical touch since he was a baby. With being the youngest, and the smallest, all of his other siblings are protective of him.

"Is Feranmi coming over? Is that why you're getting the house in order?" I ask and Dayo falls silent, his hand stopping. He blinks and then looks at me with a straight face.

"Huh?"

I look back at him and watch as his cheeks take on a slight red hue, even under his medium complexion.

"Because of Feranmi, right?" That's Joe and Grace's first baby together. She's twenty now and is all grown up. She would always toddle after Dayo when she was younger and he loved her, thinking she was the cutest thing. They stayed joined at the hip even with their four year age difference—we all know they'll come together eventually. And yet, Dayo still seems oblivious to this, even though he talks to her like no other woman. He treats her special and she responds to him like no other man. She reacts like she knows she's special to him.

But I can see the obliviousness is beginning to wane.

Feranmi takes after her sister Nova, but with the occasional cool head of her older brother Ty as well. She's chill, but can be odd and is just as endearing. She's got a sharp tongue and it causes her and Dayo to banter like Joe and Grace.

"What?" Dayo questions.

"What?" Come his sisters. The twins come into the living room, sneering playfully as they stop beside me. Taiwo and Kehinde are inseparable. They look like complete opposites with one being into martial arts and the other being into mathematics. Somehow, just by looking at them, you can obviously guess who does what. They both sport sisterlocks, though at two completely different lengths. One is a minimalist, loving plain but cute skirts and dresses, while the other sports jeans or jeggings constantly, due to practicality.

"Yo. Knock it off," Dayo says and they look at one another before rolling their eyes. At twenty, they're just a few months younger than Feranmi.

"Excuse me please," comes the softest of voices. Just like her mother, Layo gently floats into the living room, capturing everyone's attention with her strong and gentle presence. She's turning eighteen in two months and the young woman is a jack of all trades. She plants herself in the space, but keeps herself apart as she does her own thing.

Zion stares at her before scurrying away from Dayo and to Layo. She welcomes him quietly and he cuddles into her arms in content. The two are close in a different way from everyone else. You'll typically find them near one another, but not talking. Even though Zion can be a chatterbox, he seems to prefer silence in Layo's presence.

Layo is the same age as Tosin, Feranmi's little brother. The two are also good friends, but things are completely platonic and we know that's how it will stay.

The twins hop on the same couch as their younger siblings, chilling with them. Dayo meanders toward them before plopping himself on the ground. The largest and the oldest, he guards them all. He's always been protective of his siblings.

I step towards them and open my mouth to ask a question, but they all interrupt me.

"Mom's outside." They say, already knowing. I grin and kiss all of their heads before heading to our porch. My heart warms with delight as I see the beautiful woman that waits for me. I shut the front door and head to her. Her back faces me, but she turns where she lounges on our wooden bench, a smile already on her face.

"You found me," she says.

"I had some help from our kids," I respond, bending to kiss her forehead. She hums. "I'd find you anyways though."

"You always know where I am. I don't know why you always ask them."

"I want them to know that no matter how much time passes, I'm still earnestly looking for my darlin'. I'll always look for you." I straighten up and she gazes at me in silence. She finally reaches for me and I pick her up, switching our spots as I sit down and place her on my lap.

We exchange kisses and they get a bit languid, drawing out before she pulls away, running a hand along the back of my neck. A beautiful silence envelopes us, only interspersed with the sounds of the little creatures that buzz about.

I skim my fingers along my woman's arm as she reclines back, seated in my lap with her back resting against the cushioned arm of the wooden bench we worked on together. I built it and she painted it. And each one of our kids put their handprints on it. My darling sewed cushions to tie on during the warm days so we can sit out here comfortably. Now we enjoy the fruits of our labor together. And I'm speaking about the couch and our marriage.

"How did we start?" she asks languidly, her eyes shut. Her coily hair frames her face in the afro she has it in. She's dolled up a bit with her dress and earrings. She's got nowhere to go, but she does it to feel perked up for the day. I'm fine with that, but she knows I'm just as fine if she's wearing one of those old nightgowns she has, or in her birthday suit.

"You were always passing me by," I hold Kemi's hand and with my other one, I use my finger to trace her facial features. I love every one of them.

I gently go over her brows then go to her cheeks that are a lovely rounded shape. I move onto her cheekbones, which sit a bit high. My finger trails down to her jaw and her lips as they curve up in a smile.

"But to be fair, I passed you by as well, darlin'." Her eyes open at my words and my thumb takes my finger's place as I run it under her bottom lip. They're glossed and full. My darling's expression is serene as she gazes up at me.

I know her mind is traveling down memory lane as she thinks about how far we've come, and how amazing it is that we revolved around one another's world for over a decade...yet we didn't get together until much later. I used to regret that. That's ten less years I get to spend with her. That's just not right.

But regardless of what I feel, I know that in that decade, there were likely things that happened, and were allowed to happen, for a betterment. So while it's still not my preference, I'm at peace with it.

I'm just amazed that my younger self never thought to know this wonderful woman better even just two years sooner.

Memories flood my mind and tears spring up.

"Kemi," I say, cupping her face with my hand. She smiles, sitting up and covering my hand with her own.

"Fred," she says my name tenderly and for that alone, I feel my heart swell with a love that's beyond me. It's a love I never wanted to partake in again after I lost my previous wife at 24. I was so young and we had only just gotten started. It hit me and I closed myself off. It's been five decades since then. The Lord did so much healing.

But not just for me.

Even through her smile of gratitude that causes her to glow, a tear escapes from Kemi's eye. My love has been through it as well. Her ex-husband was a devil to her.

But we're here now. It's by His grace and due to His blessing. I don't take Kemi for granted at all, and neither does she, I.

The way we met, and the way we began, is all part of a story that is beyond us and I like to think back on it often. I like to think back on how the Lord made something new out of something broken.