CONCEIVED IN DARKNESS

Chapter 20

The repeated ring of the door bell sent Claire, who was doing the laundry running for the door. It was long overdue as she had been postponing it for sometime now. Her father, two days ago had gone to the Canadian embassy after they received an email that their response was ready.

She opened the door but not before checking through the tiny hole to see who it was.

They prayed and fasted as a family for three days for their visa to come through and still in faith kept pushing on. They all wanted to relocate and lo and behold the person at the door was her father in the flesh. He had returned.

Claire had called him earlier to find out about the letter, ask if they were given the visa or not but he had simply responded over the phone "just wait for till I come home."

"nothing more?" Her mother had asked her perplexed when she told her.

"yes mum, nothing more" Claire had replied while walking away briskly to seat on the couch.

Here he was now, in the flesh holding an envelope on one hand and his hand luggage on the other. They had been worried sick and almost concluded it was bad news but still they waited before jumping into conclusions.

"welcome back dad" Claire said hugging her father whilst ignoring the envelope he was holding so tight on his left hand.

"Hey darling, I missed you." He replied with a wide grin.

Laughing she responded "It was just two days, dad."

"I know" relaxing himself, he tickled her "still, I missed you."

"Who's at the door Claire?" Claire's mum yelled from the kitchen.

"Dad."

"ohh" she said quickly wiping her hands with a kitchen napkin and hurriedly walking to the living room where Claire and her father were.

"Hey honey" she said as she rushed towards her husband and placed a brief kiss on his lips.

"Wow, I've never seen you so happy to see me like this in a long time" he said dryly.

Eyes rolling, she smirked "what's it? she asked hopefully.

"why don't you find out" he replied handing her the envelope.

"Okay," she said hesitatingly.

"C'mon now, take it."

"now you are scaring me honey"

Mr. Rice kept a straight face the whole time he spoke "just open it already." He answered her starting to turn around.

Slowly she collected and opened the envelope, Claire beside her and brought out the paper in it and scanned through.

"OMG! What! We got the visa, we did." She screamed.

"I know that" Mr. Rice said folding his arms and smiling.

"Jesus, thank you Jesus. oh wow! I can't believe this. You had me scared there for a minute."

"Haha, gotcha. You are not the only one good at pranking." Mr Rice said laughing hard.

"Wow, this is great news. I am so excited. Oosh! It's for real" Claire said in their midst.

They hugged one another as a family and sang praises unto the Lord.

"Time for lunch" Mrs Rice said after.

The round table discussion during lunch at the Rice was quite interesting. The menu was something more continental than traditional. Spaghetti Bolognese and chicken sauce.

"we make a good team mum." Claire told her mum as they served the dish. Mr. Rice usually enjoyed his meals, one of the things, he always looked forward coming home to.

Halfway in their meal, Claire sipped her glass of carrot beetroot juice and started the conversation "Dad and mum, your wedding anniversary is in 13 days you know?

"So?" Her dad questioned.

"Err, parry things now, I've got to slay. You know naturally Augustans are slayers, it is in the blood" she chuckled.

"oh so you say my dear, whatever makes you happy" Her mum added.

"It's the best month, and both of you are so lucky to have wedded in August."

"What makes August so special?" her mum asked.

"Ehh dear, you are looking for an epistle oh." Her father grumbled.

Adanna laughed hard "The weather, the beautiful and talented people and their skills, M.J, warren buffet, etc are proof, my recent crush of course .... There's just something unique about the eight month. You know it, I know it and we can't deny it" She simpered and laughed again as she replied her mother, not long after they went to bed to prepare for tomorrow's service.

The car refused to start the next day when they were all ready for church, beautifully dressed in their elegant attires. Mr. Rice always had an eye for classy and expensive things. It was always evident in all his outfit. It rained heavily the night before and there was no fuel in their second car. They were all about to go back inside and stream online when Claire suggested they order an Uber.

" err, why worry when you've got Uber. let me request now." She told them and in eight minutes and fifteen seconds, their Uber ride arrived and off they went to church.

When they got back from church, they had a family meeting headed by the father of the house.

" we need to start preparing for our departure." He said with so much optimism and then continued "I think ending of November will be best to go."

" err, true, by then our organization's have enough prior notice and we would have all made the necessary preparations" Mrs. Rice added.

"Its too early now, we only just got the visa yesterday." Claire said. There was a wash of sadness when the realization of them leaving the country hit Claire as the discussion continued. Her best friend was somewhere that she didn't know and she might not be here to see her off.

Her parents noticing her withdrawal as she didn't respond or seem excited, prodded.

"Where is this coming from? You have been planning this since.

Claire sighed.

"What is it dear, are you okay?" Her father asked.

"Yes dad, I'm just sad. Adanna isn't here to share this good news with us and I don't want to leave without saying goodbye to her. I don't even know if she's still alive."

"c'mon now, she is. Don't ever think negative." Her mother quickly cut in stretching out her hands towards her.

"It's okay, we are praying for her. She's safe and God will bring her back safely."

"But then, is it just me or her mother doesn't seem too interested in finding out her daughter's whereabouts" Claire asked accusingly.

"Hmmm" was the response she got from her mother and then a brief silence. "You can't say that. A good mother always cares about their children, no matter their differences."

That ended the conversation as they all left to do other things.

The next few minutes before bedtime, Claire took a trip down memory lane about her best friend and all their memories together most especially their 'gist sessions'. Nothing could beat them. They were pure bliss and she missed them and her greatly.

Hey guys, its been too long but you have always been in my heart. 

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God bless you all.