(Phoenix POV)
When I woke up from what felt like a deep slumber, I was utterly weak and at first I couldn’t recognize where I was until a few minutes later and I realized that I was in a hospital room and canvasing my environment, I saw Sterling sleeping in an awkward position and it took me a whole deal of effort to get him to wake up and he was stunned to see me awake.
After the doctors were done attending to me for the time being, I had to ask a very important question because when I touched my stomach, it was no longer as big as it was when I left home to the mall. I was satisfied by the doctor’s response and I couldn’t wait to see her but why did the doctor ask me such questions and why couldn’t I remember anything?
And that much talking made my throat hurt and now I remember that I could have asked for water instead of asking questions. I turned to Sterling who was already staring at me and as much as I wanted to blush, the bandage on my head was stopping me.
What on earth did I get myself involved to sustain this degree of injuries?
I sighed before asking, “Hey babe, can I get a class of water? My throat hurts a lot,” I gestured towards the water glass of water I saw on the bedside table.
After gulping down the water, I felt rejuvenated and refresh.
“Are you okay now? Do you feel uncomfortable?” Sterling asked, looking at me with concern written all over his face. I noticed the dark circles under his eyes and with the way he looked, he probably unkempt in a way and it pained me.
I shook my head to get rid of the thoughts before answering him, “No, I am okay now, thanks but you look terrible, you haven’t been getting enough sleep, have you?” looking at him, I knew that he wouldn’t lie to me, not directly.
Sterling smiled at me as though it was a reassurance of some sort or if his smile was supposed to make me feel better, “I will be fine, as long as you are awake now,”
“I’d like that very much. Have you seen here yet? What does she look like?” I said, giggling lightly at him.
After I asked him the question, he had this dreamy look on his face and I knew that he was going to spoil this kid silly, “She is just as surreal as her mother, her perfect skin and eyes; you’ll love her when you see her,” he replied still with the dreamy look and I sighed inwardly—this baby already has her tiny fingers wrapped around him already.
I sighed dramatically but was still elated, “Hmmm, I can’t wait to see her but I’d like to ask a question,”
“Go ahead,”
Confusion laced my face and I tried recalling everything that led up to that moment but couldn’t and probably he would know so I had to ask rather than staying in the dark, “How did I get here?”
Ruffling his heard before replying, “About that,” he moved closer to me and held my hands, ”I think it’s great that you don’t remember it. I know that it’s selfish of me but I don’t want you to remember that part but guess what?”
Well, he won’t talk but I will find out one way or another, “What is it?”
He became hesitant but he still spoke up, “I have someone that I’d like you to meet. She’s been waiting to meet you for weeks now while you were in a coma but couldn’t and thankfully, she was already here when you woke up,” then looked at me as though he was expecting some sort of reaction from me.
Whoever this person was, I was intrigued to know who she was, “Oh, okay..who is she? Is she someone I know?”
“No, she is not someone you know but I am sure you’ll love her when you get to know her,” was his reply before he stood up.
I shrugged, “Okay then, let her in,” I said calmly to him “I’m sure that she poses no threat whatsoever,”
I watched him go to the door, opened it and beckoned on someone to come in and after that, a woman walked in his shadows until they both got to my bed before she came into the light.
Hmmm, it was weird that she had my kind of eyes, I thought I was the only one who had it since it was rare and she had my skin type too. I looked at her closely and then at Sterling before blurting out the next words, “Am I supposed to know her?”
“I am just going to let you both talk,” he replied and walked out and after he did, I looked at the woman before offering her a seat.
*******************
“Please, have a sit,” I gestured lightly to the seat that Sterling occupied while he was with me.
“Thank you,” she said before seating.
“So, I find you intriguing partly because Sterling said so and partly because you have my kind of eyes which I know is genetic. So, are you my relative because the last time I checked, I didn’t have one,” I smiled briefly at her. She stared at me with those big emerald eyes with gold rings around them and it felt as if I was looking at myself.
“You could say that. I just came into the country after so long but I have been keeping tabs on you,” she said, with what looks like tears clouding her eyes.
“Oh, that’s okay but if you have been keeping tabs on me, why didn’t you ever reach out?”
“Because I wasn’t in a position to do so,”
“Okay then who exactly are you as my relative?”
“I am your mother,”
“Eh?”
Mother? Was this woman delusional? The private investigator I hired didn’t find any trace of her so I couldn’t exactly conclude if my mother was dead or alive. I looked at her like she just grew a horn.
“I’m sorry, my mother?”
“Yes and I am not lying, even Sterling can attest to that,”
“Well, dear mother, where have you been since I was eight?” from confused to being angry, I couldn’t hide it and it showed through the way I spoke to her.
“After the divorce, I stuck around in some of our neighbor’s homes and watched you from a distance. You father had already filed a restraining order against me and he won. I watched over you but never notice anything fishy, so I decided that rather than moping around, I’d help you by starting over at another place and then something from what I earned through one of our neighbors. Things changed for the worse when I got to Haiti. The people I worked for were really mean and dangerous but I couldn’t leave because there weren’t so many jobs around and I needed to survive. I had been slaving my years there and just some months back, I decided that it was enough, then one day, I snuck out of the house and booked a flight ticket with the little money I had saved. While there, I watched you and I am so proud of you, taking the bull by the horn and achieving all these feats. I couldn’t help you then but I can now and I hope that you can let me do that now,” tears welled down her eyes as she spoke and I couldn’t even utter a word. I just watched her dumbfounded until I felt her hands on mine and they felt so hard and rough and it got me wondering what exactly she did over in Haiti.
I took her hands in mine and felt it and tears welled down my eyes. She too had her own fair share of life like I did. We both endured suffering for years.
“Mom?” I called out to her. Now, I had a mother?
“Yes, baby, it’s mama; mama is here now and she won’t leave, not unless you want her to,” she sniffled while laughing and crying at the same time and then she felt my face and wiped the tears away “It is okay now, baby, don’t cry,”
“I missed you so much! I always wanted you to take me with you and I wondered why you didn’t take me with you when you; I figured you didn’t want me as much as I did,” I cried so hard because of all the pent of pain of that part of my life, “I even tried searching for you some months back but I couldn’t find a trace,” I sniffled and then looked at her and I was relieved.
“Oh, baby”
“Please don’t leave me again, ma,” I looked at her desperately. I wasn’t about to lose her again after I just got her.
“No, I won’t, I promise,”
I laughed lightly and stared at her for a long time in a very comfortable silence; each one of us filling in the space that distance and years had caused, the pain that it caused but that moment was short-lived when a knock on the door brought us out of that moment but I held her hands either way, not minding the tears.
“Come in,” I said to whoever it was at the door.
“Hey babe, the doctor is here,” Sterling said, as he walked over to where I saw and placed a kiss on my forehead before standing beside me.
“Dr. Hailey, is there a problem?” I asked “Are the test results out yet? What’s the problem?”
“Well, Miss Mills, the test carried out on your brain shows that you are suffering from partial amnesia and this is caused by the fatal blow you had to you head but with time, your memories will return back, so there’s no need to fear,” Dr. Hailey said, looking at me with a small smile on her face.
“Thank God but what about my legs? Will I ever be able to walk again?”
“Yes, you will but for now, you’ll make use of the wheelchair for easy movements, so that you won’t stress your leg and you will have to be coming here for check-ups after being discharged,”
“And when will that be?”
“Two weeks’ time, depending on your recovery process but in a few days’ time, you can see your baby?
“Baby?” I heard my mum ask questioningly and I realized that there was a lot that she didn’t know.