Her Soldier

Chapter 11

"What do you think, mummy?" I asked her as I showed her where I wanted us to go bungee jumping. Zack will be arriving in less than three days and I honestly can't wait. I'm so damn excited and I don't know what to do with myself because time is moving so fast.

My mother simply glanced at my phone before she gave me a look that screamed "you must take me for a fool". "Do you expect me to go there and jump off that bridge? You must be crazy," she scoffed as she laughed to herself like I was completely delirious even thinking of asking her to join me.

I laughed, throwing my head back because my mother refuses to do anything that involves not being on the ground. Well, except going on an airplane, that's the only thing she does. Other than that, sky diving, bungee jumping, it's all things she doesn't even want to dream of doing, "you need to do something that takes you out of your comfort zone mama," I tried to appeal to her but I knew it was futile.

Her phone vibrated and she looked down at it before a huge smile took over her face, "what's got you smiling so hard?" I asked her with a small smile, wondering what joke she was reading about or what meme she was looking at.

She didn't respond, she seemed too dragged into her phone and whatever was on it as she quickly began to type a response, "mama?" she still didn't answer, in fact she seemed to be lost in thought as she looked at her phone, "mama?"

She looked up suddenly like she hadn't heard me, "huh? Sorry, what were you saying?"

"Uhm, I asked what's got you smiling so hard?" I giggled, tilting my head, "share the joke," I encouraged and she didn't exactly react the way that I had expected her to. I expected her to at least smile at my comment or roll her eyes and continue with what we were talking about but instead she put her phone down.

"Baby, why don't you put your phone down for a bit?" she suggested with a soft voice and I put my phone down, adjusting myself on her bed because we were sitting in her big and beautiful bedroom.

Unlike my bedroom, her bedroom was anything but simple and basic. She made sure she turned her bedroom into her little heaven.

When we bought the house, it had five bedrooms, and since it was just the two of us, she decided to join two bedrooms into one to make one massive master bedroom with a dream worthy walk in closet and master bathroom. She spared no expense when it came to her bedroom because she called it her safe space.

She had wanted to do the same for my moderately sized bedroom and was more than willing to convert the other two bedrooms into a bigger bedroom for me but I didn't think it was such a big deal, so I let her use them as spare bedrooms. 

We were sitting all snuggled up under bed covers and blankets because it was raining outside. We did this whenever she had any free time and we had nothing better to do. Breakfast and snacks in bed as we looked at the massive TV in her bedroom and watched Nigerian movies of jealous lovers, gold diggers and witches.

"What's wrong?" I asked her, noticing the serious yet delicate and worried look on her face and the nervous gleam in her eye, "is something wrong?" I further asked her.

"Baby," she paused taking my left hand into both of her hands as she held it tightly, "I just want you to know that," she paused, "I love you more than anything in this world. You know that, right? You know that I would do anything for you?" I nodded my head, I had no doubt about it, "you'll always come first in my life, Duduzile, no matter what. You'll always come first, because you're all that I have left. You are my life," she looked into my eyes deeply like she couldn't stress it enough, "do you understand that?" she asked me strongly and I nodded my head.

"You're scaring me, mama..." I said shakily. I hope she doesn't have some fatal sickness.

She smiled, "don't be scared," she told me before she took in a deep breath and let it out, "it's just that, there's something that I need to tell you..." she trailed off and I let her grip tightly onto my hand. 

"What is it, mama?" I managed to let out a weak smile as my heart raced in my chest.

She took in another deep breath, "Duduzile..." a smile began to grow on her face as she paused, "I'm in love."

"..."

"I'm in love with the most wonderful, caring and patient man," I watched as her eyes practically glistened as she began to talk, "baby you don't understand how this man makes me feel. Just when I had given up on love and just when I thought I would never let any man come in," she closed her eyes almost to be in bliss as she seemed to get slipped into her own world, "he comes along and he treats me so good," she let out in a passionate whisper like the simple thought of him brought back memories.

She opened her eyes and looked at me, "I kept keeping him out and pushing him away. God knows how hard this man fought to come into my life and I just..." she locked our fingers together in a tight hold, "Dudu, this man has fixed every broken piece in me," she whispered with conviction like she couldn't believe someone had the ability to do that, "this man has put all of the broken pieces together and made me whole again. I love this man, Dudu. I love him so much, that I'm telling you about him."

"Oh," I let out in a whisper, I didn't know what to say. The last time my mother had been with a man, it was my father and well, we know how that turned out. I don't want to say I don't trust her taste in men because my own father was an asshole, but I've never seen her like this. I've never seen her speak like this about someone, "I...oh..." I didn't know how to feel. She's in a relationship? For how long? She seems so happy... I don't want her to get her heart broken.

I never thought my own mother would fall in love.

She looked down at our hands sadly before she looked up and placed her hand on my cheek, cupping it with a certain delicateness I've never felt before, "how do you feel about that?" she asked me.

"I don't know," I answered honestly, "have I met him before?" I asked her and she shook her head.

"I didn't want him anywhere near you. I wanted to keep you safe." I saw the sad look in her eyes. She thought I wasn't happy for her, "your approval means everything to me, Dudu."

I didn't want her to be alone I wanted her to be in love but... her being in love is so strange. This explains why she goes out Saturday nights and Friday nights all in beautiful dresses and fancy shoes, and she makes sure that she looks extra pretty. How did I not see this coming?

"He makes you happy?" I asked her numbly and she nodded her head, a small smile on the corner of her lips.

I couldn't seem to find my voice. I didn't want to lie to her because I didn't know how I felt about this but if there's anyone who deserves to be loved it's my mother, "I'm glad that you found someone who makes you happy, mama," I told her honestly as I smiled at her and I saw her nervous expression change completely into a happy one before she hugged me.

"That makes me so happy to hear!" she gushed, "Oh this is big. Do you want to meet him?" my mother asked me and I nodded my head even though I wanted to say no. My mother has done more than enough for me. The least I could do is be happy for her and the fact that she's found someone.

"Thank you, baby" she said as she kissed me on my cheek and sat back on the bed, looking at me like I was her entire world, "this means everything to me..."

"I love you, mama," I told her honestly as she pulled me in for a hug. 

We knew why this was an emotional moment for us. All of these years, she had been holding on to my father and even though he had been so terrible to her and myself, she had given her all to him. It took time for her to be herself again, in fact, she had to find herself. 

And the fact that she now had someone after all of this time meant only one thing: she had moved on.