When morning came, sunlight leaked through the curtains, soft and gold, gentle in a way my chest wasn’t. The boys were still tangled around me, breathing deep, unaware that the shape of their world had just shifted again in the night.
Ahmir wasn’t there but his absence… was. Heavy. Real. Loud in a room that was otherwise quiet.
On the pillow beside me sat an envelope. Cream. Unremarkable. My name written across the front in his hand. IMANI.. I stared at it until my vision blurred, then touched the edge like it might shatter. Like I might. I slid a finger under the seal, opened it and read.
Once silently, then again—slower—because some words need to cut you open completely before they can settle anywhere.
Imani,
I have loved nothing in this world the way I love you. Not power. Not lega
