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Two years after the surgery, with the consent of my doctors, I stopped taking immunosuppressants. Everybody but Aiden and I were surprised at how well my body accepted Tiero’s heart. So a few months prior to the second anniversary I began weaning myself of them… slowly and step by step, always under the watchful supervision of Doctor Miller. I haven’t looked back.
Of course Claudette foresaw my body’s total acceptance of Tiero’s heart… “He’s always been part of you,”she said one day. “You don’t need medication.”
She was right… again.
And as if she sensed me thinking about her, a text message bounces in.
Claudette: Has he arrived yet?
Unsurprisingly, she anticipated that our first child would be born on this day. Well, he’s not here yet, but it’s the middle of the night, he has all day to make his grand entrance.
I was told I might never be able to have kids, and Aiden and I were prepared for that. But we shouldn’t have worried. We conceived naturally only weeks after going off contraception. The due date actually isn’t for another two weeks. But I knew all along this baby will be born today.
I wanted an all-natural birth, rejecting the C-section Doctor Miller wanted me to have. As a compromise, we agreed on an epidural to help me relax more during the labor. I believe I would have been fine, but seeing Aiden’s concerned face… what wouldn’t I do for this man?
We arrived at the hospital just after midnight, the full moon lighting up the sky for us.
I look out of the window in my birthing suite and see scattered clouds spread across the sky. They’re beautiful, especially with the way the edges are lit up… dark and light always at play.
“Look at that cloud over there,” I say to Ade, who’s sitting on the bed behind me, nuzzling his nose into my hair and playing with my wedding band on my hand. “Don’t you think it looks like a stork? Very apt for what’s happening.”
Aiden, like Rhia before him, has learned to indulge me with my cloud-stories. I slide a little to the side, looking over my shoulder to watch him. His facial expressions whenever he’s trying to make out what I see are too good to miss.
His forehead crinkles, his eyes squint. “Do you mean the one next to the moon?” he asks, his head cocking to the side like a cockatoo. His face contorts in fierce concentration, making me laugh. Sometimes I make up the silliest shapes just so I can watch exactly that.
“Yep, that’s the one.”
“It looks like one big blob to me,” he mutters, pulling me back against his chest.
One big blob… one big blob… the words remind of the ones I uttered all these years ago in Taormina, shortly before I met Tiero and this whole wild emancipating adventure began.
A lion, a princess, and a castle… it was a foreshadowing of what was about to happen.
Oh. My. God.
And all merged into one big blob… three souls unifying, feeling free by finding each other.
I was set on this path from the day I was born. The three symbolisms, the animals crossing my path, the stories in the sky… all preparing me for that day in Sicily…
Wow. Just wow.
Never could I have anticipated the turn my life took that day… or where it would lead me.
“Do you think when you and I die, our souls will reunite somehow with Tiero’s? Making us one soul again?” It’s a question I’ve asked myself many times after reading Claudette’s letter one unforgettable rainy day. Just the memory of that letter makes me shudder.
“I’m not sure,” Ade replies. “The universe is expanding. There seem to be more and more people on this earth. Everything is evolving. I’m not sure anything ever goes back to its original state. Perhaps our souls will remain as they are now, always having this connection that makes us seek each other out and recognize each other the moment we meet. I’d like to believe that. It’s comforting to think I’ll find you again in another lifetime.”
“For me too,” I say and then add, “I hope we’ll have a smoother ride.”
“We learned our life lessons… hopefully. That should help. Maybe Tiero and I will share you next time. That ought to be more pleasant than having a gun pointed at my head.”
Hmm, can’t say I mind that idea. Tiero and Aiden worshipping me at the same time? Yes, please!
My glance drifts out the window again, hoping to see a cloud story that tells me just that. But the cloud has floated away, leaving a clear moonlit sky. Does that mean smooth sailing from here on? Or perhaps the future is up to us?
A groan comes from behind me, bringing my attention back to Ade. “I shouldn’t have texted Gary that you’re in the hospital. He’s going to text every half hour now, wanting a progress report,” Ade says.
Gary has become a second dad to me, and he’s beyond thrilled to become a grandfather for the first time… just like Da would have been. He asked if he could kind of adopt me after the operation, and I kind of said okay.
