AllFreeNovel
Share Us
His silence was followed by, “If you didn’t think it was bad, then you wouldn’t be on my line.”
He was right.
“My head is all over the place, man. I’m just trying to center myself.”
“How bad do you want this thing with Nature, Milo?”
“Man, for real, for real. As much as I do the next breath of air.”
“You’re my brother, I love you, and I’ll always keep shit one hundred with you.”
“I know.”
“You don’t want it bad enough.”
“What you mean?”
“Your heart does but you’re so programmed to disconnect mentally from a situation to avoid some shit that you don’t understand or can’t change, due to a past that is not at all your fault, that you don’t recognize your self-sabotaging actions.
“Just like you were all those years ago when you called me from campus, face full of tears, admitting that you’d reached a point of no return with Nature and couldn’t fathom loving her beyond that point because it would be the death of you both, you’re terrified.
“That fear led you to sabotage a relationship and lose a woman that birthed a love so fucking profound in you that you’d never be able to recover from it. Never, bro. She planted something within you that can only survive by constant watering. Not from just anyone, but from her. That hasn’t changed.
“She’s your solution to a fruitful life but you’re so fucking scared, bro. You’re so scared that one day you’ll become the person you’ve been studying since a teenager. You’re not her, Milo. You’ll never be her. And if you ever fell sick like her, your fate doesn’t have to be hers. You can let go of that.
“Listen to me, bro. Let that shit go. I’m giving you permission. I’m begging you. Let it go. If you don’t, you’ll wake up in old age with your mind intact, wishing you’d lost your shit because it would make your loneliness make sense. Make it feel a little less pointless. I’ve felt that fear. It stiffens you. It paralyzes you. I thought the greatest part of my existence left me, giving me no reason to continue life.
“But then, Aeir picked my shit up and turned it all the way around. That’s the power of love. That’s the power of a woman. A woman is the strongest creature ever produced. Nothing tops that creation. God did His big shit, bro. Aeir came in, rummaged through the debris and helped me locate parts of me I’d long ago forgotten. She lifted me. She lit me, refusing to leave me in the darkness. She healed me.
“There isn’t a person on this planet I think is capable of what my wife is capable of. She carries the weight, graciously. The magnitude of her influence in my world is just… unimaginable, Milo. I run to her. I cling to her. She is my altar. There’s nothing she can’t handle when it comes to me. Her strength is intangible.
“I’ll never be able to duplicate it. The thing is, she’s not the only woman with those strengths. Nature, I wholeheartedly believe is capable of loving your stupid ass right through that fear if you’d just give it to her, holding nothing back. She’s your altar, Milo.
“Stop running from the inevitable, nigga. Lock it in and make me your best man. I look better in suits than them other niggas.” He chuckled to lighten the load he’d just laid on me.
“Uh hmm.”
Preoccupied, I hadn’t noticed Nature approaching. She was as pretty as the last time I’d seen her. The dress she wore had her belly on full display. Without a doubt, I knew that our son wouldn’t last another two weeks inside the womb. He was ready, and by the look on Nature’s face, she was ready as well.
“Malachi, I’ll hit you back in a few.”
“Tell Nature I said hello.”
“How’d you ev—”
“Tell her I said hello.”
“Malachi says hello.”
“Hello, Malachi.”
“Alright, big bro. Love.”
“One.”
I ended the call, still leaning against the hood of Nature’s ride.
“Hi.”
