CHAPTER 21

ZARIA

 

And if nothing was hidden anymore…

I cleared my throat. “Thomas, you are right. I am pregnant so yeah. The cat is finally out of the bag.”

Mama Li’s hand moved fast, coming down on the table with a flat sound.

“Enough,” she said harshly. “Zaria, don’t say another word. We talk later alone.”

Thomas opened his mouth, already ready to argue, but Mama Li turned on him immediately.

“This is not your business,” she snapped. “You poke nose everywhere like a chicken. Always scratching the ground for gossip.”

“Not gossip,” Thomas protested. “I observe.”

“You observe too much,” she shot back. “Zaria, we talk alone.”

I lifted my head. “No,”

Both of them looked at me.

Mama Li frowned. “Zaria—”

“If Thomas has no business,” I continued, “then why is he here for breakfast?”

Thomas blinked.

She paused.

I kept going before she could stop me. “And I know what he means to you, I am not blind,” I added, looking directly at Mama Li now. “You don’t let just anyone sit at this table in the morning. So if I can trust you… Mama Li then Thomas is okay.”

Thomas swallowed loudly. Then grinned. It was the warmest smile that had no business on his wrinkled face. His tensed shoulders relaxed.

“Aiya,” he said, shaking his head. “This girl talks like adultalready.”

Mama Li exhaled slowly, like she’d been holding her breath without realizing it.

“Fine,” she said. “But you listen more than you talk and no foolishness.”

Thomas leaned back in his chair, folding his hands over his stomach. “Okay. Then you start from beginning,”

I took a breath.

“I’ll start from when I left,” I said, glancing at Mama Li. “I was stupid. I thought being sixteen made me grow. I thought I could do everything on my own.”

Thomas clicked his tongue. Mama Li just watched me, her face unreadable. I knew I had hurt her back then.

“I ran,” I continued. “From this house because I thought freedom meant no one telling me what to do.”

Thomas shook his head. “That was stupid, dear.”

I chuckled, taking no offense at his words. “Yeah. I learned that fast.”

“You know, I tried look for her.” Mama Li smiled bitterly. “But she was gone to another continent before I said poof! So I prayed and waited.”

My heart sank. “Yeah. I… just went to Italy for a while.” I couldn't go into details of what possessed me back then. Teenage strong-headedness, I guessed.

“Life was tough,” I said simply. “I didn't have money, shelter, or food. Everything cost more than I had. So I did what I had to do. I joined gangs. Yeah, the small ones at first… running errands, carrying things, and watching doors. They let me do these things because I was pretty and strong for a woman.”

Thomas suddenly spat to the side, barely missing the leg of the table. “Gangsta?” he barked. “You?” He looked me up and down dramatically. “You don’t look like it.”

Mama Li made a small sound.

I laughed. I just couldn’t help it. “I know,” I said. “Everyone says that.”

Thomas shook his head. “No tattoo. No scar. No angry face.”

“That’s because,” I said, still smiling, “I met a man on my eighteenth birthday.”

Both of them stilled.

“His name is Renzo Dominico, the only son of Richard Dominico and the late Mrs Vitta Dominico.”

I paused on purpose, watching their faces. Mama Li's face didn't change.

Thomas tilted his head. “Who that?”

I let out a breath, relieved beyond imagination. “Good,” I said. “It’s good you guys don't know him. That means his influence didn’t reach here.”

Mama Li narrowed her eyes slightly but said nothing.

“I married him,” I continued. “He had money, power, connections… and he gave me everything I wanted, but I paid for it dearly.”

“He mafia?” Mama Li asked quietly.

I bit my lower lip.

Thomas shot up in his chair. “Divorce him!” he barked. “You here now, no? That's why you here!”

Mama Li lifted a hand to stop him from ranting. She tilted her head slightly, studying me. “Something wrong,” she said. “You not just leave husband like that.”

She leaned forward. “You run away from husband?”

I hesitated.

She inhaled. “He mafia.”

My shoulders slumped in defeat. “Yes.”

The table felt colder.

Thomas sucked in a breath through his teeth. “You take his baby,” he said slowly, his eyes going from my stomach to Mama Li. “And you run?”

He turned his head to Mama Li, his amusement completely gone. “This serious.”

Mama Li leaned back in her chair. She closed her eyes for a second. “You're safe here,” she said, opening her eyes. “You want divorce him?”

I swallowed and nodded. “But not now. In due time.”

Thomas frowned. “Why wait?”

“I don’t want to see him,” I said. “I want to face my life squarely. Learn what I was supposed to learn all these years. Do exercise like a normal human being… which I can’t anyway, but—” I stopped myself. “I want something new.”

Mama Li was quiet for a long moment.

Thomas scratched his jaw, watching her.

“Thomas.” Mama Li called softly.

He straightened. “Yes?”

“You teach her what you do.”

I blinked. “What?”

Thomas blinked too. “Eh?”

“I say teach her, please,” Mama Li repeated calmly. “You goodat it anyway.”

I stared at her. “Teach me what?”

Thomas waved his hand quickly. “Ah no, no. I already have apprentice…”

Mama Li’s head snapped toward him. “Thomas!”

He flinched.

“This my daughter we talking about here!”

He raised his hands. “Fine! Fine!” Then he turned to me. “I notidle man,” he said proudly. “I deal in traditional medicine. Acupuncture. Moxibustion.”

My eyes widened. “What?”

Mama Li looked surprised too. “You never say like that before.”

Thomas shrugged. “You are not Zaria.”

I grinned. “That’s…that’s what I wanted to study at university,”

Thomas made a face like he’d tasted something sour.