“But Marai?” Meadow continued. “She didn’t complain…she loved her people. Loved her home…loved the woods and the wind and the quiet. So she kept moving, kept trying, kept doing everything she could.”
Ray wiped his nose with the heel of his hand, pretending it was allergies.
Magnolia’s breathing hitched. “Marai…good girl.”
“Yeah,” Meadow somberly said. “But she was tired, Mama.”
Silence sat between the three of them.
“She didn’t tell nobody,” Meadow continued softly. “She didn’t want to burden her Daddy…didn’t want to scare her Mama…didn’t want to worry her friends…didn’t want to disappoint herself.”
Magnolia blinked, tears pooling like she understood who this story was really about.
Ray’s temples jumped. “She sounds familiar.”
Meadow smiled sadly. “Maybe.”
She moved closer, touched Magnolia’s blanket, and kept going. “One day, when Marai couldn’t carry things anymore, she walked out to the edge of the woods and sat there. And for the first time, she let herself cry…not loud or dramatic, just tears she’d been holding for in years.”
Magnolia’s lip trembled. “Poor baby…”
“But,” Meadow interrupted, her voice rising just a little, “that’s when something changed.”
“What changed?” Ray asked quietly, even though he already knew he wasn’t actually asking for himself.
“Somebody walked out of the woods.”
Ray’s brows lifted, his head angled.
Magnolia looked toward Meadow again, nudging her with her eyes to keep going.
“It wasn’t a prince,” Meadow swooned with thoughts of Zaire. “It wasn’t a savior. Just a man who saw her…really saw her…saw how tired she was…saw how much she’d been carrying…saw how hard she loved her people.”
“Oh! A man!” Magnolia exhaled with excitement, her frail hands clapping together once.
“And he didn’t fix her,” Meadow whispered. “He didn’t even try to. He just sat down beside her, asked her what hurt, asked her what she needed, and helped her breathe when her knees felt weak.”
Ray watched Meadow, his eyes glistening. “That part sounds familiar too.”
Meadow ignored him and kept the story moving. “Marai didn’t trust it at first…didn’t trust herself with something that felt that… easy, that warm…that different.”
Magnolia blinked, lips parting slightly like she was on the edge of her seat.
“But the woods didn’t swallow her that day,” Meadow said. “For the first time…she didn’t walk alone.”
Magnolia whispered, “That’s good.”
Meadow nodded, tears building. “Yeah, Mama…it is.”
Magnolia’s hand moved, searching weakly. Meadow caught it.
“And that’s the end of the chapter,” Meadow whispered. “That’s where we stop tonight.”
Ray exhaled slowly.
Magnolia nodded, eyes drifting shut, but not before she murmured, “Marai… strong girl.”
Meadow leaned forward and kissed her mother’s forehead. “Learned it from her Mama.”
