Abba,he thought.
My abba.
“You said those same words to me as we fled for our lives those years ago,” he finally managed to say. “I listened to them. I obeyed them. But I never forgot who spoke them to me, Abba.Youdid.”
“I did,” Amare said, taking a step closer, looking over both men. “When I saw you last, you were both so small. Now… look at you. So strong and powerful. Essien, you’ve grown so tall. You are taller than I am.”
Hearing his father speak his name did something to Essien.That voice. He’d heard it in his dreams, but those dreams had faded. Hearing it again shook him to the bone. He turned his back on the man and burst into tears.
“I’ve spent my entire life not remembering you,” he wept, his hand over his mouth. “It was too painful to do so. I’ve told Addax that I did not remember much from Lankara, but the truth is that I remembered enough. I remembered the pain, the fear. It hurt too much to remember it all, so I did not. Youweregone, Abba. But now you’re not. You’re here.”
“I’m here,” Amare said, tears in his eyes. “I’m here because I never gave up hope. I never stopped hoping that someday, we would find one another again. I never stopped hoping and praying that wherever you were, you were happy and content. That is all I ever asked of God—to protect you and keep you safe. But I never gave up hope that, someday, I would see you both again. I am herebecauseof hope, Essien. Because people who knew you and loved you found me and brought me here. God was working through them, my son. He knew how much I missed you both.”
Addax couldn’t take it anymore. He went to his father and threw his arms around the man, and together they quietly wept with joy. But Essien stood there, his back to them, weeping for reasons he didn’t understand. It was a painful standoff, and Christopher went to Essien, putting his hand on the man’s shoulder.
“Es,” he whispered. “Go and greet your father.”
Essien couldn’t quite do it. “You are the only father I remember,” he said. “I am a man of two worlds—Kitara, where Iwas born; England, where I grew up. This is my home… isn’t it? Am I not English?”
“YouareEnglish,” Christopher said, his own eyes welling. “You are a great and noble English lord. But you were born a prince of Kitara and you cannot forget that. You cannot ever forget where you came from. Turn around and face your father, the king. Let the man see his youngest son, thedosara beta. He has come a very long way to see you.”
Dosara beta.Second son. That’s what Essien was. He had to be reminded of that because, as he’d said, he was a man of two worlds. An English lord with non-English origins. He wasn’t ashamed of that in the least, but as time passed, it had been simply easier to forget something he didn’t really remember.
Perhaps, now, it was time to remember.
Perhaps he needed to try.
“He is a ghost to me, my lord,” Essien said. “He is—”
“Es,listen,” Christopher said, interrupting. “I gave you the opportunity to make something of your life, and you did. I could not be prouder of you if you were my own son. But Amare gave you life. Heisyour father. We both are. It is well and good that you should embrace us both as men who have raised you and consider yourself richer for it. Not many men can say they were raised by a legend as well as a king.”
Essien lifted his head, looking at Christopher, who forced a smile at him and nodded his head in silent encouragement. Then he put both hands on Essien’s shoulders and turned him around to face his father about the time Kiya and Adanya entered through the tent flap. Adanya had changed a great deal, but Kiya hadn’t. She looked nearly the same. Addax went to his mother and sister, embracing them with more tears, as Essien faced Amare. They looked at each other for a few moments before Amare spoke softly to him.
“Jab tak ham dubarah nihen malin ge,”he said. “Do you remember what that means?”
Essien did. He nodded, feeling the tears coming again. “Until we meet again,” he murmured.
Amare smiled tremulously. “Well?” he said. “Here we are, meeting again.”
“I thought you meant in another lifetime.”
“I meant in any lifetime. You are my son and I will never leave you.”
He was patting his chest as he spoke, indicating that even apart, they had always been together in their hearts, and all of Essien’s resistance fled. He rushed to his father, hugging him so hard that he lifted him off the ground. He didn’t let him go, not even when Kiya and Adanya came to embrace him. Still, Essien held on to his father and, soon enough, the entire family was one big hug, everyone with their arms around each other, everyone weeping with the joy of a most unexpected reunion. It was like the first day in heaven, being reunited with people who had not seen one another in ages. It was a second chance with loved ones.
It was difficult for anyone witnessing the encounter not to feel the love.
Seeing that Essien had finally accepted his father, Christopher left the tent, giving the family some privacy. Rhys was standing outside and Christopher joined him, hearing the roar of the crowd over at the mass competition field.
“I hear that cheer in the distance and I imagine it is for the reunion of the royal house of Kitara,” Christopher said. “Christ, Rhys. Of all the winds of fate the world had to offer, they actually blew in our direction for once. We were able to reunite a family that was separated so long ago. I still can hardly believe it.”
Rhys nodded. “I know,” he said. “It’s a truly remarkable story. Have Amare tell you about it sometime, the tribulationshe went through when he fled Kitara after the entire city was burned and there was nothing left to defend.”
Christopher looked at him. “How did he end up in Cairo?”
“He said that he knew his wife would go there,” Rhys said. “She was born there. When he arrived and there were no boys, he tried to find them, but it is a big world. He had no way of knowing where they had gone.”
Christopher glanced at the tent behind him. “He’s found them now,” he said quietly. “Truly, a miracle.”
