But then he surprised us all by going down to one knee in front of her. He lifted her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing the back of it.
“Ma!” He said, causing Gabrielle body to jerk as if she’d been hit. There were tears in both their eyes. She brought her free hand that shook up to her mouth, covering her lips. Gabe looked up into her eyes.
“Ma, please forgive me for all I’ve done. I’m so sorry—” She didn’t let him finish. She just wrapped her arms around his head, burying his face in her stomach as she hugged him close. When she felt his arms wrap around her, she wept out loud.
Smiling, I wiped the tears from my eyes. Looking around, I saw that I wasn’t alone. All the fellas lady friends had tears in their eyes. Of course, Stacy was crying. Even Kenny was wiping away tears.
“A bug flew in my eye!” He said when he caught me looking at him. I laughed. Dear God, he felt like the old Kenny.
That evening after we got the twins down for the night, we all ended up lounging around the living room, listening while Gabe told us what had happened to him.
“Believe it or not, up until three weeks ago, I had no idea who I was.”
“What?!” I asked from where I sat next to him. I held his big hand in mine. We had not stopped touching each other since he’d jumped out the chopper. Except when he was trying to win Luke over, who eventually gave him a break and let him tuck him into his crib.
Gabe nodded. “A little over a year ago, I remember waking up in a strange place. But I couldn’t remember who I was and where I was from. I learned how to live a completely different life.” His words brought pain to my heart.
“Where were you at the time?” Stacy asked.
“A place called the Armory, in the Dominican Republic.”
“You was locked up?” Kenny asked surprised. Gabe chuckled shaking his head.
“Nah, it’s not really an armory. It’s actually a castle.”
“A real castle?” I asked. He looked down at me, and for the fifth or sixth time there was something else in his eye. A look I haven’t seen in a long time. A look that made me squeeze my thighs together because it was awakening my secret place.
“Yeah baby!” He whispered. “A real castle.”
“Time out!” Kenny said, making a ‘T’ with his hands. “Bro, before you get lost in that purple haze, can you please finish telling us what happened.” Gabrielle nodded her head in agreement. I chuckled. He took his time looking away from me, but before he did he let his gaze linger on my lips. I licked them. His eyebrow rose in interest.
“I woke up to learn that I had been in something like a coma for months. Had it not been for a lady named Saafiyah, I would have died.”
“Who is Saafiyah?” Gabrielle asked.
“The man you saw get out the chopper today name is Gideon. Saafiyah is his wife, and the Armory is their home. Together they nursed me back to health.”
We all nodded understanding now.
“But how did you get all the way to the Dominican Republic?”
“I was taken there after that night. The ahkeem knew that if anybody was able to save me, it would be Saafiyah, who is a healer.”
“Ahkeem?” I asked. He chuckled.
“Brothers.”
I nodded. “Oh okay.”
“So, after you woke up, what happened?” Gabrielle asked. Gabe didn’t answer right off. Instead, he thought about his words.
“Gideon helped me regain my strength, and then he began training me.”
“Training you for what?” Flint asked.
“Training me to fight, both physically and spiritually.” We all just stared at him. He didn’t speak like the Gabe we remembered.
Spiritually?
Kenny shook his head. “I don’t understand. You already know how to fight.” Gabe held his head back and laughed.
When his laughter died down he exhaled. “Nah, bruh! I was a vain mess. I didn’t know how to fight, not even close. My training really has just begun. It’s so much out there that I thought I knew, but the truth is, I really didn’t have a clue.” As he spoke, we all listened to him spellbound.
“You see, after my memory came back I realized something…” He paused for a minute staring into the fireplace.
“I had to lose myself to who I was, to become who I was meant to be.”
His words frightened me and I don’t know why, but they did. Standing, I excused myself to check on the babies. But instead of going upstairs, I slipped out the backdoor needing air. I didn’t stop walking till I made it on the other side of the barn.
Gabe has changed. He was right. The old him was dead, and a stranger came back to us. I didn’t know this stranger. He was more disciplined than I remembered. He was speaking in a different language. Several words he spoke were not English. I didn’t even know what language it was. He even carried himself different. He carried himself like a man that was a trained fighter.
What will this new Gabe think of me? Will he still want me after he found out I could not give him more children? Will he force us to move back to New York? Force me to abandon the farm.
“Yas!” Startled, I jumped up from where I leaned against the barn to see him approaching.
“Hey!” I lift my hand and wiped away tears I didn’t even know I was shedding.
“Why you out here by yourself?” He asked, coming to a stop in front of me. I tried to smile at him, but I couldn’t.
“I just needed a little fresh air.” He lifted his
