To Caress My Day

After everything that unfolded during Araceli’s intervention, the family were too depleted to go out and celebrate the stumbling block they all went through together to get the matriarch to accept Seth’s help in her battle with Thyroid Cancer. Remaining together on the couch, Luther turned on the television and the family watched the movies that were airing that day. Eventually, Twigs slid off the couch to sit in between her parents feet instead, and Luther began to doze off. By the evening, he was snoring lightly on the couch with his arm draped along the back of the couch behind his wife. Giggling at him, Twigs glanced over her shoulder at her mother who was also smiling at Luther snoring. “Out already is he?”

“This cancer has been stressing your step-father out since the news left the Doctor’s lips. He denies it, but I could tell that it has been intruding on his sleep, keeping him up at night to the point where he’s falling asleep during the day.” Araceli imparted softly to her daughter, forgetting about the movie flashing on the TV screen. While her husband slept, she and Twigs had some time to themselves that she wanted to take advantage of. “I caught him going as far as to check if I was still breathing at night…as if this cancer was gonna take me in the next five minutes without him knowing.”

Twigs had no idea how horrible it had gotten for her step-father. While she’d been in anguish since receiving the news in London, he’d been suffering here just as badly. She had concluded she was worse off than him, and it was selfish of her to believe so. “I didn't know his sleep was that bad. What about you? Are you sleeping well these days?”

“Peacefully, actually.” Araceli told her with a surprising nod. While her daughter went back to watching the movie, the older woman kept staring down at her child, remembering her moving speech from earlier. She had worried her family to death by easily rejecting the severity of her cancer. Her head was up in the clouds and would rarely come down other than to listen to her Doctor, she put all her faith in his power to send her cancer into remission. She was inattentive to everything around her it seemed, including her loved ones suffering in the background, crying for her to listen to them. Today she had heard them for the first time, and was now left with a weight of guilt on her shoulders and conscience. It was eating away at her when she reached out to tenderly touch the top of her daughter’s head. “Oh my Tahliah, I can’t express how sorry I am for worrying the two of you by taking my cancer so lightly.”

Softened by her mother’s apology, Twigs ditched the movie to turn around and lightly rest her chin on her mother’s knee, staring up at her with the pixie eyes Seth revered so much. “It’s okay now, mommy. No one is upset anymore. I’m just so relieved that you decided to accept Seth’s help. It meant the world to us both, I hope you know that.”

“You didn’t make it easy when you brought up the passing of Seth’s mother.” Araceli confessed, sorrow engulfing her at the news. Perhaps it was because she too had cancer, but her heart truly ached for her daughter’s sweet boyfriend. Seth went through a tragic loss that her daughter was petrified of enduring herself, and so he was determined to do everything he could to block it from happening to the woman he loved too. “My god, Tahliah, I just feel awful for him. My heart bleeds for the poor boy.”

“Me too, mom. Me too.” Twigs shared in a low voice, her throat constricting with sympathy. She couldn't fathom being in Seth’s shoes losing his mother to cancer, she just couldn’t. Tears filled her eyes at the faint thought of it, and were streaming down her cheeks when she whispered. “I’m just so damn grateful for that man for wanting to help you so I won’t have to lose you too. I just…I don’t know how to put it into words.”

Reaching out, Araceli gingerly wiped her daughter’s tears from her soft cheeks while sucking back her own tears. This exchange of whispers was becoming saturated with emotions that neither woman could sweep it under the rug so they could continue the movie they'd been watching. No, they wanted to bare their souls to each other. “You must miss that handsome devil terribly.”

“God, yes!” Twigs whispered with the kind of desperation that came from a woman who loved her man intensely. And because this was her mother she was talking to, she felt comfortable enough to confess a secret she hadn’t told her mother yet. Staring up at her, she reached to hold her mother’s hand and held onto it. “Mommy, I want to marry him.”

Araceli stilled in her seat, her brown eyes widening in surprise as she stared down at her daughter. Her heart rejoiced in her chest as she echoed back slowly, a smile curling at the corners of her lips. “You…want to marry Seth?”

Not trusting herself to speak past the lump in her throat, Twigs verified her statement with a nod.

Recalling quite distinctly the engagement ring Seth had presented to both her and Luther in secrecy, Araceli had to ask her daughter. “Has he asked you to marry him?”

“No, and I don’t imagine he will either. He’d likely wait until I’m comfortable with coming out as a couple to the public.” Twigs told her mother, her eyes lowering to their clasped hands.

“Well, are you yet?” Araceli asked, her eyes enthusiastic at the prospects.

Shrugging with uncertainty, Twigs expounded on it. “I don’t really know, mom. I’ve been going through a LOT of stuff this year. I hardly have the time to think about any of these kinds of things anymore.”

“That’s alright, take your time, honey. I just better be the first person to know about it when you figure it out!” Araceli ordered her daughter with a smile and a wag of her finger. “What about your career? How’s that going? Are we getting any new music coming soon this year?”

Twigs smiled up at her supportive mother. “Barely, but I’ve been thinking of getting back with the guys to make some new music soon. I’ve got a lot more freedom now considering Seth is so busy with work all the time these days.”

When her daughter’s phone began to vibrate by her feet, Araceli asked. “Ooo, could that be him?”

Having already checked it out, an anxious Twigs could see the caller was Amira instead. “No, it’s Amira.”

“If you’re worried about waking up your step-father then you should take the call up to your room.” Araceli instructed her with a nod towards the upper floor.

“Thank you, mom.” Twigs jumped to her feet, kissed her mom on the cheek then headed up to her room. As soon as she shut the door behind her, she nervously answered the call. “Hi.”

“You're on speakerphone.” Amira informed her, her voice bereft of any indignation towards her best friend. “So, what do you have to say for yourself now that you’ve had some time alone?”

Relieved that the call wasn’t gonna be about her friends ganging up on her to quarrel again, an uneasy Twigs sat down on her bed, took a deep breath, and began her apology to them for acting the way she had the last time they spoke. “I’m so sorry, you guys. I-”

“It’s cool, we accept your apology!” Jess cut her, her voice sounding strangely cheerful and forgiving.

“But…you didn’t even let me finish!” Twigs protested, taken aback by their automatic forgiveness.

“We don’t need you to. Saying sorry is good enough for us.” Asami guaranteed her. “We all understand collectively that you’re going through a lot, Twigs.”

“I still want to apologize properly though.” Twigs mumbled with a pout, not feeling right about being forgiven at the speed of light. Her phone was on half battery life, and her bags were still downstairs, but she couldn’t be bothered with them right now to get her charger. She wanted to only focus on her apology. “I’m sorry for snapping at you all that day. Yes, it’s true I’ve been going through too much, what with not being able to see my fucking boyfriend anymore, having to say goodbye to my roommate so she could become the world’s biggest star in the US, and of course my mom having cancer. All you guys have ever done was try to be there for me, so I shouldn't have taken it all out on you. It’s none of your fault.”

“We already forgave you, girl.” Shereen reminded her with a shrug. “We weren’t even mad at you!”

“Considering your situation, Twigs, we knew it wasn’t us you were really upset with. It was the circumstances you were dealt with.” Amira explained as a sleepy Luther entered Twig’s room to drop off her bag for her, sent her a lazy wave and then retreated back out again to bed.

“Thank you guys for being understanding.” Twigs thanked them in relief. “Is Simone still mad at me?”

“Nah, she gets it too.” Jess quickly soothes Twigs. “But forget all that, tell us how your mother is doing?”

And so Twigs went ahead to fill them in on her mother’s cancer, Seth’s offer, and the Thyroid Specialist.