It was glaring to anyone who cared enough to look that Hope was in high spirit. Sophie couldn't pinpoint what the changes were exactly but she was certain something good must have happened. At first, she'd chucked it up to giddiness over her relationship with Raymond, but it became clearer overtime that there was much more to it. As much as she loved seeing her sister happy, it also made her very curious as to what had brought about it in the first place. She got the chance to probe while Hope was helping her get Ella bathed and ready for bed, although the baby never actually slept through the whole night.
"You look really happy these days," she started, waiting for Hope to take the bait.
"Hmm hmm," Hope hummed, careful. She already knew where the conversation was headed. "So . . . ?"
"So what's the good news? Don't leave me in suspense."
Hope chuckled. Her sister could be such a gist freak. "Nothing much. I went to see Philip, that's all." She didn't look up to see her sister's reaction at her revelation, focusing instead on dressing Ella up for the night.
Sophie however, was stunned into silence for the first few seconds. "You did what?!"
Hope sighed, taking the initiative to narrate all that'd happened to her sister. She went further to explain to her how relieved she'd felt after her conversation with Philip.
By the end of it, Sophie looked like she was conficted between chastising her and praising her. Hope had expected as much. Before Sophie could say anything else , she beat her to it. "I know, I know. I shouldn't have gone alone. I should have told someone . . . I know all that, but it all turned out for the best."
"I can't say that I appreciate what you did, Hope. It was very careless of you," Sophie chided honestly. "This habit you have of taking on dangerous things by yourself . . . it's exactly what we've been telling you to quit doing."
"I know, and I'm trying." Sophie's brows shot up at that so she rephrased. "Fine, I'm sorry. I'll try harder."
Sophie's gaze softened as she cracked a small smile. "But I can't lie that I'm not happy seeing you being yourself again."
"See," Hope teased, bumping her sister's shoulder with hers. "It hadn't been such a bad idea afterall."
Sophie returned the gesture. "Yes, it was. Just because it worked out in the end doesn't mean what's wrong isn't wrong."
"Yes, mummy. I've heard ma."
Sophie rolled her eyes at Hope's sarcastic tone. "So, does Raymond know you went to see him?"
"Yeah, I told him," Hope answered vaguely, her expression giving away that something wasn't right, and of course her sister was one to probe. It wasn't fair that Sophie could sometimes read her like a book.
"I take it he wasn't very happy with what you did?" Sophie guessed.
That was an understatement; he had been furious. Remembering how angry he had been almost had Hope flinching. It wasn't often one heard Raymond raise his voice, but she'd gotten more than an earful that day. He'd seemed capable of locking her up and throwing away the key when she'd told him. Imagine feeling like that merely by having a conversation with someone over the phone. He'd ended up hanging up the call on her and refused to pick her call since then.
Hope scowled at the memory. "He's been giving me the silent treatment."
"Really?"
"Yes, I mean. . . He was the one who put the idea in my head in the first place, yet he's angry that I did exactly what he asked me to do!" Hope lamented. She'd been trying to hide how frustrated she was at him, but there was no hiding now that the issue was being addressed.
"Uh, I don't think that's what he's angry about, and frankly, you don't think so either," Sophie pointed out helpfully.
Hope's scowl deepened. She knew that, but she'd decided to get mad at him since he was also mad at her. "Still. I can't believe he's actually not talking to me! I mean how old is he? Twelve?" She scoffed. "Whatever. I'm not going to call him either. The battle line is drawn."
"Awwww," Sophie cooed, laughing. "It's not even been two weeks, but look, you guys are already having your first fight!"
"Are you seriously making fun of me right now?" Hope demanded.
Sophie shrugged, still laughing. "Maybe, maybe not."
"We've actually been dating longer than two weeks, so joke's on you."
Undeterred, Sophie cooed even harder, deliberately annoying Hope. "Aw. Look at my baby sis all grown up."
"I hate you," Hope declared, glaring at her sister to drive home the point, but of course Sophie couldn't be less bothered.
"I love you too, baby," she sang, going the extra mile to make annoying kissy sounds at Hope.
It was a good thing their mum chose that time to interrupt them because Hope couldn't have promised her sister would have made it out of the room in one piece.
"How many years exactly does it take to bathe and dress up for a baby? What's wrong with children these days?"
"We were just gisting, mummy. Raymond and Hope--"
Quicker than lightning, Hope was covering Sophie's mouth with her hand, muffling whatever she was about to say.
"Raymond and Hope what?" Her mum demanded, already glaring at Hope. "Will you get your hand off her mouth so that she can talk?"
"I'm outta here," Hope declared, before hightailing it out of the room, the sound of Sophie's laughter following her.
"What was that about?" Their mum asked when Hope was completely out of sight.
Sophie turned to her mum, shaking her head. She knew better than to tell her mum Hope and Raymond were 'fighting'. The woman was going to take it seriously then blow things out of proportion. Worse part was that they wouldn't stop hearing about it for years to come.
"Nothing, mummy."
"I hope those two aren't up to any trouble again?" Her mum demanded suspiciously.
"No, ma. They're not," Sophie assured. Seeing that her mum was still unconvinced, Sophie laughed. "Everything's good, mum. Really."
Her mum looked skeptical, but she relented. "Good, they better not. I've dealt with enough shock concerning those two to last me a lifetime."
Sophie chuckled. "To be honest, I didn't think you'd consent to their relationship just like that."
Her mum smiled. It was just a slight curve of her lip, but it was enough to show that her mum was happier with the relationship than she was letting on. "With everything that happened these past few weeks, I don't think I have any strength left to fight a losing battle."
"A losing battle?"
"I wasn't born yesterday, Sophia. Those two . . . Hmmm. Let's just say I've seen how much they care about each other. Raymond is good for Hope. I trust that he'll be able to look after her."
"True," Sophie agreed. Knowing that it was Raymond who had her sister's heart made Sophie feel like she could rest easy.
"Besides, it would be cruel of me to try to take away what they share from them, that's even if I could. I don't know if you've noticed, but your sister is very stubborn."
Sophie snorted. "You don't say. Really though mummy, you're such a teddy bear. You act all tough but you're a total softie, aren't you? And to think you were trying to set Raymond up with Val." The memory had Sophie cracking up.
Her mum however didn't find her funny. "It's the entirety of your father's family that are teddy bears. Don't be deceived thinking I can't give you a befitting slap right now just because your daughter is here o. Or you want me to show you just how tough I am?"
Needless to say, that wiped the remnants of the mirth completely off her face. "Sorry ma. Slip of tongue."
"O better." After a few moments of silence where Sophie was getting ready to leave the room, her mum spoke again, "I'll probably be visiting Susan again tomorrow."
They'd found out over time that Philip's mum's name was Susan. Sophie had been trying to avoid that topic for a while now, but she already knew she couldn't evade it forever.
"What is it?" Her mum asked, immediately picking up on the uncertainty that had settled on her daughter's face. When Sophie hesitated, she continued, "You've been making excuses everytime I talk about visiting. Be honest with me, what's the matter?"
Sophie exhaled heavily, looking for the best way to break the news. "I didn't know how to tell you this, but that day we visited . . . Bridget said she didn't want you coming around to see her mum anymore."
The confusion that immediately engulfed her mum's face had Sophie feeling guilty for a reason she couldn't fathom. "What?"
Sophie quickly ran through the conversation she and Hope'd had with the woman. "If I'm being honest, I understand her to an extent. There's no guarantee what's going to happen if she ever remembers you. I know that you feel bad and you want to apologize and make up for what happened in the past, but if this is what they want, I think the best we can do is to respect their wishes, at least for now. Maybe things will change later on, but even if they don't, you have to learn to make peace with the past and live with it, mummy. You can't let your need to assauge your guilt override their happiness. Hovering around their lives might make it harder for them to move on. If this is what they need so they can move on, you have to let them have it. They deserve that much."
Hope felt even worse as she watched her mother struggle to hold onto her composure. Coincidentally, Ella chose that moment to start wailing out of nowhere. Hastily, her mum took the baby from her and started rocking her. She knew that was her mum's way of distracting herself, and Sophie was at least grateful for it. She understood her mum needed to work through her feelings and make peace with herself, so she determined to let her be until she was ready to talk. One thing was certain, she'd be there whenever her mum needed her.
• ~ •
Hope had constantly been in high spirits since that confrontation she'd had with Philip, but Raymond was continuously putting a damper on her mood. She'd thought to give him a day at the most as she'd been so sure he'd come around, but it had been a whooping three days and he was still ignoring her calls.
What sort of person ghosted their girlfriend mere days after confessing their undying love for her, regardless of what she'd done to him? Granted, she was a bit biased in her judgement, but still. It was obvious he was trying to get to her and the annoying part was that she was letting him.
"Anymore of that and you'll be ripping that dress in no time."
Hope's hand flew to her chest as she turned with startled eyes to her cousin who was leaning on the doorframe to her room.
"Jesus, Val. When did you get here? I was under the impression that you weren't home."
"I wasn't. Got back a few minutes ago. What are you doing, squeezing the life out of that dress like it's the source of all your problems?"
Hope assessed the now rumpled gown she was holding. Oh. "Mum asked me to get some things for her. I thought to use the opportunity to pack some stuff for myself as well."
"Yes, but that doesn't explain why you were squeezing the dress like that," Val teased good-naturedly.
"Yeah, that . . . " Hope couldn't exactly tell her that Raymond was the one causing her a headache. Especially since she hadn't even mentioned her relationship with him to Val in the first place. She'd lied to herself at first that she'd never gotten the right opening or timing to break the news to Val, but she low-key knew she'd only been putting off the inevitable. "Actually, there's something I want to discuss with you."
"Oh?" A brief flash of moroseness seemed to pass over Val's face, but it was gone as quickly as it'd came and she was back to giving Hope an easy smile. "I hope it's nothing serious? There have been way too many surprises the last couple of weeks."
"Yeah," Hope chuckled nervously. "Yes, but that's not . . . It's not really . . . Uh, I should have told you this way before now, but with the way everything just happened so unexpectedly . . . "
"Okay . . . I'm all ears, Hope."
There was no better way to go about it than to just come out with it. "I'm sort of in a relationship with Raymond."
There was about three seconds of silence, during which Hope felt like someone had lit her on fire. It was that uncomfortable.
"Sort of?"
"No, I'm . . . I'm in a relationship with Raymond," Hope amended reluctantly.
"Ah." Val nodded, cracking another smile when she saw how tense Hope was although it didn't look very genuine. The way she kept clasping and unclasping her hands gave away the fact that she was at the very least uncomfortable but Hope didn't notice. She was too busy trying to keep her own cool. "It's fine, Hope. I already know."
That wasn't the response Hope had been expecting at all. "What? How?"
"Your mum kind of let it slip the last time I talked to her. She apologized for trying to force Raymond on me, or me on him. Whatever."
Of course her mum had let it slip. That was something she should have considered could happen. "You're saying my mum apologized for trying to matchmake you?"
Val nodded.
"Wow. It seems like the only people she doesn't feel the need to be cordial with is her own children."
Val laughed, although it didn't come out as such an happy sound. This time, Hope noticed. "You just described the typical African mother."
"I'm sorry," Hope said.
"For describing the typical African mother?"
"Val," she called softly. Hope knew exactly when someone was trying to cover up an uncomfortable subject with another. It was something she did too often.
"It's fine, Hope. You have nothing to apologize about." She held up a finger to stop her when Hope started to refute. "Really. I don't want you feeling bad for or apologizing to me because you honestly have no reason to be. I didn't bring up the fact that I knew about your relationship with Raymond because I wanted things to progress naturally, without raising unnecessary conflict over this. Dwelling on this unnecessarily is only going to embarrass me and put me in an uncomfortable position."
"That's not what I'm trying to do at all," Hope promised, trying to express her genuineness in words. "I just want us to be okay."
"And we are," Val assured. "Nothing's changed. I'm a big girl, Hope. I'll be fine."
It was obvious she was being honest and unlike what Hope had thought would happen, Val's easy acceptance only succeeded in making her feel bad. but she knew that was her own problem to deal with.
"So . . . Are you ready to tell me about what was bothering you before? Or was that it?"
Hope knew that was another attempt to change the subject. This time, she went with it.
"Hm." Regardless of how understanding Val seemed to be, Hope knew it was still too early to dump her 'relationship problems' on her, especially when she knew it was just a silly little fight that'd ultimately mean nothing. She didn't want Val thinking she was insensitive or worse, trying to gloat.
"Hope?"
"It's nothing, don't worry about it," Hope replied.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. I've just had to adjust to a lot of things in such a short while, it can all be so overwhelming attimes." It wasn't exactly a lie. Although she'd come to accept everything that'd happened, it was still a lot to come to terms with. It'd be awhile before she completely got over it.
Empathy shone in Val's gaze as she gave Hope a reassuring smile. "You'll be fine, Hope. I trust you to be."
"Thanks, Val."
Hope hadn't thought about it much before then, or maybe she hadn't really been considering Val as her person before then, but she realized again that she had really amazing people in her corner.