Chapter summary
Sarah tells her sons about divorce and Oxford, finding hope within their painful family transition.
SARAH
Friday evening
She told the boys at six, on Bayo’s bed, sitting between them with her boots off and her feet tucked under her, like a girl at a sleepover.
She had thought about how to say it all afternoon, and in the end she did not use any of the sentences that she had prepared. “Boys,” she said. “I have something to tell you. It is a hard thing, but it is not a frightening one. Daddy and I are going to live in two different places.”
Deji’s face crumpled slowly, like a tent with the pole taken out. “Is Daddy going to Dubai?”
“No, my love. Daddy is staying in Lagos. We are going to a country called England. A place with a big round library, and a lot of rain.”
“Can I bring my sword?”
“You may bring your sword.” He considered this. A single hiccup escaped him. “Is it a long way?”
“It is a long way. But there are aeroplanes. And Daddy will come on the holidays, and you will come back for the summer, and every Sunday we will ring him and you can tell him everything.”
Bayo had not said a word. He sat with his knees drawn up and his chin on them, looking at the carpet. He had a way of looking at things that she had seen on her own father’s face, a patient and entirely private attention, as if he were listening for something in another room.
“Are you and Daddy getting divorced?”
She had not meant to be asked it so soon. She looked at the top of his head.
“Yes,” she said. “I think that is the word for it. We love you very much, and we are not going to love you any less. You will have a house in Lagos and a house in Oxford, and neither of them will ever be a second house.”
He thought about that. He picked up a card from the desk, one she recognised, the one with the man on the plane, and turned it over to show her the back. A drawing in marker. Two houses and a road between them, and a very large sun.
“I drew it on Thursday,” he said. “Before you told me.” She looked at it for a long time. She had to put her hand to her mouth.
“Mummy.”
“Yes, darling.”
“Did you stop smiling like a Christmas card?”
She laughed. It came out wet. “Yes,” she said. “I think I have.”
“Good,” said Bayo, and leaned against her, heavy and warm, with his sharp little elbow in her ribs. After a moment Deji climbed across his brother and wedged himself into the other side, with the paper sword. They sat there for a while, the three of them, and nobody said any more.
EPILOGUE
Loose Ends · Continue reading
Continue to Chapter 49
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The featured photograph is used under the Pexels licence. Four contextual scenes are AI-generated editorial illustrations for this fictional serial; no image depicts a real event or named character. Featured photograph source. Editorial design by akinakingbogun.com.
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