Conclave...Interlude-Part 3

“I can assure you, that your...our...daughter, will have a chance to grow up, to be herself, whoever that may be. If she is as uniquely gifted as has been hinted at by T’Tubah with her proclamations and her strange stanzas, then she will have an opportunity to grow into those gifts.”

“Are you going to be there for her, are you going to raise her?”

I looked down at that question for a moment. I looked back up at her before answering. “To be honest, I don’t think I will be that father figure in her life. She will know that I am her father, and I will make sure that she knows who you are and what happened to you when she is ready for that, but I can’t tell you I will be there for her every day and every night like a real father should be. But the people who I am working with, they are good people. We will be having a meeting soon to figure who how Alexa will be raised and by whom.”

“You’re going to have a MEETING to figure out how to raise my baby?”

I drew back from the force of her question. “It’s not as impersonal as it sounds. I think I have a good idea who will be the primary caregivers already, but Alexa’s in very grave danger. The man who hired Dr. Bernstein and devised the experiment that brought us together wants to get her very badly. He will do unspeakable things to get his way, we need to devise a plan that will allow Alexa the space to actually be herself. I don’t even want to think about what would happen to her if Drake got ahold of her.”

She calmed down considerably with that. “I see. Well, I have learned quite a lot about you by listening to this Tree of yours. I’m pretty sure I can trust you to do right by my baby girl.”

She broke down in tears, drawing her arms around her own shoulders and hunching over, her shoulders heaved with the sobs that had been held in for too long.

I got up and moved over to her, not sure what to say. I sat next to her and wrapped my arms around her small shoulders, drawing her gently into a soothing hug. Her head nestled into my neck. It was the first time I had felt human contact, real human contact since I had died. My tears mixed with hers.

After a while, we each regain our composure. She disentangled herself and slowly stood up, turning to face me as she did so.

I couldn’t believe how small she was, barely five feet tall. She was small boned, but solid with muscle from her dancing days.

She looked me in the eyes, bent over slightly and kissed me on the forehead. As she drew back, she said, “Rusty, I can’t stay much longer right now, but know that I am going to be watching over you and little Alexa. You do right be her, you hear me? You need to be there when she needs you, or you’re going to hear from me right quick. If I can, I will come back to see you once in a while. But do me one favor, will you?”

“What’s that?”

“When she’s ready, I want to you to teach her to come see me here in this place of yours, where she can be safe so i can hug her and see how she’s doing. Will you do that for me, for us?”

I placed my right hand over my heart. “I promise. As soon as she’s ready, I will bring her here to meet her mama.”

The look in her eyes, as she teared up again was all of the thank you I would ever need. She stepped back and looked up into the leaves of the Tree before fading away, moving forward in her Journey...