Epilogues #2
“That will cheer him up. But your Aunt Hyacinth is doing just fine. She’s in New Mexico right now at a luxury retreat where
they guarantee UFO sightings.”
“Oh, Auntie Hyacinth,” April chuckles. “I hope she never changes.” With her head she gestures to the outside. “Fenix seems
to be working hard.”
Roses nods. “He’s certainly a Sun.”
“I was surprised to hear that you hired him,” April says. “After everything Auntie Tingting and the Fang Clan did.”
Roses thinks a moment. “Let’s just say I can understand when a parent is very demanding . . . too demanding. Fenix should
not be blamed for his elders’ many mistakes. I’m lucky to mentor him.”
April finally makes true eye contact with Roses. “And how are you, Mom?”
Roses leans back to think. “Today? I am better. I get to see my beautiful grandchildren, and . . . oh, we had some good news
for the company too.”
“Oh?”
“We have finally found a major investor, a company based in Dubai called the Angel Series. They are typically angel investors,
but they believe in the new future of Sunfang Global. I’m meeting with them today, actually.”
April smiles. “That’s great to hear, Mom. You always manage to pull through.”
Roses hesitates again. Then she taps at the plate of guavas between them. “Have some. I pitted out the seeds. I know how you
don’t like getting them in your teeth.”
April takes a slice.
After April leaves with the children, Roses stares out her window at the city, but she is actually looking at her own reflection in the glass. She is frustrated with herself; she had meant to say so much more to her daughter after not seeing her for so long.
Sighing, she walks out of her office, past Fenix at his desk as he goes over documents with Mr. Tung, and into the boardroom
for her meeting with her new investors.
Inside, April is already sitting. She rises to extend her hand to her mother.
“Hello, Mom.”
Roses stops in her tracks. “I don’t understand,” she says, looking around. It’s just the two of them. “What are you doing
here?”
April smiles. “This is our meeting. I am the CEO of the Angel Series.”
For a moment, Roses stares blankly at April. But then the Sun matriarch laughs. It is a warm laugh, an impressed one.
She reaches out and shakes her daughter’s hand. “It’s nice to finally meet the mysterious CEO of our new partner.”
The two women sit down across from each other. “I was worried you’d be upset,” April says.
“No, April,” Roses replies, her eyes glistening. “I’m grateful. And proud.”
April clears her throat and opens her briefcase, pulling out her laptop.
“Roses, shall we get started?”
That evening, Wayward, his husband, Jamaal, their baby, Jamala, and his mother, Iris, sit outside on the balcony of their
town house in the Pinheiros neighborhood of S?o Paulo, watching the city wind down. Bindi snores at Wayward’s feet as he strokes
the pit bull’s third eye.
As usual, Jamaal and Jamala fall asleep next, the baby girl on Jamaal’s chest as his head dips forward into a permanent kiss on her crown.
Jamaal has had his hands full, setting up Promessa’s free elementary school for their employees and the local community while at the same time often literally balancing Jamala on his hip.
Wayward is a bit sleepy too—he had a rare glass of wine at dinner tonight at Kat’s new restaurant, where they had all gone
to celebrate Bessie’s success at Promessa’s expansion in Venezuela.
Iris is contently looking at her granddaughter, Jamala. The baby girl is perfect, with Wayward’s button nose, Iris’s clever
eyes, and she even coincidentally has Jamaal’s curly hair.
“You look happy,” Wayward says.
Iris thinks for a moment. “Happiness is only temporary, Weiwei. Yes, I am happy, but I am something more, now that I am here
with you and our family.”
“What’s that?”
“I am joyful,” Iris replies, her eyes shining at him.
Wayward grins back. “Joyful! I like that. I was going to say that with the news from Roses about April’s investment, that
it seems like the Sun Clan finally has a happy ending.”
Iris tuts.
“You disagree, Mom?”
Iris shakes her head. “No, of course you can say that, Weiwei. But you are a Westerner, and that sort of idea is very Western.”
Wayward ponders this. “So how would you say it?”
He follows his mother’s line of sight to the night sky as she speaks. “I do not believe in endings. I believe that we are
all chapters in an unending story. Sometimes our sentences are happy, even joyful. And many times they are sad, even cruel.
But I believe that this unending story began long before us, and will continue to be written by those that follow us, long
after we are gone. So, no, I would not say that this is a happy ending for the Suns.” She reaches over to cup his cheeks affectionately.
“There is still so much more to be written, Weiwei!”
As if in response, Jamala coos in her sleep.
Iris giggles. “Looking at your beautiful daughter at the very beginning of what will surely be a fascinating and lucky life . . . how can we even think about endings?”
Wayward nods, taking it in. “Okay, not a happy ending for the Sun Clan. How about a happy moment?”
Iris turns to him and smiles. “Yes. I like that. Sitting on this balcony in a new world, next to my son and his beautiful
family, knowing that my sisters and brother are well . . . I would say that this is a happy moment.”
Her son sighs peacefully, laying his weary head to rest upon his mother’s shoulder. “A happy moment it is.”
And for Wayward Sun, it is the happiest of moments.
*****