Chapter 31 Akemi
Akemi
Freshly showered and feeling more like herself than she had in a while, Akemi wandered through the house in search of her baby.
She wasn’t worried; there were so many people eager to hold the youngest member of the Kalama family that he changed hands about a hundred times a day – always completely safe and very loved.
Although there was a part of her that wanted to hold her newborn every moment of every day, she was also very grateful that she was able to eat and bathe and stretch while other pairs of loving arms cradled her baby.
It let her feel fully human and fully herself much sooner than she would have otherwise.
She couldn’t imagine doing all this alone, trying to cook and clean and work and care for her baby.
But she didn’t have to.
She was so tenderly held by her family that all she had to do was nurse her baby and care for herself, and she was deeply grateful for that. She even slept an unbroken five hours most nights, when Lorenzo took their son to his room.
Lorenzo. She found him holding their baby on the back porch.
Her heart, already full to bursting, seemed to grow another three sizes.
Her romantic relationship with Lorenzo was on the back burner… but as a coparent and partner, she loved him very much. He looked at Kaleo with pure adoration – how could she not love him for that?
She wasn’t sure what their future held. All of the details were still up in the air. But now that Kaleo was here, she felt confident that they would figure it out.
One step at a time.
Now Lorenzo was singing to Kaleo in Italian, and Akemi didn’t interrupt them.
She left them there on the porch and went to serve herself a bowl of the soup that Anne had made. The rich aroma of chicken and coconut and lemongrass rose up when she lifted the lid. When she sat down to eat, the taste of it warmed her right down to her soul.
“Hi.” Anne slid into the seat across from her. “How are you feeling?”
“Floating on cloud nine,” Akemi replied.
Her sister’s mouth quirked up in a lopsided smile. “That would be the oxytocin at work.”
“I guess,” Akemi said with a laugh. “Oxytocin plus the luxury of sleep. Most mothers don’t get that. It’s made all the difference, I think. But it’s more than that… I feel content for the first time in my life.”
Worry flickered across Anne’s sweet face. “Were you unhappy before?”
“No. That’s the thing. I was happy. At least I thought I was. But I was never really content. Joy, excitement, I had plenty of that. But this dreamy contentment… this is new. I’ve never been so happy in all my life.”
Anne reached out and squeezed her hand. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Me too.”
She glanced over her shoulder at Lorenzo and then asked in a whisper, “What’s up with you two?”
“I don’t know.”
“Are you together?”
She shrugged and sipped another spoonful of broth.
“And you’re okay with that? Not knowing?”
“I felt really anxious before Kaleo was born,” she admitted. “But now… I don’t know. I feel confident that we’ll figure it out. I don’t feel like it needs to look any kind of way.
“Kaleo’s my whole world, which.. what a crazy thing to say about somebody I just met.” She laughed at herself, low and light.
“Not such a crazy thing to say about somebody you made,” Anne said gently.
“Fair point. I can’t really explain it, Anne.
Nothing’s changed. None of my circumstances, I mean.
I know that we have a lot to figure out.
It’s just… I feel present for the first time in my life.
I’m completely content to just be where I am, and when I am.
And I feel confident that we’ll figure out the rest as it comes. ”
“I like this wise, zen Akemi,” Anne teased.
Akemi stuck her tongue out at Anne, but the loving smile didn’t shift from her face. She spooned up a piece of mushroom and reflected on her life.
“I’ve always been excited to see the next place. I couldn’t imagine settling down. But ever since the baby…”
“You’re not excited anymore? You finally kicked the travel bug?”
“I know I’ll be excited to travel again someday. I want to show him the whole world. And we’ll take a trip to Italy soon, so that Lorenzo’s family can all meet him. But right now… I just want to be with my family.”
“Good. We all want you here.”
“I’ll have to leave eventually,” Akemi said, and a faint worry prickled somewhere beneath her dreamy contentment.
“I’ve built an entire career around travel.
I can’t just stop. Everything will dry up.
My followers, my sponsors… I have content for the next couple of months all scheduled, but eventually I’ll have to leave again. ”
“Akemi, we’re on the Big Island of Hawaii. Isn’t it a content goldmine?”
She bit her lip thoughtfully and wondered how she could word her next concern without offending her sister. Eventually she said, “I don’t want to switch all my content over to Hawaii. The last thing this state needs is more tourists.”
“It needs more informed tourists,” Anne countered. “You could feature local markets, local farmers, small businesses. Funnel those tourist dollars to locals who need them.”
Akemi nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah, okay. That could work for a while.”
“Good.” Anne stood and took the empty bowl. “We want to keep you and Kaleo as long as we can. Lorenzo too, if you want him. He’s not exactly hard on the eyes.”
Akemi snorted and tossed a napkin at her sister. Then she leaned back in her seat and looked through the screen door at her baby and his father.
Among all her other reasons to travel, Lorenzo was limited as to how much time he could legally stay in the United States. And she was only allowed three months at a time in Italy. If they wanted more time together than that, they would have to meet somewhere in the middle.
For now, she set those concerns to one side.
She loved her day to day life. She felt completely content with this chapter. But babies grew quickly, and she knew that her wanderlust would kick in before too long.
There was so much more to explore, and a whole big world to show her son… but for now, she was exactly where she wanted to be.
Thank you for reading Paradise Books!