Page 66 of The Best Man: Unfinished Business

Chapter Forty-one

Robyn

Robyn drew the curtains together in Mia’s room with a sharp pull of thinly hidden frustration.

I cannot even believe this shit was her honest thought, but as a mother, she used all her available restraint to not show Mia the truth, especially this one.

That her father was dating, no, sleeping with, his supposed best friend, and moreover that he had the nerve to give her static about telling Mia, her own daughter, about Solomon. He needed to go back home. Now.

One day, Mia would become a woman. And as a woman, she would find her heart broken in any manner of ways, from the failures and knocks of life, and from the loss of loved ones.

But God forbid she ever experience a loss like that of Solomon.

Robyn’s loss. Sure, it was also Harper and Robyn’s, the loss of their child, but it was Robyn who’d had to bear him, to live with the reality of him inside her body for months.

To feel the changes, the promises in each development, the swelling of her breasts to produce milk, the blossoming of her emotions.

The radiance of her skin. Robyn remembered how she’d glowed, like she was lit from the inside.

She was so happy to finally, finally have that kind of love, to know that hers and Harper’s love was so big and epic that it could expand beyond the two of them, that it could go so far as to create a life between them.

Robyn was full of love then, when her womb was full with Solomon.

And the loss of him, well, it almost destroyed her.

“Dinner was really good, Mommy.” Mia’s voice floated from across the room, and Robyn turned around, brought instantly to the reality of now, seeing Mia over in her bed, snuggled under the covers, with her hands holding her comforter up to her neck.

“Yeah. Daddy did a good job.” Robyn was of course talking about the meal he prepared and the way he was able to steer conversation away from the awkwardness he exhibited when Mia offered her prayer.

As soon as Mia had said it, Robyn knew it would be a point of contention.

She vowed to give him grace, but Robyn was done accommodating Harper Stewart’s comfort level.

Robyn stepped over to Mia and sat on the side of her bed, stroking her soft curls away from her face and tucking them neatly under the edge of her bonnet.

“Yup. I’m glad we’re all together, Mommy.” Mia yawned.

“I know, baby. I know you are,” Robyn answered. “Get some sleep and I’ll see you in the morning. I love you so so much.”

“I love you too, Mommy.” Mia’s sleepy voice sounded like she was already sweetly dreaming and her closed eyes confirmedit.

Robyn smoothed the bedding and stood up to turn off the light with one last lingering glance at her daughter.

Outside of that room and the peacefulness that Robyn had maintained for Mia’s sake was Harper in the kitchen, making another calamity of the dishes being washed, clinking them together as he placed them from the sink onto the drying rack.

“Hey,” Robyn said, crossing over to him through the living room.

“You okay?” she asked, referring to his reaction at the table.

They both knew it. Harper was great at withholding information, but not so much at masking his emotion in the moment.

His energy filled the room and there was no escaping this conversation she’d much prefer not to have.

For a moment, Harper didn’t reply, he just kept piling clean dishes onto the drying rack, his back to her like all of a sudden he cared about scrubbing the plates spotless.

Harper turned the water off, shook his hands of excess water, and stood still and silent.

Robyn stood silently too, giving her ex-husband a moment to find the words he needed to formulate.

She also didn’t have all night. She was about to repeat herself, but he finally replied.

“Why would you do that, Robyn?”

Robyn took in a deep, quiet breath and looked skyward to gather more grace before replying. “Do what, Harper?” she answered with a question of her own.

Without turning around, Harper tilted his head toward the ceiling to respond.

“Tell Mia about Solomon,” Harper said quietly, his voice strained and gravelly.

Then he finally turned to face his ex-wife.

Hurt and confusion showed in his face. “That’s a big decision, Robyn.

Why would you do that? And not tell me?”

Robyn bit her lip to withhold the obvious quip.

But other than to hurt him, to be defensive, what else was there to say that hadn’t already been said?

Now wasn’t the time to throw his own decisions and secrecy back in his face, as much as she might want to.

Instead, she maintained her calm, but spoke firmly.

“Harper, that was my experience to share with my daughter.”

“Our daughter. And it was our experience,” Harper snapped. “And—and she said it so casually. It’s like you’ve created a reality for her that I know nothing about.”

“There’s no reality you’re not a part of, Harper.”

“Yes, there is, Robyn. She thinks that…” Harper caught his breath like he’d been punched in the gut.

Robyn knew that feeling, and she started to feel a softening, of empathy.

She knew how hard it had been for him, and it wouldn’t be surprising if world-famous author Harper Stewart didn’t have time for healing, not like this required.

She walked over to him, stood beside him, and placed her hand on his arm.

“We both lost him,” she said softly.

“Yeah, but why bring that to Mia? She’s too young to even understand what happened. And you have her praying on it? She doesn’t even know what she’s saying.”

Robyn felt a flash of anger. “Harper, you don’t get to dictate what happens in my home.

We thank the ancestors, those family members who have passed on as well as those who are here.

And you will never, never understand what I went through and you never will have to.

You can’t tell me what to share with my daughter, Harper. ”

“ Our daughter,” he said.

“My daughter, ” Robyn insisted. “And you are here in the middle of my life, Harper. In my home. And as much as you might want to, you can’t make yourself the center of this universe.

We are moving forward, healing and addressing what’s true about the past. That’s part of the beauty of West Africa.

You can’t look away, you can’t forget, and you’re not supposed to.

This is a place of new beginnings, but we embrace the memories too.

” Harper shook his head and gave a sardonic scoff.

Robyn didn’t love his reaction but was unsurprised.

“It’s not just about healing, Robyn,” Harper said.

“You had your work to throw yourself into,” Robyn reminded him.

“But there was no escaping my own body, the reality that went with me everywhere I went. You have no idea what that was like for me. And you have no right to tell me what I can share with Mia.” Robyn hesitated only momentarily.

But she’d been bending over backward this whole time to accommodate so much of Harper, even now, even here in what was supposed to be her own life.

And like a weed, he had already started to take up too much space.

She had no idea why the thing she most needed to say felt like it was so hard to say.

But still, she said it. “I think it’s time for you to head back to your hotel.

And then, home. You need to go back home, Harper. ”

Harper’s face looked as if he took offense, and he began to protest. “Fine, but I have to say goodbye to Mia—” Harper began.

“No, you don’t,” Robyn stopped him. “Stop hiding behind her as some self-righteous excuse to overcompensate. Don’t worry about Mia.

Write her a letter. Send her a text. And go out like you came in.

Sneaky. ” With that, she turned to leave him standing there, frozen motionless in the kitchen.

She closed her bedroom door behind her, shut her eyes, and, with a deep breath, closed herself off to the negative energy that had permeated the bulk of her day until she heard the door shut and the engine rev on Harper’s rental car.