A month ago when they all explained the truth for her it had been hard to accept. At first she had been horrendously angered at Jian and everyone for not telling her.After she carefully considered it though she realized she might not have done it any differently in their shoes.
Later that night she had held Jian tightly and apologized for taking her anger out on him. He held her gently like she was made of gla.s.s and told her he would take it all, no matter what it was. Only for her. Always for her.
His words. .h.i.t her in the soft spot of her chest and she was rendered wordless. Unable to say anything more she buried herself in his arms. Somewhere along the way he had become her bedrock, in the tranquility of his arms she slept peacefully.
Seeing her in repose, Liang Jian Amal whispered words into her ears causing a small smile to bloom on her face, in her dreams she must have heard him. He felt his heart lighten seeing her safe in his arms and let himself go as well.
To know that she had only about a month more with her mom crushed her a little.
Chang was still healing from the pain of the loss from her father and now had to prepare to lose her mother too. It was just too much for her to process some days.
She noticed too as she spent more time with her mother, while her own condition was improving her mother"s was worsening; even with the treatments.
Li Hua fatigued easily, and had started having trouble controlling her moments at times. She would drop gla.s.ses or utensils almost regularly, and even had a hard time holding cards when they would play at night. She walked jerkily and was even given a walker to help a.s.sist her a week ago.
It killed Chang a little inside when she saw these little things. It drove home it all.
Chang had her head laid on her mother"s lap savoring the feeling of her running her fingers through her hair. Every moment she had left with her mother she treasured more than anything else.
"Hey mom?"
"Yes sweetie?" Li Hua paused for a moment before continuing. The two were on Li Hua"s favorite swinging bench in the water garden, the sunlight streamed down on them between the willow leaves warming them.
Over the last month the weather had grown slightly chillier as November heralded its arrival. It would still though be considered mild, even to her San Francisco standards of not more than 80° or less than 50°.
"Will you tell me the story of how you and Dad met again?"
Li Hua paused for a moment before recounting the tale of her youth. She still remembered it just like yesterday.
"I first met Hénri Alexander Dumont shortly after I turned 19 years old. I was working in my parents shop, arranging the stock outside when I heard a large crash to my right." Li Hua giggled remembering the sight.
"A large man was sprawled over a line of suitcases with a bunch of other things from a higher shelf he took down with him. Within just a minute he ruined what took me a while to put up.
"I of course berated him as he put everything back up completely red in the face like a tomato. After putting everything back up, he ran like I was a devil hot on his heels."
Chang laughed imagining just how embarra.s.sed her dad had probably been then.
Liang Jian Amal standing next to Hakim al-Ha.s.san watching over the two women laughing on the bench. The older man looked at the younger, one hand clasped behind his back the other on the latter"s shoulder.
"This is what we fight to protect."
"Do you really believe that war will come to here?"
"Your uncles have made their move. I hope not but we need to be prepared for the worst."
Liang Jian Amal uncle shows movement as a bunch of men are moving around his estate far to the west