CHAPTER 24

By the time Saint-Luc reached Belgium, it was too late. It was clear that there was something gravely wrong with his mother. And in a month, he and his brother were made orphans.

For the funeral, they'd flown her body back to Abu Dhabi, her birth place and now resting place.

Saint-Luc alone dealt with the headache of his mother's side of the family who insisted on a Muslim funeral, but Saint-Luc unwilling to shift his decision made sure his mother had a Christian burial.

Despite many of his relatives living in the UAE and offering to pay travel and accommodation for the ones living elsewhere only his mother's older brother turned up to pay his last respects.

Saint-Yann had not taken it well at all. He had been crushed over the death of their mother. He barely talked to his wife and children. He'd never seen his brother cry so many tears – not even when their father had died.

As the eldest, that meant for Saint-Luc, he had to be his brother's keeper.

And then there was Naomi. She'd been there from the beginning.

She had been deep in work with working on ADE, and also dealing with the issues of her store caused by the electrical appliances and roof leaking, but with one call from Saint-Luc all that went immediately to the back of her mind.

On the phone, Saint-Luc had sounded cool, calm, collected as usual whilst explaining how her mother-in-law had kept her brain tumour a secret, but at the persistence of Amirah threatening to get a doctor to diagnose her ill-appearance, she had been forced to admit the cause and that’s when he'd had to leave Paris to be with her.

He'd sounded in control but Naomi knew her husband better, and that’s why without a second thought, she'd booked her plane ticket that very night and flew out the next day.

She had been very apprehensive of meeting her mother and brother in law for the first time and not knowing what to expect.

On arriving at Saint-Yann’s house, Naomi couldn’t help but admire the architectural brilliance of the his abode, with its green, peaceful views.

Speaking of which, her brother-in-law had struck her as eccentric. During her first dinner at the house he'd commented on her ‘symmetrical face’’ and then had changed conversation, Naomi thought it strange, but let it go.

Apart from Saint-Luc being there, she felt more at ease because she'd already been acquainted with Amirah and the children who all gave her a warm reception.

If not for her, that fateful night with Saint-Luc could have turned a whole lot different. And for that Naomi will always be grateful to her for it.

And then there was her mother-in-law.

As soon as she saw her, Naomi couldn’t help but notice how weak she looked. She couldn’t really get up from her seat now and speech was slurred but she lifted her arms wide signalling Naomi to give her a hug and then started crying and speaking in Arabic.

Saint-Luc visibly emotional to the words had translated that his mother was praising for being able to see his son married.

There was no denying that she was frail. It made Naomi nervous to even hold her, but despite this there was the ever-present stubborn shine in her eye showing the determined last fight for life that she wasn’t easily giving up.

Naomi could remember looking at her face and seeing so much of her husband in there, except for the eyes.

Not even Saint-Yann had those searing bi-coloured irises, but instead they were a light brown like their mother’s, and Naomi could only guess that Saint-Luc had taken over their father.

As daughter and mother-in-law bonded the rest of the family watched on.

Saint-Luc had told Naomi that after he had first told his mother about their marriage, he’d been worried that she would be upset, but instead she had been positively eager to see her daughter-in-law.

Now that everything was bridge over water, Naomi couldn’t help but feel deep melancholy at how the knowledge of impending death gave less time to spend on the negatives of life.

During that week, the Roux family lived in a bubble.

Nothing else mattered than taking care of the elderly woman’s needs, as day by day she got weaker but her spirit was made stronger and stronger by the love of her family. Whenever her sons were by her, they would kiss her cheeks and in turn she would lay her hands on their head and pray for them.

It made Naomi shed tears of regret, wishing she’d known her longer and only Amirah had had the benefit of that.

A deep sigh left Naomi's lips, as she continued watching the Parisian skyline. Saint-Luc and her had returned to the French capital within short days after the funeral as he felt the need to get back to work.

Two days before her death, Ayda had called Naomi into her room and sat her down.

“My darling, my beautiful daughter.”

“Yes mama?”

“As the woman of the house you have to be prayerful. Prayer is your only weapon.”

Naomi remembered feeling a sort of foreshadowing cloak as Ayda spoke to her, which she immediately rebuked.

“As a wife your two pillars of a sucessful marriage will be patience and forgiveness. Always pray for your husband and with your husband. You two are together to cover each other’s nakedness.”

“I know mama.”

Naomi couldn’t help but feel like Ayda knew more than she revealed, but whatever she knew she took to the grave.