Revolution: a Mosaic Novel (Book One) by Tenea D. Johnson

Author:Tenea D. Johnson [Johnson, Tenea]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BookBaby

Once Removed

Dear Heart lay awake with her eyes closed, exhausted from her sleepless night and the thoughts that would not leave her be. She felt the dampness of a stubborn tear touching the inside of her ear. It would not dry, had not had time to, but the soft morning sun glowing beyond the bedroom shades said that it must, that her feelings had to retreat. No one must know. Or perhaps they should, she wavered again. Regardless, she thought, now was not the time if there were to be such a time.

She felt Ezekiel stir at her back. Turning her head, she rolled into her pillow and hid her expression while he moved gently off the mattress and onto the floor. She could hear him as he padded to the bathroom and softly closed the door behind him. Dear Heart stayed in bed long after he’d peed his long fretful morning pee and dressed – so long that he now stood in the bathroom doorway looking down at her. She knew this though she hadn’t opened her eyes. The sound of his movements had slowed and stopped in front of her. Now, the flesh on the side of her face prickled with the weight of his gaze. This feeling, of being watched by a man, wasn’t new to her though it was one of the few times Ezekiel had done it.

“Are you OK?” he asked, his voice low. Dear Heart opened her eyes and looked up at him. Ezekiel walked to the edge of the bed and sat down next to her, laid one hand on her arm.

“You looked stressed,” he said.

It took three deep breaths before she could respond in anything like a normal tone of voice. Then she lied to him for the first time in nine years.

“I’m fine,” she said. Ezekiel continued to look at her with concern. He caressed the skin on her upper arm with his thumb, waiting. Dear Heart sat up and hugged him tightly, saying with her embrace what she couldn’t otherwise.

He squinted, looking at her more closely. He looked down to her chin and back up. Dear Heart took a breath.

“Why don’t you and Quincy come into the city later?” Ezekiel asked. “We could have a late lunch.”

She started to shake her head.

“Come on. Pretty please?”

She yielded.

“OK.”

“2?” he asked.

“2.”

He leaned down and kissed her, then rose from the bed. As he left the room, Dear Heart looked over at the clock on the nightstand: 6:58. That gave her seven hours, seven hours to decide whether to unearth her secrets or try to bury them anew.

She waited until she heard the garage door open and crank back down, followed by the soft whirr of Ezekiel's car departing before she moved again. Her mind raced. When she could hear only a squirrel chuffing in a nearby tree, she reached over to the bedside table and picked up her handheld. The interview was already cued up. Dear Heart had watched Kristen Burke's network speech several times, though she hadn’t seen it live.

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