Love, still.

The door violently swung open.

"You. What are you doing here?" he asked, coldly.

"Are you kidding me, I'm the mother of your child Ronald."

"My family cannot see you here, you know my mother doesn't like you,"

Janet gasped deeply, her eyes beginning to gleam with tears. The rest of the venomous words Ronald said bumped against each other in her mind, she didn't bother trying to make sense out of them. 

Huge, dark clouds in the sky and a strong humid wind made a solid suggestion of approaching rain. It was sunset but it appeared darker than normal. A drop of rain fell on Janet's forehead.

She blinked some tears away, straightened up her head and looked straight into Ronald's eyes.

"Our daughter is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen...and I'm tired of trying to drag you to loving her. I really don't care anymore. It's your own loss." Said Janet, and then she turned and walked away.

 She heard the door bang behind her.  At that moment the swift showers of rain began falling down.The tears Janet had been trying to hold back streamed down her cheeks. She just let them fall, flowing along with the rain.She was alone in the streets of this high density suburb,and she felt as if she was alone in the world...shut out from people's warm shelters. 

Thoughts of giving up avalanched down Janet's spine. Twenty-year old, high school drop-out with nothing to her name, she thought life couldn't be any more cruel to her.

 She had attempted suicide once, the previous year. Janet took a bottle of rat poison and went to the bathroom, hands shaking, and fighting the disapproving voices in her head. Then suddenly a feeling of nausea overtook her and she immediately had to throw up. She realized this nauseating feeling had been with her for several days. It was then that it dawned upon her that she was pregnant, confirming it with a pregnancy test later that day. Suddenly, Janet felt as if she had a reason to live. Even though she had ran away from her rural home to come live in the city, cut all communication with her relatives and had just broken up with the one who used to be her everything, Ronald; this unborn baby was her new hope. Throughout the lonely pregnancy, Janet dreamt of building a family with Ronald. He was rude and unloving and cold but she thought she saw some love deep within his fierce eyes. However, it was after her beautiful little angel's birth that she got to accept that he really didn't care about her or the baby. And on this day, she had gone to his house to officially exhale his heavy influence out of her.

"I gotta be strong," she whispered to herself, "I gotta be strong for my baby."

The neighbour Janet had left with the  5-month old baby complained that she had been crying the whole time. This little cutie was so fond of her mother she would scream if she woke up without her by her side.

She didn't look like either of her parents. Janet was glad. Heaven forbid that her angel resemble the detestable Ronald in any way. She had big, friendly eyes and a cute little smile that lit up her world. Janet loved rubbing her baby's small chubby hands against her face; oh what a soothing feeling it was. Something then rang inside her... she thought of her own mother. Her humble, aged mother back in the village. She imagined how she'd feel if her baby ever decided to abandon her when she gets old, like she had done to her mother. Janet's heart broke. At that moment she decided she'd go visit her mother in the village.

The next morning, as Janet stood by the roadside, waving at passing cars to ask for a lift, a mercedes benz stopped in front of her. Cars of this caliber usually never stop. She remained standing, waiting for the driver to confirm that he had indeed stopped for her.

"Aren't you looking for a lift, ma'am?" asked a friendly stranger.

"Umm, yeah.." stammered Janet, picking up her bag. She stated where she was going and he happened to be going to the same place.

To her surprise, the man got out of the car and helped her put her bag into the car boot. He then opened the door for her, as she was holding the baby and could not open herself. Or let's say it was just chivalry.

"She's beautiful," he said, with a disarming smile.

"How did you know she's a she?" chuckled Janet.

"All that pink? And those eyes...definitely a girl,"

Janet settled in the passenger seat of the car, inhaling the sweet scent of a brand new interior. 

"So what brings you to the village?" she asked.

"I visit my grandmother from time to time. She practically raised me up," he said.

It stroke a cord on Janet's heart. She felt peaceful with her decision to go visit her mother after five years of not seeing or hearing from her. And what a great coincidence it was to meet this nice man on her way. He was very friendly and they had conversations that felt as if they had known each other for a long time. He mentioned that he had noticed she was not wearing a wedding ring and also figured no responsible husband would let his wife and a baby that young travel a long distance alone. Janet was initially reluctant about sharing her story but somehow she felt welcome to speak. He was a good listener too. Oh God, where were men like this when i was surrounded by Ronalds in my life? She thought.

The car came to a halt a little distance from her mother's compound. This had been the shortest journey to the village ever.

"So uhh, may I have your number or something...maybe I can give you and your beautiful baby a lift again if we happen to be going back to the city at the same time," he said.

Janet smiled, and gave him her digits. She felt more thankful than infatuated. It was a great feeling. He helped her get her bag out of the car and then he bid farewell and left. She sighed to regain her composure.

When she turned around, she saw her mother standing in a distance, looking at her in disbelief. Janet walked towards her, forgiving herself with every step she took, and feeling her mother's magnetic love pull her closer.

The little mud hut that was her mother's house still stood in the middle of the compound just as she remembered it. But there was a warmth to this place. It was fenced by her mother's love. It was home.

Janet fell at her mother's feet and started weeping. She remembered how hard life had been without her ...how she had to beg Ronald for money for food as he wouldn't let her go to work. How she waited for him to come back to their one-roomed house when she was eight months pregnant with swollen feet and an aching back.

"I should never have left like that mama,I'm so sorry," she said, amidst sobs.

Amai Dana lifted her daughter to an upright position, her eyes swelling with tears.

"I'm glad you're back my child, I'm glad you're back."

Those words calmed the storm that had been raging in Janet's soul for a very long time.
She held her baby closer, praying she could learn to give love as her mother did. Unconditional love.