Page 75 of Eternally London

I return a minute later with her coffee.

Lindi pulls at my shorts.

“What is it, Lin?”

She points to the TV where the credits have finished rolling, and the movie is back on the opening screen.

“Do you want to dance some more?”

She says, “Yes,” and starts jumping up and down with excitement.

“Okay.” I laugh. “Let me play the soundtrack for you.”

I put on the soundtrack, and Lindi is immediately in her dancing world, flipping onto the ground and kicking up her leg to the beat.

“You need to get our girl into dance class,” I say as I sit back down next to London.

“I know. She has to be three to enroll in any of the dance studios around here,” she says with an air of annoyance.

“Really?”

“Yeah, isn’t that dumb? The first class she can do is ballet, but it’s only for ages three and up. Something about not being able to follow directions until then.” London shrugs.

“And they’re going to be following directions better at three?” I ask.

“I know, right? Whatever. Until then, she can just give us private recitals here after every movie.”

“Sounds good.”

The song “True Colors” comes on, and Lindi runs over to us with tears in her eyes. “Poppy kye.”

“Yes, this is when Poppy cried,” London says to Lindi, talking about the pink princess troll in the movie. “It’s okay because then she sang with her friend and felt all better, remember?”

“Poppy happy?” Lindi asks.

“Yes, she’s happy now.”

“Happy now,” Lindi repeats before taking off to dance again.

“She’s such a sensitive soul,” I say.

“She really is. She’s so in tune with other people’s feelings.”

“That is a good quality to have,” I tell London.

“Yeah, I think it is.”

London sips her coffee, and we watch our daughter dance.

“So, I’ve been thinking about something,” London says.

“What’s that?”

She sets her empty coffee cup on the table and turns to look at me. “I want to try to have another baby.”

My body immediately fills with dread—not because I don’t want another child, but because I don’t want to lose London again.

“I can already tell what you’re thinking, and I promise, it will be different this time. We’ll do everything we can, and if it happens, great. If not, then hopefully, we’ll be led toward another path, like adoption. I don’t want to adopt again from Africa. That’d require lots of time that we’d have to spend away from Lindi because we couldn’t bring her there since it’s not safe yet. But there are plenty of children in this country who need a home. You know?”

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