Chapter 254 - Home in Molave

It was a harvest season in Molave, and farmers flocked up to the mountain to join the harvest. Leo owned big farmlands, and every planting and harvest season, he hired them to do the labor. Due to the slopes and stiff cliffs, the use of pieces of machinery was difficult, so they remained using the manual method of farming. These farmers stayed in huts that Leo built around their house. Due to the distance from their homes, they stayed there for several days until they completed the task.

Though the labor was tiresome, it was always a happy day for everyone because it was the season where they gathered together for many days. During moonlit nights, they gathered outside the lawn to sing and chat over galloons of coconut wine and boiled bananas or sweet potatoes. At times, Issa baked cassava or rice cakes for them using her native steamers. They usually sang and danced through the nights as men took turns in strumming their guitars and women did the singing.

It was another harvest afternoon when everyone's attention shifted to the sound of a coming car. Though not many vehicles came to their place, the local government had already paved a district road towards the home of Leo and Issa. Their area produced an enormous amount of crops and livestock, making the place a priority of the government's road construction project.

Leo was piling up the sacks of corn cobs that the laborers had harvested for the day when the car stopped in front of their house. Issa was also with other women under the trees shelling out and husking the corn cobs. Everyone stopped from their work and riveted their attention towards the car, curious about who came. Leo, on the other hand, did not expect a guest or any delivery order from the town. He dusted himself with his hands and walked towards the car. He stopped a few meters away, feeling the curious gazes of the farmers on his back.

Unable to see who was behind the tinted windows, Leo squinted and waited until the door slowly opened. A man's leg first touched down the ground, and soon, his whole physique appeared in full view before him, making his jaw dropped in surprise. For a moment, he stood pinned to the ground until his voice, like a soft feather, tickled his heart and ear.

"Tay, I'm sorry for not going home soon."

Andrew then strode the distance between them and fell on his neck, heaving out a loud cry in a snap of a finger. The surprise, the sense of joy and relief that gripped his heart at the moment, prompted a complicated feeling inside Leo and he also cried. His bawling was even much louder than his son's;  his arms wrapping around him.

"Son, it's not about how long anymore but about giving us both the chance to live finally as father and son."

"I grow up longing to be by your side," said Andrew, and in the next second, a loud wail broke within him, slowly releasing all the bitterness and envy he felt inside.

Leo held him tighter, not minding the deluge of tears that run through Andrew's chin towards his back.

"The moment I knew you were inside your mother's w.o.m.b, I promised myself to make you a musician, and I am glad that even without me, you live the dream that I had for you."

After a long while, Andrew released himself from Leo's embrace. He looked into his father's eyes and raised his hand to touch his face.

"Tay, can I stay home for a long while?"

Leo's face winced in pain in an instant,  and he broke into another cry, hugging his son again.

"If only I can bring back the time and start all over again..."

Andrew pulled out from his embrace and covered his mouth. "Shhh. Let's move forward and push  the past aside."

Leo nodded and smiled, tears still stinging his eyes. Then, he placed a hand at Andrew's shoulders and led him excitedly towards the house.

"Issa! Issa!" Leo called out and scanned his eyes at the group of women who resumed their work, afraid to get caught watching their emotional display.

Issa emerged from behind a tree, conscious of her puffing eye bags, which were as red as her tomatoes in the backyard. Andrew walked towards her with a wide grin, hugging her too in his arms.

"Thank you for your patience, nay," Andrew looked straight into her eyes, passing on the message of his gratitude for accepting him as Leo's son. He knew that a mention of her mother's name caused heartaches to her when they were younger.

"Thanks for coming home, son." A pang of pain squeezed Andrew's heart. Issa's welcome pierced deep within him, making him regret taking so long in coming home. If not for Joanna's patience on him, this would not have happened. And he wouldn't have lived longer.

Andrew jolted from his feet when he remembered that he left Joanna inside the car. How could he forget the woman who gave importance to his life? He quickly sprinted towards the car, and in the next second, Joanna got down with a beautiful bundle in her arms.

Leo and Issa's eyes widened with glee as they stared at the yawning, handsome baby boy that Joanna showed out to them.

"Darling, meet grandpa and grandma. They will take care of you while mommy and daddy will be away for a concert." 

"Oh, my!" Issa squealed, "this is such a wonderful surprise!"

"Lord, how do I ever deserve your goodness?" Leo exclaimed as he put his arms together and closed his eyes. "It was not enough that you give me another son; you also top it with a grandson!" 

_______

Before the skies turned crimson the next morning, Ajie, Allie, Cherry, Andrew, and Joanna gathered outside the door of Leo and Issa's house. Andrew lighted the candles on top of the cake that Joanna was holding. At the single strum of a guitar, the small group of musicians lifted their beautiful, blended voices, waking up the sleeping farm animals. Roosters crowed, the cats ran around, licking on their legs, and the dogs barked. Even the farmers in their huts rose from their beds. 

Leo sat up abruptly as he seemed to hear the angels singing in his dream. When Issa also sat up beside him, he knew it wasn't a dream. They listened more carefully, and his tears then dripped from his eyes like the waterfalls on the hill across their place. This was ever the first birthday serenade he had in his whole life.

"We wish you a happy birthday! Today and the years to come..."