The Promise of Rain by Rula Sinara

jumped. A lot. The sight was nothing short of amazing. So phenomenally different from any church wedding Jack had ever attended. He noticed Niara and Anna bending their knees in rhythm.
    “Have you been to one of these before?” he asked Anna.
    “A few. Here at this homestead. Most of the Masai here are related to Ahron, so we know them. They’ve been good friends of the camp and the animals,” she said, shifting Pippa to her other hip.
    “The jumping?”
    “Everyone dances differently,” she said. “You should try it. For the men, it’s a competition.”
    “I don’t have a staff.”
    Anna grinned. “The staff is supposed to be a sign of...manliness,” she said, shifting Pippa again. Jack reached out and put a hand over their daughter’s eyes. Anna laughed. “Virility, Jack. She’s young enough to be clueless.”
    “Here, let me carry her.”
    Anna hesitated before letting Jack relieve her of Pippa’s weight. “Make sure you at least hold her hand if you put her down,” she said. “She, um, disappeared in the crowd at the last one we attended. I mean, she was safe and all—one of the girls brought her to me—but I’d rather she didn’t disrupt things.”
    “Got it.”
    “What’s diswupt?” Pippa asked.
    “It means I don’t want anyone tripping on you. Besides, you get a better view from up here,” Anna said, reaching out and wiggling Pippa’s button nose in a gentle pinch. In turn, Pippa pinch-wiggled Jack’s nose.
    “I did that once,” Anna added with a frown. “I ran off in a department store. My mom freaked and called Security. Now I know how she felt.”
    “Got it, Anna. I won’t let her go. You can...mingle or whatever, if you want.”
    Anna nodded and whispered something to Niara. Jack put his hand on Anna’s arm and she turned before walking off.
    “Let me guess. They found you in the toy aisle. Right?”
    Her eyes widened for a fraction of a second, then she looked down at Pippa’s dangling foot and fingered the strap on her tiny sandal.
    “No,” she said, and left without elaborating.
    Jack watched her and Niara, both beaming, approach the women, who warmly encouraged them to join their celebration. Anna looked vibrant. Her hair, worn down today instead of pulled back, bounced around her face. Her skin glowed with pure, natural beauty, framed by a peasant-style lavender shirt, a shock of color compared to the mute khaki button-downs she wore daily.
    “Stare at her any longer and you might miss the entire wedding,” said Kamau.
    “I’m not staring,” Jack insisted, jumping up and down with Pippa a few times as proof. Kamau grinned.
    “You’re good with her,” Kamau said, nodding toward them. Jack didn’t know how to respond. Holding his little girl was starting to feel...normal. He didn’t want to be good with her. He wanted to be great with her. “What are you planning to do? About the situation, I mean.”
    Jack glanced at Kamau, then back at the group of men chanting and jumping with their staffs around one particularly tall fellow, whom he assumed to be the groom. Beyond the group, under the shade of a cluster of trees, an older man stirred a giant pot in what appeared to be an outdoor kitchen of sorts.
    The women in the group echoed their chanted responses to the men. Their giant earrings glistened in the sunlight as they moved, but Anna’s face stole the show for Jack. She looked carefree. She looked as if she’d let her guard down, even with him present. But he knew that wouldn’t last.
    “I’m planning to do the right thing,” he said to Kamau. “I have responsibilities now.”
    “You miss the point,” the vet said. “You’re thinking with your head.”
    Jack raised a brow at him. “I hear words of wisdom coming. Let me give you some first. Thinking with anything else gets a man in trouble.”
    Kamau shook his head and laughed. “Man, I’m talking about this.” He pointed to his own chest. “Doing what’s in here is the only way to ensure