The Celestial Gate by Avital Dicker (red white royal blue txt) 📗

brought him back home, he again heard him ask his Mom out for coffee like he always does. Only, this time, instead of refusing as usual, she said yes.

Yam jumped up and down on his bed for a whole hour from excitement.

Dad has a humungous studio full of paint and he lets Yam color and make as much of a mess as he wants. He even lets Yam help him mix the paints. Yam can already prepare lots and lots of shades, and Dad says he’s a genius and has great talent.

But the real reason Yam mixes paints is that he’s trying to find the exact shade of blue as the eyes of the girl from that dream he’s always having.

Yam has never told anybody about that dream.

In the dream, the girl with the blue eyes is really, really scared. She runs and screams. He tries to help her, but he can’t hear what she’s yelling. The girl is crying and he runs to her. She holds her hand out to him and he’s really near her, almost touching, but then he hears a scary roar and wakes up. The dream is the same every time and he never manages to reach her.

Amalia was having trouble deciding between the lavender dress and a tank top with jeans.

A whole life separated the girl she’d been back then and the single-parent lawyer she was today. Yoav had gone to New York. During the first few months, he’d tried calling, but Amalia had never picked up the phone. In fact, she’d been asleep most of the time. Later on, she discovered that she’d been suffering from what doctors call post-partum depression. Eventually, Yoav stopped calling.

It took time, but Amalia got better and started to enjoy motherhood. And, with her mother’s encouragement, she even went back to school. When Yam was a year old, Yoav visited Israel. Amalia was in the middle of her finals and decided it was best if she didn’t see him. Besides, she didn’t want to risk her depression coming back. Rebecca took Yam to meet Yoav and they had a picture taken together that he’s kept to this day.

To this day, Amalia still couldn’t forgive him for getting her pregnant and leaving so he could gallivant around the world, letting her deal with the diapers and the baby on her own. Six years had passed since then. Amalia had finished her studies; she no longer lived with her parents. She was a successful attorney now and, for the first time since Yoav, she even had a boyfriend.

But, for the past few months, since returning from New York, it’s seemed as if Yoav has changed. This time it seems he’s serious and here to stay. He found an apartment in Tel Aviv not far from them and set up a fabulous room for Yam. He’s always on time when picking Yam up on his regularly scheduled visitation days and he’s never missed even one. Most important of all, her son is happy with his father.

Amalia decided that, for Yam’s sake, it was best to make up with Yoav.

She finally settled on the tank top and jeans so that Yoav wouldn’t think she was making a special effort for him or that she even cared at all.

She looked at her beautiful boy, merrily jumping and rolling around on the big queen-sized bed. She couldn’t imagine life without him. She’d do anything to ensure his wellbeing, and she again reminded herself that it was only because of him that she’d agreed to see Yoav that day. It was important to Yam that she and Yoav be on good terms.

“Mommy, you’re really beautiful,” said Yam just as the doorbell rang.

Amalia took a deep breath and went to open the door.

Chapter 6

Mor

The three of them were sitting around the large kitchen table doing homework, Anise, Mor, and Sual, who last year had started studying education at university. Theo had registered her at the beginning of the year and insisted on paying her tuition fees. At first, Sual tried to argue with him, but the truth was that she was overjoyed to be studying once again. Doing homework together with the kids had become a regular weekly ritual. And even though Mor hated doing homework, he enjoyed the time the three of them were together. Sual always made sure to have sandwiches and hot chocolate on hand, and Mor loved eating and watching her study. She had this funny habit of wrapping her hair around her finger when she was trying to concentrate. Sometimes, he was a little sorry that she hadn’t given birth to him instead of that strange woman in the framed picture in his dad’s study. Sual was the only mother Mor knew, the only adult who loved him. His father didn’t give a damn about him and, honestly, he didn’t give a damn about his father anymore.

Still, he continued to observe his father from afar, taking care that Theo didn’t notice. Mor swore to himself that, when he became a father, he’d hug his kids all the time. Anise was the only one who knew how he felt. It was only with her that he could talk about his father, because she was his best friend and she would never, ever tell anyone.

Theo, who was home early, stopped in the kitchen doorway and looked at them sitting around the table. None of them had noticed the man with the graying temples and sad smile standing there like a stranger. Sual, who was deep into her textbook on the table, absentmindedly pushed her hair to the side, the way she always did when she was deep in thought. Theo smiled. What would he have done without this amazing woman who’d raised Mor as if he were her own son and done such a marvelous job of it to boot.

Theo then looked at Mor, seated next to her. His beautiful son who was so like his late wife. He’d tilt his head