Page 77 of Counting the Days

172Days

Rhea was jarred awake byher ringing cellphone. She squinted at Marcus’s name on the screen. To avoid disturbing Danny, she answered the call in a whisper and crept out of the room.

Marcus told her the baby was okay, a healthy boy, but there were complications with the C-section, and they could not figure out how to get Ada to stop bleeding. He would call her as soon as he knew more. Rhea held back tears and told him in an upbeat voice that the kids were doing great and not to worry about a thing.

Rhea went downstairs and wept on the couch. She walked over to the fridge and looked at all the photos of Ada and her darling family. The jealousy that would’ve normally been there was replaced by a vehement need for Ada to come home and take more pictures with her darling family. Ada Achebe had built a chaotic, unmanageable, magnificent life, and if she did not come home and continue living it, Rhea would have to burn the world down.

She boiled water for herbal tea, knowing she would not be able to sleep until Marcus called back. Just as she finished her second mug, her phone rang. Marcus told her they’d performeda complete hysterectomy to stop the bleeding, and it was successful. They’d also given Ada a blood transfusion, and she was now sleeping peacefully.

Rhea could not talk; she just cried, and Marcus did too. When they were able to use words again, Marcus said his mom was flying in that afternoon. Rhea said she was happy to stay for as long as they needed, but Marcus insisted she let his mom take over.

After she got off the phone, she went outside and took a walk in the dawn light. She was restless with thoughts of Ada. She hoped Ada’s doctor had more sensitivity than Rhea’s; she tried not to imagine a man in a white coat standing across from Marcus, saying, “Your wife’s fertility is at the bottom of a cliff.”

Ada had three children now, so having a hysterectomy would not be massively life-altering, but Rhea felt anguish for her friend and all that she had just endured.Three children.Ada was officially living inside Rhea’s vision board, and Rhea felt no one deserved it more than Ada Achebe.

Rhea slipped back in bed right before Ekele screamed, “Uncle Danny!”

Rhea winced and jumped out of bed to silence him.

“Uncle Danny!” he screamed again.

“That’s me,” Danny said in a voice thick with sleep. He opened one eye and smiled at Rhea. “Good morning, beautiful.”

“You keep sleeping, I’ll take care of him,” Rhea said quickly.

“That’s okay, I’ll do it…. But I think I’m gonna just bring him in here?”

“If you want to, but honestly, I’m happy to go—”

“I got it, I got it,” Danny said as he shuffled to the door, then he turned back. “Did you hear from Ada?”

“Yes, yeah, she’s gonna be okay, baby’s good, everything’s okay.” She was too exhausted to get into the details.

Danny looked relieved and was about to say something but was cut off by a shrill “Uncle Danny!”

He came back seconds later, holding Ekele, who looked delighted to not be in his crib. They got into bed, and Ekele fell asleep immediately, followed by Danny. Rhea lay awake with anxious thoughts rolling around her head.Is Ada okay? Is Danny annoyed? Has Ada been able to hold her son? Danny seems fine, but is he pretending?She decided she was going to force Danny to leave the second he woke up and wondered what she could say to make him do so…. Then, somehow, amidst all her turmoil, she fell asleep.

Rhea woke up with Chichi’s feet in her face. She squinted her eyes open and saw Chichi sleeping with her head at Rhea’s knees. Ekele was crammed so close to Danny he was almost underneath him. The tableau of these sleeping children and this gorgeous man was so tantalizingly close to what she had always wanted. Partly because of the emotional events of the morning, but mostly because she wanted to be a mother so badly, she started crying again.

“What’s wrong, Ahree?” Chichi said.

Rhea looked down and saw Chichi peering at her. Rhea wiped her eyes and was about to say, “Nothing,” but could not stand the idea of denying Chichi’s instincts.

“I was just feeling a little sad,” Rhea whispered.

“Why?” Chichi crawled up and almost pressed her face against Rhea’s.

“Sometimes people get sad when they don’t get what they want.”

“Like ice cream?”

“Yes, exactly like ice cream. Have you ever cried when you couldn’t have ice cream?”

“Um…I don’t know, but Ekele does all the time.”

Rhea laughed. Chichi asked Rhea to read herA Fort on the Moonagain. Ekele and Danny woke up when they were halfway through. Rhea told Danny he should go home and get some uninterrupted sleep, but he refused. The kids said they were hungry, and Uncle Danny’s offer to make pancakes was met with great enthusiasm. Rhea tried to talk him out of it, but Danny marched downstairs, holding Ekele with Chichi in tow, and showed them both how to make pancakes.

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