Dahaba is sitting on the bed and Salif is sitting on a chair next to her, holding her hand, although he drops it when he sees Bella.
“What time is it?” Dahaba asks.
Bella has no idea; she is barely aware of where on earth she is.
Dahaba says, “Are you alright, Auntie?”
Salif gets to his feet and, as if he were dealing with a child who has awoken from a nightmare, takes her hand and leads her back to her bedroom, where he sits on the edge of the bed. “It is only ten o’clock at night,” he says, looking at the clock. “You’re in Nairobi, and you’re jet-lagged still. You’ve just awoken from a brief sleep. It’s been a long day. So please take it easy and get some rest.”
He offers her a glass of water, but she takes his hand to stop him from leaving. She doesn’t think she can bear being alone, what with this cocktail of troubling ingredients that she is gradually remembering roiling in her — Aar’s death, so much travel and dislocation, this sudden new role, Valerie and her lover hovering with probable malicious intent just outside the frame, and even the children not entirely to be counted on, as surely they will want to see where things stand for them before they throw in their lot with one side or the other. It is not in Bella’s nature to give up at the first obstacle, but she also knows there is no point in forcing children against the grain. Or maybe this is an early indication, if she needs one, that she is not ready to assume the role of mother all of a sudden.
Dahaba joins them, and Bella taps the mattress on either side of her, indicating that they should sit. “What woke me?” she asks.
Dahaba says, “Salif and I were arguing, and we raised our voices. We are sorry.”
“I upset her and she was mad at me,” says Salif.
Dahaba says, “You see, I’m easily upset.”
“Were you crying?” says Bella.
“Yes, she’s a drama queen,” says Salif. “But I admit I had a go at her.”
Just talking like this about a mundane sibling squabble is calming Bella down. She goes into the bathroom to throw cold water on her face, although this time she does not dare to look at her face in the mirror. She whispers a line from Robert Benchley to herself: “Tell us your phobias and we will tell you what you are afraid of.” She stands with her back to the mirror and feels how fragile she is. In her current mental state, she can’t even tell what she is afraid of. But she has no desire to free herself of her new responsibilities either.
She flushes the toilet for effect and runs the tap again, washing her face and her hands with cold water once more. And when she comes back to the bed, she discovers that she is once again the adult and they the children.
Dahaba expresses her unhappiness with her mother for not showing up for dinner, and Salif condemns Valerie’s “unpardonable rudeness,” which he sees as of a piece with her generally undignified attitude toward others. Bella does her best to comfort Dahaba and reasons with Salif, reminding him that Valerie has other worries on her mind. They don’t know the whole story, she reminds him. They just have to wait.
Bella wonders how much of Valerie’s jerrybuilt maneuverings are in store for her. Shoddy as they are, they can be difficult to dismantle. How can she keep Salif’s and Dahaba’s allegiance and also protect Aar’s honor and interests?
First thing tomorrow, she’ll confirm her appointment with Gunilla. And with that in mind, she gets out of bed. Dahaba and Salif go back to their rooms, and Bella begins to gather the documents she will need for tomorrow’s meeting with Gunilla — her passport, her Italian ID, her driver’s license, her birth certificate, and the most recent copy she has of Aar’s will. Bella puts all these in a satchel, locks it, and places it under the bed. She pictures Valerie using the upstairs bathroom, making an unsuspected entry into the room and ghosting out with this booty in her possession. It is not beyond Valerie to plan this sort of stunt. In the past, she has helped herself to Aar’s credit card, forging his signature until she got caught. Greed coupled with opportunity can make a thief of the best of us, Bella thinks.
Her preparations done, she takes an enjoyably long shower and gets under the sheets with a mystery novel by Philip Kerr that she has discovered on Aar’s shelves.
—
Bella has been reading for about an hour and, having grown pleasantly sleepy, is just about to turn out the lights when she hears the dull sound of the doorbell ringing downstairs. She throws on her nightgown again and a robe as well. Outside of her bedroom, the hallway is dark, and the children’s doors are closed. She tiptoes down the stairway, but there is no peephole so she calls through the door, “Who is there?”
And sure enough, Valerie answers. “Bella, it’s us, Padmini and I.”
Bella turns on the entryway light and opens the door. Valerie walks right past her. “Not bad at all,” she says, taking in the house.
“We should’ve called,” Padmini says to Bella. Valerie continues to take a measure of the house, as if imagining what it would be like to live in it and hold big parties. She paces back and forth, now staring at the parquet floor, as if she were inspecting it for dirt. She turns to Padmini. “Not bad at all, eh?” she says again.
Bella almost laughs.
Padmini says, “We ran into some friends. We only meant to have a drink with them, but somehow… Our sincere apologies for disturbing you.”
Not knowing what else to say, Bella asks, “What would you like to have?”
Padmini says to Valerie. “What are we having?”
But before Valerie can answer, they hear a squeal of joy, and Dahaba runs down the stairs, shouting “Mummy!”—a word she somehow stretches to three syllables — and throws herself into Valerie’s arms, just as she had done with Bella at the Kariukis’. She is still dressed, Bella sees.
“My condolences, my sweet,” says Valerie, softly maternal now. “I am so sorry.”
Watching as Dahaba wraps her young body around her mother’s middle-aged girth, Bella is touched despite herself.
Dahaba says, “How many years has it been?”
Valerie says, “Well, let’s see — how many years?”
Then they hear Salif’s baritone from the top of the stairs. “When you say you’ll come, you must come,” he says, the man of the house.
“It’s hard to explain, so we won’t try,” Valerie says. “Anyway, my sincere condolences for your loss. We may not have got on, your father and I, but he was at heart a good man.”
Salif doesn’t acknowledge her words of sympathy. “And if you don’t come when you say you will, then you must ring to say you’ll be late.”
Now Bella sees the Aar in Salif, and she can see that Valerie sees it too.
“Look at you, all grown and full of blame!” cries Valerie, but there is a touch of pride in her voice. She turns to Padmini. “My son. Isn’t he handsome?”
Salif looks from his mother to Padmini, as if meeting her for the first time — which in a sense he is. He looks her over, taking her measure. “And who is this?” he says.
Valerie says, “You know Padmini. This is your auntie.”
“No, but who is she really?” says Salif.
“She is like a sister to me,” Valerie says.
Dahaba is standing next to her mother, their flanks touching. She says, “She is lovely, Mummy.”
“That’s my girl,” Valerie says encouragingly.
Salif takes his time descending. He hugs his mother briefly then offers his outstretched hand for Padmini to shake with a look that challenges her to do anything but take it. “How would you like me to address you?” he says.