Day 43 of 45 Days
45 Days
© Aaron Ansah-Agyeman
It is evening.
The taxi stops and Eyram, Elaine and Aunt Ruth get out of it.
They approach the beautiful bungalow, and the front door opens and Rupert Henderson steps out uncertainly. He comes forward to meet them as Eyram pays off the cab.
Elaine looks at Rupert hesitantly, and there is sweat on her face, and wordlessly she reaches out for her mother’s hand. Aunt Ruth puts an arm around her daughter and gives her a loving hug.
“It’s alright, my dear, it’s alright,” Aunt Ruth says.
Rupert extends a welcoming hand.
“Hello, Elaine.”
Elaine only nods, and Rupert shakes the hand of Aunt Ruth, and then he and Eyram hug briefly. Eyram notices that he is very uneasy, and she squeezes his hand reassuringly.
“You’re good, my friend,” Eyram says.
“Do come in, come in! It’s chilly out here.”
They enter his living room, and Eyram notices that the wedding pictures of him and Barbara which had adorned the walls are now off, and she raises a questioning eye at him.
The baby is lying in a beautiful cot, and he is moving his pudgy limbs in an irritating way. Suddenly he begins to cry shrilly, and Elaine screams and tries to leave the room, but Rupert catches her and speaks softly to her, reassuringly.
“It’s okay, sweet Elly! He is yours, my grandchild! He’s white, though, but he is yours! I love him all the same! No matter what colour he is. He is still ours,” Aunt Ruth says reassuringly.
Elaine is shuddering, she looks at her mother with blazing eyes then she calms down.
“Mom! He’s my son! My baby!” she says.
“Yes, yes, Elaine! That’s your son, your crying son! He’s never tasted his mother’s breast milk, and I think he wants it! Come, come near and see!” Rupert says with a gentle smile.
Elaine tries to shake her head and step back, but Rupert holds her firmly and brings her to stand beside the cot. Elaine looks at her wailing son, and suddenly an expression of tender love crosses her tortured face. Rupert, seeing it, reaches into the cot and picks up the baby, and then he hands him to Elaine.
Elaine is trembling with fear, but she takes the baby, and suddenly tears well up in her eyes because the baby stops crying the moment Elaine takes him, and his lazy curious eyes roam her face, and then he grabs one of her fingers tightly.
The baby smiles and makes a funny sound.
Elaine laughs, cries, and smiles, and then she sits down, takes out her breast, and sticks it in the baby’s mouth! She laughs up at them, and they laugh back, and then she sheds tears of happiness.
“You’re a wonderful man! You will be his father?” she asks expectantly.
“I’m his father, Elaine,” Rupert says with a sweet smile. “I’ll always be. I love him, and if you try to keep me away from him, I’ll fight you. Don’t mess with me!”
Elaine laughs and smiles at him with tears in her eyes.
“I want you to be there for him, Doctor Henderson. I want you to be his father. I want him to grow up with you!”
“That’s the greatest news I’ve heard today, Elaine. Plus, I received my legal separation letter yesterday. My wife is divorcing me, and I want it that way. Eyram here is also divorced now, as of this morning when the court granted her application for divorce. The way I see it, as soon as my divorce is over, I’ll propose to Eyram, and we would all be one happy family!”
Eyram stares at Rupert, her expression amazed at first, and then her face looks amazingly happy as she takes a step towards him, grabs his shirt, pulls him close, and then she plants a sweet long kiss on his lips.
The baby looks at them and splutters.
He sprays Elaine’s face with breast milk, and they all laugh.
“Well, I can say it now, I guess. I love you, Eyram Kedem!” Rupert says expansively.
“Well, I can’t say if I love you that much. I mean, I positively do like you, a lot. I know, though, that you won’t be unfaithful to me, if I accept you, and I’m definitely not going to be unfaithful to you, so yes, I want to marry you, Mr. Henderson, and fall in love haaaaarrd with you!” Eyram says.
Elaine looks at them as she cleans breast milk from her face.
“I’m sure you wouldn’t want me to stay with you, huh?”
They all laugh again, this time longer, and the happiness is real and sweet all around them.
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