Reprieve?

"The number of nods didn't matter; her heart didn't believe."

Leticia.

The days went by in a blur. The nightmares never stopped but they had become bearable. She was going to be discharged that day. She stared at the darkening skies, wondering how long it would take for the threatening rain to start.

The sight pulled her back into an abyss she was struggling to get out of. She did not want to remember that fateful evening when her life hit the rock-bottomest rock bottom. For the first time in a while, she succeeded in shaking off the memory.

When the news of her discharge had gotten to her ears, fear, raw and primitive had overtaken her heart. Would they send her out of the hospital for Angel to continue from where he stopped? Would they send her back to Nigeria for her mother to continue from where she stopped? The questions were never-ending.

They, however, ended when Dana had asked if she wouldn’t mind staying at their place until she was able to get her life back together. For as long as that took her. In addition, Dana and her husband had started the process of getting an asylum for her; basically it was a document that allowed her to stay in the US permanently if she liked and on a path to US citizenship. She hadn’t told them her complete story yet, but they were kind enough to let her in.

“Here, Letty.”

Leticia moved her gaze from the window to Dana and down to what Dana held. A wheelchair.

“Let me help you.” Dana moved to Leticia and held her waist. Leticia flinched. “Oh my God I’m so sorry.”

Leticia mewled an “It’s fine.” Her ribs were still sore, and her bump did not help. She sat on the wheelchair with some assistance from Dana and another nurse who walked in.

“Philip and Rita are completing the paperwork. Once they’re done, you’re completely discharged. We’ll come to the hospital once in a while, but there might not be need because Rita can easily pay a visit.”

Leticia nodded.

In the weeks –or months- she spent at the hospital, she’d come to know that Rita was an ob/gyn resident while Dana was a cardio resident. They were best friends.

The ride back to their house was a smooth one, and she found herself anticipating to see Dana’s boys. She’d never met them but it almost felt like she knew them because of how much details Dana was committed to telling her every time she visited. Which was every day.

“I know I might seem nosey and impatient but please I’ve had a burning question for a while.”

Leticia nodded.

“Thank you. Who’s Maverick? Is he the one who did this to you?”

A pang stabbed Leticia’s heart but she forced it away with a tight, brief smile. “My husband. Yes, and no.” She leaned back on the seat which had been padded with soft pillows and cradled her small bump, thankful that Dana could pick clues as Dana sat back too, sparing her more questions.

The beauty of the house was indescribable. Leticia didn’t indulge herself with the details. She simply wheeled her chair until she managed two forward pushes and stopped when her ribs cried for relief.

Dana seemed to be beckoning on her husband to help Leticia up the steps.

Leticia felt her hands tremble as he drew nearer, his shadow looming over her. The scent of his cologne, a sharp, musky aroma, was a jarring intrusion into her fragile world.

The whispers started, barely audible, but piercing through her consciousness.

“Whore!”

“Black girls are so fire…”

“…teach you a lesson”

Her breath hitched, her heart pounding against her ribs. She grabbed her head, her fingers digging into her scalp, a desperate attempt to silence the insidious voices.

The world around her blurred, the beautiful house, the concerned face of Dana and Philip, all fading into a vortex of fear.

Philip's hand reached towards her, a gesture of help, but it felt like a grasping claw, a threat. Her body tensed, her muscles locking in a primal response. His face doubled, and she saw Angel’s face in it, then gingerhead’s face.

The scream that forced its way through her lips left an excruciating pain in its wake. She grabbed her ribs and screamed again, her brain looking for the next escape route.

“Calm… down… hurt… you”

The voice faded into her subconscious as she let out a more feral scream until once again, a sudden chill gripped her, stealing the warmth from her limbs. Her vision narrowed, the world shrinking to a single, piercing point of light. Then, darkness consumed her, an unwelcome blanket of oblivion.

The slightest movement sent a jolt of pain through her injured side, making her grimace as she struggled to rise. Leticia gave up and lay back on her side, drifting into unconsciousness again.

The next time she peeled her eyes open, four large eyes were in her face. She moved her head back to get a clearer view. The faces before her were the same, and when she was about to react, she was reminded that there was something called twins.

The boys were... Absolutely adorable. One had blue eyes, the other blue and brown. Otherwise nothing else could differentiate them. Everything was the same down to their hairstyle and clothing. Even the expression they wore on their tiny faces was the same.

Seeing that her eyes were open, one let his four teeth out to form a smile. Leticia found herself struggling to match his expression. The other one was crawling towards her wheelchair. She stretched her hand to pat his shaggy hair and he attempted to grab her fingers. She let him. Then the child started speaking gibberish, with such excitement that one would think they were friends.

“Oh thank goodness!” Dana spoke, obviously out of breath and with a hand on her chest. “These boys will not be the end of me!”

Leticia allowed herself a smile this time.

“Letty I was preparing something for you to eat when you wake up. They were sleeping in their cot but when I went to check on them, they had disappeared. Once they disappeared like that and were out in the garden, with Nate about to shove some sand into his mouth. These boys!” She glared at the one with different coloured pupils who was smiling at Leticia. As though he knew that his mother was angry, he immediately stopped smiling and dropped his head.

Shaking her head, their mother gathered the boy into her hands and went for the other who was trying to climb the wheelchair regardless of Dana.

“I apologize, Leticia. This is Nick,” she said, pointing her chin to the one who had been trying to get on the wheelchair, “And this is Nate. Boys, say hi to aunt Letty.”

Ahh. Nate was the happy-go-lucky toddler while Nick was the indifferent one. The latter had an attitude. Leticia smiled at both boys. Nate returned the smile and buried his head in his mother’s shoulder while Nick had on a bored expression.

She found herself chuckling. Perhaps, a stay here would be interesting.
“I hope they didn’t disturb you.”

Leticia shook her head.

“This is the second time you’re having a panic attack Letty. We would have to see the trauma specialist soon.” Dana’s eyebrows were pinched together as she spoke.

Leticia shifted her gaze.
A psychologist would attempt to make her talk about what happened. She did not want that.

“It's okay." Dana sat on the edge of the bed, careful not to make contact with her. She took Leticia's hand into hers. "You don't have to do anything you're not ready for. But remember, healing takes time and support. You don't have to face this alone. We're here for you okay?”

Leticia still said nothing. Maverick had said the same thing. I'm here for you. Then he went off, leaving her pregnant and alone. The few times he traveled back, he'd hide in the spare room as though Leticia repulsed him. If the man whose children she bore had put her in this state, how much more a stranger?

“I’m not going to nag you. I’ll just go get you something to eat okay?”

She backed away with the kids, giving Leticia a warm smile until the door hid her behind itself.

Leticia let out a sigh and glanced around the room. It was spacious and airy, embodying the essence of contemporary luxury minimalism. The walls were painted a crisp white, creating a blank canvas that amplified the natural light flooding in through the floor-to-ceiling windows that dominated one wall.

The centerpiece of the room was a low-profile king-sized bed, its frame a sleek black metal contrasting sharply with the white Egyptian cotton bedding. A single piece of abstract art hung above the headboard, its subtle purple hues the only pop of color in the otherwise monochromatic space.

To her right, the large windows offered an unobstructed view of the manicured garden outside, with motorized blinds that could be adjusted for privacy. A floating desk of polished concrete hugged the wall beneath the windows, its clean lines emphasizing the room's minimalist aesthetic.

On the left, a walk-in closet was concealed behind seamless white doors that blended into the wall when closed. The far corner housed a single Eames lounge chair in black leather, positioned next to a slim floor lamp with a cylindrical shade.

The room was a study in restraint and sophistication, with every piece carefully chosen to maintain the clean, uncluttered look. Hidden LED lighting around the ceiling's perimeter provided a soft, ambient glow, enhancing the room's serene atmosphere.

Despite the stark modernity of the space, Leticia couldn't shake the feeling that something about it reminded her of her past. Perhaps it was the underlying sense of calm that permeated the room, a tranquility she had long been seeking.

The tranquil reminded her of her house in Lagos. Or rather, Maverick's house. The house was always quiet. Except for the times when Michelle was around. If it was just she and Maverick, the silence was so thick that a pin drop would sound through every wall in the house.

Maverick... He'd probably moved on. Maybe he'd even started dating Lara. Instinctively, her fingers traced her bump. What would it be like to raise kids without him?

Raise kids? That was a bold statement. How about first birthing them successfully? There'd never been a good pregnancy memory for Leticia. "Maybe God saw how callous you were and refused to give you kids!" Another pang.

Perhaps she wasn't so callous, because now she had babies. Although she'd have given anything to not be in this situation again, the only person to blame was herself.

Leticia had bugged Maverick to no end after the still birth. She'd cry and cry and refuse to sleep because she wanted a baby. Maverick indulged her without complaints.

That statement was a testament to the fact that he had, but his heart didn't. He'd just indulged her out of pity. When there was no longer anything to pity, he let the cat out of the bag. That was how he felt all along.

A slight creak pulled her from her thoughts, and she looked down to find Nate staring at her like she was his latest favourite toy. The boy crawled until he sat in front of her bed, sporting an innocent smile and beautiful round dimples. His double coloured irises had her amazed but worried. She hoped the little one won't be bullied for it in the nearer future, just as she had been for her eyes.

Nate put up his hands in what Leticia interpreted as carry me. She stared at him, contemplating between her love for innocent creatures like this and her filth.

What if this little boy could see how shattered and broken she was? Leticia watched until he gestured again. This time with a little gibberish that sounded like a protest. Even if she wanted to pick the boy, would her ribs let her?

She tried to stoop but called it quits when a sharp pain in her chest reminded her of her current situation. She couldn't stretch to caress the baby either. It sucked.

"He seems to like you a lot." Philip stood by the door, attention fixated on the toddler who immediately screamed "Dada!" when he saw his father.

"I'm sorry about earlier. I should have been more sensitive." He placed a tray on the table with some rice. It looked like Jollof rice. She looked from the rice to him and back.

"Oh, I and Dana tried to whip something familiar to you." He scratched the back of his head with a nervous smile. "We checked out the most famous Nigerian delicacy and saw it's jol-lof rice, hopefully ours would prove that Nigerian Jollof wins over Ghanian."

"Thank you..." She trailed off. She'd wanted to laugh but her body seemed to have had enough for the day.

"Philip. You can call me that. I do hope you like your room."

Leticia nodded.

"Enjoy your meal. Don't worry about anything, just focus on recuperating. Dana and I will take care of the rest, okay? There’s a phone right beside the bed, call if you need anything, Dana’s number is speed dial one."

She nodded again. The number of nods didn't matter; her heart didn't believe that people could be so randomly kind to a total stranger. Why weren't they suspecting her? What if she was a terrorist? Or what if they were human traffickers too?