Antsy and anxious about what would happen, Thomas was waiting outside the hospital as he looked left and right to see if he would catch a glimpse of Reyona's car.
"Oh, mom," he muttered to himself in exasperation when his ears perked up at the sound of an engine, only to see that the approaching car was nothing at all like any of their cars.
"Why would you tell her the address?" He had asked after he got back to the room where the doctors were administering fluids to Leah. He had just stepped out to ease himself in the restroom, and as he entered, he saw his mother getting off the phone. That was when she told him that she had just spoken to Reyona and that she might be here at any time.
"Because I thought that the two of you could have a serene atmosphere to at least talk. If she comes here, she wouldn't want to argue with you in this kind of situation, you know. At least she could tell you the reason why she wanted to divorce you." Ruth said it heatedly.
"And in the meantime, she would also know that these children belonged to me!" Thomas fired back "I wonder why she was fooled the first time, but I can assure you that it wouldn't happen the second time, especially not now that she is talking about this ridiculous divorce thing! You shouldn't have, Mum."
"Well, why not shout down the roof then and wake up your poor child, who had been asking for you for days while at it?"
"You know, I have to make sure that Reyona does not suspect anything while I also try to get Susan out. I told you that Susan herself is unwell, and she needs to see me from time to time," he defended himself.
"And your children don't?" Ruth asked him with her arms held akimbo to her waist as she looked back at the small girl sunken in the middle of the hospital bed where she was laid. The Leah in that hospital was a far cry from the beautiful, vibrant child that Reyona still remembered. Her skin looked dry, and her healthy chubbiness had waned.
"Those children need both of you! Do you know that Junior was asking me the other day if you had also left them, just like their mother? How was I supposed to answer such a question from that inquisitive child as the three of them looked at me in expectation of the answers as if they had all been thinking of the same thing? Do you think that Leah just fell sick because of whatever it was that the doctors called it? That poor child needs her mother. And you!"
"Mum, don't be dramatic, and remember that we don't want to wake her up. They are just children, and they will be happy wherever they are. They love you, and I make sure that I send whatever I can to you, don't I? How will it help us now if Reyona comes here and finds out, Leah, that all of them belong to me? How will I be able to cater for any of you? You know what happened to my money after all."
Ruth turned away from him as she went over to tuck Leah in when the latter whimpered and tried to throw away the cover around her leg. "I don't know why you couldn't be more prudent with your money and how you send it. Now you are in this mess. I don't know why you couldn't even stick with Reyona in the first place and chose to stay with this one that has nothing to give you. Just look at it now. Everything is a big mess." She turned back to him.
"What were you even thinking when you decided to go over to that rubbish country that sucked up your money? Didn't you think of the fact that Reyona would come to me? What would I have told her? Now, that one you called the love of your life is behind bars, and Reyona wanted a divorce!"
She let out a near-hysterical laughter as she paced the hospital room, then clamped her mouth shut when she heard another whimper from Leah.
"I don't know what you are working yourself into a frenzy for now. The main thing now is that Reyona could be here anytime, and I don't want her to find out about them while I dissuade her from this divorce nonsense she had stuck in her head."
"And who would tell her? Is it Leah that could barely recognise me as being delirious from the fever's grip, or myself or the kids I had to keep with my neighbours when we were coming here?"
"I don't want to talk to you when you are in this mood," Thomas said in exasperation. "I will wait for her outside," he stated before leaving the room.
That had been about two hours now. He sat, paced, and moved around for a while with torrents of thought in his mind: "What if Leah woke up and called me dad when Reyona was around?" What if? A lot of what-ifs had been running through his head, making him increasingly nervous as he wondered about a thousand and one things that could happen while she was at the hospital.
Would she even talk to him about the divorce she had mentioned? Or would she just ignore him like she had done the night before?
He couldn't take it anymore after a while, especially after his mom came to the door of the room and asked, "She is not here yet? Maybe she decided not to come again."
"We don't know that for sure now, do we?" He snapped before telling her that he would wait for Reyona outside.
He tried calling her number multiple times, but she did not pick up the call. He had not thought that she would anyway; he just wanted to try since he had called her that morning already for the same reason.
Could his mom be right and she really wouldn't come again?
Thomas wanted to be relieved by that thought, but he knew that Reyona cherishes family a lot, and she would want to come check on his cousin's kid even if she was busy.
"That must be it," he thought suddenly, with a vigorous nod to himself, as if he had just conceived a great idea.
"Is everything okay, Lanoth?" He heard behind him, and his hands fisted instantly at his sides as he recognised who that hated voice belonged to.
Maxwell Rohan. Susan's cocky and arrogant stepbrother stood there dressed in all black like a criminal that Thomas would have loved to think he was.
"Not at all, Rohan." Thomas tried to answer in the same domineering tone that the latter had used, and he was infuriated that it came out a bit stilted, especially when Rohan gave him that arrogant smile, like he knew what Thomas was trying to do and he found him lacking.
"Is that so?" Maxwell said with a raise of his perfectly arched brow as he looked back at the hospital plaque and back at Thomas in amusement, "I had no idea that you find hospitals an intriguing venue to have your evening walks then."
"Nothing that concerns you, Rohan," Thomas said through gritted teeth, then he forced his clenched teeth into a mocking smile as he nodded at the heavily pregnant blond woman standing close to Rohan, who was at that moment giving the hospital building an anxious look like she couldn't wait to get going. "I can see that congratulations are in order, though; I have no idea that you are married."
The woman looked back at him with widened eyes, then she snorted laughter when she realised that he was referring to her. "Wha…what? Oh, that is rich!" Her snorts blossomed into full, outright laughter.