Ruth never came home at all in the first few days and Zodwa had to rely on Delilah for updates. She was grave and wouldn’t say much except that the prognosis wasn’t good.

“He’s a very sick little boy,” she said before disappearing into her room from where Zodwa would hear her weeping. The sound chilled her to her very core.

Zodwa paces constantly. Even in sleep, what little she gets, she’s in constant motion, her eyelids twitching and her hands grasping for something. Her son? Hope? She starts praying to Leleti’s God, asking for His mercy, begging Him not to take Mandla from her now that she’s a part of his life.

It seems that God listens because on the eighth day, Mandla is brought home from the hospital in the kind of car Zodwa thinks only presidents and famous people get driven around in. She doesn’t recognize the man driving, but he’s clearly someone Ruth is very close to, judging by the way they act with each other.

It’s the opulence of the car that makes Zodwa hesitate when all she wants to do is run at Mandla to see for herself that he’s better. Instead, she stands aside as the man opens the back door for Ruth, who gets out carrying Mandla. It’s only when Mandla holds out his hand for Zodwa that she’s spurred to action.

“Welcome home,” Zodwa says, taking a listless Mandla from Ruth’s arms. She’s so shocked by his physical transformation that she dares to plant a kiss on his cheek. “You’re looking thin, little man. It’s time for us to fatten you up.”

She leads him inside to the chocolate cake she baked for his homecoming. Zodwa was hoping for some reaction from him since it’s his favorite, but he merely sticks his fingers in his mouth to suck on them and turns away from the cake, burrowing his face into her neck.

Ruth goes to put bags down in Mandla’s room and the man joins Zodwa and Mandla in the kitchen.

He greets Zodwa in a distracted way and Zodwa greets him back. “Good day, sir.”

When Ruth comes through from the bedroom, she introduces them formally, “This is Zodwa, our maid. Zodwa, this is Vince, my . . . soon-to-be ex-husband. He lives in Cape Town.”

Ex-husband. So, he’s the one who pushed Ruth over the edge that day in the dam. Zodwa smiles at him even as the mention of Cape Town sends a shiver of alarm through her.

Is that why this man is here? To take Ruth and Mandla back to Cape Town with him?

Zodwa is just thinking that she can’t allow that to happen when Ruth says, “Can you watch Mandla for a second? I’m just saying goodbye to Vince. He’s flying back home today.”

“Of course.” Relief washes over Zodwa.