Chapter II
II
She was ready to leave thirty minutes after she arrived. She had work the next day, and no real skill for small talk. But she could see Eniiyi was having fun; she could give her another forty-five minutes.
She sipped the champagne offered, and tried to look as though she were not out of place. The music was good at least, and the food kept on coming. Tolu had left with his date; he claimed to have another party he was hoping to make, but she suspected he was simply trying to get away from her.
She felt the presence before she saw the man. Instinctively, her body stiffened.
“Hello, stranger,” he said.
She finished the rest of her champagne before saying, “I wasn’t aware you knew Tomisin.”
“I don’t. I’m a friend of his wife’s friend.”
“It’s a children’s birthday party.”
“I was not given that information before I showed up.” He laughed. He liked to laugh at himself. He said something to her, but the music was too loud for her to hear him clearly, and she didn’t bother asking him to repeat it.
“Ebunoluwa, can I get you something to drink?”
“No. I…I’m not looking for…”
“It’s just a drink. What are you afraid of?” When she didn’t answer, he shrugged. “I’m heading off. But if you want to talk, you know how to find me.”
She watched from the corner of her eye as he left the party, then she heard someone shouting for help.
She stood up and instinctively scanned for her daughter.
She couldn’t see her. She started to head for the pool, which was where the crowd was at its most dense.
The music was still playing, and most people were oblivious to the shouting.
She moved quickly, her heart in her mouth. Someone jumped into the swimming pool.
And then she saw the beaded hair, the small, struggling hands, and her brain filled the gaps.
Her daughter was going to die. She was going to lose Eniiyi the same way Aunty Bunmi lost Monife.
She saw her daughter go under, and she ran, kicking off her heels as she went and shouldering through the crowd.
She couldn’t swim, but she didn’t recall that in the moment. Someone grabbed her arm.
“He has her.”
The someone that had jumped into the pool was just a teenager.
But he was swimming with one arm, towing her daughter beside him.
The onlookers pulled the teenager and the small child up.
Ebun ran to the side of the pool, nearly slipping, and grabbed Eniiyi, holding her tightly.
Her daughter was crying, shaking, sobbing; but it was over.
And yet she couldn’t shake the dread that descended on her.
She had lived several lifetimes in that moment.
She had seen her laughing, dancing cousin dead on a slab.
She had nearly seen her child dead on a slab.
Was that what it meant to be a reincarnation?
Was her child doomed to walk the same path that Mo did?
She held her baby to her chest and hushed both their thumping hearts.