Leila jumped out of her seat as soon as the doctor walked into the corridor. She was beside the woman in a second, heart pounding too fast and too hard.
"How's he?" she asked. If anything happened to her husband, she would never forgive herself. "Doctor?"
"Mrs McKenna, he's fine." Walking in step with the doctor, they meandered through the corridor, past through another door. "His allergies were triggered but he's fine." Allergies. Her mind ran wild. Shrimps. Wheat. Peanut. Onions. "Did he eat anything new?"
Shit. The soup was prepared with blended onions. How could she forget about her husband's allergy?
"Kind of." She tightened her arms around Kelvin's coat. She had taken it off him when the men at the eatery had helped carry him into the car. Even worn it to feel closer to him. "But he's fine, right?" She needed to know. They stopped at a door and she looked through the glass to see Kelvin, sound asleep on the bed. There was none of that red splotch that covered his face or the rashes that crept up his neck. Leila heaved a sigh. "Thank you, doctor."
"Just doing my job." And she couldn't do hers. "We will be keeping him for the night but you can go in."
The doctor left and Leila stood there watching. Her breath fogged the glass, she blinked back the tears stinging her eyes. She was the reason he was in there.
Something was wrong with her.
The man she loved tried to hurt her and she tried to hurt the one who genuinely cared for her. The gentle voice in her head tried to remind her it wasn't her fault but the sinister voice prevailed. This was her fault. She shouldn't have insisted on him eating the soup.
"Excuse me?" The voice snapped Leila out of her trance. Her husband looked so peaceful sleeping she didn't want to ruin his sleep by going in. A lady in white pointed at her trolley, there was a metal bowl and a flask. "If you're done here, I would like to go in."
"Sure."
Leila followed behind the woman. Or nurse Madonna like her name tag said. Kelvin didn't open his eyes so she moved to the foot of his bed and massaged his feet. She missed him. If the nurse wasn't here, she would have spoken to him. Apologised for landing him in the clinic.
Nurse Madonna cleared her throat, she planted one hand on her hip. "What do you think you are doing?"
Leila's hands fell to her sides. She wasn't sure she had an answer to that question. "I don't know." She hadn't thought massaging her husband's feet would be such a big deal. "Is it bad?"
Irritation flashed across the nurse's face and Leila fisted her hands in the pockets of Kelvin's jacket. Her husband was here because of her, Leila understood that perfectly but she wouldn't tolerate any form of disrespect from someone who barely knew her. The only reason they came to this hospital was because the driver suggested it. But she was already regretting it.
Kelvin's eyes fluttered. He gazed around the room and broke into a big smile when he spotted the nurse. Nurse Madonna slapped a hand over his chest like they were lovers, Kelvin laughed and Leila gripped the metal of the bed until her knuckles turned white.
What the fuck?
"Hey," he called out to her. Leila looked behind her to be sure he was talking to her. A normal person would have acknowledged his wife first. She tapped her chest. "Yes, you, Leilani. Come here."
Her heart hurt because he recognised the nurse first. She was mad at herself for getting jealous. He was a grown man, he could do as he pleased. She begged her feet to function. Slowly, she made her way to her husband. The nurse scowled but she chose to ignore it. Who was she anyway? His ex? If she was his ex, why did the driver suggest bringing Kelvin to this hospital?
That man had a lot of questions to answer.
Leila's lips pulled into a thin smile when he said, "You should go home. I'll be fine. Madonna will take care of me."
So they were also on a first name basis. Leila nodded. To her, it seemed like her husband wanted her gone so he could spend more time with the so-called nurse. If Kelvin wanted space, she could give him lots of that.
"It's not your fault, okay?" His words were directed at her but Leila had stopped listening. She couldn't move past the fact he wanted to be alone with another woman. She slipped her hand into the jacket to avoid him touching her. He could touch the nurse. "Leila."
"Yeah?" She ran her fingers over her face. When she looked up, Nurse Madonna was staring at her with slight annoyance. "Yeah. You're right, I should leave. I'll be on my way."
Lying on the bed, Kelvin was no longer as intimidating. It might have been why she leaned in to kiss him. She kissed him until Nurse Madonna cleared her throat.
"You shouldn't be doing that," Nurse Madonna said.
To annoy the nagging nurse, Leila pecked Kelvin on the forehead again before taking her leave. Kelvin was her husband, Nurse Madonna had no right to tell her what to do.
The first thing Leila did when she got home was to rid the house of onions, wheat, peanut and every thing that could trigger Kelvin's allergy. The peanut butter in the top drawer was no exception. She pouted as she put all his triggers in a bag. Peanut butter was one of her favourite snacks, best eaten with bread but Kelvin's health was more important than her cravings.
Thinking of the little stunt she pulled before leaving made her smile. She took a seat by the table in the kitchen and brought out her phone to run a search on Madonna. There were so many people with that name and none of them resembled the nurse. Without Madonna's last name, she couldn't facilitate her search. It was all so frustrating. She shouldn't have left her husband in the care of another woman.
Another search of Madonna from St Louis Clinic yielded the same useless result. That nurse best stay away from her man.
It was one thing to listen to her colleagues talk about him, it was another to have witnessed the interaction between her husband and the nurse. Kelvin knew her and he liked her. Leila didn't like that. She didn't like how possessive she had become over a man she had known for a month and few days.
On another thought, she called Kelvin. His phone rang without interruptions. On the third dial, he picked.
Leila didn't say anything, she listened to the sound of his breathing to comfort herself. To remind herself he was still there. Her carelessness led him to the clinic.
"Hey," she said. She crossed her legs under her and pushed the carton of cereal around the table. "Kev?"
"He's asleep." The voice was feminine. "Call back later."
The call ended with a click. Leila stared at the screen. That bitch picked her husband's call. She stormed to the door and wrenched it open. A few steps to the elevator, she realised she was wearing only her night robe with nothing but a pair of tiny shorts and crop singlet underneath it.
She glanced down at her feet in mismatched flip-flops, she couldn't go to the clinic looking like a homeless woman. Nurse Madonna was sexy and confident enough with her looks and figure, she shouldn't give her more ammunition. Her anger knew no bounds as she marched back inside the house. She paced the length of the study, stopping at the table with Kelvin's laptop.
Her chest sagged and she slumped to the chair in front of his study desk. These feelings were all too new to her. That raw anger that settled over her skin when Kelvin smiled at Madonna and called her by her first name was foreign to her. She had been in love before and it didn't bother her this much to see Charles with other women.
A note stuck out of Kelvin's laptop, she pried it and smiled at the content.
My heavenly flower.
The handwriting was different from that of the notes he sent to Leila's office. The note smelt like sandalwood, she hugged it to her chest and allowed the words surround her in a warm embrace. Kelvin wouldn't cheat on her. He was nothing like Charles, she had to stop comparing the two men or expecting the worse from her husband.
With a bounce in her step, she sashayed to their room. After setting up a bath, she shaved. Standing in front of the wall-to-floor length mirror, she inspected her handwork. Her pubis was hairless, so were her legs and arms. Leila was ready for the next step with him.