Auntie Joyce lived two rooms down and knew everybody's business, which was either a blessing or a curse depending on the day.
That afternoon she came to Grace's stove with her arms folded and a face, Grace recognized. It was the face people wore when they were about to deliver bad news and wanted credit for being brave.
"Grace. Sit down."
"I have rice on the fire."
"Sit."
Grace sat on an upturned bucket.
"My cousin was at a wedding on Saturday," Auntie Joyce said. "A small church wedding, on the other side of town. She says the groom was Daniel."
The charcoal popped. A dog barked somewhere. Grace felt the strangest thing. She did not feel like crying. She felt like she was standing outside her own body, watching a woman on a bucket receive news.
"Which Daniel?"
"Grace."
"Which Daniel, Joyce?"
"Your Daniel. Tall. Gap in his teeth. She says he was holding the bride's hand and the bride was already showing."
Grace nodded slowly. Then she stood up, lifted the lid, and stirred the rice. It was starting to stick at the bottom.
"Thank you for telling me," she said.
"That's all?" Auntie Joyce stared. "You are not going to scream? Curse him?"
"I have two girls inside that room who can hear a whisper through the wall," Grace said quietly. "If I scream, they will know. When I am ready for them to know, I will tell them. Not before."
That night, after the girls slept, she sat on the doorstep with her phone and called his number. It rang four times. A woman's voice answered.
"Hello?"
Grace closed her eyes. "Is Daniel there?"
"Who is this?"
"His wife."
Silence. Then, away from the phone, muffled: "Daniel! It's her."
A rustle. Then his voice, tired and irritated, like she was a bill. "Grace. I told you not to call this number."
"You told me nothing. You told me you were going for work."
"Look, things are complicated. I have a new family now. I can't be sending money everywhere."
Everywhere. As if his children were a location.
"Your daughters need school fees, Daniel."
"I will see what I can do."
"You said that in March."
"Grace, I'm hanging up."
And he did.
She sat there for a long time with the dead phone in her hand. The stars were out above the rooftops, and somewhere down the road a generator hummed.
Inside, a small voice said, "Mama?"
Ella was standing in the doorway in her nightdress. She had been awake the whole time.