Harriet unlocked the door to her studio and led the way into the kitchen. Fred jumped off the bar and started weaving through her ankles. She picked up the kitchen phone and dialed Aiden's cell number. She cradled the handset between her left ear and shoulder while she opened the refrigerator and put the flan away then retrieved Fred's can of cat food.
"Hey,” she said tentatively when Aiden finally answered.
"What's up?” he asked, his tone neutral.
She quickly described the problems DeAnn and her husband were having with their new daughter and asked if he'd be willing to try talking to her in Lugandan, to see if she'd respond with anything but tears.
"As it happens, this is your lucky day,” he said with a hint of his previous charm. “The dogs were all stable when I left, and Dr. Johnson has the vet tech spending the night with them. I assume you've got me scheduled to appear already."
"Not yet,” Harriet said and tried not to laugh. “Aunt Beth's working on it, though."
"Give me the address, and I'll meet you there in a half-hour."
"Thank you,” she said, and when he didn't say anymore, she hung up.
We're on, she mouthed to her aunt, who was talking on her cell phone in the hallway that led from the kitchen to the stairs.
"Okay,” Beth said into her phone. “Looks like we're good to go-we'll see you in a few minutes.” She said her goodbyes to DeAnn and hung up. “They're ready to try anything, as we suspected."
"Hopefully, it will help,” Harriet said. “I wonder if we should have Connie bring Kissa over to DeAnn's?"
"What for?"
"I know the two babies are different ages and stages of language, but Kissa should still react to Aiden speaking her native tongue. I was just thinking it would provide a sort of control for our test."
"We don't know where Kissa is from, really, do we?” Beth asked.
"All the more reason to have her there-we can kill two birds with one stone. If Kissa doesn't react at all to Aiden, it would go a long way toward proving she has nothing to do with Africa."
Aunt Beth called Connie, and she quickly agreed to bring Kissa to DeAnn's.
Mavis opened the door when Harriet and Beth arrived at DeAnn's.
"Come on in, the party's just getting started."
She ushered them into a greatroom-style family room. Connie sat on a beige overstuffed sofa with Kissa in her lap. DeAnn's two sons were dangling toys in front of Iloai, and for the moment, it was keeping her distracted.
DeAnn entered the room, combing her wet hair with her fingers. She'd obviously just gotten out of the shower.
"Thanks for coming,” she said to the group in general.
"Aiden should be here any minute,” Harriet said.
"He's here,” Aiden said from the door to the family room. “I knocked, but no one answered, so I let myself in."
"Please, come in,” DeAnn said and ushered him to an overstuffed chair at an angle to the sofa the babies were sitting on. He avoided eye contact with Harriet.
He rattled off a string of words Harriet assumed were Lugandan-she spoke seven languages, but she'd never tackled any of the African tongues. Iloai kept batting at the toy DeAnn's son was holding in front of her, but Kissa turned and looked at Aiden.
"Mata?” he said and looked at Kissa.
"Cupa,” she babbled and reached toward him.
"Does she have a bottle?” he asked Connie.
She handed him a plastic bottle of milk, and he held it in front of first Iloai then Kissa.
"Hina,” said Iloai in a clear little girl voice.
"Cupa, cupa,” Kissa said in an increasingly frantic tone.
Aiden handed her the bottle. He looked at Iloai and pointed at his mouth.
"Mumwa,” he said.
Iloai looked at him and, again in her clear little voice, said, “Ngutu."
Connie pulled a second bottle from Kissa's diaper bag and handed it to Iloai. The little girl took it and started drinking from it.
"I'm sure she drinks from a cup by now, but children often regress when they're stressed, especially in the presence of a smaller child."
DeAnn sat down beside Iloai and slowly eased the child onto her lap. The little girl nestled into her arm and drank from the bottle.
Aiden sat back in his chair and tented his fingers, resting his chin on them. After a few moments, he sat forward again.
"Okay,” he began. “I'm no expert in linguistics, but this one…” He pointed at Kissa, who was now dozing in Connie's arms. “She seemed to understand what I was saying, to the degree you can tell what babies understand. I was saying milk and bottle.
"That one,” he said, pointing to Iloai, “didn't react to the Lugandan words but countered with other words I didn't recognize. I'm not fluent in the other two languages spoken in Uganda, but I'm familiar enough with them I don't think she was speaking either of them."
"So, what does that mean?” DeAnn asked.
"It means we were sold a bill of goods,” DeAnn's husband said. He had slipped into the room unnoticed.
"I wouldn't jump to conclusions based on what I say,” Aiden said. He stood up. “Hi, David,” he said and offered his hand. DeAnn's husband shook it.
"Thanks for coming by and trying to help. Iloai here is having a real rough time, and we're at a loss about what to do for her."
"For what it's worth-and keep in mind, this is just based on my own experience in Uganda, and Africa's a big place,” Aiden said. “But I've seen a lot of Ugandan children, and Iloai doesn't look like them. She doesn't really look African to me."
"That's strange,” Harriet said. “If she isn't from Africa, why would it matter? Why wouldn't they just say where she was from?"
"That's exactly what we'll be asking Joseph at Little Lamb in the morning,” David said.
"He should be able to settle things quickly enough,” Aunt Beth said. “Maybe they just made a mistake with her paperwork."
"Or maybe she just doesn't look typical for her region,” Aiden offered. “Is there anything else I can do for you?” He looked at DeAnn and then David. They both shook their heads. “Sorry I couldn't be more help.” He stood up. “I've got a dog I need to check on,” he said, contradicting what he'd told Harriet earlier, and left.
Mavis got up and followed him out. She was gone for a few minutes.
"Aiden would like to speak to you outside,” she told Harriet when she returned, and sat down in the chair he had vacated.
Harriet felt a mixture of anger and humiliation. This was the part of small-town life she hated. Her aunt's friends all felt like they had the right to interfere in her personal life.
Still, it wasn't going to help the two little girls for her to cause a scene by refusing to go, so she picked up her purse and left. If she were to be honest with herself, she didn't like being at odds with Aiden and really did want an opportunity to talk to him, but she'd wanted it to be his idea.
He was leaning against her car when she came through the front door and onto the porch. He was staring at the toe of his shoe as if some alien life form were emerging from it. His silky black hair had fallen forward over his eyes.
"You want to go get a cup of coffee?” he asked when he finally looked up.
"Sure,” she said, and followed him to his vintage Ford Bronco.
Chapter 23
"How are the dogs doing?” she asked when they were in the car and Aiden had pulled away from the curb.
"Most of them will rebound. They all have skin lesions of one sort or another. Most of them have dental problems that are a result of poor nutrition, poor conditions and, in some cases, poor bloodlines. One of the reasons we brought them back is so we could clip and shave them under better conditions."