Chapter 1 - She Kept Eating
My wife was unconscious on the floor, and my mother was still eating the dinner she had cooked.
Our newborn son screamed from his crib.
Mom lifted another forkful of food.
“Such a drama queen,” she muttered. “All she did was cook.”
Then she saw me.
“Rafael? You’re home early.”
My last meeting in Makati had been canceled. I had brought Mia something to eat, thinking I might catch her during one of Nico’s naps.
The bag slipped from my hand.
Mia lay beside the sofa, still wearing her apron. Sweat plastered her hair to her forehead. An empty glass rested near her fingers. Half-folded baby clothes covered the cushion above her.
“Mia?”
I dropped to my knees.
Her eyelids didn’t move.
“Mia, baby. Open your eyes.”
Behind me, my mother set down her fork.
“She just got dizzy. I was about to help.”
I looked at her plate. Kare-kare. Lechon kawali. The meal Mia had prepared.
Then I looked at my wife.
“How long has she been down?”
“Don’t start accusing me.”
“How long?”
“I don’t know.”
Nico’s cries broke into exhausted little gasps. I picked him up and called our neighbor, Ben, with a hand that wouldn’t stop shaking.
“Please come over. Right now.”
Ben arrived before I finished gathering Mia’s things. He took Nico while I got help moving Mia to the car.
Mom followed us to the door.
“Rafael, there’s no reason to make a scene.”
For the first time in my life, I closed a door while my mother was still talking.
At the hospital, a nurse guided me away as they examined Mia.
I stood holding the diaper bag I had grabbed by mistake.
One month.
My wife had given birth one month ago.
I knew she was tired. I saw it every night.
I had also seen dinner on the table, clean shirts in the closet, and a quiet house whenever I got home.
Somehow, I had decided those things meant she was managing.
The doctor eventually came out.
“She’s dehydrated and exhausted. Her blood pressure is low. We’re monitoring her.”
“Will she be okay?”
“She needs rest, food, and support at home.”
Support.
My mother had moved in to provide exactly that.
When Mia finally opened her eyes, she searched the room.
“Nico?”
“He’s with Ben. He’s okay.”
Her shoulders loosened.
Then her eyes filled.
“I’m sorry.”
I leaned closer.
“For what?”
May you like
Her voice barely reached me.
“I didn’t finish cleaning the kitchen.”
