CHAPTER 129: Auntie Grace

POV: Maya Castellano

Kofi’s family arrived on Thursday.

Kofi had decided that the airport was not the right place for Maya to meet his family. He thought it would be too overwhelming, with all the noise and crowds, and the hassle of dealing with luggage and jet lag. He wanted their first meeting to be more low-key, so he had made it clear that the airport was off limits. Maya, it seemed, had respected his wishes and was not there to greet them.

She had agreed, mainly because fear was holding her back and she needed someone to tell her it was okay to wait a little longer.

Instead she cleaned her apartment for three hours and then sat on the couch and stared at the wall.

Kofi called at noon.

"He told me they're all at the hotel now, just taking it easy. We're having dinner together tonight at 7, just a family thing."

“Just family,” Maya repeated.

“You’re family,” he said.

“I meant just your family, without me.”

A pause.

“Maya.”

“I’m fine,” she said. “ I’m completely fine.”

“You cleaned the apartment.”

“How do you know that?”

He noticed that the place always smelled like cleaning products whenever he came over. "You clean when you're nervous, don't you?" he said, pointing out the habit.

“You’re not here.”

“I can tell from your voice,” he said. “ Seven o’clock. My mother is looking forward to meeting you.”

“What did you tell her about me.”

“The truth,” he said.

“What truth?”

"I mentioned everything," he said, his voice trailing off. "The cancer, your job, even the bag you had packed for the trip to Accra." There was a pause, a moment of silence. "She was really upset when I told her about the cancer," he added, his tone softening. "She cried a little."

Maya felt something catch in her chest.

“Why?”

He spoke in a hushed tone, his words barely above a whisper. “It’s because she lost someone close to her,' he explained, his eyes clouding over with a mix of sadness and understanding. “This happened years ago, long before I came into her life.' He paused, collecting his thoughts before continuing. 'She once told me that anyone who could go through that and still manage to laugh about it was someone worth getting to know.'"

The restaurant was a tiny, cozy spot, the kind of place you'd pick on purpose because it didn't try too hard.

Maya had expected her mother to be taller, but Grace Senior was a petite woman who shared a striking resemblance to Kofi, particularly in the way she carried herself with a quiet stillness. Her eyes, too, had the same intense quality as Kofi's, drawing you in with a deep sense of understanding, yet without any pretense or drama, making you feel completely seen and understood.

His sisters, Abena and Efua, had a way of being loud and warm that was all their own, a kind of warmth that they offered freely, without waiting for her to prove herself, just to see how she would react to it. They were the type of people who would take a liking to someone, not because they had to, but because they wanted to, and then they would wait and watch to see what that person would do with their kindness.

Auntie Grace was seated at the far end of the table, and for the most part, she remained quiet during the first course, not saying much at all.

Just watched.

Maya had been warned. She tried not to feel watched.

She mostly failed.

Abena had a question about the foundation during the second course.

Maya explained it the way she’d learned to — not the governance model, not the financial structure, just Nene’s question and what they were building toward.

"Someone finally asked the right question," Abena said with a smile. "Now you're actually building the answer, and that's what matters."

“Trying to,” Maya said.

"All we can do is keep trying," Efua said, her voice filled with a sense of determination and perseverance.

Kofi’s mother was looking at Maya carefully.

"She mentioned the visual identity, explaining that Kofi had shown it to her - a small mark located in the corner."

"Maya pointed out Nene's handwriting, saying it was just one letter, but it was embedded in the system, always lurking beneath the surface of everything."

“Whose idea was that.”

“Mine,” Maya said.

Kofi's mother's face broke into a gentle smile, a small, subtle curve of her lips, but it was enough to sparkle in her eyes.

“Good idea,” she said.

Auntie Grace finally broke her silence, and it happened when they were having dessert.

"You had cancer, her voice straightforward, without any sugarcoating or sympathy, just a plain statement that had been on her mind for a while."

“Yes,” Maya said.

“How long.”

“Eighteen months of treatment. Eight months in remission now.”

“Are you still afraid,” Auntie Grace said.

The table went slightly quiet.

Maya thought about it honestly. 

She admitted, "Sometimes I find myself checking all the time, just to make sure everything is still okay. My doctor reassured me that it's a normal thing to do. I've come to realize that this habit of checking will probably always be a part of me, but I'm learning to deal with it in a different way, to carry the weight of it differently."

Auntie Grace gave her a long, thoughtful look.

She spoke about her husband, who had battled cancer thirty years ago and miraculously survived. Even now, he still makes it a point to get checked regularly. As she lifted her glass, she explained that her husband believed these check-ups served as a reminder to appreciate the little things in life that he might have otherwise taken for granted. She nodded in agreement, seeming to think that his approach was spot on.

“I think so too,” Maya said quietly.

Auntie Grace nodded once.

Then went back to her dessert.

Kofi’s hand found Maya’s under the table.

She held on without looking at him.

As they walked out, Maya found herself sandwiched between Kofi's sisters, one on her left and the other on her right, forming a tight circle around her.

“She likes you,” Abena said.

“She didn’t say much,” Maya said.

Efua explained that this was just her way. "She opens up to people she doesn't really trust, talks a lot to them," she said. "But with people she actually trusts, she becomes quiet."

Maya processed that.

“She asked about the cancer,” she said.

Abena made a point about the way she approaches conversations. "She always starts with the tough stuff," Abena said, "because that's where you really get to know someone - by how they handle the difficult questions, not just the easy ones." It's like she's trying to figure out what makes a person tick, and the hard questions are the key to unlocking that.

Maya glanced back at Auntie Grace, who was walking ahead with Kofi and his mom. His mom was a tiny woman, but she had this huge personality that commanded attention. She was saying something to Kofi that made him burst out laughing - a deep, genuine laugh that was infectious.

“She raised him,” Maya said quietly.

Efua nodded in agreement, "She did, you can definitely tell."

“Yes,” Maya said. “ You really can.”