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Yael, who traveled with us from Kibish, booked a room at the Nairobi Serena Hotel to wait for Baz’s overland arrival.

I’d also secured a suite there, but I spent most of my time at the hospital.

The facility was clean, friendly, and professional, exceptionally well run, and the medical staff fantastic.

Reluctant to abandon Ana, I persuaded the nurses to bring a hospital cot into her room.

That’s where I slept the first night, with her still groggy and nodding off, while I sent emails and worked on my iPad until I fell asleep.

The following morning, I surprised the nurses on their morning rounds by greeting them in their local slang.

‘Vipi?’

The first time I did it, a matron with a name tag reading ‘R.N. Mercy’ stopped dead in her tracks, chart folders freezing midair as her jaw dropped.

‘Poa sana!’ she finally replied, her belly laugh echoing as she adjusted Ana’s leg. ‘Where did you learn to speak like a true son of the soil?’

‘My mother, Yumi, is Kenyan,’ I told her. ‘She taught it to me from when I was a kid in the States.’

Later, when I shot Ana an arched brow after the nurse left, she rolled her eyes.

‘You love it,’ Ana told me. ‘A muscled, tall foreigner throwing out effortless Nairobi street slang was not on her daily schedule today.’

‘Gotta keep the team on their toes, mama,’ I said.

After that, the nursing staff on the ward took us under their wing.

‘You’re one of us after all,’ they said.

They made sure Ana and I always had steaming cups of chai, plenty of food, throws, and water.

When I needed to stretch my legs and was jonesing for a coffee, I hit the ground-level cafeteria.

I walked up to the register and locked eyes with the head chef behind the glass partition.

‘Mambo? Kahawa na mandazi, tafadhali,’ I said, ordering tea and sweet pastries with a wink. ‘And don’t give me the tourist price either. Mi ni msee wa area, I’m one of you, and I want the local discount deal.’

He let out a booming roar of approval, slapping the counter in delight before turning to his kitchen crew.

‘Sikiza huyu jamaa! This man’s not a foreigner, he’s one of us!’

Needless to say, after that, I got the royal treatment and the freshest donuts straight out of the fryer.

The physical therapy team began Ana’s motion recovery on Day 2 of her stay.

They arrived in Ana’s room, bringing a rigid knee brace and a pair of aluminum crutches.

Two nurses hooked their arms under her shoulders to ease her off the mattress, but the sudden pressure on her leg made her breath hitch.

‘Let me.’

I stepped in, taking her left side so she could lean on my chest while the therapist guided her through gentle flexes to break up the stiffness and force blood flow into the damaged area.

I stayed close, offering a hand if she got off balance and walking through her reps with her.

The next few days blurred into updates from Dr. Ritu and making sure Ana ate and drank well.

I also organized daily FaceTime chats with Raff.