He lifted her chin with his fingertips and looked into her eyes.
He noticed that she had cried without sobbing. He kissed her moist lashes and held her closer to his heart.
They turned off the lights, drew the curtains.
The ocean room closed in on the world.
When he saw them enter his surgery the next morning, the doctor greeted them with a smile.
"Is she alive?" Edward asked him confidently.
"She is alive and doing better. Come this way."
He led them behind the tent, where there was a cot and the child inside.
She had been washed and dressed in a white leotard. She was tiny, sleeping peacefully.
Giorgia brought her face close to her little head and kissed her gently.
She no longer tasted of death, she tasted good.
And she felt her own tense nerves relax.
"Look at her Edo, doesn't she look like a bud?"
He nodded and brushed her bare little feet.
They returned to the clinic every day, several times a day.
Each time, the doctor was optimistic and they could see with their own eyes that the baby was getting better and better.
They gave up the safari in order to pay the medical bills and not to abandon her. But the days passed quickly and on Sunday morning they would have to catch their flight back to Italy.
"I don't know if I can leave her here."
Giorgia told him as they walked on the beach early in the morning.
It was low tide and they were holding hands.
A few crabs zigzagged diagonally from one hole to the other.
"What did you think you were doing?"
"You'll think it's crazy, but I'd like to take her away with us."
"I don't think it's that simple you know? You don't just pack her and put her on the plane."
"I know. Important things are never easy."
They had talked about it a few times in the past about adopting a child, but then when it came down to it they always backed out. There was indecision, insecurity, and the hope that maybe a child of their own would come along sooner or later.
The doctors who had examined them said that everything was fine, they just had to insist and not be anxious. But many years had already passed.
And suddenly she had arrived: puny as a wren.
Had she been destined for them? So that they would find her one morning in a bucket, save her life and take care of her like a daughter? Giorgia wondered again and again.
"Let us adopt her." She told him, stopping suddenly and looking him straight in the eye.
"But darling, I ..." He didn't know what to answer her.
He sighed and looked down at his pale sand-stained feet.
"If we're going to do this, it has to be two of us. It's too big a thing for me alone. I need you Edward. Please think carefully before you say no to me."
Giorgia dived into the sea, leaving him sitting there on the sand, pondering.
Picking up a human being from the street, saving his life and giving him back his dignity. Loving him, raising him, educating him in the values one believes in.
She thought of this and more as she watched her forever companion swim through the long waves.
Edward did not disappoint her this time either, he loved her too much and he too had the fate of the little bud at heart.
When he returned to shore, out of breath and with drops of water between his eyelashes, he embraced her and said yes.
"He will be our angel."
"We will be a beautiful family."
They told the doctor of their intention and saw him nod contentedly.
"I think I knew from the first moment." He said resting his hands on top of theirs, "The adoption will not be easy or immediate, however I can help you, I have done it before with two other children."
Edward intertwined his fingers with Giorgia's and said it was the thing they wanted to do and they would not back down in the face of bureaucratic and financial difficulties.
Giorgia cradled the baby for a long time before saying goodbye. She spoke to her and told her many things because she knew that with her heart she would understand them.
"You are no longer alone, you know that, don't you? Daddy and I are here now. See you soon." They were their last minutes together. He held her against the skin of his neck and chest to retain her childhood scent.
They boarded the plane, knowing they would return to Kenya as soon as possible, to continue what they had just begun: the greatest and most beautiful adventure of their lives together.
The little one was well and in safe hands. Giorgia held in her fingers a photograph of her wrapped in a colourful sheet and a red cap on her bald head. Edward told her she looked like a woodland elf and they burst out laughing.
Behind the picture was written a name: Zawadi, which means gift in Swahili. They had chosen it for their little girl.
"What are you thinking about?" He asked, stroking her hair.
"That we are doing a small thing to improve this world, aren't we?"
"A big thing, honey."
As the plane headed straight for the clouds, over there the palm canopies grew smaller and ended up blending in with everything else in the green of the great African plain.
Edward and Giorgia closed their eyes, intertwined their fingers and did not stop smiling.