by Kiru Taye
A smile spread out on her mother’s face, surprising Ijay. “Do you remember Lucky the dog?” Mrs. Amadi asked, her eyes twinkling with amusement.
“Of course I do, mum.” Ijay remembered her pet Labrador that died five years ago.
“Remember when we found him he was lost, starved and wounded,” her mother continued.
“We were afraid he was rabid. You insisted you wanted to take him home. We had to take him to the vet to get him checked out first. After treatment, we finally brought him home. I remember your face when he came home. You were ecstatic but disappointed because he was very wary of people to start with. In the end you took care of him and loved him and he became a lifelong family pet until the end.”
“Yes,” Ijay choked out, tears stinging her eyes. She’d loved that dog. They had all grieved for him as a member of the family when he died.
“Well, you might have to look at Paul the same way. Unfortunately there are people who are broken and wary of other people. They need patience and love to coax them into accepting your love.”
“I’ve already told him I don’t want to have anything to do with him.” Ijay said, her heart clenching when she remembered the distressed look on Paul’s face this morning. Why should he listen to her when she’d been quick to dismiss him?
“First things first. You have to talk with Vincent. If you believe that your heart lies with Vincent, then by all means I’ll help you all I can to resolve things. But don’t settle for Vincent just because he proposed to you first. That would be wrong and you’ll regret it. Trust me on this.” Her mother had a glazed melancholic expression.
“Mum, is there something I should know?” Ijay frowned, suddenly worried.
“I’ve never told you this before, but I think its pertinent now.” Her mother just stared straight ahead as she spoke. “When I met your father, I was dating someone else. It was in the early eighties and there were not as many inter-racial relationships as they are now. I fell in love with your father. He was young, suave and intelligent studying for his doctorate degree at the same University I was working.
“Yet I couldn’t do anything about it because I was sure my parents wouldn’t approve and I didn’t want to disappoint my parents. So I stuck with my boyfriend. It wasn’t until your father was getting ready to return to Nigeria that I bumped into him in the faculty late one evening. He invited me out to dinner and confessed he was in love with me. He wanted to marry me and take me back to Nigeria. You can imagine the surprise. But I knew then I couldn’t let him go without me. Well, the rest is history.”
“Wow,” Ijay gasped. “I never knew that...What happened with grandpa and grandma?”
“They weren’t happy to start with but eventually came around to the idea,” her mother replied. “I thought about all that time I’d wasted not doing what I wanted to do. Of course my ex-boyfriend was not happy either. He too got over it and eventually married another of my friends.”
“So everything worked out for everyone?” Ijay asked tentatively.
“Yes and that’s my point. You have to go with your heart, my dear. And whatever you decide, you’ll have my support and your father’s. I promise you.”
“What about the traditional wedding and all the guests?” Ijay still wasn’t convinced everything would work out fine. Paul was a huge gamble that she wasn’t sure her heart could cope with if she lost. She remembered the disappointment with Frederick and how that had destroyed her confidence with men. Paul had given her back that confidence. It could be shattered again if things didn’t work out.
“These days, people cancel weddings frequently. I wouldn’t worry about it. Your father and I’ll handle it. It’s simply a question of talking to his kinsmen at home.”
Well, if her mother was encouraging her to take a chance then she really owed it to herself. She really needed to talk to Vincent again first, though. Thankfully while she was in Lagos she didn’t have to see or speak to Paul, so there would be no distractions. She’d give Vincent a day to cool off and call him on Sunday.
“Thank you so much mum.” She hugged her mum tightly. “You don’t know how much this means to me.”
***
Ijay’s Saturday turned out relatively uneventful. It was great just relaxing at home, hanging out with her younger sister Uloma who was twenty-seven and lived at home. Uloma worked for a big retail bank at Victoria Island. They went out to the Palms shopping mall and later that evening Silverbirds cinema.
On Sunday, the family went out to the early morning service at Church. It was always the routine so they could come back in time to prepare lunch. They were relaxing at home after lunch when they had a visitor.
Ijay and Uloma were sitting outside in the garden, under the shade of the canopy while Uloma regaled her of events at her workplace, when the bell at the gate rang. Both Ijay and Uloma went to see who the unexpected guest was at the gates.
“That’s Mrs. Arinze,” Uloma said, when she opened the side pedestrian gate and saw the silver Landcruiser Prado just outside their gates.
“Really? How do you know her?”
Ijay’s heart thudded as she peered to have a look too. She could only make out the outline of the passenger at the back noting it was a woman. The windows had dark screens covering them. She hadn’t planned on seeing her mother-in-law yet. Vincent was supposed to take her to meet his mother when he arrived in Lagos in a few weeks. Why was the woman here today?
“Yes. She’s been here a few times, always going on about her perfect son, Vincent who is a doctor in London,” Uloma said with exaggerated irony and a huge shrug as she walked over and pulled one end of the gates while Ijay pulled back the other.
“Oh? Interesting,” Ijay replied and lifted her hand to hide the laughter bubbling inside her. Uloma was the family clown and would make jokes out of every situation. If Mrs. Arinze was boastful about her son’s achievements, it was no wonder.
When the car drove in and the dark-skinned woman in dark glasses, gold embroidered lace iro and buba and matching accessories stepped out of the back seat, Ijay recognised Vincent’s mother from a photograph she’d seen of the woman. She looked very elegant and classy.
“Welcome, Mrs. Arinze,” Ijay said and she curtsied to the woman.
The woman looked at her in surprise. “You know me?” she asked.
“Yes, I’m Ijay.” She smiled shyly. Gosh, this was her future mother-in-law in the flesh. Feeling a little daunted, she swallowed the lump in her throat at seeing the woman especially now that things were rocky with Vincent.
“Oh, my daughter. I’m pleased to see you. You are more beautiful than the pictures Vincent sent me.” Mrs. Arinze smiled amiably, flashing white teeth.
Ijay’s face heated up and she blushed. “Thank you.”
Uloma who’d been locking the gates again approached them.
“Uloma, how are you? Is your mother home?” Mrs. Arinze asked.
“I’m fine, mummy.” Uloma replied with a curtsy. “Yes, she’s inside.”
Mrs. Arinze had already started walking to the door. Behind her, Uloma rolled her eyes and nudged her sister. Ijay waved her hand silently, gesturing that she should behave herself. She didn’t want her mischievous sister getting her into trouble with her mother-in-law-to-be.
When they got inside, Ijay and Uloma brought out refreshments before leaving the two older women together. They went upstairs in their two-storey duplex and chose Uloma’s room because they could listen out and see when Mrs. Arinze departed.
As they waited, Uloma volunteered to go and eavesdrop on the women’s conversation. Ijay was tempted. She wanted to find out if Vincent had told his mother already about their conversation and if that meant the wedding was off. If that was the case, she didn’t know whether to be happy or sad about it.
In the end she convinced Uloma not to eavesdrop. They would wait for their mother to tell them the reason for Mrs. Arinze’s visit. In the meantime, Uloma tried her best to keep Ijay distracted by continuing
the story they were chatting about outside. After a while, they heard the sound of a car leaving and the two girls raced downstairs to meet their mother.
Seeing the worried expression on her mother’s face as the woman came back inside, Ijay’s stomach knotted with apprehension.
“I need to speak to you,” Ijay’s mum said before sitting down gently on the sofa. She looked like she was about to deliver some horrible news.
“What’s happened? Is the wedding off?” Ijay asked and sat down gingerly next to her mum. Uloma sat on the adjacent sofa.
“No. Not yet. There’s something else,” her mum replied, her face still pleated in worry lines. “Vincent’s mother confirmed that Paul is Vincent’s younger brother from his late father’s former concubine.”
“Okay. And?” That explained why they were brothers and Ijay didn’t know. It was surprising. Yet, she didn’t think that was the worst news from the worried expression on her mother’s face.
“She says Paul was so disturbed and destructive, his father almost disowned him because he raped a girl.”
“Gosh! No way. That’s not true, mum. I can’t believe that,” Ijay replied instantly shaking her head even as bile rose in her throat. The Paul she knew would never force anyone to have sex.
“She says the clothes used by the assailant were found in his room, including the hood worn. That’s why he was arrested. She showed me a copy of the arrest record from eighteen years ago.”
“Really? Oh no,” Ijay cried out, gripping her knees in her hands. Nausea rose in her throat, her head spinning. She felt like she was going to throw up.
Why, Paul? Why?
“I know, it’s really bad,” her mum continued. “Vincent is happy to go ahead with the wedding but they want you to be safe from Paul. So they’ve asked you to step down from the project. It would be best for you and give Vincent the peace of mind that Paul won’t harm you.”
Ijay looked up, the distress she felt slowly turning to annoyance, her hands gripping her dress. “Mum, you know that’s blackmail, right. They can’t tell me who to work for?”
“Well, if you want the wedding to go ahead, those are their conditions.”
Chapter Fourteen
What a fool!
Paul shifted in his seat, physically adjusting and mentally willing the swell in his trousers to subside. He allowed the rage he felt to boil over in his veins. Slowly, it overtook the pulse of desire razing his body with heat, the cool air blowing from the car air-conditioner finally having an effect on his hot skin.
His body was unavoidably responding to the effect of sitting so close to Ijay on their trip to the airport. Her sweet fragrance filled the enclosed space of the car—arousing and intoxicating. A side effect of his insistence to continue working with her even when his mind wanted to send her back to London and save his body the torment of her presence.
What antiquated sense of chivalry had overcome him that he’d agreed to leave Ijay alone when she’d asked him—eyes blazing with determination, bosoms heaving from agitation—on Friday? When what he’d wanted to do was bend her over his desk and sate the ache that was now slowly driving him insane.
What sentimental poison had gotten into his veins that he considered what she said she wanted of importance compared to what he knew she wanted? When he knew she wanted him as much as he wanted her. He could stake his life on it.
As she’d stood in front of his desk on Friday morning and threatened to walk off the project if he didn’t back off, she’d still been aroused by his presence. Her rouge coloured skin had told the tale even if her red lips hadn’t.
He could’ve called her bluff. He could’ve shut off her protests by kissing her, pushing her to test her resolve. Instead he’d allowed the warm ache in his heart to overwhelm the pulsing need in his groin. Now he was paying the price with a raging need that coursed through his veins and refused to be satisfied by anyone else.
He lifted his line of sight from the sheaf of paper in his hand he was supposed to be reading and glanced in Ijay’s direction. Her shoulders were stiff and straight. She sat tensely, her back slightly turned as she gazed out of the window.
The landscape was of arid Savannah, the scattered trees and dried out brown grass whizzing past as the car speed down the highway toward the airport on the outskirts of Abuja town.
At this time of year, the heat of the sun scorched the earth mercilessly and left everything in its wake parched and brown. The only greenery visible was patches of irrigated farmlands interspersed with fallow land. This area was sparsely populated with only a few villages and houses to be seen from the road.
“There’s just so much space and so little people over here compared to Lagos,” Ijay said distractedly. Her soft voice travelled through him, leaving him feeling breathless. He inhaled sharply in surprise. It was as if she’d read his thoughts.
“I know. That’s the reason I prefer the relative calmness of Abuja and Enugu to Lagos,” he replied with a smile on his face, hoping she’d turn around and face him.
They were the only two cities he wanted to live in. Nowhere else appealed to him. He wanted her to see it in his eyes and understand. He needed her to understand that about him.
“I have to admit Lagos can be chaotic. That’s the fun of it I guess. Having lived and worked in London, I guess I can relate.” Finally, she turned round, leaning back in her seat. Her full lips lifted in a reflective smile as her warm brown gaze met his and held.
It was the first time he’d seen her smile since she arrived back in the office this morning. His heart kicked against his chest in acknowledgement and gladness.
She’d been withdrawn throughout their meeting this morning, her gaze barely connecting with his. He hadn’t tried being conversational and they’d dealt with the business at hand before moving on swiftly. He hadn’t seen her for the rest of the day until they were ready to depart for the airport.
“So if you lived in Nigeria, would you prefer to live in Lagos?” Paul wasn’t sure why he was asking. Since she was engaged to his half-brother, it shouldn’t matter to him.
Somehow he needed to know. Did they have anything in common outside of the fiery chemistry between them? Because he knew she still felt it as much as he did. Even if she chose to deny it. Perhaps there was something else that would bind them. Some hope.
For a moment, he held his breath, waiting for her response.
“I have to admit that after spending a few days in Abuja, I found Lagos a bit rowdy over the weekend. Then again, it’s where my family lives so I guess it would be nice to be close to them,” she remarked with a nonchalant shrug.
Despite everything, her words made his heart sink with disappointment. He let out a sigh. He’d been foolish to hope—for what he wasn’t even sure.
“How are your parents? I’m sure it was great seeing them again,” he said, hoping to keep her talking.
He loved the effect of her voice on his body. There was something reassuring in the depths of her velvety voice. Also, maybe he’d find out why she was so standoffish this morning.
“It’s always fantastic to see my family,” she replied, her eyes flicking to the side slightly as she remembered the weekend. The enthusiasm in her voice put a smile on his face.
“My dad was cool as always. It was great catching up with my sister. And my mum is just the best. She picked me up from the airport. And straight away she picked up that all wasn’t well.”
Her eyes took on a melancholic glaze before she looked away.
His heart hit his ribs with a strong thud. “Really? What happened?” He asked in a rush of words, his curiosity getting the better of his manners.
“I can’t talk about it,” she said shaking her head and turning away.
He knew instantly that something was up and it was because of him. His eyes narrowed into slits as he placed his hand on her shoulder and nudged her insistently until she faced him again.
It wasn’t the warm and chatty Ijay staring back at him. The s
mile was gone from her eyes. In its place was the reticent and cool glower. Somehow she was blaming him for whatever had gone wrong. He didn’t care. He wanted her to tell him what had gone wrong.
“If Vincent has done something to you, I’ll kill him,” he bit out, a wave of anger clouding his vision in red.
“Funny thing is he said practically the same thing about you.” She said in a harsh low voice.
The heat was back in her eyes. Not the welcoming, soul-searing kind. This time her brown eyes flashed angry fire at him, her hands balled on her lap as if she was restraining herself from hitting him.
Somehow, he welcomed her annoyance. It was an emotion he could deal with and meant she still felt something for him. Even if she hit him, it was better than the cold shoulder she’d been giving him.
“When did he say that?” He watched her through the thickness of his black lashes.
“On Friday when he called and I told him about what you and I’d done. He knew instantly who you were even before I mentioned your name. Go figure that one.”
Ijay shook her head in amazement and annoyance. “Why is that Paul? How come your brother knew I was involved with you even before I’d told him about you? Can you explain that Paul?”
His heart raced as he took in her words. Something wasn’t right. He couldn’t pin it correctly yet.
“How should I know?” He went for nonchalance. He didn’t want to alarm Ijay but something was definitely off. How could Vincent know if Ijay hadn’t told him? “Didn’t he tell you? What else did he say?”
“You mean apart from calling me a bitch and threatening to deal with you?” She retorted with disdain.
Paul clenched and unclenched his hands beside his thighs. A menacing growl rumbled in his stomach and he gritted his teeth to stop from letting it out.
“He called you that? Is he mad?” Paul said as he shook his head in wonder and disgust at Vincent. “I hope you told him where to get off. Tell me you’ve called off the engagement.”