Chapter 51
2057 Words
Chapter 51
Rayford carried her into the bathroom, where they showered together and ended up having another round of s*x in the shower.
When they were out of the shower, Rayford ordered for food to be brought to them from a nearby restaurant, and they had their breakfast in bed.
Rayford was in a deep sleep, when he heard his phone ringing, he used his hands to search for it with his eyes closed. He finally found it, at the edge of the bed.
"Hello?" He answered with a grumpy voice.
" Rayford are you still sleeping? Come and open your door"
"Aunty Ajoke?" He looked at the phone to see who was calling, because he didn't bother to check it before picking up the call.
"Yes it's me, oya come and open your door, we are at your door"
"We?" Rayford asked, as he slowly got up from the bed to avoid waking up Jane, who was still sleeping. He grabbed his sweat pant, alongside a shirt off the chair. He wore them and went downstairs to open the door for his aunt.
Rayford opened the door, and found his mother and her younger sister, standing there.
"Mum, aunty Ajoke? Come in" he stepped out of the door so they could go into the house.
"Good afternoon ma" he prostrated in greeting after they had gotten inside.
"Kpele oko mi" his aunty tapped him on the shoulders.
"Please have your seats, I wasn't expecting you both"
"We were coming back from church and decided to come pay you a visit" his mother said as she took her seat.
"You both now attend the same church?"
"No, I decided to attend your mother's church today"
Rayford looked at both of them suspiciously, what could they be up to? Whenever these two are found together, then something was definitely fishy. And most times, it wasn't always something good.
"That reminds me, did you go to church today? This one you are sleeping by this time of the day?" Aunty Ajoke asked him.
Rayford looked at his wall clock, and discovered it was already 2pm. "Emm not really" he itched his ear as he spoke.
" Rayford Ademola, this is not how I trained you o, I didn't train you to become a pagan"
"Mummy, I'm not a pagan I just didn't go to church today"
"Ehn, that is by the way, we actually came here for a different reason" aunty Ajoke shifted to the edge of her seat as she spoke.
"Oh okay, why are you here then?"
"I was told by your mother here, that the girl you want to marry is an orphan?"
Trust his mother to always find a way to tell someone else, anything you tell her in secret, no wonder his father calls her; Nigerian BBC.
"Yes aunty, she is an orphan" Rayford finally answered after giving his mother a deadly look.
"So who are we going to pay her bride price to then?"
"I was told by your mother here, that the girl you want to marry is an orphan?"
Trust his mother to always find a way to tell someone else, anything you tell her in secret, no wonder his father calls her; Nigerian BBC.
"Yes aunty, she is an orphan" Rayford finally answered after giving his mother a deadly look.
"So who are we going to pay her bride price to then?"
"Her uncle of course, she has an uncle and he is going to send the list for bride price this week"
"By her uncle, do you mean the man who trained her and that other girl he is married to?" His mother asked.
"Yes mum, that man" what was wrong with his mother anyway? Haven't they talked about this before? Why is she here with his aunty to talk about the same issue they have discussed earlier before now?
"Ah, noo... We can't do that o" his aunty protested, shaking her head and hands in disapproval.
"What do you suggest we do then?" Rayford asked not understanding where the conversation was going.
"We have to find her family first, before anything is done"
"What? You are not serious right?"
"Do we look like we are joking to you? Abi I will leave my house and come here to joke with you? You have to look for that girl's family before we can proceed with any form of dowry payment. It's a good thing she is not pregnant, so there's no need for us to rush, that was why I asked her not to sleep with you, and I know she is very obedient"
His mother's last statement, brought smile to Rayford's face, for if only she knew half of it.
"What is funny in all I just said?" His mother asked frowning.
"Nothing mummy, but the wedding is in three weeks, how do you expect me to be able to find her birth parents within such a short period?"
"Then we put the wedding on hold, until they are found, at least let us know where she is from"
They were still discussing, when Jane walked down the stairs wearing nothing but Rayford's polo, which barely covered her butt. Her hair was disheveled, one could tell she has been involved in some sort of under the sheets rumbling.
She was cleaning her eyes with the back of her palm, and didn't notice Rayford wasn't alone in the sitting room, until she got to the bottom of the stairs.
Jane opened her eyes fully, to find six pairs of eyes staring at her. If the ground could open up, Jane would have asked it to, so she could enter inside, and hide away from this humiliation she just brought upon herself.
"Go..od morning ma" she greeted the two women who kept staring daggers at what she was putting on.
"Good morning by this time?" The woman Jane recognized to be Rayford's aunt from the family pictures he had shown her asked.
"Sorry ma, good evening ma"
"Just greet us good night now, ehn.. Jane? what was our discussion yesterday?" His mother asked, her eyes still not leaving Jane's half naked body.
"Baby, why don't you just go back upstairs? I will come join you soon" Rayford quickly intercepted before his mother puts her in a tight spot with her questions.
Jane who was glad to be released, quickly ran upstairs. The moment she got to the room, she started packing her things. Something she was supposed to have done since yesterday, before she allowed herself to be seduced.
"I'm sorry, for what happened back there" Rayford apologized as he came back inside the room, after his aunt and mom had left.
"Why didn't you tell me they were around?"
"You were sleeping when they came, and I didn't want to wake you" Rayford smiled as he spoke.
"And what is so funny?"
"Damn you look sexy in that shirt"
Jane walked up to him and hit him lightly with her purse.
"Ouch... What was that for?"
"That's for laughing when you are supposed to be consoling me, for making a fool of myself in the presence of your aunt and mother"
"I'm sorry" he drew her closer to himself, and kissed her on her forehead.
"It's okay, but I still have to find a way to face your mother though''
''My mother will be fine''
''If you say so, but I'm still leaving, and you will no longer be getting some, until after the wedding"
"Is that supposed to be a joke?"
"Nope, the cookie jar is officially closed, until after we are married.
Rayford stood there, wondering what he did wrong, to make the women in his life to choose to go against him all at the same time.
____________
"Mum, I still don't get your point, what are you trying to say?" Rayford was in his mother's kitchen, trying to find out what she meant the other day, when she came to his place with her younger sister.
"The same thing I said yesterday, you can't marry someone you don't know where she is from"
"And I told you she is from Enugu state, is that not enough?"
"She is only claiming Enugu state, because of that man who helped train her in school, we want to know the exact place she is from, after all you said she was born in Kano, that's a good place to start looking"
"I still don't understand why you are doing this, after all, you were okay with Jane's situation, and it has never bothered you that she is an orphan. Why the sudden change of heart?"
His mother ignored him as she stirred the food she was cooking. "Please pass me the salt" she pointed to the salt container which was closer to Rayford.
"What are you scared of mum?" Rayford asked as he handed his mother the salt container.
"Who says I'm scared of anything? I'm just trying to be careful, that's all"
"Being careful of what exactly? You already know who Jane is, or weren't you the one who kept telling me she was a nice girl, and that I should hasten up and marry her?"
"And I haven't changed my mind about her, I still want her as a daughter in-law, even though she can be a little disobedient. All I'm saying is; let us find out where this girl is from, at least know her family and her linage. You don't even know if madness runs in her family or something even worse. Or do you want to tell me, you don't want your children to know their mother's cultures and traditions?"
"And I keep telling you, they will learn the culture of the Enugu people" Rayford was already getting piqued with the line the conversation was going.
" Rayford, I just want us to be careful, I don't want us to repeat same mistake twice"
"What mistake are you talking about?"
"Your sister's marriage, if we had investigated well enough before she got married to Desmond, we would have found out that; his father was a woman beater, and maybe all these issue your sister is having now, would have been avoided"
Rayford understood his mother's fears, when Leah Rose had brought her husband to be to introduce to them; she was already a month pregnant, so they had to rush the wedding, because his mother saw it as a thing of shame, for people to know her daughter got pregnant out of wedlock. So, that didn't give them enough time to investigate Desmond, and Leah Rose kept going on and on, about how they were in love with each other.
In as much, as he could understand where his mother was coming from, he wasn't going to allow her fears, to stop him from going on with his marriage plans with Jane.
"Mummy, I understand what you are saying, but I need you to understand that; everyone is not the same, people are different, we shouldn't allow what happened in the past, to prevent us from enjoying the joy of today"
"I know, but I still insist we find her family first before anything is done"
"Mummy, I'm sorry but I'm not doing that, I'm getting married to Jane, and her bride price would be paid to her uncle in Enugu state" With that said, Rayford placed a kiss on his mother's forehead, and then turned to leave.
"So you are going to disobey your mother, because of a girl you barely know?"
"I'm not disobeying you mum, I'm just standing on my decision. And she is not just any girl, she is the girl I love and I'm going to marry. Good day mum"
"Won't you stay to at least eat lunch?" His mother asked.
"No I have some errands to run"
On Rayford's way out, he met aunty Ajoke at the door, she was just arriving.
"Just the person, I wanted to see" she said as Rayford prostrated in greeting before her.
"Stand up my dear, how are you?"
"I'm fine thank you ma, and how are you too aunty?"
"I'm fine, I'm fine.. ehnn have you thought about what I and your mother discussed with you yesterday?"
"Yes aunty, and I have made up my mind on what to do"
- Writer
