MURDER IN THE ORATORY

THREE

MURDER IN THE ORATORY

Three

With a strong arm swathed evenly around me, I feel safe and sound and I know I am utterly protected from anything around that may want to destroy me. That was such a night. I had a dream. I mean I saw a dream that left me a bit worried. ‘’Hey,’’ he greets. I am in the kitchen preparing lunch for the family.

‘’Hey,’’ I respond politely. ‘’Who are you?’’

‘’Who do you think I am? Of course, I am Jasper's father. The man you so pretend to love so much! Or don’t you think I know your type?’’

‘’What type am I? I love your son, genuinely.’’ I said with tears threatening to come out.

These are the times you wish you had a mother. Yes, my mother isn’t dead, but I feel like I am an orphan.

I met Jasper’s father, yes, I did, in a dream. The guy was so uneasy around me, he couldn’t look at me straight in the eye, and he kept asking me questions while looking away.

‘’Did you say that you love my son?’’ I nodded, I didn’t want to say a word. ‘’Listen, I have seen girls, very stunning girls who came here parading themselves and pretending to be loving Jasper, and in the end, they walked away. What makes you think that you will stay when they promised to stay and didn’t stay.’’ ‘’Simple, I am not them.’’ I simply have no tiniest idea where I got the energy to respond to him.

‘’You sure are so confident, and you seem like you know what you want. Why exactly do you love my son? Is it because he is loaded in money?’’ that was such a disturbing question. What did he think? That I have no money? He is absolutely mistaken. Well, I shook my head anyway.

‘’I work, I earn my own money, and you, cannot be asking me such a question, in fact, that to me sounds like an insult.’’

Why do people normally think that a woman cannot love a rich man for real? I mean I have my two hands, I can work, two legs, I am sure I can walk, and walk faster if need be, I have two eyes, I can clearly see, the work I am doing, I have all the other senses. I can feel and smell when necessary. Tell me something, why would I sit and wait for a man’s money?

That said and done, he stood up and told me sternly that if I ever broke his son’s heart, I would have him to deal with. I looked at him until he disappeared, then I shrugged like only God knows what is in the store for me, and I went back to what I was doing. Right on cue, my eyes flew open, and here I go.

Don’t you think that man wasn’t true? Have you seen what I saw? I mean I couldn’t decipher what brought him to me. Besides, I didn’t even know where it is we were, but I can surely tell you that that didn’t seem like a good dream to me. I try pulling out of his hold, but he doesn’t let me. He keeps pulling me closer, even though he is dead asleep.

I relax, I am going nowhere, I am here with Jasper, so, I should relax and enjoy his morning warmth as it lasts. I roll my eyes, I meant to say before he goes back to his job. I am facing away from him, his torso pressed gently on my back, and yeah, I am feeling sweet, very sweet. I tell myself to relax, I smile slightly when I think of how I met him. Jasper brought me out of a ditch, he was a liberator if I can say so.

It has been several months since I met the love of my life. I started dating jasper a few months ago. He said openly that he has no time to waste, and since he had met me, he wanted to take things up as he wished to do it. My mind drifts slowly to what happened to me late last year.

I was dumped at the altar, yeah, you heard me quite well. Early morning on a Sunday, I was driven in an expensive limousine beside my friends. It was my day, my wedding day. I knew I had found the right man, him who God had destined for me. Elias was a good man, initially, he wanted to be a priest. I have no idea how or why he decided on that if his parents imposed it on him, but that’s it.

When I met my handsome, charming man, he never told me about him being a priest or even the fact that he was in the seminary. He was one of those men described as purely handsome with no dents at all. He at some point loved me so much, he wanted me, he said he was perfect, he had everything, and that the only thing he needed what a woman in his life. Poor me, I fell for that.

The woman who is stated that will fill his heart with love, one who will care for him and one he will call a wife and be lucky to have. I was happy, I was delighted.

I was in college back then. I was twenty-two years old, a good girl, virgin. I fell in love with him, purely. Elias was the kind of guy every woman would have yearned for. He carried himself around with respect.He never flirted around, he came in, to study, and left.

He never partied, he was never drunk, he never had any enemies, girls yearned for him, but yeah, he never encouraged them. He was just the man who everyone else would have wished to have. He was also prayerful, and for me, I loved such a person.

I kept the Sabbath day holy, meaning I wasn’t of the same religion as him. You have no minutest idea how hard that decision was to make. You simply don’t know the battles I fought with my family, just to wed in catholic, and not in the Seventh-day Adventist church.

Ever told yourself that ‘he will be yours through thick, and thin?’ I told myself that a number of times. He supported me, he told me that he will always stay with me, he ensured that he was there when I needed him most, and yeah, Elias was simply a ‘grub.’

I remember one day, dad called a meeting and said, if I decided to go to that wedding, he would support me, so long as the guy agreed to have two weddings, one in our church, and the other in theirs, that way, we would both be blessed from our churches. Guess what, he said yes, and yeah, we planned two private weddings.

You must be wondering why the wedding was private, yeah, his preference, his way of living. He didn’t want any exposure, he had false families, false companies, false friends, false everything. He never ever wanted me to meet anything real in his life.

We would start with a wedding in his church, then doing another in my church within the same week. Dad met him and without a second thought, he loved him.

He was too good to be true.

Mum, as usual, had doubts. ‘’Ooh, I don’t know why, but something is off about that guy, ooh, I have no idea why he looks creepy.’ I was simply tired of those lines, and mum even though she never liked him, she allowed me to get married. I never knew ‘I told you’ would be the next song mum would sing every time she saw me.

Just as I have mentioned that he lived a false life, he introduced me to a false family, he smiled every time I said his dad called me. Yeah, a false dad. He was a happy soul. I mean any ordinary person, except my mum could tell that Elias was all lies. He only wanted to break my heart, and for what? I never found out.

Since he wanted to portray a good mankind of, he promised that he will break my virginity on the day of our honeymoon. He promised to take me to five different countries of my choice in a span of two months. We were to be away for two months.

I wasn’t working, and he said it wouldn’t be hard for him to convince his people of what he wanted. After all, Elias was a manager, a CEO, a Managing partner, I mean he was all sorts of the bigwigs, and I fell for all that. Not for the money or positions, but for the great man portrayed in him. He was a mogul. He looked innocent, and trust me, no one could have suspected that Elias was a scam. My friends kept telling me that if I ever joked around him, then I’d lose him to one of them without knowing.

Then there was this friend of mine, Emma, she hated him. She told me Elias was a pretender, and she promised to unmask him. I never knew that would happen on my wedding day. Ever met those friends who protect you like real sisters, have your backs, and are always willing to take a bullet for you, can protect you before everyone and anyone, and will always stand in for you? Well, Emma was those kinds of friends, and more. At least before my eyes, she was. She organized parties, made sure I was always surprised by Elias, but something was off. I never knew that Emma was to be my co-wife.

When Elias bought me my dream phone, Emma planned the surprise, but in a few hours, she had the same phone, same pigment, same brand, same everything. When he called me and asked if I was with Emma, he could ask for her, and he called Emma almost equally, as he called me. That’s after they made up. I reconciled them and I asked them to like each other for my sake.

Emma knew about all the parties he wanted to take me to, I just found out as a surprise. ‘kikulacho ki nguoni muako.’( "Whatever is preying on you (e.g. a louse), is nested inside your clothing.") Funny enough, I never suspected Emma or Elias, I was young, I had never had my heartbroken. I trusted them irrationally. Back to the day, in the church, it wasn’t a very big, private wedding, but at least the church wasn’t really empty. ‘his parents’ I mean the people he introduced me to were present.

When my friends dropped me, mum was already there, and was ready to walk me slowly, and majestically to the pool pit. Emma had excused herself the previous night, that she got an impromptu meeting call, and that her job depended on that. I honestly wasn’t gonna force things. I prayed and hoped that she could be at my wedding, but that didn’t happen.

I was walked slowly, to the alter, I went straight to meeting the guy I thought was the love of my life. He was handsome, perfect and had a charming smile that only made me warm. One of the things that made me fall hard for him, was the fact that he was willing to take me slowly, then only make love to me the night of my wedding.

Wow, life was easy, the wedding was lit. I don’t know how I wouldn’t have enjoyed one of the only days of my life, the best then. I am so scared whenever I think of that day, I feel so confused, I have no idea why luck was never on my side. I know that was that, and I hope it doesn’t happen to me ever. The priest who was officiating the wedding was a happy one, he made sure that the church was lit with jovial moods, people were happy, and he preached about lies.

Elias kept throwing harsh glances at him, and I swear I was blank and innocent at the same time. I could not tell why that was happening. There were jubilation songs, and at some point, I thought to myself, where exactly was Emma going? Who exactly called her when they knew it was my wedding day? Then as naïve as I was, I consoled myself saying I am sure the guys didn’t know me, or she didn’t mention to them about my wedding. Who was I anyway? I had just completed my schooling and yeah, I dint have a job. Not that I was in a hurry, not really. I was okay.

Then the priest called unto whoever thought we were never fit to get married, to show up or forever their shut their mouths. My, oh, my! Yeah, your thought may be right, Emma thought we were not, guess why so. Because she was pregnant for him. For Elias

‘’I do, I will never let these two get married because Elias and I are supposed to rightfully get married. We belong together. We are a couple, and yes, I am four months pregnant with his baby. Something that she, the angel, the holy queen of god knows where couldn’t give him.’’

I turn back in slow motion to look at her and just as I thought, she is in a dress that looks exactly like mine. Same shoes, same neckpiece. She resembles me in wedding attire.

‘’Emma!’’ I call loudly but she lifts her arm to stop me.

‘’He is mine! Not everything is about you. You have no chance with Elias because he and I, need a dad and a mum for our baby.’’ I turned to look at Elias, but he smirked like he didn’t give a hoot. I turned back to Emma and just like that, she was gently rubbing her belly, and I don’t know why, but the only person standing on their feet, the only ones surprised were my family members.

Before I knew it, she lifted a gun. I had seen those in movies, and yeah, when she fired, I don’t know what next, I passed out and thought I had died.