Chapter Eight

It was the break of dawn and the rooster at the far distance broke into its loud morning cry. The sun peeped through the dark clouds night had left and few rays from it broke through the curtains and shone on Celine's face making her twitch. She had overspent the night, working and had slept on a huge pile of files with her tilted pair of glasses sliding down her face. The alarm by the rooster was followed by her alarm and she nudged closer to the drawer to turn off the beeping sounds from her phone, knocking it over and it came landing on the floor.

"Christ!" She jerked and stood up immediately under impulse reaching for the phone. Thankfully, the screen was still intact but the device was switched off. She long pressed the tiny button by the side of the device, when she heard something loud falling heavily on the floor and wondered where the sound came from. She stood up immediately and walked into the bathroom to wash her sleepy face off and immediately remembered the staged event of the last night with the bulb. Splashing more water on her cheek, it gave a refurnishing cool feel on her skin, moisturizing the bags beneath her eyes and the sleepy lines that ran by parallels on her cheek.

She stepped into her room and grabbed her robe by the cushion. Strapping the belts by her waist, she stepped out of the room and saw Damian locking the room by the end, the closed room or opening it. She wasn't sure at first, until he left the spot and made for the stairs to go down.

"Morning," she called out. She watched him stuff the keys into his pocket and acknowledge her greeting.

"Morning Celine. I was just about to come see you," he replied. Her eyes still stuck to his pocket tracing the bulge the keys made and the jingling sound they collectively produced seeking for the perfect opportunity to snatch them from him.

"See me? Hope no problem?" She asked.

"It's nothing really but can we meet at the study?" He asked, taking the stairs that led down.

"There is a study in this house?" She asked no one in particular shrugging. She took one more wishful look at the door at the end of the hall and then followed the trails of Damian until he withdrew the bunch of keys again from his pocket and inserted one key into one of the rooms at the second floor. She watched the keys dangle and heard the short click opening the study. It was dusty and filled with short shelves stacked with books, mainly old classics. Her fingers trailed about some of the books and read the titles inscribed at the sides of the books most of them were Shakespearean.

"Please, sit," he beckoned gesturing at one chair by his side and she obeyed. "I wanted to thank you for everything especially the wedding. Laura was really excited," he started.

"Oh that's fine. It was all part of the deal," Celine replied.

"The deal, yeah. About that, I was able to contact some of my dad's old friends for financial assistance after all the debt he incurred with your company hoping they could come through," he said.

"Oh! Did they?" She asked. She didn't seem to realize where he drove at.

"Yeah actually they did. They collectively contributed and paid," he replied reaching in for a written cheque underneath a coffee mug. "Here's all the money in this cheque. Which means, we don't owe you anymore and the deal is off," he answered.

She slowly took the cheque from him. A flush of embarrassment turned her cheeks a slight pink as she read the contents of the cheque. It was paid in full. He took out the contract he had signed and tore it from end to end squeezing the shreds and tossing the paper ball into the trash can.

"Are we...fighting?" She asked.

"No, but Laura hasn't been comfortable with your presence in this house. You seem to be everywhere playing the hero and I don't know why. Out of desperation, I blindly accepted to bring a total stranger to live with us. The last time Daniel did something similar, I got series of questioning for something I knew nothing about. That ends today," he replied.

She nodded and took the door slowly closing it shut after her, when she saw the bunch of keys were still at the entrance to the study. She looked both ways and peered through the glass window of the room and saw Damian reclining back reading one of the books. She slowly took out the key from the keyhole and stuffed the bunch in her pocket walking up the stairs. She walked towards the end of the hallway and came face to face with the locked door again.

"This is my last chance," she muttered as she stuck a key into the hole but it didn't fit. She tried another and another and another until her fingers shook in fear and the bunch escaped her grip crashing unto the floor. She quickly picked it up again and tried again yet the lock didn't open. Someone was climbing up the stairs and she could hear the approaching steps loudly. She stuffed in another one and got the click sound almost immediately. She pushed herself through the door and shut it silently letting out loud breaths of relief.

She turned around and was disappointed when she met an empty, well dressed room. "All this stress for nothing?" She asked herself, coughing as dust eloped from the bed and every other furniture as they were all coated with dust. She walked towards the wardrobe, opened it and saw no clothes or property to tell who owned the room, until she found something.

She let down a big bag that rested on the top of the wardrobe and opened it up. Documents were neatly arranged in them ranging from birth certificates, WAEC and other examination results and even legal marriage certificates of Stephen and Regina. She brought out more files involving his children and took pictures of all of them.

"So this is it? Here I was thinking there was some evidence that could lead to my mum in here," she said still looking around. She quickly arranged the documents and placed them in the same order she had met them and left the room.

*****

Celine returned back home shortly afterwards and heard Tessy had been discharged too from the hospital few days back. They sure did have a lot to talk about and how Celine had so missed the comfortable life she was getting used to. Her clothes were beautifully still intact and her room sparkled thanks to the maids that cleaned the room every day despite her absence.

"So... You said you saw another person that wasn't Damian?" Celine asked, stirring her hot cup of coffee with a silver plated spoon when they finally had the chance to talk.

"Yea! A lady, shocking right? About this tall, cute face, light skin..."

"Laura? What could she possibly want with you?" Celine asked, taking in a sip.

"Yes, that was the name. She visited the warehouse where I was once or twice. I could hear faint conversations and her name occasionally being mentioned," Tessy replied. Her bandage had been removed and her steps were restored leaving just a single scar on the area of impact. "No good news from your end either. What are we supposed to do now that you're no longer in the house getting information?"

"I honestly don't know. I could have sworn that room was loaded with secrets waiting for me to find it," Celine replied. She rubbed her fingers on her temple and ruffled her hair like she always did when something bugged her mind.

"Maybe there is," Tessy said, sitting upright on the bed. "Let me see the pics you took," she added collecting the phone from Celine and swiping through the pictures. "Birth certificates of Damian, Daniel, Duncan and Diane... Umm.... Obviously he recognized you as his child since he kept your details here... Wait a second," she zoomed a picture closely to see something she had missed before. "This is not your date of birth," she added flashing the date '10th June 1992'.

*****

The Royal suites was busy as usual as people checked themselves in and out of the hotel, while some cooled off at the pool and many others stormed the cafeteria having a lot to eat on demand. Daniel walked into the Royal suites and approached the receptionist just by the entrance who seemed to be attending to someone over by the telephone as she punched the keys on the keyboard getting instructions. Daniel waited until she hung up before speaking.

"Hi umm I wanted to know if someone checked in here earlier," he spoke up.

"I'm sorry sir, we don't disclose such personal details about people here," The young receptionist added.

Daniel smiled and leaned closer to add, "I know the owner of this hotel, she's my friend OK? It's just a name I want."

The lady hesitated a bit, before requesting for the name to be searched for. Apparently she must have recognized his face as part of the few that graced Damian's wedding. He wanted to speak when Celine called his name. Her soft but yet coherent voice rang through. They exchanged pleasantries and then subsequently hugs before Celine asked why he had come by.

"I came to see an aunt. It's been many years, I doubt if she'd remember me," he replied.

"An aunt? Distant?" She asked as she leaned on the receptionist's counter. Her eyes darted about his composure and eloquence when he spoke.

"Well... Something like that." The receptionist cleared her throat to indicate her boredom and that was when he realized he had kept her waiting all along. "Yeah! Right! I'm so sorry. Please search for Margaret... Umm... Not sure of her last name... Err was it.. Okafor?"

Celine's eyes shot fiery glazes in bewilderment as the thumping organ within her rib cage grew intense. She felt dizzy as she stared at the receptionist for a confirmation and the young lady behind the screen, punched in keys while her eyes scanned the screen. "There was someone with that name who checked in here earlier but she's gone."

"Jeez!" Daniel exclaimed pounding his fist on the counter out of disappointment startling them both. "What room was she in?" He added.

"Room 222," the receptionist replied moving the animal likened computer gadget with the slide of her finger. They were painted crimson red and glimmered like drops of blood smeared on her nails. Daniel hurriedly left them and begged to be excused hurrying up the stairs to see if there was a remnant of her presence there. It wasn't usually a practice to let a total stranger into a hotel room without being checked in, but he knew Celine and she had allowed it. More than anything, she needed to know if whoever was in there was the answer she had sought for for many years.

"Listen umm... Calista," Celine started pausing her eyes on the receptionist's name tag. "If you ever see anyone with a name likened to what we just searched for, you let me know. Any Margaret at all," she said and Calista nodded. She turned to leave when she stopped again. "When did she check in and out?"

"Two days ago. She came and left the same day," Calista replied.

"Damian's wedding," Celine said to herself.

She heard her name being called out at a far distance. If she hadn't known better, she'd think it were a crazy person. Perhaps she wouldn't be wrong to imagine such seeing that Tessy could be quite the character. Her melanin glow glistened as she stormed into the ground floor screaming Celine's name.

"Girl are you crazy? This is a hotel," Celine replied drawing her aside.

"Yeah! A hotel that my friend owns. See what I found at the house," Tessy held out a bag for Celine to peep into. She spotted a bouquet of red rose flowers joined together at their stems. She took the bag and intended going up to her office, but was restrained by Tessy. "Dude open something here and now jor." Celine let out a short laugh only as long as a sniffle and drew out a bottle of wine with the label suggesting it came from the Richards'.

"Who is it from?" Celine asked as she searched the bag for clues but there was nothing. She then searched within the red petals and saw a tiny note with her name written on the back. She picked it up and read its content.

To: Celine

I hope your day blossoms like these beautiful flowers.

From: D. Richards.

"Aww," Tessy said. "But which D. Richards though? That clue is kinda vague seeing they're all D Richards," Tessy added.

"No this is not an 'aww' situation... Whoever sent this," she started, lowering her voice, "whoever sent this, is my brother, but doesn't know it and I think it's Daniel. He has been giving me the looks and expressions and now gifts? It's just... I saw him not quite long how come he said nothing about it? That reminds me I have a Daniel gist to give."

"What Daniel gist?" Tessy asked.

Daniel leaped down the stairs holding unto the banister and then sighted Celine talking to Tessy from a far distance. He took few steps backwards and then peered through the rails ensuring he wasn't seeing things and making sure it was actually Tessy he had seen. He wondered how he would leave the hotel unnoticed but then something else intrigued him as he turned to his right and saw Celine's office slightly open.

He walked into the office pushing the door further open and looking around outside the office to see a busy spree of workers and Celine still being distracted by Tessy's conversation. He walked towards her desk and pressed a random key relieving the computer from its dead idle state back to a bubbled reality with the sound of the default window sound.

He saw a document open and read out the typed words on the white background.... It's been a week and still no news from Tess but I saw something today. I know I'm not crazy. I saw my mum at Damian's wedding today. I'm finally going to reconnect with my brothers; Damian, Daniel and Duncan and my mother. I'm finally going to know the truth.

"Oh my God!"