CHAPTER 111

Ruth widened her eyes in disbelief. She could not understand how Ryan chose to love somebody from another community she knew nothing about. 

" Who will help the people in my community if I choose to be here?" Said Ruth feeling a bit sad. 

" Why don't you send Faith there? Faith is your sister and I am sure that she has learnt a lot from you. After all, I know that she is feeling well" said Ryan.

" You don't....." said Ruth but Ryan suddenly interrupted.

" I don't have to understand you. You have a choice to make. You can choose to stay here with me and find your daughter or leave and forget about everything that you have built here including the progress for the search of your daughter. I hope I am clear" said Ryan who left the balcony and went back to the dining room. 

Ruth sat at the floor of the balcony filled with lots of dissapointed. She did not know what to do since she loved her career. She felt that she should go  to Magdalene and Naomi and seek for their advice. She went to the dining room and found that they had already left. Nelly informed her that they decided to go for a tour around Mambo town.

" Why should they go? Who has taken them out?" Asked Ruth filled with lots of curiosity.

" It was Ryan's idea that they should leave. Why do you seem sad? Is there any problem?" Asked Nelly.

" No! I was just thinking about the closer gates and the affairs of the people there. I wonder what Martin will do if he finds out that we are holding his mother and one of his maidens captive. He will initiate a war between our two communities. Do you think that we should let them go?"  Asked Ruth.

" Not really. I want them to have a story to tell by the time we let them go. I do not want any more people from Olam community to visit you or our town. They just keep causing troubles here and sometimes I find it hard since there is nothing I can do about it" said Nelly agreed.

Ruth agreed to Nelly's terms even though she felt that it was a bad idea. She immediately left the dining room and went to look for them. It was very hard since the town did not have taxi's like Olam town.

She gave up and decided to go back to the house. She did the house chores as she sang the songs from her community. They defined the song as work song.

" Work,work work  

I just have to work  

Job it's a job 

And you don't have to choose 

And maybe not refuse 

Because work is just work"

Ruth sang as she wiped the chairs. She was astonished to find out that the couch had a lot of dust. Vivian entered the living room at that instant and went to sat at the couch that Ruth had already cleaned which made Ruth to be filled with lots of anger. 

" All you know is to feel high and mighty like a queen but you do nothing but fill the house with dust. What sort a woman are you? A woman needs to be clean and more cleaner than even her own husband. I hope you are getting me. Don't be angry because a friend is capable of telling a friend the truth" said Ruth smiling.

Vivian stood up from the couch and went towards Ruth the slapped her. 

Ruth felt bad and slapped Vivian in return. This made them to engage in a fight and hurt one another. Nelly and Lawrence who were seated at the balcony making plans for the community were astonished as they heard their secreams. They immediately went to the living room to check on them. They were astonished to find both Vivian and Ruth pulling each others hair. They separated them and took each one of them to their rooms.

This made Lawrence to beat up Vivian. He always did that whenever he felt that Vivian went astray. 

Ruth could hear the screams from her room which astonished her. She immediately stopped Nelly from applying ornament on her wound. She got angry as she continued listening to Vivian's scream. 

" Does he always beat up his wife like this? Has he no idea that it is a crime for a man to beat up his wife like the way he punishes his servant?" said Ruth angrily. 

" It is indeed not right but neither Ryan nor me have been able to make Lawrence understand that" said Nelly a bit sad. 

Ruth stood up from her bed and went to Vivian's matrimonial room. She found that was still being beaten up by Lawrence using his belt. Ruth went towards Lawrence and held the belt tightly and forcefully removed it from Lawrence's arm then threw it over the window. 

" Listen to me. Those eras where men used to beat women ended a long time ago. If you did this next time, then I won't hesitate to tie your belt over your neck.  I mean it" shouted Ruth at Lawrence.

"  You are too brave Ruth and I really like your creativity but I will not allow your creativity go be the one dictating my life. You better leave me alone since it's only a man who know how to best punish his own wife. I am not going to allow my dignity to fall just because of you since I will do everything to make sure that you get out of this town. I will make sure that the love Ryan has for you fades away" said Lawrence who left the room. 

Ruth went towards Vivian and tried to console her but Vivian pushed her away till she hit the wall. This made Ruth to be filled with lots of sadness since she finally felt the wrath of Vivian's hatred .

" Fine! I thought I was helping but I did not expect you to push me away. How can you allow a man to beat you up without fighting for your rights? Is it because they all say that women are weak? I am truly dissapointed at you Vivian. Keep allowing a man to control and you will end up bleeding to death. I hope that you understand everything that I say" said Ruth angry who immediately left the room accompanied by Nelly. 

She went back to her room and kept nursing her room. In a jiffy, Vivian arrived at Ruth's room and ran towards her as she hugged her and tears welled down her eyes. 

" I am sorry. I am deeply sorry at how I have always treated you. Today you have shown me what a woman can do by defending me against Lawrence. This is what happens to most of the women in our society and I think that you have made me larn to come up with an operation women team to teach women how to be courageous" said Vivian smiling.

It was an emotional moment which made Ruth to cry. She kept wondering the main reason why Vivian finally changed her mind. 

" Vivian! You are shedding tears in your eyes but then you are smiling as well. It's as if you are happy but sad too. Do you feel sad that I have treated your husband like that? I can go and apologize to him in order to make things right" said Ruth who felt guilty at how she spoke to Lawrence.

" I am sad because I could not be able to stand up for myself and yet I am also happy that you have been able to stand up for me. I do not care if Lawrence is angry. Today he had got what he deserve" said Vivian smiling. 

" It's alright. I am just cleaning up my wounds. You both may leave now because I will be fine soon. You can go and continue cleaning up the house then I will check on the both of you later. That is the only thing that will prove to me that Vivian has meant everything that she has said" said Ruth smiling.

Both Vivian and Nelly immediately left the room. They went to the living room and started cleaning the house since they did not want to dissapoint Ruth. Ruth used the chance she was alone to think about everything that Ryan had told her. 

She made a resolution that she was going to stay on mambo town but not in the terms that Ryan gave her. It was simply because she wanted to revenge on Martin and make him fell the way she felt when Martin chose to stay with Tere instead of her a few years back. 

She went to the living room filled with lots of happiness. 

" I am going to help you ladies before my mama and grandma comes back" said Ruth smiling.

They helped each other to clean up the house till all the house chores were over. At that instant, Ryan came back accompanied by Magdalene and Naomi. He was astonished to find out how the floor of the house had become clean and the house was full of decorations. He smiled since he knew that Ruth had done all that. It made him as happy as a lark. 

MARRIED AT SIXTEEN.