CHAPTER 172

Ryan's change of attitude made Ruth to feel that she might change her mind about getting married to Ryan. All this changed when Ruth suddenly felt the presence of Magdalene. This made her to turn beside her and was astonished to see Magdalene smiling at her who suddenly left the living room. Ruth decided to follow Magdalene without informing Ryan which made Ryan to be filled with lots of worries and wanted to follow Ruth but Naomi suddenly stopped him as she went towards him.

" Ruth needs sometime alone. You are being too hard on my daughter. Let her be" said Naomi in a comnanding voice.

Being of the same origin as Ruth and Magdalene, Naomi saw Magdalene standing beside Ruth and knew that Magdalene had a message for Ruth as soon as they both left the living room.

" Is it really you grandma?" Asked Ruth as soon as they both entered her room.

" Yes my granddaughter. It is your grandmother Magdalene. She has missed you darling and I think it is time for you to know the truth. Martin has nothing to do with what happened to me. The person responsible for all this is your lover Ryan and you must get married to him Ruth. You must do this in order to avenge my death and bring Purist back to the closer gates. You need to avenge my death" shouted Magdalene filled with lots of anger. 

" What are you talking about grandma? Ryan was with me during the war. There is no way that he might had killed you" said Ruth as tears welled down her eyes.

" You must believe me Ruth. From the very first moment, Tere, Haggai, Ryan, Vivian and Lawrence have been working together. That is the main reason why Purist was married in this town so that you would come here looking for her and then get seduced by Ryan so as to marry him. They all wanted to separate you from Martin. That is why you need to marry Ryan. You need to marry him for the sake of vengeance" said Magdalene who suddenly dissapeared. 

Ruth sat on the floor as tears welled down her eyes. She found it hard to believe that Ryan had been working with Tere from the very first moment. Ruth suddenly fell asleep and forgot that she had an engagement party going on at the living room. 

Two hours passed but Ruth had not yet gone to the living room. This made Naomi to be filled with lots if worries in such a way that she decided to go to her room and find out what was really happening. She opened the door and was astonished to see Ruth sleeping on the floor. Naomi woke her up immediately and assisted her to stand. It was then that she realized Ruth's eyes were red and she was not in the right state of mind. 

" What is it my daughter? Your guests have been waiting for you at the living room for two hours now. Are you feeling unwell? I can let you rest if that is the case" said Naomi filled with lots of concern.

" No mama. The engagement ceremony must be completed as we had planned. Please escort me back to the living room" Ruth pleaded with Naomi.

Ruth did not really want to tell Naomi about the fact that Ryan was the one who had ordered for Magdalene's death during the war. She knew that it would break Naomi's heart after giving accepting to give her hand in marriage to Ryan. 

Naomi and Ruth both left to the living room. Ruth was astonished that no guest had left yet despite the two hours that she had wasted sleeping in her room as soon as they entered. Ruth decided to go towards Ryan who was still seated in the reserved seat. She immediately signalled for the music to stop since she wanted the ritual to be completed.

" What else is remaining apart from the vow ritual and ring ritual that will connect us together for eternity? Let's do it then. I can't wait to walk in this next life with Ryan" said Ruth puting a fake smile on her face. 

" My lady is apsalutely right. I will request my mother-in-law Naomi and my younger sister Nelly to join me in completing this last ritual" said Ryan who seemed to be filled with lots of enthusiasm.

 Naomi and Nelly came towards Ruth and Ryan each holding a ring on their arms. Nelly was holding Ruth's ring whereas Naomi was holding Ryan's ring which which sigified that both families had accepted the engagement. Naomi and Nelly handed over the ring to Ryan and Ruth.

" With the significance of this ring, I accept Ruth to be my sister-in-law. I vow to love her, defend her and protect her from any harm that may come her way now and in future. I promise that to do all these three things that I have vowed today filled with so much love and happiness" said Nelly as she hugged Ruth.

" I give you this ring today as a way that I accept Ryan to be my son-in-law. I vow to be a mother to you, to feed you when you are hungry, to cloth you when you are naked, to sing for you when you are in pain and to comfort you when you are grieving. I promise to do all those things just like I have always done to my daughter" said Naomi as she hugged Ryan. 

Ryan and Ruth wore their rings immediate as everyone clapped for them. The vow and ring ritual was finally completed. Ryan and Ruth were officially engaged but Faith noticed that Ruth seemed sad even if she pretended to put a fake smile on her face. This made Faith to go and stand beside Ruth pretending to be congratulating her on the new chapter of her life by hugging her.

" Why are you sad? Is there something that I should know? Do you remember we vowed not to keep secrets from each other? Please tell me all I need to know if not now then later" Faith whispered at Ruth's ear.

" It's a delicate issue Faith. This is not the right time to speak about it. I will tell you today at midnight. Let's meet at the sister's square and light the fire of anger because after telling you what I have to tell you today then we will strike with fire anger till I complete my revenge in this town" Ruth whispered at Faith's ear filled with lots of anger.

Ruth did not really want to hide any secrets from Faith. She knew that hiding such kind of secret from Faith would make her feel sad since Magdalene was also her grandmother. 

The engagement party was ended at that instant since Ryan felt that the last rituals which were remaining were already done. Everybody left including Tere , Akeshia and Martin except for Purist. Akeshia left since she felt that she had already done what she was supposed to do since Ryan and Ruth were already engaged.

Purist who was left behind decided to go towards Ruth since she wanted to have a conversation with her. 

" Take a short time. My bride and we have a lot to do this night" said Ryan as she held Ruth's arm tightly and therefore decided to let her go as he left.

" Mama! I know that you aren't happy with this marriage yet I  can't believe that you still choose to get married to him. You could have married him after you have known the person who killed my grandma. That person might even be him" said Purist in a pellucid voice. 

" Lower your voice my love. I don't want you to get into any trouble. Why do you think that Ryan is the one who killed my grandma?" Asked Ruth filled with lots of curiosity.

" I don't know mama but I feel it. I feel it because a part of me has always been connected to grandma" said Purist. 

" Darling! It's just the two of us. Are you fearing to trust your mother? Tell me what you know Purist. I deserve to know what really happened to my grandma. This is us Purist and we were both her grandchildren. Please tell me the truth" asked Ruth as tears welled down her eyes. 

" It's my husband. Ryan paid my husband and a few men to attack the mansion as soon as you left for war. I overheard speaking to my husband but I was caught by my husband, beaten up and bruised. Since then, I decided to keepy silence since I was afraid. These people are dangerous people and I don't know how you will be able to defeat them" said Purist. 

" Do you still the mark of the place where you were bruised?" Asked Ruth.

" Yes at my back and Ryan knows about it since he was there. Please promise me that you won't tell this secret to anyone. I have to go" said Purist who left as Ruth shook her head in disbelief.

She could not believe that she was blinded with the goodness of people around such that she was unable to realize the dark side of them. Ruth sat on the couch in deep state of confusion. She knew that if she wanted revenge, then she needed to plan it carefully or else she could be the one to end up dead. 

MARRIED AT SIXTEEN.