CHAPTER 177

Ruth stood aghast for a while wondering what she should do. She did not know more about the rites of the vowing ceremony but the only thing she knew was the fact that it was a must for Nelly to appear at the vowing ceremony. 

Ruth decided to go back to the case square. She was astonished to find out that the case square was filled with lots and lots of commotion.

" Silence!" Ruth shouted out of the blues in a way that she herself did not understand why she shouted.

Everybody looked at Ruth filled with lots of anger. 

" Where is our new case manager? Is she not supposed to be here for the final vowing ceremony?" Asked Riziki who was the head of the market women.

Her urge to fight for the rights of women made her to become the head of women and the market women. It also gave her the rights to question the leaders of the town or identify a problem then come up with a solution.

" I am here. I am here for the final rites of the vowing ceremony. I am here to show a sample of how I am going to rule cases in this land. The final rites state that I should choose the criminal and the lawyer. This is my decision. I choose the criminal to be Ryan my brother and the lawyer to be Ruth my sister-in-law under the case of murder under section twelve of Mariana constitution" said Nelly as she went and sat on her case manager position smiling.

" What are you saying? " Asked Ruth in deep state of confusion. 

She felt a deep wound of mockery. What she wasn't going to do in real life was what she was made to do inorder to fulfill the vowing ceremony rites. 

" You heard me right. You know very well that neither Lawrence nor Vivian can help me complete this vowing ceremony since Vivian was ripped of her duties as the case manager and that makes her husband not to participate in this ceremony as well. Haven't I told you so many times to learn our culture? " Shouted Nelly at Ruth.

Ryan immediately went and stood at the case box characterizing himself like a vagabond. This made Ruth to hold a law file as she went and stood beside the case box where Ryan was standing since everybody kept cheering by calling out her name. Ruth seemed reluctant since she did not know the strategy in which a lawyer was supposed to handle cases in Mambo town.

" Ryan Mariana! The ruler of Mambo town. Today you stand here for the verdict of a murder case versus the people under section twelve of Mariana constitution. I am the people's Lawyer. Now! Do you swear to say nothing but the truth under the respect of Mariana the founder of Mambo town?" Asked Ruth a bit hesitant.

" I Ryan Mariana. I swear to say nothing but the truth under section twelve of Mariana constitution" said Ryan. 

" A case is brought under the case square by the claims that you committed murder two weeks ago. You killed an old woman without Mercy. Blood was shed with tears falling on the ground which is a taboo. Now Mr. Ryan Mariana. Why did you commit the murder?" Asked Ruth in a very serious and angry tone which shocked everyone at the case square.

" I did not commit the murder miss Ruth Bora" said Ryan in a pellucid voice.

" Don't you dare call me by name. I want to believe that you did not commit the murder but I have reasons not to. You pretended to be on a romantic dinner with the love of your life. You intoxicated her drink and made her to fall into deep slumber and therefore went to kill her grandma. Is that not right?" Asked Ruth.

" I swear...." Said Ryan but Ruth suddenly interrupted.

" You do not really need to swear Mr. Ryan Mariana. Your beloved girlfriend is present in this case square. Do you want me to call her to the case witness box to verify my claims? Is it not your intoxication that has caused her sudden cancer illness? What do you have to say now? Do you want me to call another witness to verify your claims?" Asked Ruth.

" I might had intoxicated her but I ...." Said Ryan in a pellucid voice but Ruth suddenly interrupted.

" Silence! There is an evidence. The arrow which you burried two feet under at the backyard of your mansion. How can you be so inhuman? You even refused for the old woman to be taken in any of the Mambo town morgues. How could you?" Shouted Ruth at Ryan.

" Enough! I did not refuse for your grandma Magdalene not to be taken to the morgue. The only thing that I did was to send men to kill her so that you would be mine. That was the only key to make you mine" shouted Ryan which astonished Ruth.

Everybody at the case square stood from their benches and looked at Ryan astonished . It was then that it dawned on Ryan that he has confessed to killing Magdalene. Naomi who was standing at the back bench immediately went towards Ryan and slapped him.

" Who gave you the right to do that? Which guts did you have to kill my mother Ryan? Did you really have to confess this at Nelly's vowing ceremony? I mean...Is this not supposed to be the happiest day of her life?" Asked Naomi as tears welled own her eyes.

" Mama! This is just the completion of the rites of the vowing ceremony. Ryan unconditionally loved grandma Magdalene that is why he chose her name. Is that not right Ryan?" Asked Ruth breathing heavily. 

" It's....t..rue" said Ryan.

" Let's go Mama. Let's go home. I think I have done my part" said Ruth but Nelly signalled to her go stay before she left.

" We have not completed the vowing ceremony rites yet. This is my verdict. Based on the lack of evidence from lawyer Ruth. Ryan Mariana is found not guilty from all claims" said Nelly smiling.

Everybody clapped for Nelly, Ruth and Ryan. Ryan and Nelly seemed to be happy but Ruth seemed sad. 

" Faith! Let's take mama back home. I think the vowing ceremony is over. We have a lot of things to do" shouted Ruth at Faith who was now standing beside Naomi as tears welled down her eyes.

Faith, Ruth and Naomi both left the vowing ceremony. Naomi seemed doubtful all the way back home. Naomi was an elder and therefore knew the difference between confessing and not confessing. For a while she thought that the capable murderer was Lawrence but she now felt that Ryan was among the murderers. She felt ashamed for pushing Ruth to continue further with the marriage.

As soon as they arrived at home, Naomi locked the entrance door from the inside. She felt she needed to find out the whole truth from Faith and Ruth.  She therefore made them sit at the couch and went to the kitchen. She came back with a jar and washed both Faith's and Ruth's hands. After that, Naomi decided to sit in between  Faith and Ruth.

" I want you both to tell me the truth. Is it true that Ryan is the one who killed my mama?" Asked Naomi as she cried in pain.

" Yes mama. Ryan , Vivian, Lawrence, Mr. One, Tere abd Haggai have always been working together. Tere made Purist to get married in this town so that I could come here looking for Purist to save her inorder to get married to Ryan and forget about Martin. But grandma! Ryan is the one who ordered for my grandma Magdalene to be killed" said Ruth who felt that hiding the truth from her mother would make her mother to have so much pain.

" Why then have you defended him at the vowing ceremony?" Asked Naomi.

" I have done it for Nelly. Nelly is a good person and today is really supposed to be the happiest day of her life. How could we ruin that for her mama? That is why I want her to know the truth once the vowing ceremony is over. That will be the right thing to do" said Ruth smiling.

" When will you stop caring about others and think of your own affairs? I will personally tell Nelly the truth once the vowing ceremony is over. And again, I will personally take Purist away from that marriage by my own palms. We will go back to Olam town and we will plan our revenge. You will throw your engagement ring on Ryan's face and you will go back to your law career. This is my final decision" said Naomi.

" But mama! Purist is under a spell and only a ritualist can reverse that spell" said Ruth.

" Let me die then. I would rather die saving her from that marriage rather than dying from the arms of worthless people" said Naomi who left to her room.

Ruth and Faith looked at each other astonished. They had never seen the wildest part of Naomi. This made them to regret telling her the truth yet there is nothing they could do about it.

MARRIED AT SIXTEEN.