Chapter 48
Nduka exhaled now. "I never really thought of that, father, but concerning food, will I keep eating that sacrifice she prepared? A man needs good food, you know."
"Why not teach her to cook, brother Nduka? You can't have all you want in one woman."
"Father, can't you see that she runs her mouth like a tap? She just prepared nonsense in there and she's not even remorseful for wasting my money that way! How do I groom such a girl into being the kind of wife I want?"
"Then what do you want to do, brother Nduka? Would you rather divorce her? Don't forget that God is against divorce." Father Thomas said.
"I know father but how do I feed?"
"I'm sure that your son, Dike is a good cook. If anything, his late mother taught him well. Simply let him take over the cooking and pamper your wife and beg her to learn from him because that boy will not remain with you forever."
"But what about her stubbornness? Didn't you hear her call me by my name? That girl has no respect for me!"
"Alright, concerning that, how about we do it this way? Permit me to spend more time discussing the bible with her and also preaching the word of God to her? I'm sure that in a few weeks, she'll be good as new and ready to answer your every beck and call. All I need is your permission and I can begin next week."
Nduka pondered for a while then shrugged a shoulder. "Okay then, father, I think that's better than nothing." He shook hands with the priest now. "Thank you for coming."
"It's a pleasure. Please take it easy with her." Father Thomas said as he opened the car.
"I'll try my best, father." Nduka answered.
"May the good Lord be with you; you are blessed." Father Thomas said, got into his car and drove off.
★★★
Later that night, the Queen who had gone to pick some wrappers from her daughter's room, returned to her room and froze when she saw a hunched figure dressed in filthy clothes, squatting over her daughter, Kikelomo who had cried herself to sleep since she wouldn't stop vomiting toads any time she tried to speak.
"Who are you?!" The Queen asked now in fear, and Bukunmi slowly turned around to look at her, as she leaned on her long stick.
"You don't know me but you have heard about me." Bukunmi replied.
"How did you get in here?! What are you doing to my daughter?! Speak now or I shall scream for the guards!" The frightened queen threatened.
Bukunmi only chuckled sinisterly. "Bother not, Olori, because they won't hear you, dear daughter-in-law of mine."
"Daughter-in-law?" The Queen asked, confused. "I don't know what you mean by calling me that, but I'll ask you again! Who are you and what's your business in this palace?! How did you even get past all the guards?!"
"I'm Olori Bukunmi, the great-grandmother to your husband, the Kabiyesi, and a great-great-grandmother to this child here, Kikelomo." She gestured at Kikelomo with her free hand.
The Queen gasped in surprise now, her eyes widening as skeptically they scrutinize the old queen. "Olori Bukunmi, this is you?! I've heard a lot about you, although we all think that you are dead! It is said that you vanished into thin air after your son, Adewale, was gruesomely murdered by Osun? How is it possible that you yet live after so many years?"
Bukunmi smiled wickedly. "I only escaped from Osun's wrath and went into hiding but not without this hunch back that she cursed me with! I have waited this long to take my vengeance against her who took my son's life, and I've waited more than a century for this moment."
"If you are still alive then why didn't you come back all this time? Why did you stay away for this long?" The Queen curiously asked.
"My wife, it was best to remain in hiding. I feared that Osun might return to finish me off after what my son did to her daughter." Turning her head to glance down at Kikelomo, she said, "As for the child, worry not about her well-being anymore. She can speak now without toads coming out of her mouth. Though, the real reason for my visit is to tell you to bring your child to me on the Eve of her sixteenth birthday. I need to fortify her for the storm that is to come. She has a great purpose to serve."
"But, Olori Bukunmi-" The Queen started to say when Bukunmi lifted two fingers, stopping her.
"No buts...bring her into the forest on the eve of her sixteenth birthday and stop by the first creek you see. I'll find you there." Said Bukunmi. "And no one must know about my visit. And I mean no one, not even your husband, my great-grandson." She stated, then shapeshifted into a wall gecko, crawled up to the window, shapeshifted into a big owl and flew into the night sky the same way she had come.
★★★
A month later...
Vincent shuffled out of his room early in the morning, stretching his arms and arching his back as he went. He had had a dream about a strange girl in white and it was the fifth time he was dreaming about her. In the dream, he had found himself in a strange forest where he had seen the girl peeking at him from behind the thick trunk of a tree.
When he had approached to speak to her, she had kept laughing and running away from him. He had followed her from tree to tree, trying to catch up with her and take a good look at her face, but that was not to be because he had woken up having had a strong urge to pee. When he woke up, he realized that his erection had created a tent in his boxers as usual.
Vincent had however noticed that ever since he hit puberty, he had been having almost constant wet dreams and he was always waking up with constant morning erections, which had a tough time going down until he had urinated.
As he walked out of his room, heading for the bathroom across the sitting room which he seldom shared with visitors like Father Thomas, he bumped into someone and his stiff erection collided with something soft while his hands which had tried to steady whatever he had bumped into remained on something big, warm and soft.
When he regained himself, much to his shock, he realized that his hands were on his stepmother's breasts and his erection which had created a tent through his boxers was almost touching her pelvic. Too frozen to move, Njideka slowly lowered her head and look down at his hands which were still on her breasts and also how long the tent in his boxers was. Vincent quickly tore his hands away from her as if he had been burned then he stepped back.
"Auntie, I'm sorry!" He quickly apologized, almost going pale with fear and embarrassment. Although he was almost eighteen and Njideka was just seven years older than he was, he still addressed her as aunty. "That was a mistake... I didn't see you coming." He sheepishly said, avoiding eye contact with her.
Njideka swallowed hard and gave a nervous smile as she quickly stole a look at the boy's erection, already comparing it with her husband's. "No, it's fine, Dike... Like you said, it's just a mistake. I also didn't see you coming. I should have focused on where I was going."
Luckily for Vincent, his father was not in the house. He had left the two days ago for town and would not be back until after a week. Vincent hardly ever spoke to Njideka except when necessary.
Rather, he would sit in his room all the time and only come out to the living room to watch TV when the house was deserted and he was the only one at home. However, he noticed that Njideka had been going to see Father Thomas in the church for three weeks now, and that gave Vincent enough privacy in the house; but somehow, he suspected that something was going on between the two Eve though he had no evidence yet.
Vincent loved writing poems and loved sketching. He had even made several sketches of the girl in his dreams in his sketchbook even though, he couldn't quite figure out what she looked like yet. Even though Njideka had seen him sketching several times, Vincent had never let her see his sketches.
Ever since Njideka came to the house, this was the very first time that Vincent was standing awfully close to her and the young boy let his young eyes slowly sweep down his stepmother's body now. For a teenager, he was very tall, taller than his father and growing more handsome by the day, that the girls in his school were beginning to very open make passes at him. They fought to sit next to him in class and even fought for his attention.