Patience who heard sudden shout of Nana ran out immediately to know what was happening.
“What is it Nana, I heard your loud voice?”
“Mama Grace, can you please help me and ask your daughters what they are doing with my phone?” Nana asked, looking angrily at the two sisters
“What? I strongly warned them against this, why is it that they won’t heed to simple instruction?” Patience quickly asked in her heart and then shouted at them to drop the phone at once.
“What are you girls doing with her phone? Now drop the phone this very minute, I said drop it”
And then Grace eyed Peace to drop the phone
“No, I won’t drop it until I find what I am looking for” Peace retorted
“And what is it that you want to find?” Nana asked Peace and then turned to Grace: Grace, so after all these times, you still don’t trust me? You want to go through my phone, right? Then go ahead, I said go ahead. But to tell you the real truth, I’m highly disappointed at you girls right now. I thought we are already friends”
Grace was touched by what Nana said and decided to collect the phone from Peace in order to drop it, but Peace resisted, and in instead, went through it immediately but found nothing. Her phone was clean from the things she suspected her off. She only found a message that read: “Mummy, thank God that I made the decision to start living with Patience and her Children, and now I am a new person. I want you to emulate Patience, she is an ideal mother. Sometimes. I wished she is my real mother”
“Oh Nana, you are very smart, but let me tell you, I must surely dig out your secret. I won’t allow you to harm any member of my family. I’m keeping a close watch on you… I know that this message you sent to your mother is just a cover up…. But know one thing, nothing remains hidden under the sun forever.” Peace boldly told Nana, dropping the phone on the bed and began walking out of the room.
“Peace, sounding in this manner means that you did not find what you were looking for? I strictly warned you to leave Nana alone, but you won’t listen. Now I want you to apologize to her for disrespecting her like that” Patience instructed
“Mother, you are so blinded by her innocent looks, her innocency is not real. She is deceiving you Mama, she is faking everything. She did not start living with us on good intention. but I pray things won’t be late before you finally realise your mistakes” Peace replied, walking away…
“Peace come back here and apologize to Nana, I said come back here?” Mama sternly instructed in a loud tone, but Peace who was hurting on the way her mother and Grace trusted Nana angrily left, disobeying her mother’s words.
“Can you imagine how stubborn this girl has become?” Patience asked, looking disappointedly shocked at the way Peace walked out from her, ignoring her instructions
“Grace, what are you still waiting for? You wanted to go through my phone, right? then go ahead. I said, go ahead, I believe it will strengthen your trust for me again” Nana urged reminiscing how she changed the situation to her advantage.
The time she heard a sound from the window, she suspected that somebody was eavesdropping to her conversation with her mother, so she quickly deleted the whole messages she sent to her mum and then sent the one Peace read out. She smiled in her heart and said: “Good thing that I took care of things on time, and with this, Grace and her mother’s trust for me will be solidified. And why is it that she is not touching the phone? I have to make her read that message so that she won’t have any reason to doubt me again” Nana said in her heart and then approached Grace, trying to make her read the text.
“Grace, I said you should read it” she insisted
“No Nana, I’m sorry for doubting you, Peace had me believed that you were…….. Hmm, just forget it. I’m sorry for mistrusting you.”
“No, you will have to read the message and tell me what it says. Is it now a crime to wish for a mother like yours?” Nana said, raising the phone to Grace’s face for her to see the content and just as she wished, Grace glanced through it.
“I have seen it Nana, that’s why I’m pleading with you to forgive me OK. It won’t happen again, I shouldn’t have broken the trust you have for me. So I am really sorry”
“Grace, I made up my mind to change from my bad ways, and thanks to you, I’m yielding positive transformations. We have been sleeping on the same bed for days now, so how do you think I will nurture evil against you? I don’t know what Peace said she heard, but if you guys no longer want me to stay here, then I will leave. I will just pack my things and go away, go to any place that is not my house, because returning to my father’s house means returning to my old self again, that’s why I don’t want to live under the same roof with my mother again until I’m sure her influence will no longer have any effect on me again.. So I should start packing my things” Nana said, trying to bring out her traveling bag.
“No Nana, you will do no such thing. And who told you that we no longer want you here? Don’t take what Peace said to heart, she is only a child. And Grace, she is already apologizing for her mistakes. So forgive my daughters. I’m happy you considered me worthy of being a good mother, so I won’t disappoint you on that. I am proud at the person you are turning out to be. As for Peace, I will scold her severely for disrespecting you the way she just did. So forgive my daughters OK?.. What happened today won’t repeat again, I promise you that”
“Yes Nana, my mother is absolutely right. We are truly sorry sweet Cousin. And don’t tell me you are still angry after receiving this warm pleadings from my mother?” Grace asked
“Come on Grace, who will turn down such a calm motherly request? So, I’m no longer angry. I am OK now” Nana said, faking a smile
And Patience smiled back, appreciating her.
“And as for Peace, I will scold her for trying this nonsense” Patience said, trying to leave
“No Mama Grace, just leave her. Like you said, she is only a child. Just allow her be. There is no need forcing trust on people, I believe that one day, she will find one or two reasons to trust me” Nana calmly said
And Patience was touched at her innocent request. “Thank you for your understanding my daughter, it is well” Patience said, leaving the room
About 2 minutes later, Grace excused herself, to get something from outside
And Nana was left alone in the room.
“Look at this bunch of clowns. And now, I have bought another ticket to making my plans successful. Wow! I just love this little drama.” Nana murmured, sitting on the bed.
Peace never relented in finding the truth to reveal Nana’s true colours. Just that Nana was been too smart. Grabbing her red handed proved to be difficult, since she was the only person fighting on digging out the proofs she needed.
It was a day before Grace’s introduction, the day Nana and her mother was waiting for. She had already briefed her daughter on what to do and how to carry out the task.
“Mother, you know that Oluba will be coming with his people tomorrow, so how are you going to do the stuff you told me about?” Nana asked
“It will be in the night, you know you are the one to do it, right? And there shouldn’t be any mistake” Chibugo said
“I know mother. Just leave everything to me.” Nana assured.
About 9pm, Nana initiated Grace into a conversation
“Grace, very soon you will be Oluba’s wife”
“Hmm, Nana, to tell you the truth, I’m feeling excited and at same time anxious about the whole thing. I just hope everything goes successful” Grace wished
“Grace, you don’t have to worry. All you need to do is to pray, and everything will turn out fantastic” Nana said, pretending to be concerned about her and she continued: “Instead of being here worrying yourself out, why not go and take your bath, when you finish bathing, we will kneel down and hand everything to God, you hear me?” Nana incited
“Hmm, Nana, you are right, but I will do that later”
“No Grace, I will have to make you take your bath somehow this night, before you go to bed without bathing.” Nana said in her heart and then continued: “No Grace, don’t leave it for later, just go and bath now, so that we will pray together, especially now that I still have the strength, because we really need to fire a prayer”
“Don’t worry Nana, I will bath, just that I’m still not yet through with my chores. OK .. And if you want to sleep now, you can go ahead, I will pray on my own… And look at your eyes, you are already looking sleepy, you know you don’t miss sleeping by this time” Grace said, going towards the kitchen
“You are right Grace, I am feeling sleepy already. And I need to do this before going to bed. How am I going to convince her to bath now, because I know Grace, sometimes she goes to bed without taking a night bath. This task is becoming more difficult than I thought and right now, my eyes are already heavy… And if I insist on her taking a bath, it will kind of look suspicious, so I will have to wait for her to finish her chores…. I won’t lie down, I will just be up…..and yes, that my novel will help keep me up. Let me use it and keep my self awake, ” She said in her heart, picking up the novel from where she kept it. About 10 minutes she began reading it, she slept off..
To be continued
