They all greeted simultaneously, while George and Lilian gave her a hug one after the other. Now, her presence always reminded them that they had native names because she addressed them by that. These names had event connotations.
George's name is 'Odera; Odego' – Which means, once it is written by God that something must take place it had been written, nothing changes it.
While Lilian is 'Omere ebele'. Ebele for short. It means the child who showed mercy.
I was billed for a Cesarean Section while I was in labor due to some complications, but before the surgeon arrived she came forth.
Likewise, My husband, who stood aside with a discontented smile on his face while grandma and the grandchildren exchanged pleasantries, looked at me for a clue.
“My in-law.”
Mama called as soon as she had the opportunity to look at my husband.
“Yes, Mama.”
He replied with a concealed anxiety. Then, the children left for their room, leaving us alone.
“My daughter had informed me of what happened.”
Mama continued without minding the expression on her face.
“What?”
He exclaimed when he thought that it was the slap that he gave to me the previous night that my mother was referring to. While he attempted to make a fast excuse to defend himself, Mama continued.
“You see, if one door does not close, another one will not open.”
Mama said, ignoring his exclamation.
After my mother's encouraging words, he was relaxed and played along with her, having known that she was unaware of the ugly incident. I chuckled when I saw him breathing freely. My mother, a woman in her early sixties, was still strong and energetic. Despite all she had been through, she was still lively. For her age, we are careful with her meals and that was why she preferred unripe plantain to reduce her starch (carbohydrate) intake.
As the evening progressed, Evans sought my attention to let my mother believe that all was well and that he was still the son-in-law she loved so much, but I carefully avoided his jokes and questions. For that reason, he hid himself in our bedroom until Mama retired to the only guest room in the house. She was so familiar with the house that she did not need to be directed to the guest room.
'Will history repeat itself?'
Evans, asked himself worriedly. Meanwhile, whenever my mother visited, she would spend a week or so with us before leaving for my siblings' place. She was a mother of four, and she made it a point of duty to pay all her children visits at least twice in a year.
My father threw her out after she had her fourth daughter, which led to her death. His reason was simple, he wanted a male child, at all cost. On that day, she came back from the hospital with the baby after waiting for days for her husband to come and settle the hospital bill and pick her. However, he refused to show up because he had discovered that she had a baby girl again. Now, my mother had to send a word to her neighbor in the market where she did her petty trading to send some money to her. The neighbor did as she instructed her and that was how she was able to settle her hospital bill before the hospital could release her.
When she got back home, she was so shocked to meet us outside the house crying. Then, she requested to know our reasons. Ada, my elder sister and the first child, explained.
“Papa drove us out.”
“Why? What was your offense?”
My distressed mother asked, despite the stress she got from child bearing.
“Nothing.”
We responded out of despair. Then, she was holding the newborn baby in her left hand, while the baby's bag was in the other hand. At that point, she dropped the bag and cuddled us. Afterward, she urged us to go back to the room to eat the 'akara' (local snacks made of beans paste) which she bought for us. Despite her condition, she didn't forget to buy the delicacy that we loved so much. Though, we knew that our father was in the house with a female visitor, we never suspected that she was not supposed to be in our house. So, we could not stop our mother from going in.
When we got into our one-room apartment and saw my father with another woman on their matrimonial bed, it was disastrous.
“What!”
She screamed and that was all she could remember.
She woke up in the hospital after three days to discover that the baby had died. It happened that when she screamed, my father began to punch her and when she could not bear it, she fainted, and the baby fell off her hand. We cried our hearts out and that attracted our relations, who rushed my mother to the hospital. Mr. Beck, Aaron as I prefer to address him instead of ‘my father’ was a villainous husband and an outrageous father. Apart from the fact that Mama had only girls for him, he would not have been a kind person if Mama had had male children too. The baby did not survive it despite the efforts of the doctors to save her.
Subsequently, she made every effort to regain her husband, ranging from reporting him to the church and his kinsmen. On one occasion, when he was summoned by the church, he asked the Reverend to mind his business. My mother gave up when she got tired of getting him back. Then, she went back to her family house.
Subsequently, the lady moved in and lived with Mr. Beck, Aaron. As time went by, she gave birth to two baby boys and Mr. Aaron felt on top of the world because he had gotten the male children who will inherit his nothingness. But his blissfulness was short-lived because, my family believed that such children were not welcomed, and belonging to the woman because they had them outside wedlock.