Chapter 5: Chapter 5

Chapter 5.

When I walk out, my godmother frowns.

‘’Are you okay, young girl?’’

‘’Yes, why?’’

‘’You took forever just looking for that thing you are holding in your hands?’’ she asks and I swear I cannot lie. Lies aren’t meant for people like me.

Honesty is, it is going to put my life in the line at some point but I gotta do it anyway.

‘’I was thinking about the day that uncle found Tabby and I counting our savings and he wasn’t mad at us. He knew about this home bank but I guess he never said a word.’’ I see sadness plastered all over her face and I feel bad for her.

I didn’t have to mention him to her. That’s very insensitive of me. I am not a small baby to do such things.

‘’I am sorry …’’ she cuts me off by raising her hand.

‘’May his soul rest in eternity. He never mentioned anything to me. He was a great man indeed. God-fearing, caring and really loving. I would have remarried him, given a chance.’’ Wow! I would like to say that about my future hubby.

I smile in an absent-minded manner.

Definitely not that crazy bitter and stupid man Liam.

‘’Can we open it, godmother?’’ I ask proudly trying to enlighten her mood. She nods as we head to the living room but she changes her mind saying someone might walk in on us and make things sound weird.

‘’Is it a bad thing to have a home bank?’’

‘’Not exactly but in this case, it was a secret you hid from all of us. Can you imagine your mum walking in here and finding the two of us counting cash? It would be a disaster.’’ She is right and for that reason, I nod and walk towards ‘our bedroom’ as she follows closely.

After we do the counting, godmother cannot believe that we actually saved so much money. She says we have good minds that will take us far.

I was surprised to find a nicely folded paper with an address scribbled on it and a note stating clearly that should I ever feel like finding my cousin, Tabby, she will be waiting at that address.

The money isn’t a lot but when I get to the city and I find a job of my own, I will keep saving the money until I am ready to start my own fashion shop. Meanwhile, once I get to the city, I will join a few classes and will make sure that something good comes out of it.

Well, I do have a dream.

‘’Godmother,’’ I call and she smiles nodding. ‘’Do you think this money can take me to a fashion and design classes?’’ with the genuine smile still on her face, she shakes her head slightly.

‘’You will need to save a little bit more. Keep saving darling. Don’t tire up. Your strength is outstanding and anyone who doesn’t mention this hasn’t just gotten the right moment to do so, okay?’’

Too bad. I am honestly not sure if mum and dad have.

‘’Thank you. You are so encouraging and I wanna be you when …’’

‘’Anybody home?’’ I hear mum calling just as we are stepping out of the living room. We both exchange a knowing look before she motions me to stay calm and not show any suspicions.

Her eyes widen when both of us step out. ‘’Juliet!’’ she calls urgently. ‘’You are stealing my daughter from me. So, you have been keeping her here the whole morning!’’ from the look on her face, she is pissed off but hey, she doesn’t have time for me. Why is she complaining?

‘’Good morning Marcella we are …?’’ godmother starts but mum cuts her off with a sneer on her face.

‘’Don’t you try to good morning me! I am not in the mood for your jokes.’’ This is one of those moments you wanna hide but if you have been found in the mix, there is no way out.

‘’Anything the matter, mother?’’

‘’Yes! You wanna know what? You?’’

‘’What have I done?’’

‘’You are here entertaining this woman after she sent her only child to the city for the greedy hyenas now she is pulling you away from me?’’

‘’Calm down, mum. No one is, can and will ever pull me away from you. If that ever happens, it will be you and no one else.’’

She raises her hand, probably to hit me but changes her mind. ‘’Who has given you the audacity to talk back at me? Don’t you think you are too young to do that?’’

Mum has to be mad. I mean why would she be so rude to everyone? ‘’Is something disturbing you?’’

‘’What do you care?’’

‘’Marcella, this is neither the time nor the place to quarrel. Why don’t you stop with your jealousy and let everyone be in peace?’’ she laughs angrily and humourlessly.

‘’You are talking about jealousy? How do you expect me to behave when the best you are doing is taking my daughter away from me?’’

‘’I am not doing that.’’

‘’Don’t interrupt me. Who knows? Maybe you were convincing her to follow your spoilt daughter to the city and …’’

‘’Mum I am big enough to make decisions, don’t you think?’’

‘’So long as you live in my house, under my roof, you make decisions but not the final ones because you don’t have the final say, my friend.’’ She says sarcastically.

What really is happening to my family? Who exactly has bewitched us? Why would dad and mum suddenly behave like I am some piece of trash that has no say totally? How do I tell if I am the problem or not?

Right now, so many questions are lingering through my head. I don’t know if I will ever be able to answer them but I hope I do.

Her eyes move to my hand.

‘’What’s that you are holding, Clara?’’ godmother saves the situation by moving in and swiftly taking the home bank from me. I am so glad when the coins don’t make any shuttering noise.

This is a complete miracle.

‘’This is mine, Marcella.’’ She says with quietly and I emit a sigh of relief that I had been holding in a long time.

She almost caught me.

‘’We are going home! Right, this minute!’’ waah! I truly have no idea what the heck is going on in my family. The other day it was dad and now it's mum. She is blaming my godmother for no reason.

I am a big girl now, but mum still thinks I can be stolen from her. What am I an object or what?

Mum gets to me and holds my hand pulling me towards her. I don’t resist, I respect her. She has been the best mother I have even though I cannot share any secrets with her.

I turn to look at my godmother and she nods at me, she wants me to think that it’s okay to follow mum and I am not gonna disrespect that.

I walk after her almost running to keep up with her pace until I fall into step.

When we get home, I spot Clare smiling and I automatically know that she is really amazed at what is happening.

She lets go of my hand without a word and I walk towards Clare. She is cleaning some dishes and I join her in doing so. I have made a decision and I am going to the city.

I don’t care if I am going to defy or flout my parents but sometimes even a parent could be wrong. I am going to do it, if I ever fail from my decision, then I will ask for forgiveness later. After all, human is to error, right? And if I ever succeed, then I will have to thank myself for making the bold decision and I am sure they will see that it worked and be sorry for their being too hard on me.

Choosing a career isn’t easy, especially when your parents object to your proposed line of work. But sometimes, ignoring their advice and following your dreams can land you in the history books just like Katy Perry, Florence Nightingale, Miles Davis, and Engel Bert Humperdinck and so many others who followed their passions and made an impact landing them in the history books.

Well, if I am really focused, I am gonna make an impact and a big one for that matter.

‘’Can you go somewhere else and keep thinking? You are not doing a single job here, I thought you came here to help me wash utensils but you are lost deep in thought and not helping me at all. You are even smiling all by …’’

‘’Sister, relax,’’ I tell Clare with a smile. She is my friend and a sister. ‘’I was just thinking about the song, ‘How beautiful heaven must be,’’ I say innocently. It’s not true yet I am still saying it.

‘’You such a liar sis!’’

‘’Really?’’

‘’Yeah, really.’’

‘’I am hurt, Clare.’’ She laughs loudly.

‘’You shouldn’t be, it’s the truth because you just lied to me and I am not happy about it.’’ Does she know me that well? Anyway, I will not tell her the truth because I don’t want her to be in shit when I leave. I know dad and he might just want to grill her later on.

We are done with washing dishes, we head to making breakfast. Mum and I are alone in the kitchen when Clare steps out to get something so, I take that opportune moment to ask her questions, I hope she responds to me.

‘’Um … Mum!’’ she turns to look at me when I call her. ‘’I have noticed your change of attitude towards me, Have I offended you in any way? And if so, what is my mistake?’’

‘’I have a change of attitude towards you? Wow! I hadn’t noticed that.’’

‘’Yes, mum. You came and ambushed me at my godmother’s house. I was just talking to her, nothing much.’’

‘’Listen, Clara, you have and are moving away from me. Do I still matter in your life? Why would you only be talking to your godmother and not me? Am I such a bad mother to you?’’

‘’No, mum. You are not a bad mother at all. You are the best mother in the world but we have talked about this before. You tell dad every single secret I tell you. I don’t feel secure anymore, as a woman. I may have several things I want to tell you ‘woman to woman’ but if you don’t or maybe cannot keep them between me and you, then I am screwed. You and I know that some secrets are best kept between daughter and mum.’’

‘’You are right, my daughter. Your dad made me promise that I will keep him in the light with anything that concerns you.

‘’But why would he do that?’’

‘’Actually, I will not do it anymore, okay?’’ she is trying to avoid my question so, I will not insist on it.

‘’Okay, mum. Why or what was dad threatening to tell me the other day when you two were arguing?’’ I ask as quickly as I can and I can see how tense she is.

She clears her throat nervously. ‘’Let’s take breakfast to the table. It is ready.’’ She says tensely. What they are hiding must be really big. I don’t understand why they would hide something from me though.

‘’You didn’t answer my question, mum.’’

Clare picks that moment to walks in and I have never felt pissed. I pick the kettle with tea and without any other word, I take it to the table that’s set under the tree.

My brother, Job and little sister Carly are seated waiting for the tea. Clare is trailing closely behind me with a tray of sweet potatoes.

I set the tea on the table. I want to cry badly but believe you me, I cannot do it before all these kids. They aren’t supposed to see their ‘big sister’ crying.

Tears are badly burning my eyes. I cannot look at Clare so I walk away to our room, I clang the door closed behind me and go straight to lie on my back, in our bed. I stare blankly, at nothingness, I sure think that my life is a mess. Believe it or not, this is one of the most disappointing thing. For your parents to hide something from you.

The people you trust most, those that are supposed to protect you from all sorts of evil things hiding something from you.

This whole thing, to be honest, makes me feel like I don’t really belong here. Mum and dad must have hidden a secret all my life. I hate to say this but it’s the truth.

I have no idea how long this has taken, the thinking, the staring, then the sleep that took my stressed self, but I wake up to an argument. Yes, dad is fiercely arguing with someone whose voice I have recognized in a flash.

Liam. I hate that man.