BETRAYED …chapter 13
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…….our lives were going fine,my sister was recovering from all truman,the r@p£,the pregnancy and miscarriage,,, though gradually, she was doing fine,she soon got back to her usual cheerful and happy self,this time she studied double for her exams,trying to do very well to be given her de-sired course…..
Days had run into months and she was done with her exams,thankfully she was given her de-sired course, Medicine….. My Gracie bec@m£ an un-dergraduate of medicine in the University of Benin….
My family was doing well, dad’s business was improving, he had someone in charge due to his health, while Gracie was in school,with all these improvement, I thought it was high time I left..,.
I wasn’t done with my fashion program,I had some months to go,I had stayed back for months,but my stay was worth every second,,, soon I went back to Italy to focus on my course…..
Life was okay, I was doing well,months in I was done,,,, I looked for a job in fashion schools in nee-d of designers, luckily I found one,I was good at what I did,I was appreciated and well compensated,,,,my pay was good,but I didn’t relax,I looked for other jobs I could do in the evenings and on weekends…
I had a dream,and that would cost much,also I had responsibilities, my sister was still in school,dads was there, and I wanted to have one of the best fashion homes in Benin or lagos…
Aside my designing job, I had two extra jobs,,,, I was ma-king money,and was very proud of myself, as it was a legal means….
I c@m£ across so many girls going throu-gh what I had went throu-gh in Europe, I try to help the few I can,leading them to the right path,at times it comes at nice,other time I regret,but it didn’t discourage me,I was able to house some girls until they found their path in destiny….
I was happy doing what I did,giving my little contribution to society…
I was working on a building, dad was in charge,though it took a while, at last the building was completed, indeed,for the del@yGod resto-red double, it was by far better than the house mom had given out..
Talking about mom,I sometime worry about her then,like where she was,how she was and the likes of that,but Gracie won’t allow me mention her name,,according to her mom was dead for all she cared….
Dad was able to find love again,I talked with the woman on phone for a long time, while Gracie said the woman was a wonderful person,,,she was a widow, with two girls,,, she didn’t want to have more kids,dad wanted the same thing they just wanted to be each others companion…..
I couldn’t attend the wedding, I was very busy, but I contributed immensely ,,,
They had moved into my house,thankfully it was big enough for everyone, and still had extra rooms….
A Union that was supposed to be for companionsh!p, soon produced,a baby in 10months,,,It was a baby girl……
We all rejoiced, and this time,I had to come home,,,
Father’s wife was an Angel, she loved Gracie and I like her own,while of course father,I and Grace loved her children too…
One can never know mother,(which we now call father’s wife), wasn’t our biological mother….
When we go out together, people called dad and mother, mama and papa girls,thinking we are all his,,,
Father will reply too,yes oh,papa girls enough canopy and bride price, we will all laugh..
Talking about,bride price,father had started asking about my relationsh!plife,,,, I was 25,going to 26,but I wasn’t in any relationsh!p,,,, I was too busy trying to make everyone happy that I had forgotten myself..
Really d@t!ngand relationsh!pwasn’t even on my mind, my aim was to try and preserve the smiles on the faces of my loved ones…..
When mother was strong enough,after child birth,I opened a big supermarket for her, I wanted money to be coming into the home from all aspect,Gracie was doing well In School, she was in her third year…..
My other sisters from mother,Ese and Ehi were in high school,ss2, and jss3 respectively, they were also doing well…
Our baby Testimony, was growing so fast and was alre-ady in kindergarten,,,my family and I were doing great,,,
I couldn’t thank God enough…
I was working so ha-rd , I wanted to have my family balanced, before saying I DO,I alre-ady had someone, Kelvin….. I met Kelvin in a fashion show were my designs were showcased, he was based in Nigeria, but comes in and out of Italy, he’s a popular business tycoon he didn’t only fall in love with my designs,he also fell in love with the designer,,,, one thing lead to another we bec@m£ lovers,,
I told him about my past,I wanted him to know all there is about me,not telling me tomorrow I didn’t know you were once this or that,,,thankfully for me,he was man enough to handle my past,and told me he appreciated my telling him rather than hearing from outside, nevertheless, he isn’t in love with the Bella I once was,but the Bella I currently am….. I also told him, of my plans not to rush into marriage,that I had responsibilities resting on my shoulders,,,, he un-derstood all and was willing to wait, but to show he was serious, he asked for my address in Nigeria and went to visit my family without telling me…
Dad,mother and my sisters soon called singing Kelvin’s praises,apparently they liked him alre-ady,I was blessed to have Kelvin, he was a Lagos/Benin based business man,but had to frequent his visit to Italy because his heart was there according to him….
My sisters were all doing great,Gracie was in her final year,Ese was in 100 level studying Accounting, Ehi was almost done with high school and baby Testimony doing well too,I c@m£ back to Nigeria and opened my fashion home..
“IV_Bella’s Fashion Palace” ,,it was one of the biggest fashion home Nigeria ever had,I soon began to have students who were willing to be trained un-der me,,my fiancé, yes you heard me fiancé, (Kelvin proposed and I said yes),was helping in ma-king my br@nd popular, because he was a well known name in the state,I bec@m£ a big name in Nigeria fashion world……
Dad and mother were so proud of me,,,,you are an amazing child, mother would say,you have a heart of gold,you take everyone as one,you are amazing,,, no thank you mother,for being a mother to Gracie and I,and for taking good care of our dad,I love you so much….
In all these I sometimes think of how mom would react seeing her successful I have become, she will never appreciate a voice will reply de-ep down..
When ever I think of mom or mention her name, this gets Grace angry….
But can I really for get her?
I mean,she’s still our mother.
It’s been more than five years,she has not called, written nor come visiting and you still regard her as a mother, Gracie would always say…….
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BETRAYED chapter 14
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…Grace was done with school,and had gone to Lagos for her NYSC,,our joy knew no bands,I was more than grateful to God for seeing my sister throu-gh school,at last her dream had come throu-gh, back home,my business was booming, mother’s supermarket was doing great,and dad business was doing well too,our lives seems perfect.
…..it was dad’s 55th birthday, I decided we celebr@te it,I told my sisters and mother,we wanted to make it a surprise p@rty for him,,, Grace was excited, hence she said she was going to be around,we bought most of the things from Lagos, since Gracie was there, we spent cards to all dad’s friends and Family, we also indicated it was a surprise p@rty hence nob©dy should tell him,,,we invited our friends too,my fiance was around,,,
Grace c@m£ two days to the day,and she was not her usual self, she seems troubled, I asked her what the problem was,but she said nothing, when I asked further she said it was pressure from the hospital she was serving at,,,,don’t worry dear sister,it’s just for a few months,I had encouraged her,,,,,we kept everything in the sto-re room before dad c@m£ home,he was surprised to see Gracie at home,,, my doc,he exclaimed in excitement upon seeing her,daddy,they hvgged, why are you home,are you done with service,,,, haba dad,are you chasing me from my father’s house,she had asked dad,of course am not madam,I just want to make sure my br@in is still working well,because I know its not up to a year you left for service,,, oh come on dad,can’t I miss my family, I had miss you, mother’s food,Bella’s and my other sisters, so I had to come see you all,we all laughed…..
Really,I hope we all follow you to your husband’s house,dad added,,when we get to that bridge,we shall cross it,,,everyone laughed…
It was the day of the p@rty,it was a Sunday,,,mother and dad went to church,,, mother knew our plans,,so she knows what to do,she was using her phone to communicate with us on how things were going…. The careers were more than enough,we wanted the work fast,so we had employed extra hands,the hall for the p@rty had been beautifully decorated over night,the cakes had been delivered, there was a live band by dads favourite Benin musician, it wasn’t easy getting the legend to perform,but we wanted dad to have a memorable birthday… A popular DJ was also on a stand by,,everything seems perfect….
The plan was for mother to bring dad straight to the venue after church,,,,,she did,,,getting to the venue, dad saw a lot of family and friends who had come to honour him,even the pastor who had preached the Simon in church some minutes ago and some members were all there,,, some family and friends pres£nt were those he hadn’t seen in a long while,he was more than amazed,and of course seeing his favourite musician in his honour was beyond what he had ever imagined,,,,he had tears of joy flowing down his checks,,,,
He looked at me,then Grace, then ESE, then Ehi,Testimony and mother,,,,, and said what, what good did I do in my life to have deserve beautiful children and wife life you,,,,you all are amazing, I can’t imagine my life without all of you my girls,and standing beside me my wife,,,,
You lives shall be beautiful, your children shall celebr@te you too,you shall be blessings to your generation,,, the blessed shall call you blessed, you shall be favoured above you imagination,, thank you my beautiful daughters,, and you my Darling wife,,,I am grateful for your love and care,un-derstanding and pure heart, thanks for standing strong for this family,,, we had a group hvg,and those who had come for the p@rty couldn’t help but be caught in the emotional moments of my family..,.
This family is blessed, I heard a guest said,,, my sister,how I wish I was born into this beautiful family, another said,,, only if they knew the journey so far,,,I thanked God for everything he had done for my family,, the p@rty went on, guest were served their de-sired meal,there was more than enough for everyone, it was a wonderful day,,,soon we all retired to our various homes as it was getting late…. Dad 55th birthday was the talk of the area for some time…
My sister Grace was still not herself,, I knew something was weighing her down, but why she didn’t want to share was what I didn’t know ,Gracie and I nor any of my sisters for that matter,do not keep secretes, I had tried to created that bound amongst us four, since Testimony is just a child, in the evenings once or twice a week we come together in a room and share ideas On issues and anything bothering us, it has been our life style since i c@m£ back, and am proud to say we four sisters aren’t just sisters but friends,,, nevertheless individual respect still intact.
A day before Gracie was to leave for Lagos, i called her,,,Gracie,, I am your sister, I know you like the back of my palms,something is Brothering you, you have not been your self,, even though you have tried so much to hide it by saying different stories,I know all is not well.talk to me,is the hospital for your NYSC been difficult, are you facing challenges, did you offend anyone, oh Big sis,you worry too much,I am fine,very fine, Gracie said,, yes I worry,I do, that’s because I love n care for you,,,if you don’t tell me what the problem is or who is bothering you,I shall go with you to Lagos tomorrow,,, ha,Gracie shouted, come on na ,Bella,go with me to Lagos,,,,
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BETRAYAL chapter 15
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…..I couldn’t believe my ears,,,Grace, you saw mom in the prison, why is she there,what happened, for how long,what do we do,,,,,, I was asking multi-ple questions at once and my heart was beating fast,,,,this was the exact reason I was finding it ha-rd to tell you,I know you will very nervous,and start panicking,, Grace said,,, Why won’t I panic,our more is in jail, like jail,,,,well that’s her problem not mine,,,, oh come on, Grace, why is she there, talk to me,what happened,,, are you seriously asking me what happened,, well for your information, I didn’t ask,I saw her before she even saw me,,,so I gave excuse and left immediately, I don’t have time for drama or pity,she is dead for all I care,,,you will not talk about mom like that, neither will you wish her death, what has come over you,when did you become this cold,,,,,I shouted,well I bec@m£ cold the moment she left us without turning back,,the moment she betrayed us and went away with a stranger,,the moment she disappointed us as a mother,,she was selfish,wicked and cruel, I hate that she’s even alive, I actually thought she’d be dead by Now, Grace,have you gone mad,keep quiet, I shouted,,, she st©pped talking,looked at me for a while, and went out angrily…
….I am angry at mom for all she did too,I had my share of life’s misfortune, mom wasn’t perfect,but she’s still our mother,I was very confused, why was mom in prison, what went wrong,she left with millions ,what could have gone wrong,,,,just then mother walked in,,,,
My child, I heard all you two discussed, you really can’t blame her for her action,,,nevertheless, your mother nee-d’s you ,I un-derstand if you would want to help her,yes do,,but make your sister un-derstand, you two nee-d each other now,,you have always walked throu-gh tough times together and you certainly can even now,,thanks a lot mother,,, I hvgged her,,you welcome my child…
I went to where my sister was,,,Gracie, am sorry for yelling at you,I was just caught in the moment,,, I un-derstand you perfectly well,,,mother was mean and heartless to us,,she BETRAYED us as her children,, she was wicked,, she doesn’t deserve our sympathy,, but my darling,didn’t we learn from dad,our mother here and the church that we shouldn’t pay evil for evil, God has been so faithful to us, see how far we have come without her,maybe we wouldn’t have come this far if she was with us,,she nee-ded to go for us to find our path,,,, see how far we’ve come,see the beautiful people around us now,a loving father, a caring mother and amazing sisters,,,, she being pres£nt or abs£nt in our lives wouldn’t mean more or less,but how do we live with ourselves knowing we could have done something but we didnt,if not for anything but for been our birth mother,,,plea-se Grace…
What kind of heart do you really have,of the two of us, mom hurt you the most, you have suffered a Great deal, yet you speak this softly about her,,,I am not promising to forgive her, let’s just see if we can look into her case and then she can get out of our lives, she’s isn’t welcome in our lives,just as we aren’t welcome in hers,,,tanks my baby sis for un-derstanding,,, oh come Bella am young woman,you still call me baby sis,,well you will always be my baby sis,we both laughed…
We told dad what we knew about mum,and that we wanted to look into her case,,he un-derstood, and said we should be careful,,,in two days,we were set to go to Lagos, and pay a visit to the Lagos prison…Getting to the prison,we told the warders in charge that we had come to see mum gave her name and description,after some interrogation,we were allowed to see her,,,
Mom was shocked to her bones to see us,I was really shocked as to the woman standing in front of me,she was looking so unkempt, and malnourished,, what am I saying,she’s in prison right,,,Grace was still angry being there,she cared less,I believe she c@m£ just for me,on my p@rt,I didn’t know how to react,was I supposed to be happy she had gotten her pay for all she made us pas-s throu-gh, or feel pity for her for being in that condition,,,,,Ivie Grace, she said and hvgged us both at the same time,,neither of us reciprocated,,,
What brou-ght you here, I asked,,
my daughter, I am sorry for everything I did to you and everything I made you pas-s throu-gh,,, I failed you as a mother she replied., I am so sorry,you failed us as mother,I replied,do you know what Grace with throu-gh because of your lover,he R@p£d her and got her pregnant,, made her go into shock, and lost her voice for months,,,you dealt with us without mercy,it would have been better if you weren’t our mother,it hurt more because you gave us life at birth,yet took that life from us on several occasions, this time,everyone was in tears….
Why are you here, I thought you left the country I asked again,,,
My children, I never did, I transferred all the money to Fred’s account,, about 42million, money from your servings for another building and the loan I took from the bank,,,I thought he loved me,not knowing he didn’t and was only interested in the money,how could he had loved you when you didn’t love your own flesh and blood,you do not know the meaning of love.Grace said in tears,I calmed her l, …. Am sorry my child,,,I never knew He was planning for only himself,he gave me a fake do¢v-ment and also planted drug in my bag,I was arrested at the airport,Fred denied ever knowing me,,,I was charged to court and given 15years s£ntence,,, my life has been a living hell,,,,I was alre-ady in tears, so was Grace,,,,
You gave 40something million to a man you ba-rely knew,,because you didn’t work for the money,do you know how I made those millions,,, I sle-pt with everything on trou-sers, the fat, the thin, the short,the tall,the pot bellied, the white, the brown, the black,just anyone.For every dollar I s£nt to you my pri-vate p@rt that was then a public p@rt paid for it,i did all that against my wish,at a tender age,just to make you happy,just to give and my sister a better life, and what did you do,,you betrayed us without thinking twice…
I shouldn’t even mention the countless times I was R@p£d by Clement,,, just because my mother wasn’t around to guild me throu-gh life,,,if you knew you weren’t re-ady, why did you allow us to be born,,I am so sorry my daughters,I was foolish,,,, but now my heart was heavy,,, I bad reopened the darken chapter of my life,,,well we shall see if there is anything we can do to help you… We stood to go,,,just them mum called on Grace,,, Grace my baby,,,no no no,you will not call me that, I am here not because of you,but because I want my sister happy,mom was very sad ,tear drops rolling down her eyes….
I stayed at my fiancé’s place in Lagos,, only then in my heart I knew I was still bittered about my past,a past I thought I had left behind… Dear I know you are still hurt,,,but plea-se, let’s bring your mother out of prison,,,no matter what she’s still your mother Fred said..
Thank you very much dear,,but how do I start,,, oh come on,,did you forget the governor son is my friend,,,,there is something we can do,more over she had served more than half her prison terms,having just few years to go,again,independence is approaching in few weeks,,the state Governor could re-lease some prisoners, its just to make sure she is short listed for those to be freed ,,,thanks very very much honey, am grateful,
Indeed it was independence day,and mom was among those free,,,Grace couldn’t make it,as she was busy at the hospital,,, I went alone to get mom,,,she was more of a stranger to me,we stayed at Kelvin’s place for sometimes, for her to eat right and be looking a little okay ,before taken her to Benin,, I bought her some new clothes, shoes and bags,,although we were living together, we were very far ap@rt,because we ba-rely talked to each other..
Five days on,I was set to return to Benin, with mom…..
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TBC