Tosin
I gave a little smile as i watched Mr. Joseph and chief Adediwura pacing up and down outside. Maggie and Kelvin’ s mother was wringing their hands in worry. Vicky was also glancing towards the church entrance every second and the pastor has long since fixed himself on the seat behind the pulpit in resignation. They were all agitated because the car conveying Kelvin to the church ought to have arrived several minutes ago. I watched with satisfaction as the people seated in the church whispered amongst each other. Even Kelly, my daughter who was the little flower girl had given up and she had come to sit anxiously beside my mother. I could see thousands of prestigious people in the society seated in the pews, some of them were now thumbing their phones in boredom, while others were gossiping in hushed tones.
” Where is Kelvin? he ought to have gotten here by now” Auntie Maggie asked.
” He will soon get here, he forgot something important at home and he went back for it”
” I thought you went back for it!” His mom said worriedly.
” I couldn’t find it so i gave him a call and he went back for it” I lied.
” What is so important that he had to go back home?”
” The rings” i replied tersely.
” How could he forget the rings?” His mother asked.
” Please go back inside the church, he will get here soon.” i replied.
The women went back into the church while i walked to the back of the building and knocked on one of the doors. Onyinye, the chief bridesmaid opened the door.
” Is Kelvin here now?” She asked. ” What took him so long?”
I ignored her and entered the room.
” Where is he?” Linda asked, ” Is he standing me up?”
” Tell your friend to excuse us”
” Onyinye out!” She ordered.
” But….” Onyinye trailed of with her protest, walking out of the room with a huff.
” I know he has stood me up” She said to herself.
” Tomi is alive” i informed her.
She clutched her chest with her left hand, her legs buckled under her and i pulled her close to prevent her from falling.
” How? how? how’s that possible?” She asked in disbelief. ” She…..she is dead.”
” No she didn’t “.
” Then why did you all fool me that she died! is this some kind of sick joke? is this Kelvin’ s way of punishing me? by deserting me on our wedding day?”.
” No. He only found out few minutes ago that she was alive and they have reunited”
She moved backwards, her chin held up higher. ” I will go tell them the wedding has been cancelled” she said, picking up her gown and starting towards the door.
” Wait Linda!”.
She whirled around and paused. Tears of humiliation shinning brightly in her eyes.
” Don’t you want to know what happened first?” I asked. ” There will be tons of questions ”
She shook her head. ” Tomi is alive and that is one guilt off my shoulders. I am not even in love with Kelvin, so he should be with her”. She dapped at the tears sneaking out of the corner of her eyes with her finger. ” Tosin i have done things which i am not proud of and if given the chance i probably will do them all over again to get what i want. That is just who i am, i always think of myself first before others and i have hurt so many people, innocent people. This time around i want to think of someone else’s happiness before mine. If my punishment is to be humiliated in front of thousands of people and be the main dish served for dinner in every home then i think I deserve no lesser punishment.”
” Your life and property is also at stake here” I reminded her.
” No” she shook her head.” It no longer matters to me, i will accept it as my fate and i will leave the country ”
” You can’t let your father win. You can’t let your mother’ s inheritance go to someone who heartlessly squeezed the breath out of her. You have to get back all what belongs to her!”
” I don’t think it is worth the trouble i have put so many people through ” she smiled through her tears. ” Vicky was right. You are such a good person. Thank you” she picked up the sides of her flowing white gown again. ” I better get this over with before the media gets winds of it”.
” There will be a wedding” i said, surprising myself.
” Whose?” She asked.
” Ours” i answered.
To be continued..
