Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite - 93

They weren’t expecting anyone, least of all Golden Boy. They were going through Grandma West’s things. Aunt Ashley and Uncle Tolu had showed up. She thought of how much pain her uncle must be in, having lost his sister and now his mother.

The room was dim, and they sorted through her things in silence, until Grandma East picked up her sister’s snuff box and said, ‘I hope God has tobacco in heaven.’ It wasn’t that funny. But she said it with such gravitas that Ebun and Tolu began to guffaw, and then they were all laughing.

They were interrupted by a car horn. Her uncle offered to answer the summons, and returned to announce that Kalu was at the Falodun house. They all stopped speaking and looked at each other in surprise.

‘What does he want?’ asked Ebun.

‘You’ll have to ask him. Come on.’

Zubby’s father was red-eyed and smelt of alcohol. He greeted them all; and then focused on Eniiyi.

‘Hello, Eniiyi.’

Ebun stepped between them.

‘What do you want, Kalu?’

Golden Boy sighed. ‘I mean her no harm. I am here to make amends.’

‘Mum, please, I’m twenty-five. I think I can handle this conversation.’

Ebun folded her arms. ‘The floor is yours.’

‘Right.’ He bit his lip; it was an action that reminded her of Zubby so sharply that it hurt. ‘Right. I messed up. I did a great disservice to your family. You opened your arms to me and I hurt someone that was precious to all of us.’

Ebun hissed, ‘You have a terrible way of showing that people are precious to you.’ Eniiyi wished her mother wouldn’t keep interrupting the man. He was clearly suffering.

‘I … I wanted … She was … so far out of my league, so different … and I thought I needed to toe the line. I should have stayed away from her. But Zubby doesn’t deserve to be punished for my mistakes.’

‘We don’t want anything to do with you or your family.’

Tolu stood up then. Eniiyi guessed he was going to tell Golden Boy to get out. She thought of what she could say to defuse the situation. She saw Ashley touch her uncle’s arm, so she was not alone in her worry. But to her surprise, Tolu turned to face her mother.

‘Where the hell do you get off behaving like Kalu was the sole source of Mo’s depression?’

‘I never said he was the sole—’

Ashley laid a hand on Tolu’s wrist. ‘Babe, maybe this isn’t the …’ He shook her off.

‘How do you look at yourself?! You convinced her to have an abortion, and then threw her under the bus …’

‘What is he talking about, Ebun?’ asked Grandma East.

‘Mum?’

‘She had an abortion?’ joined Golden Boy.

There were tears falling down Ebun’s face. She didn’t speak, but she looked straight ahead at Eniiyi, who returned her gaze without flinching. ‘I’m sorry, Eniiyi. I’m so sorry.’

‘Ebun, is this true?’ said Grandma East. ‘Why? You should have spoken to us.’

‘Aunty, please,’ snapped Tolu. ‘Please. You wanted that abortion. You and my mother both.’

Grandma East folded her arms. ‘The situation was not looking good for her …’

‘And then my dear mother, may her soul rest in peace, filled her head with nonsense and pushed her into the arms of a witch doctor. You know, it is because of you people that I had a vasectomy ten years ago. What if I made a mistake and had a girl? Is this how you people would corrupt her till she feared an old wives’ tale and spent the rest of her days in pursuit of some man? God forbid.’ And to show his seriousness, he snapped his fingers over his head. No one spoke. No one moved. ‘I had to …’ His voice broke. ‘I had to search for her. After finding that note, I searched for my sister. But she was already … Eniiyi,’ he said, turning to his niece. ‘If you know what is good for you, you’ll leave this place.’

Grandma East was weeping now and Ebun had dropped to her knees.

‘And you. I owe you an apology.’ To everyone’s surprise, Tolu spun to face Kalu. ‘The day before she … you left her a message on the answering machine.’

‘I remember. I told her I wanted the child. That I was sorry.’

‘She had already … The baby was gone by then. I thought the message would only cause her more pain. I deleted it. Maybe if I’d told her, it would have changed something. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t wish I had told her. I … I’m sorry, man.’

Kalu shook his head. ‘I … No. Don’t apologise. This was all because of me.’ And to demonstrate his contrition, he prostrated for them, lying completely flat on the floor.

Eniiyi’s heart was beating against her chest. Kalu lay like that for a few minutes, then stood up and began to make his retreat, but she blurted out: ‘Wait! I have something for you.’ She left the room, rushing to retrieve the thing she had found in the earth, under the tree. She returned to the living room and handed it over to him.

She watched him open the tin box, and then he started to weep. They were all quiet as he went through the things – a handkerchief, a watch, cufflinks, a hard little sweet. And then she handed him the leather bracelet Zubby had given her.

‘If you could help me return it to Zubby, I would appreciate it.’

‘Eniiyi, I don’t want what happened between Mo and me to—’

‘Your story has ended, Mr Kenosi. Don’t worry about ours.’

‘Please, keep the bracelet. He would want you to have it.’

‘I can’t.’

He sniffed, nodded and took it from her. ‘You’re left-handed,’ he noted, before saying, ‘I am glad I got to meet you’, and leaving the room.