CHAPTER 34

It's been over a month since Lima's

murder and Shulamite's retirement.

The police could never find any

evidence against Ima because her

father made sure that he did not

leave any loopholes for the police

to find. Ima and her father have

not been talking since the incident

happened because he is very mad

at her for what she has done. The

last time they had any conversations

at all, was the day that he returned

because his wife called him to

come and clean up the mess that

she and her daughter had created.

When he returned on that evening,

he met his daughter all battered

and bruised by her mother. He was

so frustrated that he couldn't say

anything to neither mother nor

daughter because sometimes, he

just hates having those two around

and wishes that he can just do away

with them.

When he entered Ima's room that

evening, he was so enraged that he

almost slapped her. He discharged

the maids so that they will not hear

anything that will be said in the

house because a secret is no longer

a secret after another person has

heard it.

He walked up to his daughter as

he raised his voice at her and said

"what have you done! We have tried

our best to make you comfortable

and satisfied but you refused to be

satisfied because you want

everything to go your way and

when it doesn't, you go cuckoo.

This is the last time I will help you

clean up your mess because the

next time you create another one,

you're going down for it." 

 Ima was already frustrated with

the way her parents were treating

her. Her mother refused to

understand her feelings and came

in a while ago to beat her up. Now,

her father is here raising his voice

at her like she is a baby. She hated

that kind of treatment as she

wanted to be treated like an adult

that she is. She raised her head

and looked into her father's face

as she said, "stop yelling at me. It

is all your fault. You saw how

those girls humiliated me by

taking what belongs to me and

you couldn't fight for me because

the only thing that you and mum

ever cared about were yourselves.

Doja's father gave you some money

to boost your business back up

and you forgot about your daughter

because your primary reason for

getting me to marry Doja has

been fulfilled. You never thought

that I was in love with him for real

and that I am hurting." 

Her father grabbed a chair and

sat before saying, "you are no

longer a child and I expect you

to know that not everything goes

according to our plans in this life.

You cannot force a person to love

you and that is one thing your

mother and I have been trying to

explain to you all this while but

you have refused to understand.

Doja has never loved you. He was

only with you out of respect for

his father and I. You should be

very happy that he got out of the

marriage as at when he did

because your life would have been

miserable if you had married him.

Ima, I am sorry for making it seem

like your feelings do not matter

when they actually did. I promise

you that you will find someone

better than Doja and when you do,

you will be very happy that you

never married him." 

Ima cried more tears and shook

her head as she felt that no

matter how she explains herself,

nobody will understand her. With

her head down, she said "there is

no use explaining myself to you or

anyone because none of you seems

to understand me. None of you

seems to understand that I don't

want anyone else who is not Doja.

I can't meet anyone new because

he is the only man meant for me

in this life. The only way that I

will not take my revenge on those

ladies and leave them alone, is

if you can get Doja to come back

to me because without that, I will

make sure that I kill every lady who

ever comes close to him." 

Her father stood from the chair

and said "I am saving you from

prison but it seems the only place

that you can ever learn is in prison,

so I wish you a safe journey. I have

tried all that I can to explain to you

but you are bent on heading for

destruction. I just want you to

know that when you finally get

into trouble, do not call me

because you wouldn't have a

father by then. I am not the father

of a criminal or a murderer." He

walked out of her room and since

then the two of them have not

spoken to each other.

Chris got the second lead role in

a movie which also involves her

singing. She is already in the

second month of her pregnancy

and that's the reason she wants to

work very hard before it starts

showing because the moment

her baby bump starts showing,

she wants to stay away from the

public until she gives birth to her

child.

Since the last time she went to the

hospital with Doja, she has missed

all her appointments and have been

evading Doja also. The thought of

going to the hospital and knowing

that she was going there because

she is pregnant really freaks her

out. Sometimes she feels so lonely

that she needs her friends but she

couldn't talk to them because of

the problems going on in Candace's

family. Jay is a man and will not

understand what she is talking

about, so it's better to stay away

from certain topics when she is

with Jay. Anyway, Chris is very

grateful today because with his

encouragement she has found a

new passion and now she also

knows that there are a lot of

things that she can do confidently.

 It's been a month since Richard

duped Candace and her family and

left them. Candace has picked

herself up and began her life again

because staying down for too

long will make Richard win. After

Candace picked herself up, the

first thing she did was to change

her daughter's name. She changed

her daughter's name from Mica to Elise.

 At first, her daughter never wanted

to accept the name because she is

used to people calling her Mica

and she likes her name also.

Candace took her daughter to an

ice cream shop because the girl

likes ice cream a lot. After buying

her daughter three different flavours

of ice-cream which she knew was

bad for the girls health but because

she wanted the girl's consent on

something, she had to please the

girl. When she saw that the girl

was emersed in eating her ice cream,

she took her hands and said

"Mica, do you know why I want to

change your name? Your father

named you after his aunt whom

he thought was a good woman

but we later discovered that your

father's aunt is a very bad woman.

She kills little children in their

sleep and she has threatened to

kill you also if we do not change

your name. Do you want your

daddy's aunt to come and kill you

while you are sleeping? "the little

girl looked at her mother with fright

in her eyes and said "so I am named

after a very bad woman who kills

children?" Candace looked very

serious as she answered her

daughter "yes that's true and she

has killed many children. This is

why it will be wrong for you to

answer her name except you want

those little children whom she has

killed to be angry with you." After

the little girl heard that fake story

from her mother, she couldn't wait

to change her name as she now

felt that the name is for only people

who kill children in their sleep.

After the little girl accepted the

name, she held onto her mother

and asked her "what is the meaning

of Elise?" Candice was very happy

after she realised that her daughter

has accepted the new name and

knowing her daughter for who she

is, she knows that her daughter

will never let anyone call her Mica

again. She smiled at the little girl

and said "Elise means oath of God."

The little girl got excited after

hearing the meaning of her name

and kept asking questions all

through the afternoon.

 Candace's mother was never in

support of Candace changing her

daughter's name because to her,

it sounds very childish. She and

Candace had a very lengthy

conversation about that but in the

end her daughter won. She

remembered that morning when

Candace woke up and announced

that she is changing her daughter's

name as she cannot live with the

thought of knowing that her

daughter is answering her

husband's mistress's name. Her

mother walked up to her and said,

"Candace you can't do this. You

can't just wake up one morning

and decide to change the name

that a child has been answering

for years. Your daughter is a very

smart girl and she will not agree

with you on that. Which is

something you also know."

Candace refused to agree with

her mother said "she is my child

and I will do anything I want to

do with her. I have every right to

change her name if I wish to. Why

don't you put me in your shoes

and tell me if you will be able to

live with that knowing that your

daughter is answering the name

of your worst enemy. Well Mum,

if you can do that maybe I am

not as strong as you are because

I can't do it so please respect my

decisions." Her father had to join

in on the conversation as he told

Candace that a name is just a

name and it doesn't matter who

bears the name. As long as the

person who bears the name is

okay with it, then there's nothing

wrong. He told her that her daughter

likes the name and it's a fine name.

 After Candice argued with her

parents and succeeded in changing

her daughter's name, the next line

of action was to change her

daughter's school. She withdrew

her daughter from school even

before it was the end of the schools

term. She told the school that she

will be traveling and she wants her

daughter to come with her and

she also told her daughter that

they will be going on a vacation

to South Africa. Her daughter was

very excited after hearing that

she will be leaving the house and

going to another country on

vacation so she agreed and told

almost everyone she comes

across that she is going on a vacation.

Jade was very happy for her friend

that her friend could pull through

the whole trauma and depression.

Nobody ever spoke about Richard

in presence of Candace for fear

that she might remember what

he did to her and become sad

again. Despite the display of

courage which Candace puts on

during the day every night, she

still goes to bed in tears. Most

times she cries herself to sleep

because she is still heartbroken

and somewhere within, she still

wants Richard back. Sometimes

she even imagines Richard coming

back to her and apologizing. Well,

all that was just wishful thinking

because she knows that she can

never accept Richard back and

things can never go back to being

the way they were between them again.

She took her daughter to South

Africa and they were supposed to

spend two weeks there but they

came back after a week because

of something that her daughter

saw and wouldn't let go of it. They

were at the beach one afternoon

when her daughter ran up to her

and said "Mum I saw Dad and we

were talking at the other side of

the beach." Candace got scared

and started looking around for

Richard but couldn't find him

anywhere and that was when she

asked her daughter "when you saw

your father what did he tell you?"

Her daughter smiled and showed

her a bracelet on her hand as she

said "Daddy gave me this bracelet

and he said he loves me. He said

that he knows that you are angry

at him but he's sorry and he also

said that he will come back for

me." After Candice saw the bracelet

and also heard what her daughter

said, she became scared and took

her daughter home from the beach.

Immediately they got back to the

hotel, she began to pack their

bags and told her daughter that

she will like them to visit

somewhere so that they can be

back on time to go back to the

beach the next day for her to see

her father again. She knows that

if she tells her daughter that they

are leaving her daughter will never

want to go with her because she

will want to see her father again.

 Even with that lie that Candace told,

her daughter still did not want to

leave and she felt they might come

back late and miss her father at

a beach. She even suggested to

her mum to take her to the beach

so that she can wait for her father

there while her mum goes to where

she wants to go.  Candace smiled

and told her daughter that there

are many ice creams where she

was going to and if her daughter

doesn't come with her, she won't

get any ice creams.

 The little girl couldn't resist after

she heard about the ice creams

in the place that her mother was

going as she began to picture

eating different flavours and

shapes of ice creams when she

gets there. She quickly brought

her clothes to her mum to dress

her up so that they can get there

on time eat ice creams and come

back to the beach.

Candace smiled when she looked

at her innocent and naive daughter

and hope that the little girl will

understand someday and not

hate her for things that are not

her fault. The little girl got suspicious

when they got to the airport as

she began to question her mother

but Candace being an adult, outwithed

the little girl with her answers.

An hour into the flight, Elise started

crying because she knows that her

mother has deceived her. She cried

until she fell asleep and when she

woke up, she refused to talk to her

mother because she felt that her

mother has denied her the only

chance she had to see her father

again. She cried all the way back

home while they were in their taxi

and immediately they got home,

she threw herself into her

grandmother's arms and wailed.