SITA
My father took a deep breath, his eyes filling with a mix of sadness and regret. "Your biological mother... She was a wonderful person, Sita. She loved you so much, but she couldn't take care of you. I made a promise to her that I would never let you lack a mother figure."
I felt a wave of confusion and anger. "Why didn't you tell me the truth? Why did you keep this secret from me my whole life?"
My father's voice cracked as he knelt beside me, his hands on my shoulders. "I was trying to protect you, Sita. I didn't want you to feel like you didn't belong or that you were unwanted. But I see now that was a mistake. I should have told you the truth from the beginning."
I turned to him; my vision was clouded with tears. "What was her name?" I asked slowly, my voice barely above a whisper.
"Geneve. Geneve Awunor." My father's reply was curt, but it felt like a punch to the gut.
The Awunor sounded eerily familiar, but I couldn't quite place it. Where had I heard it before? I racked my brain, but nothing came to mind. I decided to push it aside for the moment and turned back to my mother's lifeless body on the table.
Brushing her hair aside gently, my fingers trembling as I smiled through the tears, I quickly pressed one final kiss to her forehead, overwhelmed by the pain and the grief and the anger I felt. I gently placed her hand down by her side and turned to walk away, leaving my father's grief-stricken face behind.
"Where are you going?" he called out after me, his voice filled with concern.
"Work," I replied curtly, not bothering to turn back or explain. I wasn't angry at him - I clearly understood his actions and I appreciate my mother. I just needed to get out of there, to escape the suffocating grief I felt, knowing that I missed the last chance to pay back a woman who was nothing but loving to me.
As soon as I was out of the hospital ward, I pulled out my phone to communicate with Baba. I had a lot of missed calls and text messages from him during the time I was in the hospital with my mother. I began texting him, my fingers flying across the screen.
But halfway through my text, my eyes caught a name amidst the sentence. One that was all too familiar.
Awunor.
What!?
My heart skipped a beat as I felt a shiver run down my spine. What was going on? Why did this name keep popping up?
***
I went home for the first time after four weeks in the rural village. A cab I flagged down by the roadside was my ride, and the money I gave him was all I had left in my purse, without asking him to hand me the change.
"Ma'am." That was my driver, he was the first to see me.
"How have you been?" I asked. But instead of answering me, he rushed towards me and hugged me tight. I took a deep breath and caressed his back.
He began to sob in my arms. He must have heard the bad news of my mother's death, by the way, Maria was there to report anything of note that happened at my parent's place.
"I'm sorry for your loss." He sobbed even more, but I held his hand and broke his embrace on me. I wasn't home to be sorry, to be called by too many lines wishing nothing other than condolence.
"Where is Maria?" I asked.
"She is inside.
"Good."
I left him behind and walked into my house with my bag. In the living room, I found Maria sitting on the couch and sobbing with my mother's picture in her grip.
I sensed there was something wrong with her gripping the picture and staring at it like it was that of her mother. Who knows if we are sisters?
I brushed off the thought and walked past her.
"If you visited all the while, it might not have ended like this." She muttered as I walked past her without saying a word to her.
I stopped. Mom had been nice, I had always loved her, but the problem was, she and my father kept finding me suitors any time I visited them, that was why I was reluctant about visiting them, but I abhor blame games and I wouldn't take it from Maria.
"You could have taken her to the big hospital, your best could have amounted to something, but you were reluctant." She continued. "Now, all the efforts made ended futile because she had always wanted to see you, you were the only one whom she would permit to get her a doctor or take her to the hospital."
Her line of words was funny, so, I didn't give her much attention.
I made it to my room because I wasn't back. I was home, yes, but to get my widow gown and play the game I played best.
My phone buzzed as I edged into my room. I dropped my bag and fished the phone out of my purse. It was Baba. I tapped in and his words came forth.
"We need to meet, but at the old car pack which is currently under auction bidding, that will attract less attention for wrong ears."
He went off and I returned the phone to my purse. Death had stolen from me, so, in turn, I'll save lives with the widow gown in action.