Love's Second Chance (16 page)

“
Efe cannot leave me. I won’t believe it. No
...
No
...
I can’t bear it. Make the pain go away, Ofure please, tell me it’s not true. Say it’s not true,
say it...”

The tears overflowed his eyes as he looked around blearily.
Just as fast as he had tensed up, Kevwe slumped back on the bed. “Why would Efe
leave me? No, it’s not true.” He shook his head from side to side.

Ofure bent over him again. He placed his right palm on his twin’s forehead and with the left, wiped away the
t
ears clouding
his eyes
. Before long, Kevwe fell into a deep sleep. By the time the resident neurologists
came, his brother’s blood pressure and temperature were normal, and he
slept peacefully.

Ofure took painkillers and sank down in the bedside chair. He knew it was only Kevwe’s weakness that allowed him to do what he’d just done. H
e sighed as thoughts of Efe came into his mind, but
ignored them, so as not to disturb Kevwe.

“
So that’s what happened,” Ofure said, bringing Kevwe to the present.
Kevwe had listened to his brother and tried to see and feel as much of the memories as he could.

“
You didn’t tell me about the pain you felt.” Kevwe blamed himself for not letting his brother share more of the experiences around his accident.

“
I couldn’t, it would’ve been too much for you. I was sorry at the ordeal I caused you to find out about Efe. I only kept us connected then, so I could know when you needed me.”

Kevwe had guessed. The shared memories had brought the past pain to the surface, making his right knee throb. As he’d tried to make sense of what had happened back then, he’d concluded it was the American visa, if not his injuries, that had taken Efe from him. There had been no other explanation.

Now, he spent several minutes in silence putting the new details together, from Efe, her parents, and Ofure.

“
There’s something I don’t understand,” He said to Ofure. “You said to Mother you saw
Efe in a taxi…”

“
Yes I did,” Ofure nodded. “It nagged at me, but before I could ask Mother, you woke up, and what happened then drove the thought completely from my mind.
As we drove along outside the
barbed
wire surrounding the house
, I saw
Efe
walking down the front steps, arms wrapped around her middle. She didn’t look like she was there to break the engagement. I think she was crying.”

Kevwe squeezed his hands. “Not as heartless as Dad told it.”

“
No.” Ofure eyes filled with understanding and pity. “I think it’s certain Dad broke your engagement.
Maybe he never approved of Efe and couldn’t tell you…
”

“
He did tell me.” Kevwe had already figured that out. He felt tears prick his eyes as he wondered why his father had lied to Efe. Why he’d gone to such lengths. “But he promised not to stand in our way. He promised.”

“
With you in hospital and mum distracted, the opportunity
of your accident must have been too hard for him to resist...” Ofure was cut off as
Kevwe jumped to his feet.

“
You call that opportunity? I was at death’s door, and instead of thanking God,
he chose to cut off someone I loved. And Mother! Where was she in all of this?”

“
Kevwe, please be calm.” Ofure was beside him in an instant, but when he tried to touch him, Kevwe sprang away.

“
Don’t touch me, don’t you dare try to manipulate me. You of all people know what I passed
through, what pain!” Kevwe was furious, and he gave free rein to his anger. The blood surged through him, and his breath came in hard bursts. His parents must have been out of their minds to do what they did to Efe.

“
T
hey broke
the poor girl’s heart!” Kevwe shouted, choking in his rage. And he’d doubted her too. What a total fiasco. He jumped to his feet and marched to the faucet in the attached bathroom. He needed something to wash this bitter taste out of his mouth.

“
Slow down, please. You’re giving me a headache.” Ofure followed more slowly. “Dad is dead now, but I guess we can always ask Mum what exactly happened that day.
”

“
Of course I will be asking her.” Kevwe filled a little cup and swished water around his mouth. He wanted to speak to Efe; needed to speak to her. Too bad she was inaccessible. But he would certainly speak to his mother. He pushed past Ofure at the door.

“
Where is my phone?” he asked. “I need to call Mother now.”

“
Both phones are downstairs. We left our jackets in the living room. Let me speak with her…”

Kevwe ignored him and bounded down the stairs. But he moved too quickly for his right leg, and stumbled over the last step, landing heavily. He sat there dazed, his chest pounding from exertion. When Ofure got to him, he was still bent over from the pain, and tears flowed unchecked down his face.

“
Are you OK?”

Kevwe shook his head. “Oh, my God,” he repeated, dragging in deep breaths and letting them out.
How he could he be okay after finding out what had happened? What Efe had gone through, how his own parents had deceived him?
He
sat there at the foot of the stairs with his hands on his bent head and laughed bitterly.

“
Kevwe, are you sure you’re alright?” Concern was heavy on the hand Ofure rubbed along his shoulder.

Kevwe shrugged him off as he mused, half to himself. “I remember the
day Dad first met Efe. His behavior was so strange,
but Mum explained it away as a passing mood
. And he did change; only h
e bided his time. Later, when
he spoke openly, I assumed it was a spillover from all the violence in Warri
. Damn it!”

“
Kevwe,” Ofure chided, “the old man is gone.”

“
It’s so easy for you to say.”
Kevwe glared at him. “
Look what he did to me. His actions have cost me so many years with Efe already. I don’t even know if we still have a future together.
Do you think she’ll forgive me?”

“
I know you love Efe and if, like Stanley said, she still cares for you, then
there’s a chance for both of you. I can go as far as betting she’ll
surely forgive you once we clear up this misunderstanding.
Love will
make a way. ”

Kevwe allowed Ofure’s hand on his shoulder and gave himself over to the soothing tones of his voice, letting it calm him.

“
What do you say I call Nneka now and ask to see her on Sunday? I’ll call mum too so first thing tomorrow we’ll go up to Abuja and then get a Sunday ticket to Benin?”

Kevwe nodded.

**

17

Abuja. December 6, 2009. 2pm

“
I’ll get it,” Nneka sang out w
hen the doorbell rang, and
went to open the door, leaving
Dozie with the baby
.

She screamed at the two mirror images standing at her doorstep, enough for
her husband to come running.
Dozie pushed her away from the door, and used his body to block the opening.

“
What is it? Nneka, what’s wrong?”

“
Sorry, it’s nothing,” Nneka smiled at him, took his hand, and pulled the door wide again. “They just caught me
unawares.”

“
Who are they?” Dozie asked.

She watched surprise and tension flit over his face as he studied the twins
. It was somewhat eerie to see two such
identical
people together, when you didn’t know who they were. She had
been screaming too. She smiled at her husband gratefully. “They’re Efe’s twins.”

“
Do you want them in the house?”

“
Yes,
”
Nneka stammered apologetically. “Let them come in.”

She led the way into the sitting-room.
She had never seen Ofure before, so she
stared openly trying to tell which twin was Kevwe, but there was no perceptible difference.

“
Dozie, this is Kevwe and Ofure…”
One of the twins smiled as he stepped toward her, and she knew it just had to be Kevwe. The limp also gave him away.

“
Hello, Nneka. After all these years, it’s good to meet you.”

She shook his hand and turned to the other guy. “You must be the doctor then.” He nodded and shook her hand too.

Nneka needed
a moment
to calm down, and so picked up Anuli and excused
herself. She came out later with a feeding bottle stuck in the baby’s
mouth, and saw the men chatting.

She handed the baby to Dozie and sat beside him.
“W
elcome again to my home. This is my husband Dozie, the baby is Anuli...”

“
He told us already,” Kevwe informed her, smiling. She was still
the same Nneka he’d known in school, cheerful and outgoing.

“
So how did you find me?” Nneka asked.”

“
Stanley… you know him?”
Nneka nodded.
“He gave me the address to Efe’s family, and they passed on your contacts. We called the number they gave us, but we got no reply.”

“
Oh, I lost that phone and got a new number,” Nneka said, “But tell me how it was, your meeting with Efe’s family?”

“
Let’s just say there was
some physical damage involved.”

They all laughed and then Dozie said, “My wife has already told me the story and so I don’t blame them. I want to
ask, how come your parents broke up the relationship?”

Kevwe sighed, “It’s a long story. M
y father never wanted Efe as a daughter-in-law.
He
sent her away and told me she’d deserted me because she couldn’t stay with a
cripple. I was
bed-ridden for a year and by the time I could walk; everybody had dispersed. I guess that helped him get away with it.”

“
No wonder you never came looking for Efe,” Nneka mused.

“
Actually, Ofure went to
UniBen to find her. He was told she had transferred and left the school for good.”

Nneka glanced at his silent twin. “Didn’t you ask for me too?

“
I did,” Ofure said. “The school had just finished exams then, and everyone was on
break. I had to return to America soon after.”

“
Don’t tell me you stopped searching.” Nneka sat forward and pinned Kevwe with a glare. “Efe wouldn’t have abandoned you.”

“
I know.” Kevwe had felt the stabs of guilt all day. “But you have to understand the emotional space I occupied at that time. Efe wasn’t there, and the pains all over my body told me she simply left.
”

Silence cloaked the room for a while, broken by Anuli blowing bubbles after finishing her bottle. Nneka took her from Dozie, laid her belly down between them, and rubbed her back.

“
I couldn’t rest,” Kevwe continued. “I asked my mum to send for you,
and the response was they couldn’t locate you. By the time I could move around, you’d graduated and left school. I didn’t have your home address, so that door was
closed. I still walked with a cane when I traveled to Warri to look for Efe.
I found they’d moved, and no one seemed to know their
whereabouts. It was another dead-end, and I had to accept that she was lost to me. But
there was no waking moment I didn’t think of her.”

A collective sigh followed this emotional confession, and then Nneka offered to serve drinks
, standing with the now sleeping child.

“
Soft drinks will be okay for both of us,” Ofure said.

“
So you’re the black widow’s husband?” Dozie
asked, once
Nneka
stepped beyond the door. “
She’s been mourning you since.”

“
What do you mean?”

“
Who’s the black widow?”

Kevwe and Ofure asked in unison.

“
Efe was given the nickname while abroad,” Dozie said. “She
never wore anything but black, and her attitude to men didn’t help. I
visited her twice and believe me, one would be
forgiven for thinking she’d been married and widowed for real.”

Kevwe shook his head, and
Ofure whistled in wonder.

“
Dozie...”
Nneka
came
into
the
room
with the drinks, “I see you
couldn’t wait for me; you’ve told them everything already.”

“
Not everything. But you know it’s an intriguing story.” Dozie smiled at Kevwe and looked at his wife. “You remember it was
only after we were married you told me Efe had only been engaged to the guy, and then he broke her heart.”