It was well past eight when Olumide pulled up in front of the motel described to them by a passerby. By then he'd finished telling his wife the whole story and in that timeframe, she'd cried and calmed down.
He booked them a room overlooking the parking lot and ordered for dinner to be served at nine. Then he started to dial the number on the piece of paper.
Eartha splashed cold water on her face in the bathroom and stared at her reflection in the mirror above the washbasin. God, did she look a pathetic mess!
She sighed and scrubbed at her face again then dried with a towel. Yes, she had on a cool demeanour now, but it was all for show. Inside she was a panicked mess, she'd only forced herself to calm down for her husband. He did have do much on his shoulders already, and she didn't want to add her own problem to it.
So she knew she had to be strong for herself. For her husband. For Adekunbi. After a
Very early the next morning they signed out of the motel and got on their way to Enugu State. Mide drove the car, while Eartha dialled the police station. The call went through quickly, now that they were well out of the town, almost on the highway.They both sighed in relief as the call got picked.'Yes? Nsukka Police Station.''Good morning, officer,' Eartha started. 'We called yesterday night, concerning the case of two missing children but —''Ho ho, it's you! But a different number called yesterday, and then I heard the call got disconnected because of poor reception. We've tried the number many times since then but it was saying switched off.'Eartha turned to give her husband a quizzical look. The latter blinked in confusion and reached for the phone. 'I didn't know it had died,' he whispered.'We are sorry, sir. The phone was dead.' 
05:59 am, October 10.Very early on Thursday morning, Eartha and Mide happened to be the first couple to pass through any of the roads leading to Enugu State. But that wasn't a feat they were going to sit back and revel in.As soon as they arrived at Nsukka, they headed for the police station where they were being expected. There the police officers confirmed that, indeed, they were the parents of the lost girl.Then they were given some forms to fill and then the contact and location of the couple the children were with and told to expect their call anytime soon. Apparently, the couple had been informed since that Monday of their imminent arrival.Although it wasn't daybreak yet, they still insisted on heading for uptown, where the couple resided, all the while waiting for the their call.None of them had the energy to drive, they were both terribly washed out and drained of ene
Somto set the laptop in front of her and hugged his wife.'Yes, Eniiyi, it's Daddy and Mommy.' The guy and his wife were also moved to tears.'Mommy! Daddy!' Eniiyi screamed again.'Adekunbi!' Mide's emotion-filled voice came out scratchy, like it had been graveled?'Oh my God! My baby!' Eartha sobbed.'Mommy! Daddy!' Eniiyi screamed for the third time, not quite believing her eyes. She looked up at the couple beside her. 'Mrs Okenwa, am I dreaming?'China stared fondly at the girl, at her eyes as it went wide in surprise and disbelief. She knew that if she was capable of shedding tears, her ash nightdress would be soaked up by now.'Of course, not, Eniiyi!' she said, wiping away tears of joy and hugging her husband.Eniiyi turned back to the screen. 'My mommy! Where have you been? Where are you? Daddy? Are you still
09:53amMide wouldn't stop pacing around the vast living room and Eartha was starting to get worried. He had been doing that since they came back from the teaching hospital and that was several minutes ago.'Mide, sit down na,' she cajoled.He stopped pacing and stood still. Eartha thought he had heard her and relaxed back in her seat.But he didn't seem to have. He combed his hand through his hair and looked deep in thought."I mean, how is that even possible? How couldn't we have noticed?" He turned to stare at Eartha.Eartha cringed and shifted uncomfortably in her seat. It wasn't as if guilt wasn't eating up her own insides as well.Mide continued pacing. 'Alacrimia,' he muttered. "But nobody ever had in our family.'Eartha sighed, slightly annoyed at his peevishness. 'Mide, didn't you hear anything the specialist
08:36am, October 11Eniiyi had woken up, after a troubled sleep, with mixed feelings. She was very happy her parents were back and they were going home, but she'd miss the Okenwas. She had rather grown on them and now it was painful to have to leave them.Now, she watched as her mommy neatly folded her clothes into her box. Watching the box made her miss her black holdall. She hadn't thought she would get it back ever again, the highway robbers had probably thrown it away. She made a mental note to ask her daddy to get her a new one.'But, Mommy, it's just Wednesday. We can leave by weekend,' she whined.'No, Adekunbi.' They had been at this for minutes now and all Eartha did was mumble back her disagreement.She looked distant as she tucked the polka dot powder-blue dress into the box. She'd looked distant since yesterday, Eniiyi had noticed. Like she had something bothering on
Lastborn shifted against his seatbelt in the backseat and continued nudging at the back of the seat in front of him. The boy's mind was occupied with troubling thoughts.After spending almost an hour crying he had given in to sleep. He had just woken up to see the car making it's way through the village.And as much as he liked the idea of being home again he was still sad because he knew he'd probably never leave the village again till he was to start senior secondary school. He'd probably never see Eniiyi again.He knew his father very well, Baba would never agree to have him leave the village again. He was probably skinning the pankẹ́rẹ́* he was going to use give him the beating of his life for running away from the village with Eniiyi.His uncle suddenly turned to look at him as if he'd just remembered there was someone else in the car.'Are you okay, Dashing Dand
To his astonishment, Baba only patted his head and slapped him lightly on the cheek.He gave a squeak of surprise. What was happening here? Had Baba hit his head? Had he taken the wrong kind of liquor today?'Thanks once again for understanding,' Mide said, still all smiles. He had watched the whole episode and had seen the shock on the little boy's face.He chuckled to himself. Nothing a little money and story couldn't do. He had just had to talk with the right amount of morose and regret in his voice to convince the man that his son had been childish to run away was truly sorry and eager to come back home to him. And of course, a little token of money for all his worries over the disappeared boy. Fourty thousand naira did the job just fine.He remembered Eartha punching him in the arm last night after he ended the call, for being a smooth operator.'No problem o. In fact, I sho
It was almost seven O'clock when the gates buzzed open and Olumide pulled the silver-grey Pengine Ionia into their driveway.He immediately realized that the porch lights weren't on yet, same as any other outdoor light and he thought it was strange, since he could clearly see that the inside was lit.Why hadn't nobody turned the lights on? God, it was getting dark here.He suddenly became aware that someone was banging on the glass. It was Eniiyi, she must have been the one that buzzed him in. She was shouting something at him but he couldn't hear a thing, the car was still soundproof.He rolled down the glass so he could hear what she was saying.'. . . Why?' was all he caught.'What's wrong, Pumpkin Pie?'The girl pouted when she realized when she realized he hadn't heard anything she had said.'Daddy,' she whined i
Other Books by the Author . . . 1. Baby's Daddy — Pregnancy-Romance/Mystery 2. The Third Side of the Coin — Horror/Suspense 3. Her Dilemma — Pregnancy-Romance/Billionaire 4. The Rancher's Heart — Romance/Single-Father 5. A Week of Batching — Mystery/Suspense . 6. Chronicles of an Amnesiac — SciFi/Mystery/Short Story 7. On Air — Billionaire/Pregnancy-Romance/Mystery Coming Soon . . . 1. The Arranged! Series — Romance/Arranged Marriage 2. Double Me — Horror 3. Public-City — Humour 4. The Halloween Files Series — Horror — I'd really, really, really appreciate if you guys could check out my other books. It'd mean a whole lot to me. I promise that y'all won't be disappointed 👉🏽👈🏽 Pretty please 🥺 The first seven are available on the site and the remaining are WIPs And when you do check them out, please comment what you think in the chapters and leave a review of what you think. Thanks in advance ❤❤❤
Other Books by the Author . . . 1. Baby's Daddy — Pregnancy-Romance/Mystery 2. The Third Side of the Coin — Horror/Suspense 3. Her Dilemma — Pregnancy-Romance/Billionaire 4. The Rancher's Heart — Romance/Single-Father 5. A Week of Batching — Mystery/Suspense . 6. Chronicles of an Amnesiac — SciFi/Mystery/Short Story 7. On Air — Billionaire/Pregnancy-Romance/Mystery Coming Soon . . . 1. The Arranged! Series — Romance/Arranged Marriage 2. Double Me — Horror 3. Public-City — Humour 4. The Halloween Files Series — Horror — I'd really, really, really appreciate if you guys could check out my other books. It'd mean a whole lot to me. I promise that y'all won't be disappointed 👉🏽👈🏽 Pretty please 🥺 The first seven are available on the site and the remaining are WIPs And when you do check them out, please comment what you think in the chapters and leave a review of what you think. Thanks in advance ❤❤❤
PLEASE READ 🙃 ♟️ *clears her throat and smiles* Mmkay . . I'm sorry if this is too long, but it's necessary. This is my only author's note in this book . . . you've got to give me credit for refraining from writing one since all this months na 😐 🍒 Hola! I see you made it to the end of this book 😊 Aww, thanks soo much for reading 💓 I'm really happy to finish this book sef, when I started on the twelfth of November last year, I had no idea it was going to take meone seven five days to finish writing the book (minus the hiatus, that i
'Mide,' she said in reply, resisting the urge to break down and run into his arms, crying her apologies.She cleared her throat and made a serious face. 'What do you want here?'Mide smiled sadly and held her gaze again. 'Can I come in first?''Yes, Daddy!' Eniiyi picked up the bouquet and then took her father's hand and dragged him over the threshold.Eartha almost panicked. Why had Adekunbi done that? Now she'd have to fight the strong will to walk into his arms!She blinked again and firmed her lips. 'Mide, I told you -'Before she could finish speaking Mide deftly covered the space in between them.She sucked in a breath and tried to step back but then he touched her arm and she froze to the spot.'What do you want?' she croaked out. It took her all not to fall into his arms now. She could feel the heat radiating
Eartha and Eniiyi were still seated on the couch, long after the movie had ended. Eniiyi didn't think this was because the movie was that interesting. Her mommy had gone into one of her trances again. The girl was still trying to get used to it already since all these days.So, she waited patiently, still snuggled into her and watched the credits roll in on the TV screen.But as she stared on silently she couldn't help wondering all over when all this would stop. When she'd let them go back to Daddy, instead of sitting here all day and feeling sad.It was rather unnecessary, if somebody asked the girl.Thankfully, her mommy came out of her reverie quicker today. She sighed and pat Eniiyi's head.'Interesting movie, huh?' She stood up from beside her daughter and stretched.Even though she was smiling, Eniiyi could still see the slight worry lines that were be
~~••••~~Eartha sniffed back tears and wiped at her cheeks to check if she'd been crying. She smiled sadly and placed a hand over her tummy.It should be about thirty one days old, if she guessed right.Little one, we're going to be just fine, she said to her tummy. You'll see.As if her parents had suspected something, they had called just this morning when she was barely out of bed.She had tried to mask her miserable look and put on a bright face.They'd only called to ask about her and the family and she had lied. Had lied that she was doing just great, that her husband was fine and was not around, that their granddaughter was still as vibrant as ever and that she didn't want to wake her up from her sleep.She had long made up her mind that her parents weren't going to get
05:37pm, October15,Ikeja, Lagos State.Slowly, she stretched her hand and picked up the white stick on the wash basin. Then slouched back on the toilet seat lid and turned the stick to face her. Swallowing saliva, she continued to stare at the two bold lines stained on it.She later broke her stare and clutched the stick to her chest with both hands. By then worry had settled on her face.She stared into the unseen distance and poked the inner of her cheeks with her tongue.Well, am I not damned.She stared at it again and lowered her head. There was no denying it, pregnancy tests were true ninety-nine percent of the time.Well, I'm damned, she said to herself again.She couldn't even start to think of telling him about it. The idea just couldn't be stomached. It would open a new can of worms she'd rather keep closed.
It was almost seven O'clock when the gates buzzed open and Olumide pulled the silver-grey Pengine Ionia into their driveway.He immediately realized that the porch lights weren't on yet, same as any other outdoor light and he thought it was strange, since he could clearly see that the inside was lit.Why hadn't nobody turned the lights on? God, it was getting dark here.He suddenly became aware that someone was banging on the glass. It was Eniiyi, she must have been the one that buzzed him in. She was shouting something at him but he couldn't hear a thing, the car was still soundproof.He rolled down the glass so he could hear what she was saying.'. . . Why?' was all he caught.'What's wrong, Pumpkin Pie?'The girl pouted when she realized when she realized he hadn't heard anything she had said.'Daddy,' she whined i
To his astonishment, Baba only patted his head and slapped him lightly on the cheek.He gave a squeak of surprise. What was happening here? Had Baba hit his head? Had he taken the wrong kind of liquor today?'Thanks once again for understanding,' Mide said, still all smiles. He had watched the whole episode and had seen the shock on the little boy's face.He chuckled to himself. Nothing a little money and story couldn't do. He had just had to talk with the right amount of morose and regret in his voice to convince the man that his son had been childish to run away was truly sorry and eager to come back home to him. And of course, a little token of money for all his worries over the disappeared boy. Fourty thousand naira did the job just fine.He remembered Eartha punching him in the arm last night after he ended the call, for being a smooth operator.'No problem o. In fact, I sho