OLIVIABeing back home felt strange and familiar at the same time. Every room I entered filled me with nostalgia and vivid memories of my grandmother and I. The house was dirty and full of dust. Walls needed paint and floors needed to be scrubbed.I roughly wiped my tears away as I cleaned. I have cried enough at the graveyard; it was time for me to act now not to cry. a knock came through the door, and I went to open. May was standing on the other side of the door with a pretentious smile on her face.The woman must think I was still the same naïve Olivia from before. “Yes?” I said with a raised eyebrow. “Olivia, it’s me, May.” Did she really think I didn’t know who she was? But I went along with her. “Oh, I couldn’t recognise you, it’s been so long.” She pushed me aside and went inside.It annoyed me but I kept my mouth shut. “Goodness! This house needs a good scrubbing! I heard about your arrest, and I want you to know that I didn’t believe a word they said. Media can be cruel but d
NICK“What are you standing there for? Go get me my daughter-in-law back, tell her you are sorry and that you will do better. Go, Nick, go now.” Said my mother hitting me over and over while crying. She loved Olivia and I didn’t like seeing her that way. But what else could I do when she didn’t want me? I was not going to force her to want me.I held her hands to stop her from hitting me, “Mom, she doesn’t want me going after her. you heard what she said. She wants a divorce and nothing I say will change her mind. I am sorry.” She cried even more freeing herself from my hold. It hurt, the way she looked at me was like she was looking at someone she despised.“Get out, get the hell out of my house Nick!” she screamed at me, I looked over at dad, but he just sat there as if nothing was happening. I knew then that I had done more than just disappoint my parents, I hurt them. “I am sorry mom.” She only glared at me and pointed at the door.I gave her a sad look before leaving. Ethan and O
NICKEthan said something that got me thinking. Everything else he said made sense and I regretted it. But I didn’t get why he would say I didn’t take care of my wife’s grandmother. I might have refused to see her because of how ashamed I was of facing her after sending Olivia to jail. But I did send money to her card every month.She should have been taken care of even with Olivia in jail, I never sent Olivia to jail so I could punish her grandmother. “Ethan, you know me man, do you think I didn’t take care of her grandmother? I sent her money every month for the past two years. I might not have gone to see her, but I did make sure that she had money to live a comfortable life.”“You sent her money, then why was she buried in an unmarked grave?”“I don’t know Ethan, the person who buried her might not have known that she had money in the bank.” To be fair, she might not have known herself that she had that kind of money in the bank. Olivia’s grandmother was an old person, and she didn
OLIVIAI didn’t expect to see Nick so soon after asking him for a divorce. I thought he brought the papers already when I saw him parked around the corner from my house. Only to find out that he was spying on me. he thought I was still the naïve Olivia he sent to jail to believe the lie he told me about passing by.I must admit though, my heart skipped a beat when I saw him and that happened because of one, I was scared that he brought the divorce papers. I don’t know why because I was the one who asked him for divorce. All I can say is that it was not easy letting go of someone I still had feelings for. Two, because I was afraid of how final divorce will make things.The divorce was not going to affect me alone but my son as well. Samuel is a boy, and he will one day want to know who his father is. I needed to be sure what to say to him when that day came. But I didn’t want to think about that, all I knew was that I wanted to be free from Nick.He hurt me too badly that I no longer sa
NICK“Gentlemen, if this is what I flew all the way from New Village for, then I am not impressed. We have a reputation to protect, and you bring me ideas like this? Do better!” I stood and fixed my suit jacket. I walked to the door but turned to the group. “I want to hear something better tomorrow and it better not be a waste of my time.”I then walked out of the boardroom, I have been there for two days now, and they were yet to give me something I could work with. Just because Jones’ enterprise was a big company did not mean we should relax, there was a lot of competition out there. “Sir, I have ordered your lunch, it’s in the room.”I went towards the elevator but then turned around. “I want to eat out today, I need the fresh air, I need to clear my mind and think. Take me to those beach front restaurants.” Olivia liked beach front restaurants. She like the breeze coming from the beach, she would close her eyes and feel it caressing her face gently as it passed. Like a gentle kiss
OLIVIAI was busy showing the guys where to hang a painting in the reception area when Nick came in looking like he was ready to murder someone. “Everyone out, now!” The guys scattered leaving me standing by the reception desk wondering what the hell got into the man to act like that.He slowly walked towards me with his eyes locked on me like I was his prey. The look in his eyes got me thinking back to prison, to how those animals in there used to look at me when they were about the beat the hell out of me.I shuddered. He stood a foot away from me still not saying anything but looking at me. I didn’t back down either, prison taught me to face bullies head on even when I knew I was out matched and outnumbered. “Do we have a child together.” My heart grew cold, and I could feel my hands shaking a little.But I didn’t avert my gaze from him, I knew he found out something, but I didn’t know what. I bailed my hands into fists with my nails digging in the palm of my hands. The pain stoppe
OLIVIAI stopped myself right in time before I let it slip that I lost my womb in prison and a year and four months of my son’s life. “Go on, Olivia. Tell me what you lost; I want to know.” I turned giving him my back. “You lost the right to ask me questions the day you called the police on me and sent me to jail for two years. Oh, wait. It would have been longer if your parents didn’t come back, and you wouldn’t be bothered.”I sighed turning back to look at him. “Just leave Nick and never come back here again. When the divorce papers are ready. Send your lawyer with them and I will sign, there is no need for us to see each other again.” There we go again, a flash of pain in his eyes and it was gone before I could even react making me feel like I was seeing things.He looked at me for a while before turning back and walking out my door. The guys rushed back in surrounding me. “Mam, are you alright, did he hurt you? we can call the police if he hurt you.” I chuckled, clearly, they did
NICKA month has passed with my people searching the hole of Summer Strand for that boy but so far, they have not been able to find him. Ethan might have moved him somewhere else, but I couldn’t find any record of any other place he might have travelled to after leaving Summer Strand. The records show that he came back to New Village after leaving Summer Strand.I considered the possibility that he might have just let who ever was looking after the boy to travel with him somewhere else. But I checked for anyone travelling with a boy names Samuel from Summer Strand in that week but no luck.I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep, all I did was work and trying to find that boy. I tried seeing Ethan and asking him about that boy, but he would not talk to me. He just seemed like he resented me, and I didn’t know why. The man was worried about me knowing about his son yet, he didn’t know about the one who died.I wished I could tell him to stop being full of it and tell me what I needed to know.