At Nneri, the first thing Euna observed about her daughter, Nwamaka was that she emulated her mother's piety. Each morning, she made sure she attended morning mass before going to school was also a member of more than four religious sodalities in the parish. Soon she became known to the parish priest and other members of the parish.
This made Euna rather uncomfortable as she did not want what happened in the case of Nkechinyere who had then left for the convent to repeat itself. She decided to curb what she deemed religious excesses in her young daughter.

The other thing she observed was that Nwamaka was very obedient and submissive. She obeyed every instruction and was constantly trying to please her. This made her happy as it was a good sign for the achievement of her plans. She was also very sensitive and naive in her attitude.
To curb her excess religiosity, she started by telling her to choose only one sodality to belong to instead of four. Secondly, she told her that she would have to choose two days in the week for her morning masses.

"Mama, what's wrong with my attending masses each day?" she asked, pleading.

"There is nothing wrong with it. It is just that too much of everything is bad. I want you to make yourself more useful in the morning before going to school. You should be able to fetch water, sweep the compound, and carry out some other chores."

Natachinyem who had been listening and noticing her sister's crestfallen expression, interrupted.

"Mama, don't worry, I will help Nwamaka with these chores in the morning since I am no longer in school but preparing for my JAMB exams."

"Shut up!" she snapped. "Who invited you into this discussion?" she asked. "Better go to your house," she said pointing at Ezekwe's house. "That's where you belong. Allow me to organise my home the way I want it," she flashed.

Natachinyem quietly got up and walked out of the house.

When Nwamaka did not show up for two consecutive days for morning mass, people started calling to find out if all was well. Euna was prepared for this. Some she told that her daughter had a right to decide when to attend church activities, others she told to leave her daughter to face her studies. All the same, this did not deter Nwamaka from attending whenever she could. Her mother's restrictions made her unhappy but she did not allow it to affect her attitude in anyway.

Euna had a plan and from time to time, when alone with Nwamaka, she would tell her how happy she would have been if she had a son. Euna would tell Nwamaka how everything that belonged to her late father would be lost once they all got married and she herself died. She kept repeating this that it started bothering Nwamaka too. She suggested that they could adopt a child but her mother told her it would be a futile effort since the child would be a total stranger.
This she continued until one day, Nwamaka became extremely worried and asked:

"What do we do about this problem?"

"I have been thinking too. Give me some time to see what both of us can do to redeem this family," Euna said with a smile, hugging Nwamaka.

"I will be glad to do whatever I can to help," she added.

The next Eke market day, Euna returned from Eke Nneri with a parcel for Nwamaka. She called Nwamaka to her room and closed the door. She handed her the parcel.

"I got this for you for your birthday," she said handing her the parcel. "You will be thirteen years next tomorrow. But who could believe it, you look so big for your age," she said, admiring her.

"Thanks for remembering my birthday" she said, beaming with joy.
She opened the parcel and found inside some pairs of under wears.
"Oh! Thank you Mama. But you shouldn't have bothered. Sister Oyibo got me several of these when she visited us last."

"Yes, but this is a special gift. It is for your birthday. Put them on let me see." she said.

Nwamaka obeyed. She took out a brassiere and examined it.

"Remove your clothes first so that I can see how it looks on you. You know you have such a wonderful figure," she prompted.

"Thank you, Mama," she said as she removed her dress.

Euna stood watching with a studied gaze.
Nwamaka tried the brassieres and then the pants one after the other while Euna looked on.

"They all looked good on you. I am really glad they did because I told the person I brought them from that if they didn't fit well, I would return them" she said.

"I am very happy, thank you." Nwamaka replied.

Two days later, alone after supper, Euna continued the discussion that was uppermost in her heart.

"Mama, what do you suggest we do about this problem?" Nwamaka asked her again.

"I have come up with an idea which I know will work out perfectly well," she said in a conspiratorial tone.

"Really? Tell me about it" Nwamaka said, becoming excited.

"You see," she said, linking her fingers with her daughters. "You can redeem this family" she said casually.

Looking up in surprise.
"How can I do that?"

'I want you to have a child for me," she finally said.

Nwamaka snatched her hand forcefully away with a shocked expression on her face. She sprang to her feet.

"What?" she asked in a hardly audible voice.

"Come, dear," Euna said, going to her. She drew her close to herself and held her. They remained like this not saying a word for quite some time. Then Euna gently took her back to her seat. She made her sit down and peered into her face. The shock of her words had turned her once beautiful face into something not so beautiful. She saw the agony in her eyes and tactfully decided to change the subject.

"I think we should retire for the night."

Nwamaka nodded feebly and stood up.

"Goodnight, Mama" she murmured.

"Goodnight, my daughter"

As she moved to the room she shared with her sister Natachinyem, Nwamaka was still not fully recovered from the shock of her mother's words. How could she suggest such a thing? She wondered. When she got to their room, Natachinyem was not yet back from Ezekwe's place. She sat down on her bed and tried to think clearly about the issue. She did not know how long she stayed in that position until she was roused by Natachinyem's entry into the room. Natachinyem looked at her curiously because normally Nwamaka would be sound asleep each time she returned from Ezekwe's place.

"Hey! Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yes, I am," she said forcing a smile. "I Was thinking about how I would spend this coming holiday," she added, when she found Natachinyem looking at her closely

"Oh that! Why don't you spend it at Oyibo's place? She has invited you severally and each time you failed to go"

"I think I would go to her place this time around," she agreed, getting into bed. She covered herself with her wrapper.

"Goodnight" she said to Natachinyem.

"Goodnight" she replied, climbing into her own bed.

Thanks for reading! Check my blog often for subsequent chapters.

LINKS:

• INTRODUCTION
• CHAPTER 1
• CHAPTER 2
• CHAPTER 3
• CHAPTER 4
• CHAPTER 5
• CHAPTER 6
• CHAPTER 7
• CHAPTER 8
• CHAPTER 9
• CHAPTER 10
• CHAPTER 11
• CHAPTER 12
• CHAPTER 13
• CHAPTER 14
• CHAPTER 15
• CHAPTER 16
• CHAPTER 17
• CHAPTER 18