BELLA'S MEMOIRS (ENTRY #30)

BIZZARE REVELATION

Vice President: Adenike are you going to bell the cat or do you want me to do it for you?

The look on his face was priceless. It looked like he had just won the lottery meanwhile the rest of us in the room looked like zombies who were being shipped off to another planet.

After my dad’s arrival with Toni, the Vice President had ordered his men to go and get my grandmother and my stepmom. They arrived a few hours later with not only my grandmother and stepmom, but also with my grandfather.

Apparently, my stepmom had rushed to see The Duchess at the Villa to share the confession recording with her. The Duchess had in turn called my grandfather to come over to The Villa to listen to the recording with her; and the Vice President’s aide had tracked my stepmom to The Villa and had brought all three of them because my grandfather had threatened to call the police if they left with his wife and daughter in law.

We were all now seated in the living room of the house where Yinka and I had been hiding out waiting for The Duchess to bell the cat according to the Vice President.

My Daddy: Mother you don’t have to say anything. We would find a way to get out of this.

Vice President: Adetokunboh I am not sure that’s sound advice you are giving your mother there. If she doesn’t talk I will.

Yinka: Oh please! Like anyone here would believe a word you say.

Vice President: Oh trust me son, you will!

My Grandfather: Oh for goodness sake! Must you do this in front of the children? Really if you have issues to iron out with my wife and I why don’t you do so in private?

Vice President: Did she try to humiliate me in private?

My Daddy: She had nothing to do with the plot to find the culprit in Yinka’s case. She came all the way to Abuja to beg for your forgiveness, I wonder what she could have done to you for her to deserve the kind of humiliation you are trying to put her through. She has nothing to do with this!

Vice President: Then she should speak for herself.

The Duchess remained quiet…she was looking up at the ceiling like she was waiting for some form of divine intervention.

Vice President: Adenike….

The way he said her name was more like a warning.

She got up to her feet and walked to the window. She stood with her back to the rest of us, like she was ashamed and then she started to speak.

The Duchess: My parents were poor. My father died when my mother was only a few months pregnant with me. My mother moved to Lagos from Oshogbo to look for greener pastures…

My dad jumped to his feet and rushed towards her but my grandfather grabbed his arm and held him back.

My Grandfather: Let her talk son. I want to know the secret that has held her captive in her own skin all these years.

My Daddy: But this is nonsense! She is from the Williams Dynasty! One of the most powerful and respected families in the state!

My stepmom spoke for the first time since she arrived.

Ms. A: TK, I think what your mother has to say would be a turning point for this family please let her finish.

At that point, my father conceded and sat down.

The Duchess continued as though the little interjection had never occurred.

The Duchess: My mother arrived in Lagos, pregnant with no family or place to stay, she wandered the streets for a few days and eventually ended up on a street in the upscale part of town. She was sitting helplessly on the side of the road trying to get some rest when a wealthy woman on her way home stopped to ask if she needed help. The woman seeing my mother had nowhere to go, took her home, let her have a bath, gave her a change of clothes, fed her and was about to send her on her way home when she asked out of curiosity why she was homeless. My mother opened up to her about her story and the wealthy woman decided to help. That wealthy woman was Chief Mrs. Yewande Williams!

My Daddy: I don’t understand, Chief Mrs. Yewande Williams – my grandmother – was your mother!

My stepmom gave my dad a look only two of them understood and he was quiet again. The Duchess continued.

The Duchess: You see, Chief Mrs. Yewande Williams had been married into a wealthy family for almost a decade but unfortunately could not have any children of her own and then started getting desperate. She then made a deal with my mother and both of them went abroad for a few months…till I was born. When they returned I became Mrs. Williams’s baby and my mother became my nanny. Nobody knew the truth not even my father, sorry Mrs. Williams’s husband.

I grew up raised by Mrs. Williams as my mother and my biological mother as my nanny. My nanny, also my real mother eventually passed on when I was about twenty and I still had no idea she was my mother. It wasn’t until a few years later when Mrs. Williams’ passed on that there were issues. You see, her husband who I grew up knowing as my father had passed away decades earlier and had left his entire estate to her. She in return left it to me as the executor of her will and in charge of her late husband’s estate.

She had a friend who she had confided in and who also happened to be her personal lawyer. He was in charge of her will and he happened to be Yinka’s grandfather – The Vice President’s father. The secret of my real heritage would have died with both my mothers except for a letter Mrs. Williams had sealed and left with her lawyer to give me upon her death. In the letter she told me the truth about my birth and who my real parents were but you see, her trusted friend had read the letter, was aware of the contents and then things got twisted.

When Mr. Williams my supposed father had discovered his wife could not bear him any more children ‘after she supposedly had me’ he decided to try another source; after all I had been a miracle baby but I wasn’t enough. He had two children with his mistress who Mrs. Williams made sure were completely left out of the will after her husband’s death. When I read my mother’s letter and discovered that I was not even a legitimate child of the family, it dawned on me that I stood the risk of losing everything because the mistress’s children now had more rights to the family estate than I did.

They contested the will and I thought my secret was safe with me until my mother’s lawyer started blackmailing me, he knew the information he had could destroy me. We made a deal and he helped me win the case, otherwise I would have ended up on the streets with nothing. Yes we had to falsify some documents to present at court validating me as the rightful heir. He wasn’t exactly very wealthy then but in order to buy his silence I had to start funding his business ventures and other financial burdens he carried. Soon enough, he became quite wealthy but I also became his slave and lived in constant fear that one day he would expose me.

When he passed on I thought my ordeal was over, until I discovered that he had passed on the blackmail baton to his son whose constant quest for power required my money and influence. So I continued paying the price for my parent’s mistakes and here I am today at his mercy once again. There it is! My story. I am not the princess with blue blood everyone thinks I am. I was born to a poor farmer and a maid.

She spun around and looked the Vice President in the eye.

The Duchess: Now I have nothing to lose and you know the worst enemy to have is the type that has nothing to lose!

Vice President: Do you know what leaking this news would do to your family?

The Duchess: What would it do Your Excellency?

Her voice was full of sarcasm.

The Duchess: I cannot allow you put my family through this any longer! This secret ruined my life. I have no friends because I was always afraid of being exposed. I lost my marriage because I was always trying to prove to my husband that my blood was just as blue as his because I knew he married beneath his class. I raised my children to be spineless and weak, dependent on me for everything because I was afraid of anyone controlling them the way you and your father controlled me all these years! I am almost seventy now and I can stand here and tell anybody that the price I paid to keep the fortune and fame was not worth it! I would rather spend the rest of my life in penury than spend one more day as your slave! So you know what? Do your worst Mr. Vice President… do your worst! I am no longer the doe-eyed orphan that fell for your father’s bullying and selfish exploitations. I am wearing my scars proudly now so yes I am the daughter of a poor farmer and I am no longer afraid to get dirty!

The room fell silent. All eyes fell on the Vice President. He thought he had a joker but trust The Duchess to put a kink in his armour. The Vice President remained silent for a while and then his phone rang, apparently it was The President calling.

Vice President: Your Excellency. Good Afternoon.

He paused while he listened on the phone. His expression dropped…it was obviously bad news.

Vice President: I am on it Sir. I would have it taken care of as soon as possible.

He hung up and looked at my father.

Vice President: Oh well Adetokunboh it looks like your little scheme has worked. Your dirty secrets have been leaked and the news is everywhere. The opposition party is clamoring for a re-run of the elections with a new candidate because you shouldn’t have been allowed to run for office in the first place.

The Duchess: What! Adetokunboh what is going on here?

My dad remained quiet. My stepmom was the next to burst out.

Ms. A: TK! What did you do? You could go to jail! You could lose everything! We are ruined.

Vice President: You are not yet ruined. Wait till I also uncover the fact that The Duchess here has been sitting on a family fortune she has no legal rights to. You were never legally adopted by the Williams family. I will make sure you lose everything and you too Adetokunboh. You will all spend the rest of your lives in penury I promise you.

He started making his way out of the room and I rushed behind him.

Me: How about the innocent man caught in this stupid crossfires? You know he is innocent, let him go please! Okechukwu and I have not done anything to deserve this from you.

Vice President: I am not your enemy Bella. Your family is your enemy and if you don’t know that by now I am afraid you have turned out to be like the rest of them.

He walked out and I was left with the family I was really beginning to wish I wasn’t a part of.