Chapter 3

I felt bad and guilty, so I ran after him. I finally met up with him and knelt down before him and said.

"Please brother, am so sorry. I know I have wronged you all especially father. But please help me tell father that I shall be the last person to bring shame to him. Ever since mother died, I have been a good daughter to him and have never gone against his will. I know my husband isn't rich, infact his poor, that I know. But believe me when I say that my dowry must be paid, that I promise you", I said with tears rolling down my cheeks.

My brother Fredo lifted me above the floor and said,

"Do as you wish". After which he continued his journey back home.

My brother got home and narrated the incident to Adolphus my father. Adolphus shooked his head bitterly and decided to consider me as lost.

We went on with our separate lives, and never got in touch with each other. Few months after my assumed marriage, my husband brought up the idea of me following him to his farm that was very far away from home. But I refused going to the farm with him.

"I am not in for farming, I am going to join Mother in trading", This I said to my husband.

Cletus ended up going to the farm alone while I remained at home. To get to the farm, you would have to spend hours on a boat, and cross many rivers and villages before you would be able to get there.

And to make matters worst, the farm wasn't a place one would want to go to. it was filled with different hybrids of mosquitos. The worst mosquitoes attack always occur during the rainy season, where the mosquitoes would not only bite them, but would also sing lullabies in their ears, making fun of them and trying their patience.

Most of them would always fall ill after all this, and would take days or even weeks to heal completely. Cletus has never missed his working days, even with the magnitude of mosquitos at the farm; he still coped with it.

But ever since he got married to me, knowing that he has a beautiful, lovely wife at home waiting for him; His farm work was starting to look like a nuisance to him and the least of things would always make him running back home.

Cletus hardly goes out with his friends to the farm that much this days. He always stays at home and just because he wants to be beside me always.

The other farmers gossiped him.

"Why does Fredo always go home so often this days?", one of the farmers asked.

"Don't you know that he has a very beautiful woman waiting for him at home. Being honest, how such a beautiful woman agreed to marry him still remains a mystery to everyone", another farmer replied.

"Why is it that way, is the girl from a reputable family?" Yet another farmer asked.

"Of course she is. The only daughter of Adolphus. The only man in the community that catches only the biggest sizes of fishes when he goes fishing. And not only, his yams are the fattest in the whole town. Now to burst your bubbles, he his very wealthy and have lots of investments.

"Ohhhh, so that's the man whose daughter got married to Cletus?" The second farmer spoke.

Don't worry, its just a matter of years before the woman will break up with Cletus. After all, who would want to live a life of poverty all in the name of love", the second farmer concluded.

"The most funny part of all this is that she has bluntly refused coming to the farm, she prefers trading with his mother instead. She said that she wasn't in for farming. Meanwhile, I don't blame her, she is too beautiful. Who would think that the late mother was actually Agatha. The only woman in this community that her skin is more precious than diamonds. She has actually gotten her beauty from her Mum". The third farmer concluded.

Cletus showed me so much care and love that I began growing beautiful every single day that passes by. My skin became smoother than it already was. I looked more plumpy and appealing to the eyes.

It was a special market day. Here all the women will dress in their best attire representing their beauty and the amount of love they share with their husbands. Just when the sun was going down, I went to the market to stay with mother who insisted that I stayed at home and prepare lunch and dinner for the family.

In as much as it was difficult, I was already living a local life. I got to the market and my Mother inlaw took me around to greet some of her friends. I began greeting people signifying that I was a newly married bride.

As I was going round the market, two market women began discussing about me. "Whose daughter is that", one of the women said.

"Don't you know her?, She is jordah, the only daughter of Adolphus the wealthiest man of our time", the other woman replied.

"She is very beautiful, I have never seen a woman as beautiful as she is. Since Adolphus is so good at fishing, I won’t be shocked if she is the reincarnation of a mermaid. Or might have been blessed by the river goddess. Who is her husband?", the first woman asked.

"It's Cletus" the second woman replied." Who is Cletus?", the first woman asked.