Chapter Thirteen

 

Josephine almost fainted when Ife handed the envelope to her explaining how she came about the money. Josephine hugged her and told her she was too idealistic for her own good. “Besides, the woman can afford that money from her personal funds so she really wanted to help you. I am the lucky beneficiary of that help. I don’t even know what to say.”

“Might be a good idea to invest it, Josephine.”

“That can’t even start a patent medicine store,” Josephine scoffed.

“It is a wedding gift, silly, not a startup fund.”

“Exactly,” Josephine returned.

“Igbo mentality.”

“That is why I am marrying a Yoruba man.” Josephine giggled and hugged Ife.

Ife knew that by all standards weddings were generally an expensive affair and she felt grateful that she could be useful to Josephine in that regard. She felt uncomfortable though accepting such an amount from the First Lady as she suspected it would make it harder to be critical about the First Lady.

Preparations had reached fever pitch now and most of the time Josephine was on the phone all night with her other girlfriends. There had been confusion about Ife being the maid of honor. Ife explained to Josephine that she could not function in that capacity so she had been made the ‘mother of the day’ which made both of them laugh.

Ife finally got to know Josephine’s mother, a gentle thoughtful woman in her mid-forties, but Ife had wondered about the father who was very brash and looked very much like the average picture of a man from the south-eastern part of the country. He treated Ife with approval, that she had done very well for herself marrying an igwe (Ibo word for king). He had become more friendly with Ife when he saw she had been brought to town in a black jeep.

Ife was amused by all the fawning. She was however really surprised and touched when Yomi turned up in a convoy of expensive cars. Ife counted fifteen vehicles and the king of his town had also sent his staff, which meant that the king was in attendance. Josephine’s father was beside himself with pride and kept telling anyone who cared to listen that his daughter was a veritable jewel for attracting such an important man. The flip side of all this was that the negotiation of the bride price took a longer time.

Kegs upon kegs of palm wine littered the gathering and it was dubbed the marriage of the century, which caused Ife to laugh. However she was gratified by the glow of Josephine and her happiness.

By all accounts, it was regarded a very successful wedding. Josephine received accolades from her age group friends from the village and she was escorted to the tent of her husband with a beautiful traditional performance by the local theatre dance group.

They left the state early the next morning. Josephine and Yomi headed for Calabar to experience the mountains and Ife came back to her town and work.

 ~~~

 

Two days after she returned she had a very interesting visitor. Iwapele waited for her at the State House reception. She had been very surprised when she received a call from the gatehouse that she had a visitor waiting at the gate. Puzzled, she had asked for the name and was told Iwapele. She asked the girl to be allowed to come up to the main reception area where she waited for her.

Iwapele looked calm and smiled readily. She gave a shy curtsy to Ife and proffered a small drawing that she had made. Ife was intrigued. It was a painting of the grove and Ife didn’t know that Iwapele had even noticed.

The painting captured the sense of serenity of the grove and the crouching lion at the top.

“I didn’t realize you could paint Iwapele, this is a very lovely gift. I will frame it and put it in my living room at the palace.”

“I am happy you like it, Princess”

Ife gave her a smile and asked her how she was coping with her studies. Iwapele laughed and said she had developed an allergy to dog hairs so she was transferring to human medicine. It meant she was going to lose a year but she shrugged saying that she became really inspired when she met Ife and would like to emulate her. She also had a sense of humor stating that there was no chance of her becoming a princess like Ife though as she was not sure she liked boys even now.

That made Ife to laugh, telling her that there was always time to look at boys when she was through with her education. She asked after her mother and Iwapele told her that her mother was in England for a few weeks.

Time passed cheerfully for them and Ife was happy to ask her driver to take Iwapele to the garage.

Later that evening as she returned to the palace she decided to call at Tinu’s home. She noticed that Tinu had refused to visit since the last time they had that argument over Lucas. Ife suddenly realized that she had not seen her friend for weeks and that was very surprising. She wasn’t sure that Tinu had been really upset about that comment of hers and she tried to remember her exact words.

Tinu was very formal when she arrived at the home she shared with Lucas. It was no longer the old mud house but a cement block affair with a living room and all. Ife was impressed and fingered the drapes making a mental note to send lighter cultured drapes when she returned to the capital city.

“I came with my boxing gloves, Tinu, where do you keep yours? Don’t remember what the score was last time. I see you are still pissed with me.”

Tinu gave Ife a hard stare, turned away but was pulled into a hug by Ife. Tinu dissolved into giggles and pushed Ife away from her.

“Boxing gloves indeed; that is an apology I take it?”

“I guess you could describe it that way but I am still trying to understand what was said so I will know for next time. Why on earth did you decided to inflict this dark shade of blue on this living room and your person? Were you that angry with me?”

“What?”

Ife spread her hands and frowned as she said, “The drapes are heavy and the color is wrong.” She dramatically opened her eyes wide and clapped her hands on her mouth. “Me and my mouth, we just finished a fight and I initiate another one. Wow.”

Tinu looked worried. “You think the color is wrong?”

“Yes.”

Tinu sighed. “I did not get the particular ones I wanted at my prize—”

“And you definitely had no intention of allowing me to help out, right?”

“You were busy with your school mate.”

“Jealous? That would be silly, Tinu, you are not Josephine.”

“Of course not, it would not occur to me to marry your friend.”

Ife flinched as if she had been slapped, then spoke in a soft voice, “Let me sit down so you can get all the poison out of your system.”

There was silence as Tinu stared at Ife, then she bit her lip and said she was sorry. After all Ife had been trying to help.

Ife asked her where the love of her life was at that moment and Tinu shrugged that she had no idea. She added that with all the changes that were going on in the town, everybody had something or the other to do. “Would not be surprised if witches had been given an assignment too.”

“Why do you say that?”

Tinu shrugged and said she had seen that witch queen coming out of the house of Prince Adewunmi last night.

Ife was surprised and gave Tinu a keen glance asking her is she was sure it was that queen. Tinu insisted that she was positive because she had called out a greeting and the woman froze.

Ife wondered what the woman was up to. According to tradition, she was not permitted to make visits out of the palace unless Kabiyesi had permitted her. Ife made a mental note to ask the Lion later.

Ife commented to Tinu that she was expected to visit her aunt and wondered if Tinu would be her escort. Tinu raised her eyebrows asking if Ife was frightened or maybe she had heard the news.

“What news now?”

“She has asked her son to apply to the Ifa circle.”

“What?”

Tinu laughed explaining that the son, Deji, had not been doing well and so it had been divined that he was in the wrong religion and was supposed to be an Ifa devotee. Ife laughed and wondered how joining the Ifa circle was going to help Deji as everyone in the family set up knew what Deji’s problem was. “It is a simple case of greed,” Ife scoffed

“Yes we all know that, but who is going to tell his mother that?”

They laughed and then still in the same vein of light heartedness, Tinu disclosed that the old witch queen has been visiting Deji as well.

“Hey, that is dangerous. Deji can’t keep his hands off any woman and that witch is walking poison to anyone who touches her. That ban has not been lifted you know.”

“Which ban is that?”

Ife shrugged. “I found out by accident really that all wives of the palace have a restriction placed on them. You can’t be unfaithful even if you were unfortunate to fall in love with anybody outside the palace. When you cross that famous line and step over that mound, you come under that rule. No one is allowed to have lecherous thoughts towards you, that is why that chief had his privates elongated for daring to touch her. He died but she was allowed to live within the premises of the palace.”

“Wow,” Tinu said softly

Ife shrugged and continued to explain about the things she had learnt since she started living in the palace.

Ife decided she had done enough visiting for the day and their earlier spat seemed to have been forgotten as Ife walked towards her car.

When she got to the palace Babatunde was relaxed in their private living room so she sat opposite him and asked him if he would like to have his dinner now so she could make arrangements for the yam to be put on the fire.

Babatunde gave her a morose look saying he was hungry but not for food. Ife laughed and did a surprising thing. She knelt by his side and placed her head on his thighs. Babatunde froze and groaned saying he could not vouch for his self-control. In reply, Ife took the horsetail he was holding and put it on her head. The gesture was simple but full of meaning.

Babatunde stood up and raise her up from her kneeling posture, and looked into her eyes with eyes that glowed, and said softly, “With my soul, I love you, and with my body I adore you.”

“May we find our paths home, Lion, from this joint journey and anyone we may invite through this union.”

Babatunde nodded, carried her into the bedroom and closed the door with the heel of one beaded slipper.