When Didi, Andy’s father, arrived in Madrid, it wasn’t to settle down. It was to do a bit of exploration after his business trip and do some travels around Europe before he returned to GNQ. Coming from the Fang tribe in GNQ was something Didi held in high esteem. Back home, he grew up with the notion that he was a man. He trusted his instincts. He was the only male child of his father Senghor and inherited all the wealth of his father. His father Senghor married five wives while in search of a male child. He was the last of the children to be born and that much sought-after male child. His dad would stop at nothing to make sure that Didi was happy. At an early age, he started enjoying the luxuries of life meant for adults. He sat in the council and court with his father. His father’s wives paid obeisance to him as the heir apparent to the throne of the Senghor dynasty. He travelled the world on business and leisure.
In Madrid, Maria fell in love with Didi. Didi did not pay any particular attention to his relationship with Maria. He was a hot commodity with ladies, especially ladies from back home who knew the stock he emanated from.
It wasn’t until after three months of his return to GNQ that Maria noticed she was pregnant for him. Letters took ages to get to the Fang tribe of GNQ. Telephone services weren’t as sophisticated as it was in the present day. One simply had to make time an ally. When the occasional reply came from Didi, it was non-committal. Didi, at one stage, advised Maria to travel to GNQ and live with him. He told her that he had married already and was planning to marry more wives. She couldn’t handle that. She ended up not going to GNQ. Anytime she wrote asking for financial support, Didi would reply saying that she should come down to GNQ and all her needs would be met. When she gave birth, she named the boy, Mine.
Mine grew up without his father and did not identify with any male figure in his life. When he was of age, he travelled to GNQ in search of his father. He was given a royal welcome and met Andy, his brother. However, because his mother was not married to Didi, he was not entitled to any inheritance from his father. Was it worth it? He went back to Europe. Mine kicked the bucket when he was only twenty-two years old. Eighteen years later, Hayward embarked on the same trip to GNQ to trace his roots like his late dad, Mine did. His return to GNQ was without any fanfare. It was viewed with suspicion and in the end, he vowed he would get what belonged to him. At GNQ, he was told that Andy had left for the UK, and Andy was the bona fide person who could divide any share of the family’s wealth with him as the only male child. He went to England to hunt down his uncle to get what belonged to him.
All along, Lucy did not realise that she was just a pawn in the equation. Hayward took Lucy away from Andy because that was sweet for him. He got her pregnant and had Martha. His next plan was to get Andy to sign off a large chunk of the money stashed in the UK bank and then he would elope with Lucy to Spain.
The first attempt was unsuccessful as the cheque that Andy signed was not with his genuine signature. Andy had signed off a three-hundred-thousand-pound cheque for Lucy to purchase a house for herself and Alfred. His father had always warned him to beware of women whom he was not married to and he never forgot that advice. Lucy thought everything was under control until the bubble burst. After collecting the cheque, he stopped visiting Andy. Hayward was not happy about the way Lucy handled matters. He had encouraged her to keep it going with Andy, till they were safely in Spain in their new house. But Lucy was too blinded by what did not exist to listen to any advice. She called it love for Hayward. Hayward called it foolishness. There was no money in that account and everything fell apart. Hayward never forgave Lucy. However, his target was to try to persuade Lucy to fall in line with his new strategy before Alfred turned sixteen. At that stage, Alfred would be the only one eligible to claim the fortune stashed in the account.
The plan was to keep Alfred as far away as possible from his dad, restore his relationship with Andy, and apologise for the last muck up. Blame it on ill advice from the Citizens Advice Bureau, after all, Andy did not know much about the system.