Dunni smiled at Tade’s text message, feeling warm all over. “Looking forward to this weekend.”
She was more excited about falling in love than the concept of being in love?
She shrugged off the look of disapproval she could literally see on Moses’ face like he was standing before her. That was a phase in her life she had to close and move on. If a relationship could have happened between them, it should have long ago, or so she liked to think. She did not need his approval on who she could date.
Dunni replied to the text, “same here.”
I better get back to work, she muttered to herself, putting her phone away. She had just finished her Skype meeting with Ola and Moses. Ola was due back next week, but Moses had to stay back.
She hated the feeling of emptiness that his absence triggered. She could not explain the reason for the feelings than allude to the close relationship they shared. However, she reached the conclusion that things had to change.
She could not wait for Ola to come back. She smiled as she remembered the grief in her mother’s voice when she was told Moses would be away longer than expected. Dunni loved to tease her mom of Moses being her acquired sixth child.
“He will come before you, dear. You will still remain the last,” was her mum’ swift response.
It was a sore point for Dunni, growing up she hated the fact that she was the last and had often begged her mum to have another child so that she would have a younger one.
“Not to worry mum, Moses will find a way to come to home at least twice before the end of the project,” she encouraged her mum who in turn teased back that Dunni needed it more.
Mother and daughter laughed about it as they caught up over the phone. Dunni had been very busy lately to make the trip to visit her mother in Ibadan.
She could not wait for Moses and Ola to come back and get her life back not that she had any before now.
*****
Dunni did not have any difficulty locating the house. She meandered the muddy dirt road grimacing with every roll of her tyres at the need to go straight to the car war wash. She heaved a sigh of relief when she turned into a well-tarred road, a look of wonder on her face when she saw the edifice of a house situated on a cul de sac. She blared her horn as the electronically controlled gate smoothly slid into the left side. At the same time, the security guard stood by the right in his sharp blue shirt and black trousers. Did anyone need a security guard with an electronic gate she wondered? If the house looked gigantic from the outside, it was humongous when you drove in. The house was a masterpiece design. She fell more in love with the architecture the moment she stepped out of her car. Tade was already out walking down the mini road that led to the car park filled with exotic cars that Moses will hate to know he missed when she told him.
“Wow! What a piece. This is a beauty. Did you say you want to sell it or rent it out?
“Tade smiled. She is doing a number of you. I should be jealous because it would be nice to get half the look in your eyes for me than a house.”
“I can’t help it. Houses are my dream and passion. That’s why I am an Architect.”
“What about a tour when you settle down?”
“Oh, I would be delighted. Thank you,” Dunni gushed with the excitement of a little child.
“Where is Toni?” Dunni asked, a frown forming on her forehead, afraid she had not noticed the girl in her moment of ecstasy drooling over a house?
“She is inside -suddenly remembered that her room had to look perfect. She wants to show you her room and all the drawings pasted on every available wall space in the room.”
“I think you have a budding Michael Angelo. You just don’t know it yet.”
“Ha! I can’t wait, and it better translate into money during my lifetime,” Tade joked. One could not miss the pride in his voice.
“Would you mind if I took a tour of the house? She is beautiful.”
“Is the house now a she?” Tade asked with raised eyebrows and a tinge of amusement spreading over his lips.
“I like to think of houses as women, and it has nothing to do with feminism,” Dunni warned.
“I know,” Tade answered drily which earned him a laugh from Dunni.
“What was that?” She asked getting more intrigued with her attraction to this man and excited that it was the same, and he was not hiding it.
She would not think what next and would simply enjoy the moment. Relationships don’t have to always end in marriage; maybe that’s why ladies burden themselves with too much pressure looking for Mr Right rather than enjoying the relationship. She was going to go with the flow for the first time. Just let’s see where it would lead her. No demands, no expectation just out of having a good time and being a friend.
“Do you want to share?”
She turned aghast that she had tuned out.
“I am so sorry.”
“That’s fine. It’s just funny the way you’ve turned all excited like Toni when she’s offered a new toy.”
“Did you just call me a little girl?” Dunni asked with a frown and her hands akimbo mustering every effort to look stern amidst the laughter building up and twitching at the sides of her mouth.
“I think you need some excellent grandma spanking, she tried in the voice of Big Momma.
Dunni wowed and ahhed around the house as Tade gave her the tour.
“What’s the name of the architect?” Not sure but it was some Arab guy, Solape met while doing her masters.
“Does he live in Nigeria?”
“Oh no, he lives in Abu Dhabi- they met in the UK.
“He is very creative.”
“I think so too, but hey! That’s not my department. It is just sad she could not have lived long in the house she was so passionate about.”
Dunni turned her gaze away from the view to Tade. The pain in his voice mirroring the anguish on his face.
“You miss her?” Dunni asked which sounded lame even to her ears.
But if Tade felt so too. He did not say but answered her question without missing a bit.
“Every day and in every way. Buttercup is the spitting image of her.”
“Talking about Toni, I have not seen her.”
Dunni glanced at her watch and gasped! “I can’t believe we’ve spent over one hour touring the house. I think I should go and check for her.”
She turned around to go in search of Toni but not sure which direction.
“This way Tade propelled her forward, holding her hands as he led her through the maze of walkways and doors to the living room.
Toni was propped in one of the setees watching a cartoon that had just finished. Dunni recognised as Beauty and the Beast. The little girl’s face brightened with a broad smile that tugged at the strings of Dunni’s heart.
“Do you want to see my room?” Toni asked with excitement that rubbed off quickly on Dunni.
“Yes, I will be more than happy to, and she tickled Toni who squealed with delight running off in the opposite direction.
“I’ll leave you two and finish the cooking.”
Dunni smiled, she had momentarily forgotten Tade was with them.
“You look good together. Solape will have been pleased to meet you.”
“The pleasure would have been mine to see the lady who raised such an impressionable young lady.”
“Are you saying I had no hand in the job?”
“No, Dr Braithwaite, You must have done a fantastic job too. Just that we were talking about the mother. You did not come across as one with a jealous streak in him.”
“You women think that we are all wood and stones without emotions. I know a lot of men who do as much as raising the child as the women, but all you hear is society singing the women’s praises. It is not encouraging at all. I think we the men should revolt at society’s injustice.”
I can just imagine you, men, with clothes stripped and rubbed in ashes like the Aba women’s riot of 1966.
This is 2012, we wear African designed attire looking like men stepping off an edition of the GQ magazine. All strutting the streets of Victoria Island, beautiful specimen of the male species. No noise. No words, just a single placard with words Dads contribute too.”
“Really,” Dunni laughed hysterically. “I got to go to Toni, I will be right back if I don’t lose my way.”
“You can’t miss it. Turn left, right and left—the door with the picture of a pink teddy.”
Tade smiled pleased with the way they connected. Dunni made him laugh and forget his pain. He missed Solape every day, regretted the role he played at her last moments, the guilt eating at him. But with Dunni, he felt so alive again. It was like a breath of fresh air, and he wanted to keep taking it in for the rest of his life.
Slowly Tade before you scare her off. He cautioned himself.
Food ready and table set. Tade set out to look for his daughter and their guest. He could hear Dunni’s soft voice through the partially closed door. He stood outside the door listening, not wanting to interrupt.
Dunni was reading one of Toni’s books, he read to her before going to bed, and it appeared she was doing a better job than he’d done.
His heart contracted. Was it possible to fall in love so quickly with someone? He wanted her, and at the same time, the timing did not feel right.
He knocked and waited for an answer. Toni answered, knowing he was the one.
Tade swallowed his breath, completely taken with the sight before him. Toni cuddled in Dunni’s arm which held the book for her to see as she read.
He knew he was totally lost to this woman, and there was no going back. He only prayed for time to mark his dead wife’s first anniversary before making any move.
The evening went incredibly well, and it was time for Dunni to leave. Toni cried, not wanting her to go. What Dunni did not know was Toni was not the only one who was reluctant to let her go. Tade wanted her to stay not just for a single day, but forever. A forever he had no right to ask of her.
21stcenturybelle 