“I hope your general meeting went well?”
“Yes it went excellently. Your aunt was very helpful.” He looked at her directly and she could see the trust he‘d blanked out during their confrontation in his house the last time. He probably knew everything by now, but she needed some information too.
“Edward before we talk about Bestman and the shares, I‘ll like to know what happened with the Okrikas back in Kano before you left their house.”
He straightened and his gaze sharpened. “Why do you ask?”
“Mrs. Okrika came to your house to see me the day after we returned from the trip. Please don‘t ask how she got the address or knew I would be there because I don‘t know.” Gladys shifted away so she could face him. “She told me a lot of things about you. It‘s not that I believe her but I want to know exactly what happened.”
Edward sighed as his mind raced to the past. It had been almost twenty years but the incident was engraved in his memory and still as fresh as on the day it happened.
“I‘m so sorry for keeping this past hidden from you. I can see now that those few days were at the bottom of what has happened in the last month. I hoped I would never have to reveal it to anybody but I realize that was wrong of me. They were two terrible days that I prefer not to think of.”
“I want to know about it.” She took his hand in hers.
“I had lived with the Okrikas for almost three years by the vacation of my first year in university. Chief was rarely home but Mrs. Okrika was always there. I felt settled, took her to heart and treated her like a real mother. It was a shock when I realized she was coming on to me. I began to stay away from home and soon fell in with my previous crowd. Drinks, drugs and women were a part of my life again. She blackmailed me when some friends who visited stole stuff from the house. I confessed to Chief about the theft but he only got angry and threatened to send me away.”
“That must have been painful to hear from a man you called father.” Having met and spoken with the man, she could imagine that he‘d said that though. He was so arrogant and selfish.