The Dream Street

By Alpha Dominion

A compelling epic story of the protagonist, a young orphan Bobby Hardcastles ascendancy from grass and common place deprivation to royalty and Kingship. Amasiri Maldini who is a co-lead character in the story is the dream lover of Bobby Hardcastle and his much sought after trophy. Life and loving came to the crossroads as internal and external forces tore them apart. Hatred and inequity consequently forces Amasiri Maldini to disappear mysteriously. Bobby Hardcastle is harassed and discriminated against as a bastard and an outcast by the immediate Enugu community.
Violence sets in to displace love as Amanda Maldini, a bride-to-be is assassinated at the alter thus forcing Bobby Hardcastle to marry her junior sister Asandia Maldini; both of them cousins to Amasiri Maldini, before Amasiris eventual reappearance. It was Amasiri who helped him find out who was his biological father?. Was he truly a gold digger or a clever opportunist made good.
Mysteriously Bobby Hardcastle is chosen by the Oracle of the gods to be the next King as he is revealed as the re- incarnation of the Lion King. He became King. How? And why?.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Mar 13, 2015
• ISBN: 9781499096071

Alpha Dominion

Prince Alpha Dominion holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Political Science and Public Administration from the University of Uyo in Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria. At various times, he studied English at the former University of Ife, Ile-Ife in 1975 and later, Local Government Administration at University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria in 1981. He is well traveled. An avid reader and a prolific writer. Mister Dominion is the creator’s literary gift to this generation. He retired meritoriously in 2013 as a top bureaucrat in the Unified Local Government Service of Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria. He is happily married to Deaconess Margaret Prince Dominion and they are blessed with three children. Mister Dominion hails from Mkpat Enin Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria.

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Copyright © 2015 by Alpha Dominion.

ISBN:      Softcover      978-1-4990-9606-4

                  eBook         978-1-4990-9607-1

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 03/11/2015

Xlibris

800-056-3182

www.Xlibrispublishing.co.uk

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Contents

Dedication

Author’s Note

Synopsis

Chapter 1   The Eventful Reunion

Chapter 2   The Missing link

Chapter 3   The New Beginning

Chapter 4   The Amazing Grace

Chapter 5   The Showdown

Chapter 6   The Day of Reminiscence

Chapter 7   The Search for Identity

Chapter 8   The Making of a King

Chapter 9   The Worrisome Interlude

Chapter 10   The Last Chapter

Dedication

I dedicate this book to my creator God Almighty and my beloved family, who had stood by me during my trying times. Their encouragement, love and faith kept my hopes alive and by believing that there would be a better tomorrow, they encouraged me all the way through this book project, Today I have this masterpiece to show as a price for my perseverance and hardwork.

To my dearest wife Margaret especially, for trusting in me.

To my son Samuel, for whom this use of talent is an enduring legacy.

To my daughters Margaret and Victory, for keeping faith when I needed a family.

Author’s Note

This book is a romantic fiction which bears no direct relationship to any persons living or dead. Therefore; any semblance in place names, events and names of persons in the narrative is purely a coincidence and the artistic creation of the author.

Synopsis

This story is set in Enugu township (popularly referred to as the Coal City) in the South East Midlands of Nigeria.

Bobby Hardcastle is born as a fatherless orphan into the household of Uncle Smith Maldini. He had Amasiri, Smith Maldini’s grand daughter as his youthful companion and naturally a bond of love and friendship developed between the two.

After the death of Bobby Hardcastle’s mother and the onset of the civil war, he escaped death by the whiskers and returned to Calaber his mother’s roots and hometown.

At the end of the civil war Bobby Hardcastle compelled by the necessity of love, naturally made an effort to return to Enugu and reunite with his childhood love Amasiri Maldini.

This fortuitous reunion with the Maldinis brought him more pain and heartaches than he had earlier envisaged. He suffered great reproach, abuse, discrimination and shame. Bobby Hardcastle was for most of the times derogated and he bore the stigma of a bastard and was commonly described as a gold digger and an outcast. A damaging scandal at his work place sets his fortunes backwards and dents an already battered childhood image.

Within Smith Maldini’s family he was treated as an inferior personality to the extent that when Amasiri Maldini became pregnant for Bobby Hardcastle it brough unimaginable persecution from within the family and without.

Amasiri Maldini suddenly disappears thus adding to Bobby Hardcastle’s woes and unending torment. This vacuum created in his love life breeds internal crisis. The Maldini’s household was divided against itself and could be better described as the house of confusion. But the question remained unanswered. Who was Bobby Hardcastle’s biological father?.

Bobby Harcastle began a silent quest to find out his true identity so that for once he could have the stigma of a bastard removed from him. Amasiri Maldini his lover and would-be wife had gone missing and every effort to locate her proved abortive.

One thing led to the other and Bobby Hardcastle under severe pressure consorted with Amasiri’s cousin Amanda, an association that resulted in an arranged marriage.

Amanda Maldini is assassinated on the day of the white wedding. The most recent encumbrances brings more impediments to his future happiness without any glimpse of his sufferings abating, even his persecution as an outcast. Asandia the twin sister of the murdered Amanda steps into her sister’s shoes and surprisingly becomes Bobby Hardcastle’s wife.

From nowhere Amasiri Maldini resurfaces with Bobby Hardcastle’s daughter Cleopatra, and this second reunion was to provide the catalyst that fast tracked Bobby Hardcastle’s eternal quest to discover his ancestry and roots. The sour side of his love life was that Amasiri returned to find Bobby Hardcastle already married to her cousin Asandia Maldini. Within the same family house the two women were to fight for Bobby Hardcastle’s love, attention and care. The fight for love was not without severe consequences including death.

Unfolding events revealed Bobby Hardcastle as the ‘chosen one’ as he was wittingly selected by the traditional oracle of the gods, thus he became the object of divine favor against popular predictions. Through a rigorously tested ratification process, Bobby Hardcastle is confirmed as the choice and the next candidate for Kingship. The true identity of his biological father is revealed.

With the help of his wife Amasiri Maldini, and the assistance of his benefactor Uncle Smith Maldini, Bobby Hardcastle eventually ascended the throne of his forebears. It was not without failures and setbacks. Find out how a supposed bastard and outcast became King and ruled over his people.

CHAPTER ONE

The Eventful Reunion

Bobby Hardcastle’s journey back to Enugu, the Coal-City and Capital of Enugu State of Nigeria many years after the civil war had ended was partly for the adventure of finding the love of his his life Amasiri Maldini and reunite with her given the possibility that she had survived the war. An adventure that impelled him towards an unknown destiny presumably to help him discover his roots and establish an identity. So for him it was a mixed bag of bitter and sweet memories packed together and carried along as a baggage that could not be left behind.

It was fortitude, endurance, sheer courage and faith in himself that would lead him across many rivers and miles and miles of empty spaces until he reached his destination. He still had those childhood memories of a love like no other which he shared with his childhood companion Amasiri Maldini. The very thought of Amasiri Smith Maldini was awakening in him a deep longing to live out his fantasy or worse still continue his present from the past where he had stopped.

For a young man that had an uncertain parental background it was sheer providence that saw him being adopted into the rich man’s home of Smith Cajetan Maldini. It was indeed an opportunity that not only had to be explored but exploited to the outmost limit of his capabilities to make a big success out of a bad and contemptuous situation.

It bothered him that he was going to be derided and disparaged by his peers and the society at large but he had his convictions which would stand out in his stormy and restless sea, like a light-house guiding him to the anchorage. He was determined to succeed against all odds, perhaps in the midst of the madness, some way would be provided to ease his sadness. He was determined to find his way anyhow and it mattered that someday he was going to try to unravel the mystery of his unknown paternity and ancestrial roots.

Thinking about Amasiri Maldini the love of his life, he could not immediately conjecture how it had been with her for the last many years they had been separated since during the civil war and after. He still felt how sweet their first kiss was. He still remembered the first touch and how close they had become but that very night he could remember that he had fled Enugu in the heat of the civil war, to save his life and with that singular action, all his immediate future hopes of a life with Amasiri came crumbling like a pack of cards. He remembered how he was forced by damning situation to flee away. He remembered that before then he use to say to her that if he had to go away into hiding to save his life, it was certain he would come back for her. He had always assured her she would remain his lover for life and he would never love another girl. For this she was contented and was determined to wait for him no matter how long it would be, simply because she believed in him.

He made up his mind that he would plead for her forgiveness whenever they met again assuming she was still alive. This time he swore to himself that if he ever found her alive and if he eventually found her at all, he would never leave her again, nor would he stop loving her no matter the circumstances because they would belong to each other forever. This was the sure and certain passion that lay in his heart awaiting the minute he would meet her again.

This is what his unfolding dream now started to looked like. He was some how disappointed but courage nudged him in the ribs and he felt a renewed courage enveloping his whole reins.

As he stood at house number 119 Adelabu Street in Uwani southern extension, his heartbeat raced like evening clouds fleeting home. This is the house he once lived-in some years ago. He reasoned that he should be a familiar face to whoever came to answer the door as he banged on the huge metal gate. After all it had been just a couple of years past. Certainly somebody should recognize him he mused and took a minute to say a little prayer before he knocked on the large cranky metal gate again, with his heart still beating irredeemably stronger with every passing minute as he waited outside the premises. He could hear his heart pound against the walls of his chest just as painful as the waiting was.

He knocked and there was no response still after about five minute. He stood there speechless and his thoughts were for that while uncoordinated. His thoughts settled on Amasiri Maldini. He was becoming worried whether she was alive or if she had died in the war. If she was dead then a part of him would die that day with the memory of her. In that circumstance was he going to find another lover like her. He thought about Uncle Smith Maldini his benefactor and a certain feeling of expectation troubled his soul.

While he looked forward to seeing him and be welcomed into his warm embrace, he was equally in doubt if he made it out of the war unscratched. If Uncle Smith Maldini Jnr. was truly dead then his dream was going to die that very day also because that would have put paid to his hopes and dreams of looking forward to any fatherly love and care from the man he had grown up to regard as his father. As a matter of fact Uncle Smith Maldini jnr. was the father he never had.

As he stood there it still felt like it was yesterday. He even remembered the smell on Amasiri’s skin and the day they promised each other they would marry and become man and wife. He remembered her beauty and how she looked more like a goddess than a real human. He remembered her smile and moments of laughter and how they use to play together. He remembered they were inseparable like Siamese twins. Today those memories were coming back like a strong sweeping flood. He wanted to hold her in his embrace once again and tell her how much he loved her. Standing there lonely and alone he felt disappointment that it did not work out as anticipated.

Then the pigeon hole on the metal gate slid open, just at the very material point he was beginning to be disillusioned as to whether he had come to the wrong house or if the place had been totally deserted. He could not have been wrong, he knew this place like the palm of his hands.

That face surveying him from head to toe was strange to him. He did not remember ever seeing him before.

‘Yes can I help you?.’ He asked in a disdainful baritone voice.

‘That’s right. You can be of help. I want to locate one Uncle Smith Maldini’s house. I remember I use to live with them here in this very compound, although the environment has changed a lot.’

‘So who might be asking?. This is his residence.’ he growled.

‘The name is Bobby Hardcastle. I am just coming in from Calabar in Cross River State of Nigeria.’

‘And you say you use to live with the Maldini family?.’

‘Exactly… Just mention my name and some one is bound to remember me.’ he assured him incase he thought of him as a bandit, judging from the way he surveyed him.

The pigeon hole closed again just the same subtle way it had opened. Part of his anxiety waned as he got hold of himself and braced up for the unexpected. Soon the large metal gate was rolled ajar and he was ushered in and made to wait at the portal for awhile. He turned to take a bird’s eye-view of the surroundings and he was admiring the new aesthetics within the compound that were not there before, then he felt some presence around him, so he turned to look at who it was.

Before him stood a tall, light weight, light complexioned young woman who stared at him as if she had just seen a ghost or a fiend. Enthralled and dumbfounded she surveyed him from top to bottom and up again then summed up courage. He recognized her but wondered what a makeover she had come through. He did not expect to see anything like what was standing before him. Certainly it was Amasiri Maldini but from the look of things it seemed she had not readily recognized him too. Perhaps he too had changed a lot and before her eyes she could only struggle to remember what last picture of him she had in her memory.

‘Yes who do you want?.’ she asked brashly.

‘Do I know you?… You look familiar to me.’ he responded with a wry smile on his face but that did not elicit a corresponding smile in return as she stood there like the picture of a fabled Egyptian goddess just chiseled out of stone, rock solid and immovable.

‘Don’t waste my time. Just tell me who you are looking for.’ she retorted with controlled vexation.

‘Amasiri, don’t you remember me?.’ he enthused expectantly but with butterfly gathering in his stomach.

‘Yes that is me and who are you?.’ she responded inquisitively.

‘The name is Bobby… Bobby Hardcastle.’ he seemed to have said the magic word that by itself triggered an unexpected reaction. She just shouted and leaped up thrice.’ she jumped into his arms and that was it.

She just fainted in his embrace. It startled him and he was lost in his own world, shocked and exasperated he yelled hysterically for help. Immediately the security man came out from the gatehouse while some other footsteps came thumping on the concrete floor from the inside of the large palatial bungalow. A somewhat middle aged woman, two young but matured girls, four other teenagers and two equally matured young men emerged. The last but one was a slightly well built matured woman almost a little older than the age of Bobby Hardcastle, then lastly Uncle Smth Maldini himself unmistakenly emerged from within the house. From all indications they were bemused to find Amasiri in the hands of someone who looked to them like a total stranger.

‘What happened and who are you?.’ the middle aged woman queried as she looked at him contentiously.

‘I just mentioned my name and she fainted.’ he replied to her query.

‘Young man I asked about your name.’ she was like a mighty terrible one, the way she talked and posed.

Just then the old man pulled up to the portal where they all stood and called out.

‘Bobby Hardcastle my son… Is this your eyes. Amasiri always reassured me you would come back. My God I am over joyed to see you.’ he took him into his warm embrace.

‘Yea….. Yea…. Yea. Uncle Smith it is me live. Bless your soul I am sure glad to see you again.’ as he said that they all shouted and yelled somewhat in unison. One or two clapped their hands while they took turns hugging and embracing him. The young men were trying their level best to resuscitated the one that had fainted.

‘Take his baggage to the guest room. Hezekiah bring the car let’s take Amasiri to the hospital. Adammah you will come with us.’ Uncle Smith ordered.

‘Maybe we should try and revive her. Amarachi bring a bucket of water.’ Amanda suggested.

As she returned with the water, Amanda splashed the whole content on Amasiri so forcefully it could have woken even a mummy but disappointingly nothing happened and the young woman that had fainted did not even twitch.

‘Oh my God.’ Bobby exclaimed, then added with deep concern.

‘Better we take her straight to the hospital.’

‘Me am not coming,’ Adammah quipped half wittedly.

From the tone in her voice it did not seem there was any love lost between her and Amasiri, so he reasoned that he needed to watch Adammah closely from thence onwards.

As she lay in the passenger’s compartment with her head on his laps he looked at her tearfully and said a little prayer the second in one day. He could not imagine Amasiri dying on him on the first day of their reunion.

It took him so many years to be able to come back to her. Now all the joy and overwhelming excitement at seeing her again had passed him by, like the flash of lightning right before his very eyes. If anything went wrong with Amasiri Maldini he would curse his fate that seemed so cruel to him. He was not going to lose her, he consoled himself as they drove towards the General Hospital. Tears welded up his eyes and then crashed down his cheeks effortlessly and his emotions cracked. He wept deeply under his breath mumbling incoherent words of prayer. He thought of what Amasiri meant to him. He searched his heart and convinced himself that the whole strenuous journey would have been uncalled for because everything he decided to do was all for Amasiri. He would even die for her sake if something tragic happened in the final analysis.

‘Amasiri… Why?,’ he muttered as he continued to gape at her.

Momentarily Uncle Smith Maldini turned in his seat and observed the duo in the back seat. Awhile they were at the Hospital and after the formalities the young woman was on admission in the amenity private ward.

‘As it is my son, you will watch over her until I return. I am sure she will come around so I better get some food for her and you too… You know you have not eaten anything since your arrival.’ Uncle Smith Maldini offered.

‘Uncle Smith… You need not bother about me. I will eat everything I have to eat when she is okay. You know I can die if anything happens to Amasiri.’

‘Don’t talk like that son, nothing will happen to her,’ he comforted him.

He did not quite say what he had to say when Bobby Hardcastle went into a hard painful and heavy sobbing which made Uncle Smith’s heart to break but he was much stronger, so he comforted him gently.

‘Bobby be a man,’ Smith Maldini encouraged him.

‘You know how much I love Amasiri. She is the whole world to me and I can’t start thinking of how I could ever live everyday for the rest of my life without her,’ Bobby tried to express himself tearfully.

‘She will be okay… Just hold yourself together,’ Uncle Smith chided.

‘Alright Uncle Smith, you can go ahead I will be fine,’ he comported himself.

‘I’ll be gone now so that I can get you some food, after all your body is not firewood. You need nourishment I can’t afford another casualty okay.’

‘Am grateful for your concern, thank.’

So Uncle Smith Maldini left with Hezekiah. The two Nurses took her temperature thereafter checked her blood pressure before they set the drip and injected some substance into it before they left.

‘You alert us if anything happens… I mean anything,’ the tall heavily built one said emphatically.

Just as they left and the door closed behind them something somewhat strange happened immediately. Surprise, surprise she opened her eyes and stared at him. He was mesmerized and he was about to make the move to alert the nurse as he was instructed but she grabbed him, pulled him to herself and kissed him very long and passionately.

‘You came back for me as you promised. And I saw your tears. Bobby I did not know that you loved me so much. I was going to wait forever until you return.’ Amasiri spoke to him lovingly.

‘Yes… I came back just as I promised. I love you Amasiri and nothing can change my love for you,’ he was happy to reassure her by telling her exactly how he felt.

‘People should not make promises they cannot fulfill. In your own case you have placed honour before anything else. I am proud of you, my love,’ she commended him.

‘I am a promise keeper. So what happened back there at home?, you scared the daylight out of me,’ he tried to make sense out of the sudden happening.

‘Oh that!… I faked all that just to take advantage of your coming back, so that we can be together like this. Are you not happy to be here alone with me. I had thought about this for a long time,’ Amasiri remarked.

‘I don’t understand,’ he was miffed.

‘I wanted to be the first to have access to you. I have a lot of things to tell you. Please forgive me if I made you afraid. There are certain things you should know right away.’

‘That’s strange,’ Bobby was still uncertain about her last pretentious move.

‘Whatever… it was a doubtful gambit but it worked. It paid off and I am here with you all alone. Isn’t it worth all the trouble or are you not happy being with me. Believe me it’s for our good… Don’t deny me this pain I am going through. I love you so much Bobby.’

‘I am happy… But you over acted and you could have killed me by sheer fright like that. Remember the story of Romeo and Juliet, I don’t like such tragic endings. For a while I was scared that I have lost you,’ Bobby said fastidiously.

They smiled and their smile turned into a mild laughter as they embraced.

‘Tomorrow we start a new life straight away, right from where we stopped a couple of years ago,’ Bobby said with renewed passion.

‘It was to safeguard such plans that made me stage- managed the whole fainting episode,’ she sounded apologetic.

‘I don’t understand what you are talking about. Are you saying some people out there may not want to see us stay together?,’ Bobby counteracted looking confused.

‘Exactly… Now let me ask you. What did you observe when those girls started embracing you?.’

‘Oh… Amasiri that?. I guess they seemed to show some overexcitement.’

‘That’s it Bobby, they each embraced you with overflowing passion, each of them wanting to impress you even their mother… That old slut.’

‘Don’t be so impetuous Amasiri… Don’t talk like that.’

‘You don’t believe me, alright time will tell.’

‘Amasiri, it is too early to make such far away suppositions… I came back for you. I guess by now you must have known how much I love you and nothing is going to change that… Believe me for all I mean to you,’ he remarked.

‘Bobby, I have been with these people. They never believed me when I use to say that you will come back to me. Be that as it may, am sure she that aunty Adammah will be sending her brood of vixens after you… And I have to forewarn you to eliminate any thought of your fraternizing with either of them, out of your mind,’ Amasiri stated with exactitude.

‘For what… Why would she do a thing like that?.’

‘She will try her best to thwart any meaningful relationship developing between you and me.’

‘Amasiri, you worry a lot. Look into my eyes… I am here for real. If you have been searching for me, you don’t need to search anymore. I want you to know that from this time hence, everything I do I will do it for you. I want us to stay strong in the face of adversity, persecution and even shame. One day we will overcome,’ he tried to ingrain his ultimate passion in her mind.

‘I am comforted my love. One thing I know for sure is that one day aunty Adammah will try to seduce and entice you… Do not consent because she is an embodiment of evil.’

‘She may try but she won’t succeed. I am above such pettiness. Moreover you know we have a divine destiny, if anybody tries to change that by force of human arms that person will suffer somehow now or later… So they are invited to try dying for what is not their own.’

‘Kiss me again my love. If you cut the inside of me you will see that my heart is cherry and ginger. I will now be free from those young men that have been pestering my life for these many years. You know they even called me a freak, a demon possessed person because I refused to date any man.’

‘All because you refuse to yield to their advances?,’ he asked suggestively and she nodded her head in affirmation.

‘Now we are going to paint this whole town red. I will go with you everywhere you go… I want them to see that after all, I had a lover and that I am not a freak,’ she made a delightful remark that made both of them to laugh.

‘You know what Amasiri my love… It still feels like the first time I kissed you, only this time the passion is getting stronger. I want us to get close.’

‘You know what… When we get home I want you and me to make love for the very first time and please don’t make me wait much longer,’ she was precise and unequivocal and her face brightened up with a smile.

‘I will make it up to you,’ he drew her to himself and cuddled her lovingly.

‘My grandpa is the happiest person on earth. He too like me was awaiting your eventual return. You know that all his hopes is on you… That one day you will marry me and abide in his house forever.’

‘Amasiri… I don’t ever want to go away if he wants me to stay.’

‘Bobby he wants to bequeath his estate to you.’

‘You are jiving… How can you be so sure.’

‘Well if it were not so he wouldn’t have told me,’ she maintained stoically.

‘He does not expect that one day I would like to go out and live in my own house and mind my own business.’

‘Grandpa considers you to be his only son now that all his other sons are late.’

‘Amasiri you are not saying.’

‘Well it’s true they all died during the war. My father and his other two brothers. You know that Benedict died before the war even started… So the news of the death of the others in the war front greeted us at home, one after the other and it almost killed him.’

‘It is an unfortunate thing to have ever happened to Uncle Smith,’ Bobby sympathized.

‘One day like I have already said… You are going to be the inheritor of Smith Maldini’s estate. Right now you are the heir apparent, so don’t miss this golden opportunity that fate is offering to you on a platter of gold,’ Amasiri advised.

‘Are you dreaming or making a prophetic utterance,’ Bobby expressed some skepticism.

‘I speak with the wisdom of a seer… I can see into tomorrow you know?.’

‘What are you?.’

‘I am what I have said before that I am. I am Amasiri, daughter of the river goddess. Have I not told you that before and your destiny is tied to mine.’

‘You are tripping. So you are still into the small magic belief you use to tell me about when we were little kids. Tell me you don’t mean it.’

‘I am telling you nothing but the truth and don’t you feign ignorance because you and I come from the great waters beyond. One day not too long I will reveal myself to you in a better way so that you may believe me and also believe in who you are.’

‘You should have told me this earlier.’

‘But Bobby… All of my life I have been saying the exact same thing and you were never listening to me. You wouldn’t have loved me nor come back to me… Is that it?’.

‘So I am dealing with a benevolent mermaid in human skin?.’

‘Are you regretting your origin, don’t be because my fate and your fate have been sealed since so many lifetimes ago. If I am what you think of me, then you are equally same.’

‘What are you talking about Amasiri?. We are not less humans or are we?,’ he demanded to be clarified since she was making some what weird assertions.

‘I can see you are disturbed. If you are feeling that way, please forgive me I can’t stop loving you… And I wouldn’t mind doing it through eternity.’

‘But why did it have to be me Amasiri?.’

‘And why not you Bobby?.’

‘What have I done wrong this time and why can’t you leave me alone. Why did I get entangled with you in the first place?.’

‘You did something very wrong so many centuries ago. We both came from the waters,’ Amasiri continued persuading him.

‘Maybe… But cut the crap… Iam not interested for now. He did not let her finish when he interrupted her, staffing the words off from her mouth but she persisted and stood her grounds.

‘This is what happened. You left me very long time ago and told your mother you were coming to visit the earth. I was betrothed to you. You were my husband and had already chosen me as your wife. Since you were gone, you never returned. So when I came searching for you, that search took me across many lands and clime, over several continents before I could find you and since then we have been inseparable through many cycles of life.’

‘So Amasiri, you are determined to follow me through out eternity,’ he jested gauntly.

‘I would have searched for you throughout eternity until I found you and now that I have found you, there is no way out. There is no freedom for a bond man.’

‘Amasiri… Any way I can be set free’.

‘You want your freedom from me?.’

‘Yes my soul cries for freedom right now… But I don’t know what it is I really want, to be frank.’

‘Bobby you don’t want to love me again?.’

‘I am ready to keep on loving you but the truth is that these inexplicable oddities just frightens the hell out of me,’ Bobby said with a confused gesture of to be or not to be.

‘Bobby… Believe me and come love me forevermore. I will stand by you and will never let anything harm you. For as long as I am with you, no man or woman shall in anyway harm nor slay you. I will protect you and be your pillar of strength in times of trouble… Trust me’.

‘You expect me to go through these inexplicables?.’

‘Believe me… It’s the path already made for you to tread. It’s not foolery as you may want to call it. This is your reality… Don’t you know things don’t just happen. Even those things we normally call accidents or misfortunes are really test and trials put there by fate to bring out the better part of us. Even the man of faith in the Bible, Job puts it epigrammatically… He said, when I am tried purer than diamond I shall come forth purified… Just like Gold. So my love it is not for nothing that you have to pass through all these pitfalls. To become gold eventually, you have to be purged through fire,’ she gave what seemed a perplexing explanation to him.

‘You must be a benevolent marine Spirit,’ he responded.

‘I am not a marine Spirit neither are you but truly speaking we are marine beings taking on a terrestrial body to manifest our borrowed nature. It’s just like there are terrestrial beings which are humans and celestial beings like Angels. Spirits cannot take on a bodily form but they can possess anything from animals, reptiles, to human beings and therein operate from them. Whereas beings can manifest in any form be it humans or animals or Angels… That’s why they can appear and disappear at wish.’

Bobby was going to take her up on that last expository discourse when there was a knock on the door and the nurses returned, followed closely behind by Uncle Smith Maldini and Hezekiah.

‘There you are my grandchild. I knew you would be fine by the time we return,’ her grand father was all smiles in approval of the good job done by the hospital, not knowing that there was nothing actually wrong with her in the first place.

‘Mister, I told you to alert us of any development,’ the nurse spoke with some anger in her voice.

‘That was not necessary or else I would have done so. As you can see she is perfectly okay,’ Bobby responded.

‘We always insist that the person coming here with their patients should help us to help them by co-operating with the Hospital authority,’ the Nurse made a follow up protest rather loudly.

‘Nurse there’s no need for that brash talking… I am okay and that should suffice,’ Amasiri interrupted her ranting.

The two nurses stormed out of the room in a vexatious manner.

‘What’s eating her up for goodness sake,’ Bobby was peeved by her behaviour.

‘Bobby just chill, don’t bandit words with her. Maybe she does not know that the customer is always right,’ Uncle Smith deposed, then he turned to his granddaughter.

‘So how are you my daughter?.’

‘Grandpa I am alright and as long as Bobby is here with me, I am very okay,’

‘Can you come home with us tonight?,’ he enquired.

‘No grandpa, that will be tomorrow. I want to have some rest, moreover I want to be alone with Bobby,’ she responded sounding a bit contented.

‘I know you two have a lot to talk about. I brought you two some food.’

‘That’s kind of you Uncle Smith,’ Bobby appreciated the kind gesture and added.

‘She will be fine… Don’t worry, she’s in good hands.

‘Bobby thank you for coming back to us. At least I can say that for me and Amasiri, we are happy to have you back. Indeed you are a man of your own words…That’s what honour and trust worthiness is all about.’

‘I am happy to be back and thank you Uncle Smith for accepting me wholeheartedly, I am so grateful.’

‘Bobby you know that my house has always been your home and we are the only family you have ever had. So welcome my son. Amasiri you can now relax especially since the one you were thinking of and waiting for all these years is here with you.’

‘Grandpa, I am so thrilled. I feel stronger now more than ever. We will be fine. Let Hezekiah come for us tomorrow,’ Amasiri twitted.

‘That is alright. I should be leaving for home. So goodnight both of you.’

‘Good night Uncle Smith and you too Hezekiah,’ Bobby greeted.

‘Grandpa till tomorrow then. Goodnight,’ Amasiri bidded her grand father.

As they left, the Nurses returned. The one that looked like the senior still wore a grimace on her face. She surveyed the two silently and then she haughtily instructed.

‘Mister man… You will sleep on the couch outside at the Reception. We don’t allow visitors to sleep in the same room with the patient,’ she said audaciously.

‘Says who?… So what do you mean exactly. I want to stay and watch over her. If you have a chair I can sit all through the night just to be sure that nothing goes wrong, while you do your sleeping,’ Bobby retorted.

‘You seem to be an obstinate fellow my young man. You will stay outside the room for the night because I said so.’

‘Nurse what is making you to be so pig headed about it. Are you envious. Well if you must know… He is the love of my life and we are only reuniting after almost eight years just today. It’s the overflowing joy that made me seemingly pass out so to say but in real fact if you want to know the truth, I didn’t really pass out,’ Amasiri remarked.

‘Whether you passed out or did not pass out, an order is an order. I don’t want to hear your story, period.’

‘Then Nurse you still have an option left if that is the case.’

‘And what is that?’.

‘You can call the Police period,’ Amasiri fired back at her.

‘Alright young woman, you leave me with no choice.’

‘Get off my rocker Nurse… You are so unimaginative. At the end of the day I am the one to pay my bills and not you… Can’t you be a little bit benevolent or are you just stereotype,’ Amasiri took a swipe at her.

‘I won’t have your insult, I deserve some respect,’ she fired back.

‘Well you are not respecting my opinion and showing me the courtesy I deserve as your customer, so you can’t have what you want without us having what we want. Why treat us like we are your little kids.’

For the second time that same evening she was storming out of the room like a wounded lion. It was certain her pride was scorched and she would not have any more of their vituperations. Bobby and Amasiri had their dinner comfortably and then went outside to catch some night breeze. Again she was at it in the same hateful manner.

‘You two can see that it is late… So you can not be outside because we will soon lock the doors.’

‘You are certainly not keeping us captives in there… Are you?.’

‘Why are you grown ups behaving like stubborn children,’ she chided.

‘Keep your sarcasm to yourself. We are not prisoners here, so don’t confine us… We are not under house arrest either,’ Bobby Hardcastle was hard also on her. They both walked outside laughing her to scorn and this infuriated her the more. There was nothing the Nurses nor anybody else could do because the two needed fresh air badly.

The taste of fresh air was like food to the greasy body. The wind was blowing from all sides, very strong gusty cold wind as if it was going to shower the very next moment. The skies seemed like a thick blanket had been woven around it while fleeting dark clouds covered the face of the moon and it lost its shine. Just like he thought it started to drizzle and cold showers were coming in from the distance to further wet the atmosphere.

‘It’s so breezy, it seems like we are by the seashore. I love it out here,’ Bobby observed.

‘Me too, I like the wetness out here compared to the stuffy staleness of the room,’ She responded laying her head on his laps while he stroked her hair gently.

‘This our love is unbreakable Amasiri. If we stay together we will be stronger and nothing shall in any wise separate us.’

‘Oh Bobby… For coming back to me I know that you really love me and truly this our love is also unshakable. My junior cousins are going to be green with envy when they always see us together. I want to show you to the world as from tomorrow.’

‘Finally Amasiri, I want to see and feel what it is like to have a lover around me by sharing with you, talking with you endlessly, sleeping and waking up with you… These whole sweet thoughts are reaching up to my heart and I just want to lay my love on you pretty much.’

‘Oh Bobby you are making me feel brand new already… I never knew love could make me feel this way.’

‘I can hardly believe that we are finally together. I never knew I would feel your tender kisses again. Those days we were apart was the most tortuous for me. I kept dreaming and I was carrying your picture in my mind and I would often see bad dreams of having lost you in the war. And when I woke up I will cry until I turn around to comfort myself again. I tried to write to you twice or thrice and when the reply did not come, it worsen my thoughts and expectations. I really suffered and every passing day was like a time of comforting emptiness. Nothing was real any more as it seemed I had lost you completely.’

‘God is merciful. He saw me through the most difficult times of my life and now that I am here with you again, I want to live my life to the fullest and nobody is going to stop us as long as we have my grand father’s support,’ Amasiri spoke without any doubt in her mind that finally her dreams were coming true. She wanted to love him and him alone.

‘What is it that I have done for your grand father, that he loves me so much. To him it doesn’t make any difference who I am, he still loves me in spite of my common place parentage.’

‘You don’t know the storm my grandpa has faced… And having seen you again today, he is emboldened to face his future with fortitude and laughter because you can become his hero. You can kiss away his sorrows and regrets forever. Some people thought he had lost his mind by adopting a total stranger into his household.’

‘Really Amasiri!… How could they be so mischievous. Uncle Smith adopted me just like others have adopted total strangers and made them sons and daughters… So why should my case be any different?,’ Bobby Harcastle queried.

‘Bobby you won’t believe it but they have said all sorts of stupid things about him. Most especially when you left they said he had wasted his resource for nothing. The exciting thing is that now that you are back… I am sure some of them will start eating back those stupid words they had vomited,’ Amasiri disposed.

‘Well I will put them to shame. I am going to make Uncle Smith Maldini a proud man Amasiri… Do you know that I went back to School and I have both my West African School Certificate (WASC) and my Higher School Certificate (HSC). If he would be magnanimous enough to get me a job maybe from there I can further my education at least to a first Degree level then, I can rest for a while and improve on my job profile.’

‘Bobby that’s easy then… You are going to have a good start in life and it is enough for us to start planning our own lifes. My grand father will certainly get you a job if you ask him. Even where there is no opening in his Company, he has some good friends that can assist,’ she was optimistic that they could make a bold start.

‘So Amasiri, what have you been doing since the war ended.’

‘I had to go back and finish my Senior School Certificate. After that I have been working in my grandfather’s company and waiting for you to come back to me so that you and me can plan our future together. Presently I am an Assistant Production Supervisor.’

‘That’s good… So Amasiri now that I am here what do you want us to do, my love?.’

‘Am so thrilled that I don’t know what to say realy.’

‘Then say what you don’t know,’ as he said that they both laughed unashamely into each other’s face.

‘You are always very funny, at least all through your absence I always remembered you for that.’

‘When you laugh there is always a dimple coming out on both side of your cheeks and it drives me crazy and it looks good on you Amasiri… That’s one of the things I love about your person.’

‘Thanks my love. I think you will get a job first… So we can go ahead and plan from there. Only God knows how I feel right now. Shall I make a confession to you Bobby?.’

‘And what is that?… Anything you want to share with me?.’

‘Yes Bobby I want to be the mother of your child, then we can celebrate our marriage later… At least that will give me some form of confidence that I truly belong to you.’

‘Amasiri if that is what you want, then I have to formally ask Uncle Smith for your hand in marriage. Looks like we will make it that way if we are together and still going strong. They are people that will bet that we will not make it but I want us to prove them wrong. Do you think the larger Maldini family will accept me for who I am… an orphan?.’

‘Bobby I love you as you are… I don’t want to lose you no matter what. They better accept you or else we will have to run away together.’

They did not notice that the two Nurses had walked stealthily up to where they were sited outside as they were so engrossed in their conversation and they actually heard them and so much they had said about themselves for most of the while.

‘So you too are so much in love?,’ the naughty Nurse asked shyly.

‘What’s in it there for you?,’ Bobby retorted.

‘Well I can only wish you two love and fulfillment, but don’t run away from home or you will break that man’s heart, whatever he is to both of you… I must advise,’ the Nurse opined.

‘They say my lover is an outcast and they deride him because he does not know who his father is. They have called him a bastard, an outcast, child of Osu and other unprintable names… And all that is through no fault of his. My grand father graciously adopted him as his son,’ Amasiri opened up.

‘Amasiri… You shouldn’t have told her that sort of thing, she will only laugh at us,’ Bobby was conservative in letting out such information to an outsider, so he reprimanded her.

‘No don’t be hard on her, I am in your exact same shoes. I am also an orphan… It’s the act of God through my foster Parents that I am where I am today. So I want to encourage you two to hold unto the love you have found and don’t let nothing or anything separate you two.’

‘Does that mean you accept that we should both sleep in the same room tonight?.’ Bobby questioned.

‘It’s the Hospital’s regulations but I will give you two that concession.’

‘How long have you two been standing there and hearing our conversation?,’ Bobby questioned.

‘Pretty long, enough to hear a lot that you have said about yourselves and your story sounds like fairy tale, but I think it’s the magic of love, so carry on with it.’

‘Thank you Nurse for your understanding, we appreciate it,’ Bobby Hardcastle responded gratefully.

The Nurses left and Bobby and Amasiri went inside. By now it had started raining heavily so they secured the locks and cuddled up in each others arms. It was the first time they were sleeping in each other’s arms since they grew up as kids in the Maldini household.

Morning came swiftly and they were up by about half past five o’clock and they showered together for the first time.

‘Yesterday opened a new chapter in our relationship. Now you are truly mine so I am not ashamed to show myself to you. Thank you for coming back to me. Eventhough we are not yet officially married… We should start behaving like two adults going into the next level of a mutually consenting relationship,’ Amasiri stated the obvious.

‘Nothing matters now anymore Amasiri. No distance will come in between us again. Since the moment I set my eyes on you again after so many years… It felt like magic and I knew then that my life will be complete with you besides me and for the rest of my life I will love you Amasiri.’

‘Bobby marry me and take away from me all the shame, pain and reproach I have had to bear all these years in your absence.’

‘That’s why I came back. You are still the only I love Amasiri.’

‘Yeah lest I forget… Bobby don’t eat anything from that woman Adammah, otherwise she will introduce something strange into you and you know that once it goes into your stomach, it is difficult to bring out.’

‘Like what Amasiri?.’

‘Just don’t accept anything from that woman be it fruits or whatever.’

‘You of all persons Amasiri… You are too superstitious.’

‘Call it what you may but if you don’t take my advice you will regret it and by that time it will be too late.’

‘What about her children?.’

‘She will do whatever she can for her daughters to gain undue advantage and she can even use her daughters to get easily at you, if she finds out that you are interested in any one of them… You know they are pretty girls too.’

‘I still don’t get it Amasiri.’ Bobby argued blindly.

‘All I am saying is that you should be careful of what you eat from them lest they give you a love portion that will turn your heart away from me… Is that too difficult for you to comprehend? Don’t make me think you are a yo-yo.’

Amasiri haven’t I told you before that you worry too much over little things.’

‘No… We have just met. How would you know I worry over little things. Is that a little thing. You are oblivious of the danger lurking behind those pretty faces. Alright since you don’t want to listen to me you can continue being lustfully minded, it’s your look out.’

‘Amasiri… Let us not quarrel over things like that.’

‘No… There is no quarrel, you can please yourself,’ she concluded.

‘You think I will be enticed by their beauty for me to start loving any of them?.’

‘Bobby if I did not know you too well, I would say you are nuts upstairs. Why would I talk about love. What’s love got to do with it… I am talking about your safety which is paramount. You are free to love as many of them as you like… We will see what will unfold in the years to come.’

‘Now you are sounding envious Amasiri.’

‘Bobby envious of who or what. Is there anything you will find in any of them that is not in me. What do you take me for… A nitwit or plain simpleton?.’

‘Amasiri we must not let them be the ones to divide us no matter what. I am sorry if I have seemed insensitive to your feelings,’ Bobby pleaded for understanding.

‘Just be careful that’s all I can say. As for me I have warned you adequately.’

They had gotten dressed before Hezekiah arrived.

‘So where do we go from here Bobby?.’

‘I would like us to visit the Parish.’

‘For what?.’

‘I want to say some prayers before I go back home. I feel like committing the start of our relationship into God’s hand. I still believe in the efficacy of prayers especially in times like this when we have great need.’

‘So Bobby, you are still highly spiritual as before.’

‘Amasiri I haven’t lost any bit of my penchant for my spiritual welfare because Uncle Smilth spared no effort to lead me in the right part and that is what has kept me alive for all these years.’

‘I am glad you still have some morality left in you.’

‘You won’t believe me Amasiri… I wanted you to be the very first woman to have me since I was born. It was a promise I made to myself since we were growing up remember?… And I have kept it close to my heart ever since.’

‘You mean you waited all these years for me to be the first woman that you were going to share love with?.’

‘That’s right… And you are my only true love.’

‘I have never known any man either since I was born. I was going to wait until I could wait no more. I give you that rare honour to be the one to discover the fountain of life in me.’

Hezekiah arrived with a note from Uncle Smith Maldini and some money with instruction for Bobby Hardcastle to settle the bills and bring Amasiri home. Afterwards they were driven to St. Peter and Paul Parish where he had worshipped last before fleeing to safety.

At the Parish they were lucky to find the Priest. So after introducing himself he dragged Amasiri to the prayer alter in the fore front. And they knelt down hand in hand and prayed softly. Whether she prayed or not he would not know if he did not ask.

‘Goddess or not… Know that the Almighty God is the ultimate,’ he whispered softly in her ears like teasing her.

‘Accepted… Anything you say Bobby.’

He then asked the Priest to bless them as they were going back to start life together as man and woman. His request surprised the Priest and he thought it was an honest one for two very grown up adults who were in love. Although it was quite unorthodox and not in keeping with the Catholic dogma, the Priest obliged to bless them seeing how earnest and eager they were.

‘As consenting adults are you two prepared to accept the responsibilities that goes with such commitment?,’ he asked.

‘Yes Father,’ the two chorused.

‘Young woman, who is your father?.’

‘Smith Cajetan Maldini.’

‘Smith Maldini… Isn’t he the same man that turned the offer of knighthood?.’

‘Yes he is the same man Father,’ Amasiri responded.

‘And young man, who is your father?.’

‘Father with due respect… He is the same man Uncle Smith Cajetan Maldini.’

‘What subterfuge… Isn’t that an abomination?,’ the Priest seemed alarmed.

‘Please Father don’t be alarmed… I am no relation of hers. Iam an orphan and the man Smith Maldini adopted me since I was a kid.’

‘Young man… Don’t you think that by that token you are his son?.’

‘Our father Smith Maldini is anxious that we get married eventually,’ Amasiri tried to explain.

‘Why is that so… Explain yourself more.’

‘Well Father you see… Uncle Smith Maldini lost his three sons during the civil war and there is no male child to inherit his vast estate. I am the heir and when I marry Amasiri… It means that his wealth will remain within the family and he will be sure that I won’t go away any where else. Assuredly, I’ll become a Maldini by happenstance. Do you understand what I have just explained to you, Father?,’ Bobby Hardcastle labored to get the message across.

‘Do you both agree that I should cross-check this your fairy-tale love story with him?.’

‘Even right now if you wish Father… You can have his phone number right away and talk to him yourself,’ Amasiri offered.

The Reverend Father sort of conceded.

‘I will bless you two on the condition that you both pledge to come before the Church at a later date and do the solemnization of the union.’

‘We pledge Father,’ Bobby and Amasiri responded in unison.

This early morning vow-taking in the presence of Hezekiah as the second witness was all that Bobby Hardcastle and Amasiri Maldini needed.

‘Amasiri… With every bit of my heart, I will from this day forward begin my life with you. You are the one I love. I give my hand to you with all my heart. I can’t wait to start living with you and for all the days of my life,’ Bobby vowed to Amasiri.

‘Bobby… As long as I live I will love you. From this moment onwards, for better, for worse I will never find another lover because I have given myself to live with you for all the days of my life till death,’ Amasiri responded with a shine in her eyes.

‘I have to admonish you both that you owe it a duty to yourselves to keep the vows you have made to each other today in the presence of God and man. And since you both feel the same way, I pray that God Almighty will grant you the enablement to achieve your heart’s desire. Bless you my children,’ the Priest was kind hearted to bless them. They thanked him and promised to be in the Church on Sunday, thereafter they left for home.

At home the anticipated warm welcome he expected from other siblings of Adammah the daughter-in-law of Smith Maldini was not there but a certain despondent and luke-warm attitude greeted their arrival. Except for Margaret Adamson the housekeeper who ran out and embraced Amasiri. The only other persons that were passionate about it all was Uncle Smith Maldini, Emeka and Nazareth.

There and then what Amasiri told Bobby Hardcastle earlier in the Hospital began to sink in and for one split second he thought whether they expected Amasiri to pass away just like that. If perchance that happened then in the midst of the tears Adammah and her brood would be perfecting their plans for the eventual scramble for the worthy trophy. It surprised him that the incident did not even touch them positively.

In that brief moment of distraction he made up his mind to tread cautiously from thence forthwith. He was not going to open his arms and receive them unto himself as co-members of the same family. He was learning fast and the hard way too.

‘My son Bobby… You are welcome officially into tha Maldini household, now that the seeming tragedy has been averted.’

‘Thank you Uncle Smith,’ he addressed him as he had fondly been calling him by that appellation.

‘Maybe I should introduce you to everybody in the household. You already know Hezekiah the Driver. Emeka is the Security man while Nazareth keeps the Compound clean and does other essential duties, in short he is the utility man-about-the-home. Others are….’