Chapter 38

Widow! Winston suddenly remembered that, back in Nigeria, a widow was a position to be avoided at all costs. When a married woman's husband dies, she is regarded as his property, to be passed on to other family members, and so a liability, unless her husband had left a will giving her assets. The woman was shattered still, he realised, despite it being two years since her husband had died.

He recovered.

"My apologies, mother. I give you my respect, and always will do, as is due my mother-in-law." "That is a kindness, Mr Oluwosu."

"It is deserved, mother. You have a lovely daughter, and she has a lovely mother. Oh, I should have said: please hand me your phones, if you have such machines. It is for my protection, in case you have bad first impressions and report them back to Nigeria. They will be returned to you once I am happy with your integration here."

"Oh, I am sure that will not be so, Mr Oluwosu, but we will be glad to do so, to give you some reassurance." They each produced a phone, and Winston placed them carefully in his pocket.

"Ladies, please come over to our farm vehicle, and we shall drive to the farm."

"You already own a vehicle, Winston?" asked Simisola, wonderingly.

"We do own it, but there is a curious tale behind it, which I shall tell you later."

They got into the farm bus, and they set off. They expressed surprise at how quiet it was. "Runs on batteries, that's why. All the vehicles run on batteries now."

On the trip, he chatted with Simisola, asking her about her education and social connections in the community she came from. The girl was not a voluble talker, but parted with information readily enough. She had just finished school, with good results, but there was no intention that she embark on higher education. With no father, she was now a daughter, to be married off as soon as possible, and Winston was the beneficiary. "I do have some money," she told Winston. "My father left me some in his will, as well as some money for mother."

Winston looked at the mother. "So, although you are a widow, you have assets, mother?"

The mother shook her head. "Not any more. I gave my inheritance to my husband's brother, if he would guarantee that I would come to Rehome with my daughter."

Winston was staggered. "You gave away your inheritance, in exchange for a trip to Rehome with your daughter?"

She hung her head, saying, "She is my only child, and I did not trust my husband's family. They would have tried to remove my inheritance, by force if necessary. I saw giving it away, with a chance to leave, as the better option. I do not miss it, for I never had it anyway. It was just a figure in the background.

As my name tells you, my father was not Nigerian; even worse, he was not even Yoruba from another state. Back in Lagos, I would be regarded as a foreigner, as well as a widow. Life would have been bad for me, as a widow with a daughter. Rehome offers better possibilities for me. I am young enough that I might find another man, apart from the possibilities of a productive job."

Winston wanted to be positive. "I shall do my best for you, mother. My father told me he had been given some of your inheritance, and passed part of that to me, to assist with the costs of having to support a wife – a wife!" he laughed at what he was thinking. This caused the other two to be puzzled, as they saw nothing to laugh about. "So, mother, we have a small part of your inheritance to help us here."

"That is something," she acknowledged. "Are you pleased with Simisola, can you tell me - at first impressions?" she smiled at the reference back to their phones.

Winston was candidly honest. "Simisola looks a lovely girl. She is not too forward, which is pleasing, but I have yet to discover her abilities in other fields. Does she mix well?"

"I believe so. She had many friends at the girls' school she attended, so she gets on well with most people her own age. It may be different with older people, but you are not very much older than she is; you are twenty, is that so?"

"Correct. You have been well informed, it seems. I would like to hear a little more from you, mother. I was under the impression you were coming as a chaperone until the marriage, then would be returning home. It seems that your move is in fact a permanent one."

"It is, my son. I hope you will offer me a home until I find work and other accommodation. I gather that Rehome is looking for more workers."

"Indeed, the Colony is short of such personnel. Most arrivals are farmers, looking for land to farm. We have more trouble finding people to staff business, the civil service, and so on. You should be able to find work, especially if you have a degree."

"I took a degree in textile design, before I married my husband. He did not want me to work, so I have not used my talents much."

Winston turned onto another track, saying, "This track takes us to the farm. There, you will meet my co-owners, my partners in the farm."

Simisola queried this, "You father implied that you were running this farm on your own. He did not mention partners."

"Correct. The partners are a recent addition to the situation. The land is more than one person can comfortably cope with, so I have made arrangements on a sharing basis with another family from Nigeria. You will soon get to know them. We shall be arriving in five minutes."

Out of the side of his eye he noticed the two women mouthing, "Other family?"

They were put out of their querulousness by Winston sounding the vehicle horn before coming into the farmyard driveway. This resulted in two young women and an older lady appearing at the doorway. The girls bounded forward to the stopping bus, pulling open the passenger door where the two arrivals sat.

"Welcome to the farm, ladies. We have coffee and tea on the table, and some snacks as well, in case you are hungry. I am Eniola and this is Adeola; this is our mother, Mama Odumosu."

The newcomers levered themselves out of their seats, and stood to shake hands with the welcoming trio. "How do you do? This young lady is Simisola, and I am her mother, Tokunbo Okoya."

Winston had got out of the driver's seat, and came round the vehicle to join them. The twins immediately came over and each gave him a passionate kiss. Simisola and her mother looked on in confusion. Winston decided the time had come for introductions.

"Ladies, allow me to introduce you to Adeola and Eniola Oluwosu, my wives. Girls, allow me to formally introduce you to Simisola Okaya, my bride arranged by my father, and this lovely lady is her mother, Olatokunbo, usually known as Tokunbo."

"Wives?" exclaimed Tokunbo. "I was told that you were unmarried, and living alone, Mr Oluwosu."

Winston turned to her and kissed lightly on the cheek. "Mother, your information is out of date, but to be honest, my father did not know of the changes. I do not intend to change that situation. Please come in and we can sit down for a chat."

The pair were enticed indoors and persuaded to sit down and accept a cup of coffee each; or at least that was the intention, but Simisola said, "May I have tea, please?", so she had her preference. The twins decided to join her, and manoeuvred the seating so that they sat on either side of the girl. Once they all had their cups in their hands, Eniola began the questioning, "How old are you, Simisola?"

"I am sixteen, going on seventeen."

"We are seventeen, and newly married, the other day. If you had been here earlier, we could have had one wedding for all of us, but the ceremony was booked before we heard you were coming. You would have had a great time, Simi!"

The girl was looking apprehensive. She asked, "Am I to be the third wife, the lowest in the family?"

The twins both looked horrified. "Oh, no!" said Adeola. "We will be wives together. No-one will be greater than the other. We learned, as twins, that this is best; so you are simply another twin, and we are all three wives of Winston. He is a darling man, Simi, so you will be glad he is your husband."

Simisola was relieved at this expression of sisterhood, and made a point of grabbing each twin and kissing her. "Thank you! You don't know how much this means to me. Ever since father died, life has been only downhill for me and mother. I was afraid this was another case, but you tell me I am sharing an honoured place in the household!" She burst into tears of joy, and was cuddled by the twins. As the tears died away, Adeola whispered in her ear, "He is good in bed, too. He knows how to make a girl happy, Simi."

She looked at Adeola, eyes wide open. Adeola nodded understandingly, asking, "Are you still a virgin?" The other nodded, very hesitantly. Eniola whispered in her other ear, "You won't be for long, girl!"

The two mothers were equally much engrossed in discussion, apparently the difference between having one child and six. "Why did you just have the one baby, girl?" Mama wanted to know.

"I had a hard time giving birth to Simisola, and my husband decided I would not have to go through that again, so he put me on contraceptive pills from then on. Now, I wish I had more children, even if it was difficult birthing them."

"How old are you, Tokunbo?" Mama asked.

"Almost thirty-seven. I was just twenty when I had my daughter."

"You are still young enough to have more, girl. Is that not so?"

"But Mama, who would have me? I am a poor widow with no sons. No man is going to be interested in me any more!"

"You would be surprised, woman. My man is still interested in sex with me, despite it being too late to have more children. If I am still attractive to a man, you certainly are. You are younger and still good-looking, let me tell you."