The relationship between Ezekwe and Euna suffered another major setback due to Nwamaka's pregnancy. Ezekwe made it clear to Euna that he was not in support of Nwamaka having a child out of wedlock. He told Euna to tell him the owner of the pregnancy so that he could be made to come and pay Nwamaka's bride price. Euna refused to cooperate. Ezekwe also made her understand that he would not tolerate an okene coming to live in the family with them. An okene is a child born of a daughter of Nneri and is accepted when the mother was married and paternity known. But when not known, or when the pregnancy is illegitimate, it usually generates a lot of heat. It was never allowed or accepted.

Meanwhile, this matter was rested in the interim awaiting Nwamaka's delivery. If she delivered a baby girl, it could be tolerated since the child would grow up and be married off. But if on the other hand the child turned out to be a boy, it could never be tolerated. It was against the custom and belief of Nneri people.

As fate would have it, Nwamaka was delivered of a baby boy. The birth of this child triggered off series of events that affected the lives of many. When the news of the birth of this child got to Oyibo, she promptly returned home. She did not ask after the child or Euna but merely sought after Nwamaka.

"Get ready I am taking you with me" Nwamaka was surprised. "This is what I should have done when grandma died but I didn't and now, look at what it has resulted to. I won't leave you here again to avoid further regrets" she said.

"What about the baby?"

"Which baby?"Oyibo asked. "Let the owner have him. Mama wanted him so let her keep him. By the way, who is the father of the baby?"
This question merely brought a stare and then tears from Nwamaka.

"Okay. I won't ask again. Just get ready and let's leave."

Euna heard of this arrangement from Nwamaka and tried to intervene.

"Why are you taking Nwamaka away? Didn't you see she just had a baby?"

"You wanted a child and now you have him. Keep him. I am taking my sister with me. When you had her, you resented her and grandma took over. So you can do the same to the baby" Oyibo said.

Euna refused to be drawn into any argument, she was too happy for that. She allowed Oyibo have her way.
Back at Ibadan, Oyibo tried to rehabilitate her sister. She had her enrolled back into school and helped her to make a fresh start.

Four years had past. Euna had subsisted on her own with none of her children showing any interest in her or in the new born child. The last she saw and heard of Oyibo and Nwamaka was the day Oyibo came and took Nwamaka to Ibadan. Obichi had not shown up either and Sister Nkechinyere had been on mission in far away Uganda.
The only presence of her biological children in the house was Natachinyem who came in now and then from school. She had gained admission into the university to study law and only visited home during vacations. Her presence did not mean much to Euna since the two of them did not share much intimacy with each other. It was a very trying period in her life, but Euna's only consolation was in her grandchild, Obioha. Holding him in her arms gave her much contentment and pleasure. He had grown into such a lovely child.

Ever since he was born, the rift between Ezekwe and Euna widened. In Nneri, it was not acceptable traditionally to keep such a child. He was an okene and was believed to bring ill luck to the legitimate children of the family. Ezekwe believed firmly in tradition and would not budge in his stand on this issue.
Several times he had tried to reason with Euna on the issue. He advised her to take Obioha to his biological father as he will never be accepted as a son of the soil in Nneri. Euna initially thought she could have her way as she normally did in other issues with Ezekwe. But with time, she came to realise she was up against something mightier than she thought.
This became evident to her when Ezekwe and his kinsmen gathered and gave Euna a mandate to take the child away from them, failing which they threatened to send her back to her people. Each of them complained that their children were suffering one form of misfortune or the other due to the presence of an _*okene in their midst.

On that occasion, Dike, who was among those at the deliberation, was vocal as usual.

"See what your brother, Chikezie has done. The only thing he was able to bequeath to this kindred is a taboo. A woman that wants to marry us instead of us marrying her," Dike said to Ezekwe.

"Don't speak ill of the dead," his father, Ibeneme cautioned.

"Then let the dead not tempt the living" he retorted.

Ezekwe completely ignored Dike. He rather addressed the gathering.

"My brothers, you all know that I am against this just as you all are. All I ask of you for now is that more time should be given to her to find a solution," he pleaded.

"And where would we all be by then? In our graves, of course. We won't allow that to happen, because when the goat finishes eating the yam of the person at the edge of the farm, it moves into that of the person in the middle. Take this okene away from us. Stop procrastinating and take a decisive action," Dike told him.

"I support what Dike has said, nothing other than that is acceptable to us," another added.

This decision was unanimously accepted and Euna was summoned to the gathering whereby they threatened to send her packing if she failed to comply.

When Euna discovered that the use of force would not work out, she resorted to pleading but this also yielded no fruit. This matter lingered for several years.

The saying that when a person cooks for the people, that they would always finish it but that when the people cook for a person, the reverse becomes the result became apparent to Euna. In her bid to achieve her heart's desire, she lost her children's favour, her valued friend, Adaeze, Ezekwe's acceptance and finally the womenfolk's caucus and the church.
She had had to subsist on her own and at the same time taking care of Obioha. Things had become really tough. She came to understand the saying that it is when there are no more teeth in the mouth that the gum realises that even water has bones. Unlike before, Oyibo made sure she was comfortable. Euna did not know what it meant to lack anything but now the reverse had become the case.

Thanks for reading! Check my blog often for subsequent chapters.

LINKS:

• INTRODUCTION
• CHAPTER 1
• CHAPTER 2
• CHAPTER 3
• CHAPTER 4
• CHAPTER 5
• CHAPTER 6
• CHAPTER 7
• CHAPTER 8
• CHAPTER 9
• CHAPTER 10
• CHAPTER 11
• CHAPTER 12
• CHAPTER 13
• CHAPTER 14
• CHAPTER 15
• CHAPTER 16
• CHAPTER 17
• CHAPTER 18
• CHAPTER 19
• CHAPTER 20
• CHAPTER 21
• CHAPTER 22
• CHAPTER 23