While on our way to the hospital, Camila asked if I arrived home yesterday safe. I didn't know why she that question but somehow I found it offending. Or perhaps it was just me, but then I pretended as if I wasn't offended at all. Actually, the reason why I found it offending was because I thought there was no need for her to ask the question in the first place, after I was right there sitting close to her and I was fine.
Secondly, I thought she asked in order to know if I wasn't still under the influence of the alcohol I took in their mansion the day prior. And thirdly, I thought she was asking if Frank drove me home safely or not. Between those three questions, I wondered what exactly was the reason why she asked.
"Yes, fine!" I said and didn't say much after that. I kept answering her with one or two words as we continued driving. Eventually, I realized she asked only because she had a dream about what happened to me in their mansion. According to her, it was more like the flash of what happened that morning. How I got drunk,and how they found and took me to the guest room in Frank apartment.
Just then I held her hand and told her I would never do it again, and I would make sure I go through whatever drink or beverage I see anywhere before consuming it. As happy as she was, she thanked me and then assured me that I would always be in her prayers. Well, I was really grateful to hear that. Someone promising to put me in their prayers. Camila actually sounded like a religious or devout woman, I hoped to know more about her someday.
As soon as we arrived at the hospital, the driver was the first to alight from the car. He walked over to the boot and opened it while Camila and I stepped out of the car as well. And just as I walked over to the boot, I saw some warmers and flask. Camila carried some, and so did I. Hence the driver shoot the boot and escorted us into the hospital. I was the only person that knew exactly where Aunt Vicky was, hence I was the one that led the way.
While walking towards the block of the ward, we met Mrs Smith talking to a fellow doctor. She waved at me with a smile and I waved at her as well. Hence, we continued walking. And just as we arrived at the ward, the driver pulled the door in and Camila and I entered. Jessica was nowhere to be found, it was only Aunty Vicky. And that got me wondering where Jessica was. Just as I dropped the items in my hands, I turned to help Camila with hers only to find both her and Aunt Vicky staring at each other perplexedly. It was as if they knew each other or had crossed paths in the past.
"Mam Camila?" I heard Aunt Vicky said.
"Vicky," Camila said, "is... is this you or am I just dreaming?"
They both looked surprised, and before I knew it Camila gently dropped what was in her hands on the surface and ran to hug Aunt Vicky. Like seriously? How did the two knew each other? I wondered while staring at them in total dismay.
"Mam Camila, I really missed you. I missed you so much, where have you been? I thought you... you... you..." Aunt Vicky stuttered as she burst into tears.
"I missed you too, Vicky. I missed you a lot" They kept on talking and exchanging pleasantries before they began talking about their past as well as other things I never knew. And at the end of the day I realized Camila was family too, it was a shocking discovery... a discovery I would share with you now.
Camila was my grandfather's second wife. She was a widow when he married her, and she was relatively younger than my grandmother. In their community, polygamy amongst christians was common... however many women were against it. My grandmother included. She was so angry that our grandfather married another woman.
Camila on the other hand was humble, and despite all the sufferings she safed in our grandfather's house she lived there until eventually she decided to leave. And that was when our grandmother threatened to kill with a kitchen knife. She then returned to her relatives but they also despised her, hence she fled to another community and laid low there until the riot that tear the country apart arrived.
Camila decided to leave the country to the States, and had been working as a maid since then. She first worked in a hotel before Mr Walter hired her to work at his mansion. She was a very good and understanding maid actually, and that earned her the respect of people. After narrating how she ended up in the States, here... Aunt Vicky also narrated how my mom fled to the States too as the riot consumed their community leading to the demise of my grandfather.
Aunt Vicky stayed with some of their relatives until later on she decided to flee to the States too. It was a tragic incident, and a shocking discovery to me. All that while, as they continued narrating the story I stopd perplexed. Jessica too came back and paid attention to the whole thing. After the narration, I went and hugged Camila. I should be calling her Mam Camila now, she deserved it. And I wouldn't be looking at her as a maid anymore, but a family even though we weren't connected by blood.
When she heard from Aunt Vicky how grandfather died, who was her husband she wept. She never wanted to leave him but she had had enough from Grandmother. And when Aunt Vicky pleaded with her to forgive Grandmother and that Grandmother died regretting her actions, she heaved a sigh and in-between sob told her that she had for long forgave her. I was happy to hear that, I knew definitely she would forgive her the fact that she was a very good woman with a very good heart, the heart of a gold.
Although despite having the heart of gold, it wasn't as strong as a real gold. I mean, she could easily be touched and before you know it she would start weeping. When she learned about my mom's death, she broke into tears and it took was quite some time to calm her down. She said my mom and aunt Vicky had never for once looked down upon her or maltreated, even though their mother had been against any of them befriending her or treating her as any child should treat a stepmother.
After the reunion, Mam Camila spent some time with Aunt Vicky before deciding to leave. She was the head of all the servants in the Walters Family's mansion, hence she needed to return as soon as possible in order to supervise the activities of the mansion. However, she promised to come back soon. Probably the following day in the morning after breakfast or in the afternoon after lunch.
Thus, I escorted her and the driver to the parking lot where the car was. She then held my hand and thanked me for a reason I didn't know. Perhaps because I was the main reason why she was able to reunite with her stepdaughter as well as her step-grandchildren, me and Jessica. She hugged me and thanked me so much before leaving. I was happy too, and I didn't even know how to narrate everything to Frank when we meet later.
As she left, I began thinking about how to narrate the whole thing to him. That Mam Camila was my step-grandmother? I am sure he would laugh and view it as a joke until I explain further to him. I thought to myself as I headed back to Aunt Vicky's ward. When I arrived, I saw Jessica pacing around. "Is everything okay?" I found myself asking her. I never wanted to but I didn't just know why I did anyways.
"You are asking me? Ask my mom. I just don't know vwhy you guys are not thinking straight, what the f*ck?" he said, and seeing how crazy she acted I decided to talk to Aunt Vicky who was looking away, not happy at all.
"Aunt, is everything okay?" I curiously asked as I sat on the edge of her bed and took one of her hands into a clasp.
"It's Jessica..." she said as Jessica cut in,
"Yes, it's me. And I will say it again, I don't like this reunion!" Jessica said, making me to stand to my feet and was like, what did she said?
"You don't like what?" I glared at her.
"I don't like this reunion, and mom..." she turned to Aunt Vicky, "how sure are you that woman is the same stepmom you had when you were back home? What if she had changed, what if she's now a bad person, what if she's here to take revenge?"
"Revenge as in how, Jessica?" I chimed in, trying to confront her. Had she lost her mind or something? Why would any sane person be saying what she was saying? I wondered.
"I am not talking to you, I am talking to my mom!" she childishly said, forgetting the fact that she was the one that chimed into our conversation... not the other way round.
"Well, your mom was here since... why didn't you talk to her until now that I returned?" I yelled at her.
"That's because we talked already, but then you came and brought back the topic!" she exclaimed.
"Yes, and you chose to continue with the argument. Now, I would like to continue where your mom stopped, what is it that is wrong with you? You are always thinking different? Why would you even think badly about that woman, what has she done to you exactly? Must you question everything? Must you hate everyone? Come on, grow up Jessica... grow up!" I scolded her, and that made her extremely again.
"You are telling me to grow up? How about you, Laura, how about you? Always trying to trash someone when, yourself isn't as clean as you are. You can't be perfect, no one is!" she shouted on top of her voice. The whole ward became a cinema for passerby as they kept glancing through the glass window to see what was going on. Actually, the ward had a sound protection that prevents the people inside from hearing ninety five percent of what was being said outside the ward and also prevents the people outside from hearing what was being said from the inside.
However, due to how loud Jessica's voice was, somehow it was obvious people were hearing what was going on. At least not all but the little noise that was probably coming out of the ward which was supposed to was enough to make them wonder what was going on. And as the argument continued, some nurses came to check through the window to see if everything was okay. Luckily, none of them interfered since, after all it wasn't as if something bad was happening to the patient in the ward.
"Your mom is presently recovering from the traumatic situation you led her into, and now you are trying to push her back into the same condition. Have you no conscience?" she tried to cut in but I kept on talking non-stop, "Don't know you that one day you would become a mother too? Sure you will, unless if you would never marry or engage into any relationship. And to tell you the truth, karma is real. Whatever you do to someone shall be done to you. This means even the way you are treating your mom, your children will treat you the same way in the future. You just have to wait for it!"
