[STORY] PAPA LOVES HIS GIRLS (Episode 16)

Episode 16.

“Please come in with the young prince and young princess. The maidservant will show you your room. My name is Callisto, You can come me Cal. I am the head of your Palace staff. You have four personal maidservants, and four guards. The young prince and the young princess will each have two servants who will care for them. In case you are not comfortable with any of the servants, please feel free to call my attention to it,” The guard was saying as he ushered my children and I into the palace.

The larger-than-life Living Room that met my eyes was magnificently beautiful. Everything in the Living Room was gold plated. The chair was gold, the table was gold, the tiling was gold.

“Where on earth is this? Am I still on earth or you have brought me to heaven. Please tell me I died and you brought me to heaven,” I exclaimed.

“You are not in heaven, my princess. This is the Royal Home of Eze Amadi,” the chief guard said proudly.

“Of course I know I am not in heaven, but this looks very close to it.” I looked around the house.

“That is my prince’s picture,” The guard said pointing at a portrait of a young boy. At first glance, I thought I was staring at Nonso.

“Nonso, it looks like you,” Amaka exclaimed.

“Yes,” Nonso confirmed.

“That was your father, the prince when he was your age, young prince.”

My son looked at me very confused, but thank God for years of training them on understanding my facial expressions. I pressed my lips together firmly which meant, He should keep his mouth shut. He got the gist and he whispered something in Amaka’s ear. She also nodded in understanding.

We did a little tour around the palace. The guard was proudly showing off the palace. I believe in his mind he was trying to tell me, staying there with the Crown Prince was worth it.

At the thought of the Crown Prince, I knew it was time to stop the sightseeing and call the receptionist for the way forward. Based on the story I heard from the king, I was able to put two and two together to arrive at four.

Chima, who we referred to as Mr Andrew was the Crown Prince whose mother, the queen, was dead. On the wish of the queen, her favourite maidservant took the prince away so that he won’t be killed by his step-mother who was the servant’s younger sister. The King had come to pick up the prince and because of the striking resemblance between my late husband, Chike, and the prince, they thought Nonso was his son. Hence, as a way of forcing him back home, they took his family. Unfortunately for me, I was not his family they were looking for.

“Can we retire to our room. Also I will need some privacy.”

“Sure, the young prince’s room is close to the prince’s room, can we stop there first?”

“No, my kids are staying with me.”

“If you insist my queen… I mean my princess.”

“I insist.”

The moment the door of my supposed room was flung open, I almost passed out.

What I saw was beyond me; clothes, shoes, a bed fit for presidents of nations, beautiful curtains, a lifesize gold plated mirror. My children were dumbfounded as well.

Tears flowed down my face. I didn’t know what emotion I was feeling but clearly I was overwhelmed.

“Who owns the clothes?” I managed to ask.

“Your mother in-law, the late queen.”

My heart was really swollen. I needed to call Mr Andrew to come claim his crown so my children and I can leave. I didn’t want us getting comfortable in the lie we were presently living.

“Ok, can we be left alone now?” I said.

The chief guard nodded and excused me. He also told the others to excuse us.

“Mum, are we not telling lies?” Amaka asked in fear.

“They are not listening to our truth,” I replied.

“So what do we do?”

“Let me call the woman at the reception.”

*****
“Hello,” I said.

“Hello, I have been expecting your call.”

Instead of the receptionist’s voice, it was Mr Andrew speaking.

“Oh! It’s you; you are just the perfect person I want to speak with,” I said.

“I am with you,” he replied calmly.

“Like you know…”

“Hold on… The walls in the palace have ears, let’s chat,” he said stopping me from talking.

“Ok. I don’t have your phone number.”

“I will send it to you as a text.”

As we chatted about the issue on ground, I was the one doing most of the talking. But unfortunately when I was through with the speech about how I wanted to be allowed to leave with my children, he said to me.

“That won’t be possible for now,” he said.

“Why?”

“The men who were after your life has my mama.”

What he said did not make sense, I didn’t understand.

“When the kidnappers came looking for you, they asked to see the CCTV footages at gunpoint. They realized you and your children entered Mama’s office before my father came to pick you. They concluded Mama was the one who called for you to be rescued. As a result, they took Mama.”

“What?” I dropped the phone in my hand. The phone beeped to indicate another message had dropped. With shaky hands and a pounding heart, I picked up the phone in high anticipation of what next he was going to type.

“I have been told to bring you and the children if I want to rescue Mama,” He typed and went offline.

“My God!”

To be continued…