Page 23 of Cursed Daughters
“As a heart attack.”
She walked to the edge of the bed and sat down.
“Fuck.”
“It’s not that big a deal.”
“It is definitely that big a deal. Why the hell did we sneak into this room?”
“I wanted to be…I wanted to be alone with you. I didn’t really think about it. Maybe I was fine with it. I mean, it’s you, Mo. I’d be happy to give it up to you.”
“So what’s stopping you?”
“A lifetime spent in church, I guess…Maybe we could wait to…you know…marry.”
“Are you offering marriage?”
“I…well, I mean…”
“I’d say yes.”
“You would?”
“Yes.”
He didn’t say anything. He came to sit beside her on the bed. She rested her head on his shoulder and they were quiet for a while. She felt a warmth that had nothing to do with the heat of the room. Had she ever been this happy? Then she had a thought.
“Do you mind…that I’m not…”
“A virgin?”
“Yes.”
“No. You’re you. And I’m me. And we are together. That’s all that matters to me, Mo. I promise.”
She looked down as he traced the scar on her thigh. His touch radiated all over her body.
“How’d you get this?”
“I wasn’t looking where I was going, and I got burnt.”
“Must have been pretty bad.”
She shrugged. She could have told him about the day her mother completely lost it and the beating just wouldn’t stop; she had turned to escape and tipped over the kettle, burning herself in the process. She couldn’t even remember what she had done to earn her mother’s fury. Granted, she was always breaking some rule.
But as they sat there together, talking, with his hand resting lightly on her leg, Golden Boy gave her hope that she wasn’t merely this incorrigible rebel who—because of another incorrigible rebel several generations ago—was cursed to end up with no husband and no future. Because of him, the future looked promising.
PART III
Eniiyi
(2024)
I
Eniiyi stood at the gates of the Falodun home. She had always found them to be uninviting. They rose above her: black, opaque and crowned with little spears to discourage would-be armed robbers. And behind them, the large branches of trees. Because of the height of the gates, there was no whisper of the charming house beyond or the inhabitants within. It could have been an abandoned home; there were a few of those on the street. The road was cemented, that was new, but she felt a sense of loss for the sand and gravel that had once given the street some character.
She had mixed feelings about home. A part of her was delighted at the prospect of being back in the embrace of the three women she loved the most; but she had also spent the better part of the last decade avoiding them.
