Being Mrs Dantata

19

"Ehen, Hanan, I heard you went to Abuja and foolishly decided that you want to be someone's second wife."

The statement was spoken in Etsako and all chattering in the room ceased immediately. Hanan, who had been talking with her paternal grandmother, slowly turned her head to look at the woman who had spoken. It was one of her grandfather's numerous sisters whose name she honestly could not remember.

Hanan's grandmother, Shettu, did not look pleased as she spoke back in Etsako. "Why would you say something like that?"

"Na lie I talk?" The woman asked. She switched to pidgin so everyone in the room could listen in on the conversation. "After dem send dis girl go Ghana, she kon go Abuja. Instead of am to find good man, she go sit down for married man front. Dem swear for you, Hanan?"

Linda scoffed. "You say that as though you didn't get married to an already married man."

"See dis woman o!" The woman fumed. "You dey mad?! How many times I wan tell you sey I marry my husband after e don divorce? Dat one no better dan to sit down with man wey still get wife?"

Shettu faced her granddaughter. "Hanan, why don't you check on what your father and grandfather are up to?"

Hanan nodded. She smiled tightly. "Okay." She stood. "Please excuse-"

"Where you kon dey go?" Her grand aunt then exclaimed and dramatically clapped her hands. "Na so you don dey disrespect elders?"

Linda opened her mouth to insult the older woman but stopped when Hauwa squeezed her hand, silently passing a message that Linda should not do anything – for Hanan's sake at least.

Shettu spoke sternly in fluent Etsako. "You better shut your mouth or I will ask them to come and take you out."

"This is my brother's house!" The woman shot back.

"And I am his wife. I am also the woman who will stand beside him when they come to ask for Hanan's hand in marriage so if you know you want me to help you hide your shame, you better shut up or you get out."

The tensed silence that followed could be sliced with a knife as both women stared at each other. The offender was the first to yield, hissing as she looked away. Shettu stared at her for a minute longer before she turned to Hanan and smiled beautifully. "Go ahead, Hanan."

Hanan, who had tears in her eyes, nodded. "Thank you."

She walked out of the room and Hauwa followed her. When the door closed behind both sisters, Linda snapped.

"Let this be the first and the last time you talk to my daughter that way, Aunty Lare. I have tolerated your attitude far too long." She had a finger pointed at the older woman. "Ah an! Why do you never have anything good to say? If you aren't talking about how Hauwa is getting too old in our house, you are picking out on Hanan. Don't you get tired?!"

Salatu, who had come down from Abuja with Jimoh, placed a hand on Linda's shoulder. "Calm down, Linda."

"She has every right to be angry, Salatu." Shettu said. She then faced the woman who had caused the mess. "On this happy day, you want to be causing problems. May Allah forgive you, Lare."

The said woman hissed again, suddenly interested in a painting on the wall.

~*~

Hauwa followed Hanan downstairs – both of them using the staircase at the back of the storey building that housed so many members of the Sufyan family.