Mrs. Olabisi pays a visit to Mrs. Toyin Ajayi senior:

Mrs Toyin Ajayi senior had watched with great excitement as the sparks of love unfolded before her between her dear youngest son Tokunbo and the young girl Yetunde.  She was  anxious to get some ‘feedback’ from the other side about how Yetunde felt about Tokunbo, and just in general eager to stay on good terms with her friend Mrs. Olabisi at this critical juncture of the developments in her son’s relationship with her friend’s niece.  And as such, it was not with altogether unselfish motivations that she invited the aunt to come to lunch and to spend the afternoon with her after the young girl had returned to Ife.

Mrs. Olabisi was in good spirits and was in her usual talkative mood as she was when not encumbered by her husband’s presence and his continuous admonishments about her weakness for gossiping.

“You know Toyin, you would never believe what I have heard, I have heard from my friend  Major Segun Ogundipe that there may be a marriage in the works soon for Toyin jr. and Femi.  He tells me that Toyin jrs brother has said that as soon as the divorce is final between her and Toks that the wedding will proceed.  And you know, I asked how could that be that the second wedding will be bigger than her first wedding? And her brother said that Femi was not holding back any expenses as he felt that he wanted it to be known that this was true love, the second time around.”

Mrs. Tokunbo Ajayi senior smiled, “My dearest, we are so tired of hearing of Toyin and her wohala, but mind you I wish her the best.  I can tell you we spared no expense for the first wedding, for it was our family that paid for everything save the dress she wore; and I was wondering why her brother did so little, afterall their father was a senior military Officer under Obasanjo, and Murtala Muhammed, that you would have thought that they could have spent some of their family money on the girl’s wedding. But no, we the poor civil servants are footing the bills!” Mrs. Olabisi continued:

“Femi’s father has left him a considerable amount of money, although I am not quite sure about how liquid his funds are; we have estimated that he must be worth a fair amount in pounds at least one million. He has a flat in St. John’s Wood, and several properties in Ikeja, and also Victoria Island.”

“Was he the only son of all those wives? His father must have had five wives that I know of .”

“He is not the only son, but he is the first son of the first wife, and it seems a lot of the property was left exclusively to him, and then my understanding is that the younger sons have a trust fund of some sort, but I am not certain of their worth, I know for sure that the wives all inherited some portion for themselves and their children.”

“He did not die without a will, thank God for that or Femi would have been  in court fighting all the wives…”

‘ You know if there was one thing I was fortunate in, my husband may his soul rest in peace, never had an inclination to take on another a wife, in spite of the fact that so many of his peers felt the need to, and I cannot tell you how much that meant to us, and the boys. For my sons he left a perfect example of a monogamous relationship, and what love we had for each other!  So can you imagine my distaste on finding out that Toyin Jr. was running away with Toks best friend. But then I said to Toks, when you marry a girl who has her head in the clouds, and whose father has had many wives, then the girls may think that polygamy is okay, and I fear that might have happened with Toyin.”

“Well, I do not know, my understanding is that Femi is going to divorce Iyabo and that he has no intentions of keeping two wives.”

“ Femi not have many wives? How can the fruit fall far away from the tree? I would find it hard to believe that he could break with such a reputation as that the men in his household have, if ever there were womanizers in a family that was such a family, from his father and his brothers in their hey day, even to Femi himself”

“For all the trouble she has caused us, I told Toks that we are most fortunate that there are no children involved and that once we make the break we can erase her from our minds.  Now tell me, what has Yetunde told you about her and Toks?”

“She tells me that they are friends and they are getting to know each other whatever that means. Gone are the days when you could introduce a girl to her husband to be without her knowing him.  Yet for all this protracted process of social interaction there seems to be more divorces than ever, that you cannot help but wonder if the arranged marriage might be more stable.”

“Yes, tell the young girls now days that you are arranging their marriage, and they will run away for sure. I know, I know, so she has said no more to you about him?”

“Well I feel she likes him very much as I have observed her, and when he calls her face quite lights up, and on the occasion that he has missed a call I can tell that she is preoccupied; and then of course, she takes great care of her appearance now, but then she has always done that, but perhaps even more now.  Tell me from your sons point of view how is everything?”

‘I think he is quite in love, he has rushed down to the law offices of Mr. Williams et al and has filed his divorce papers with mush gusto.  I have hardly seen him happier, he is even talking of a visit to Paris in the spring that I am wondering if he thinks that would be a good honeymoon spot, you know, Paris the city for lovers..’

“Well, there would have to be a proposal and a wedding first, do not put the cart before the horse, and my sister will not allow Yetunde to consider a wedding before her graduation”.