“She has a peaceful face,” he said afterward, not knowing those words would strike the house like fire.
That night, Deka refused to eat. Reena cried without tears. Aunt Sarah pulled Nia into the kitchen and gripped her arm so tightly that her nails left marks.
“What exactly are you doing?” she hissed.
“Nothing, Auntie.”
“Do not lie to me. Men come here for my daughters and leave talking about you. Who gave you the right to stand where they can see you?”
“I was only serving them.”
“From today, serve and disappear.”
Uncle Gideon was worse. His pride had been touched.
After supper, he sat in the sitting room with a toothpick in his mouth and anger under his skin.
“I know your type,” he said, pointing at Nia. “Quiet girls are the most dangerous. You act innocent, but you are using your face to spoil the market for others.”
Nia said nothing.
He leaned forward.
“Listen carefully. The kind of men my daughters deserve will not slip away because of one orphan under my roof. Since these men keep looking where they should not look, I will solve the matter myself. The first useless man who comes asking for you, I will give you out immediately. No delay. No complaint. You will go and learn that beauty without backing is dust.”
Those words entered Nia like cold rain. Not because she believed them, but because she knew he meant them.
From that day, the house grew tighter around her. Aunt Sarah kept her in the backyard whenever visitors came. Deka and Reena mocked her openly.
“Hide your face. Another husband may faint.”
“Maybe we should rub pepper on her so men stop looking.”
“She should be careful. She may soon marry a man who owns only one shirt.”
Nia endured it.
Some pains you survive not because you are strong, but because there is nowhere else to go.
Then one Tuesday afternoon, while the sun sat heavy over the zinc roofs, the gate squeaked open.
Nia was washing cassava in the yard when she heard the tap of wood on concrete.
A man stood near the entrance with a small travel bag across one shoulder and a walking cane in his right hand. He had a slight limp, not helpless, just enough to slow his steps. His coat was patched at one elbow. His trousers were clean but old. A scar crossed one side of his chin, half hidden by his beard.
