CHAPTER 24 – GETTING FED UP

Maeve was in the kitchen doing the dishes when Riona came in holding a cup and she dropped it on

the counter. She turned to leave when Maeve called her back and so she stopped.

“Rio, please bring that cup here for me to wash”. Maeve instructed.

After hearing what Maeve has to say, Riona replied without bothering to look at Maeve.

“You can take it yourself Maeve if you are that desperate to clean it” Riona responded.

Maeve tightened her eyes, she has already passed the limit of the insult she could take from Riona.

However, she decided to control her anger. She turned to look at Riona.

“You know you can actually wait here and when I finish with what I am doing, you can wash that

yourself,” Maeve said.

Riona chuckled. She was still not looking at Maeve.

“And when I talk, you look at me,” Maeve said.

Hearing what Maeve had just said, Riona immediately turned to face her.

“And if I don’t, what can you do?” Riona asked.

“I would require that you accord me some respect here, Riona” Maeve said.

“As what, my step mum? The step there is for a reason Maeve”. Riona said.

Riona walked out on Maeve. Maeve was speechless and did not know the appropriate action to take.

………………………………………………….

Wright adjusted in his sleep. He opens his eyes and saw that Maeve was still awake and sitting on the

bed with her back resting on the headboard.

Wright wondered what might be keeping Maeve awake by this time of the night. He sits down too with

his back on the headboard.

“Baby, is anything the matter, what is keeping you awake by this time of the night,” he asked.

Maeve looked at him and refused to respond to his question.

“Talk to me dear, what is the problem?” he asked.

Maeve looked at him once again and still maintained her silence.

“Okay, I need to sleep now, what if I say we leave whatever it is for tomorrow morning. We can talk

about that tomorrow. Please come to sleep now” he said.

He tried to get her to lie down, but she resisted and remained in her position.

He gave up in trying to persuade her and he decided it was better to go back to sleep. He believes that

she will talk about whatever it is that was disturbing her whenever she is ready.

Maeve was amazed at how easy it was for Wright to go back to sleep when he could see worry written

all over her.

She watched as he slept peacefully without any worries and when she felt she could not bear to watch

him sleep anymore, she taps his back to get him to wake up.

“What is it dear?” Wright asked.

Wright grumbled as he spoke. He could not understand why Maeve would wake him up again. When

he had asked her the reason for her being awake, she has refused to answer him.

“Why are you waking me up again, didn’t I just ask you what the problem was and you kept quiet?” he

asked.

“It’s about Riona, I am worried you aren’t doing anything to curb her excesses,” she said.

Wright sighed. They had both discussed Riona earlier on, so he could not understand why she is

bringing up the issue again.

“What about her again?” he asked.

“When I complained about her attitude towards me in the kitchen earlier today, you did not do anything.

You let it all slide as if I am the one nagging” she said.

“I never said you were nagging, baby. So what else would you want me to do?” he asked.

“We can’t just keep letting her do whatever she likes, we both know that is not good for her,” she said.

“You know that girl just lost her mum…”

He was still speaking when Maeve interrupted him.

“Just lost her mum, did you actually say just lost her mum? For how many years now, or have we

immortalized Evolette?” Maeve asked.

“It is just not been easy for her Maeve, you’ve got to understand that,” he said.

“I beg to disagree, dear, we keep reminding her of her mum’s death by our silence. We have to her

understand that no matter how hard the loss of a dear one is, the living does not put their life on hold to

mourn, you would agree with me that there is a limit to everything, and Rio has pushed her limit too far”

Maeve said.

“You are right dear, so what do you suggest we do?” he asked.

“I would say we have to be firm, she should know that she cannot get away with whatever she does”

she replied.

“Can I request that you allow me to handle Rio just how I deem fit from now on, baby?” Wright pleaded.

“What?” Maeve asked.

Maeve was astonished. Is this all he was going to say to her about her complaints and observations, is

he just going to make it look like she is the bad one? She asked herself.

“I know what I am saying, dear,” he said.

“Are you asking that I keep out of her way?” she asked.

“That is not what I am saying Maeve, I just want to forestall future re-occurrence of such,” he said.

“That is not possible Wright and you know it. Am I supposed to act like Riona does not exist, or should I

just live like I am not a part of this household?” she asked.

She could not believe that such a request would be coming from Wright. She was beginning to wonder

what he actually does take her for, a piece of furniture, a piece of wood that lies about and that can be

controlled by anyone anyhow? There was no way she was going to allow this. He better makes up his

mind to put their daughter right.

“That is far from it Maeve, and you know it,” he said.

Wright wondered why this whole thing is so difficult for Maeve to understand. She could actually avoid

all of the altercations that she has been having with Riona if she would decide to keep to herself and let

the girl be. He believed that very soon, Riona would understand and when she does, she would come

around. And when that time comes, she would be her old jovial self once again. Right now she should

be tolerated and understood.

To Wright, no matter what Riona does now, he knows that is not how she was. She was or rather is a

lovable girl, so once she comes back to her real self, all these misunderstandings would stop. All he

wants was for Maeve not to degenerate it into an enmity before then. With the right level of love, she

would definitely come around.

“Riona’s attitude is completely unacceptable and you better do something about it before I would be

forced to react” Maeve cautioned.

Wright sat up on the bed. He could not believe that this was coming from his wife, Maeve. This is not

the woman he was attracted to, she had made him believe that she could tolerate all of Riona’s attitude

before he decided to go ahead with the marriage.

He thought she would be able to completely accommodate Riona, or was she pretending all along?

Wright would not want to believe that though, maybe she is just not in the right mood today.

“But Riona’s attitude had remained the same Maeve, she has always been like this with you,” he said.

“And for how long would that continue Wright? I thought it was only a result of just losing her mum. I

believed she was going to see me for me and change in the nearest possible time but it is obvious that

it is only getting worst by the day” she said.

What is so difficult for Wright to understand here? Maeve asked herself. Was she supposed to sit

around applauding Riona for her excesses, does she not have a right to demand that she change into

something acceptable, or is it that he sees nothing wrong in her general behavior towards her? All

these while she has been in this house, Riona has never allowed for them to hold any meaningful

communication. And no matter how hard she tries to be friendly towards Riona, Riona just finds a way

to insult her in her goodness.

Wright was beginning to get seriously irritated with this conversation. He wondered why Maeve was

acting both hot and cold. Why would she approbate and at the same time reprobate? He resolved

within himself that since Maeve wants this discussion, he would not keep any of his feelings about this

whole thing to himself anymore, he would let them all out.

“Do you want to know the truth Maeve?” he asked.

“What truth? Yes, I want to know it” she replied.

“The truth is, you are the one that has changed, Rio had remained one and the same person and

sincerely, I was hoping you would remain the same too,” he said.

“What” Maeve exclaimed.

Maeve was shocked by Wright's utterances. Did he just turn the whole thing against her? This made

her speechless and the fact that it came from her husband, left her terrified.

“Yes, Maeve. Okay, we have two daughters right, why is it that it is only Riona that you always

complained about, or is she the black sheep of our family now?” Wright asked.

“We both know that you are taking this whole thing out of context, Wright,” she said. Têxt belongs to .

“No I am not,” He said.

“It quite obvious that you are been biased here Wright, but I am not going to ask you to choose

between Riona and me because we are two different people to you, one is a wife while the other is a

daughter. However, I hope you know the specific role that each plays?” she said

“Thank God you understand,” he said.

After saying the above, Wright lay down on the bed, and went back to sleep.