Ring of my mother’s blood

Our town was a small one in the outskirts of the countryside. Everyone knew everyone since the population was just about the size of Vatican City.

Like every town, there was that one guy all the ladies adored. He would be admirably tall, exceptional at at least one or two things and a friend to many other alpha males.

Oyelami was this guy for us. Since we graduated high school, he would leave town for weeks to come back looking radiant with the latest gadgets and clothes.

Many girls liked him and yeah, so did I. For all we could see, Oyelami was perfect and so there wasn’t any reason not to.

No one knew what he did in particular but he was distinctively the richest among the guys of our peers. Trumping even the forlorn Alpha males who were doing remarkably at their local startups.

For me, it wasn't the money. It was the way this handsomely built man talked. The way he observed every fall and rise in his articulation, diving into sentences with a teasing command that stilled my senses.

This fine man was just as neat as he was conservative. He had an organized schedule that he stuck in view, consistently slaying any difficulty that was thrown at him.

Remi, the prettiest girl in our town, was the one everyone rooted for to date him. They said it was only natural that the prettiest girl dated the most handsome guy in town.

The pressure built around them had even begun to empower Remi into taking custody of 'her man'. Imagine my surprise when this man walked up to me that breezy evening in the Aries ring of February asking me out on a date. That night, Oyelami spoke with so much enthusiasm you would think he was asking me to marry him.

I was intimidated by his courage and without much ado, I jumped at the opportunity to date him.

In one year of being together, Oyelami had shown me more love than I could dream of. He was every bit of what I imagined and more.

He would still travel for weeks without any information about his destination and the time he would be returning. I didn't pressure him to be open. I mean, I was only lucky to have had him in the first place, after all, I was not that pretty.

But today, something happened!

Valentine was a special day lovers spent together doing whatever romantic thing their minds could conceive. Oyelami had spoilt me with gifts of unquantifiable measure amidst the notes and other amazing things he had done.

I looked forward to what he had planned for me this time.

"Let's meet at the docks" was all he said before we parted yesterday. The excitement almost made me forget my nose mask and the few COVID restrictions that were still in place.

When we finally met, we hugged tightly sealing our urge with a short peck. I had already told him I wouldn't be kissing anyone before marriage, so he knew better than to wander too far.

Walking me to the cruise boat he owned, my eyes welcomed the glowing lights twisted with the floral descent of orderly rose petals along the ship rails. The scented candles burnt relentlessly in the glass cone despite the evening breezy.
Oyelami had carefully arranged a trail of framed memories we shared over the past year around the dinner table. It was the most glorious thing I'd ever seen.

With the smooth jazz playing across the wood board, I was so drawn into the moment that I totally missed Oyelami walking to my back and getting down on one knee.

Turning back to my man, this cheerful warmth spread around my chest as my heart melted for him. There was no way on earth I could believe what luck I had to be so loved by a man so perfect.

I blinked back the tears that built from this majestic euphoria and my eyes came to rest on the ring Oyelami was holding.

I froze instantly. My body went numb and I suddenly became breathless.

It wasn't the overwhelming marriage proposal that got me cluttered, it was the ring. 'That ring'. I could never mistake it for another.

I had personally designed it from my ancestral emerald wares and slipped it onto the fourth finger of my mother before she was buried. There was no mistaking it. The thoughts rushing through my head turned me blue. I was overtaken with fright and anger. But as much of a long-short this was, it was undeniable.

Oyelami was the one. The grave robber who gutted our town sheriff with a chisel many years back in his escape. Yes! The robber that desecrated my mother's tomb among many other graves across town. The very same one.