Chapter 31

"Katherine listen, Felicity is not a baby anymore, goodness she turned twenty five yesterday. These are the things she should have been aware of already, we are just trying to bring her into the world" Mercy defended.
"Well, I don't want her too."
"Katherine listen to yourself, you want Felicity to get better, to be the woman she is supposed to be but you won't even let her. You keep treating her like a child" Mercy raised her voice a little.
"She is a child!" Katherine shouted.
"No she is not, you are the one treating her like one. If only you will let her socialize with her peers, if only you will let her go to school, believe me Felicity would have been a woman by now because there are something's you can't teach her but she would have learnt in school. Girls her age would have brushed her up. School would have taught her a lot of things, a lot of things she doesn't know now. The doctor says she is no longer in shock but she still acts like a child, that's because you don't want her to grow up!"
"She is my niece, I know what's best for her!"
"Ladies, we can talk this out, you don't have to shout at each other" Gloria tried to clear the air and release the tension.
"You know what Katherine, Felicity is like this because of you. You don't want her to grow, you keep seeing the six years old Felicity whose parents died in a car accident. Why can't you see she is no longer six years old, she is an adult and if only you haven't isolated her from the world, she would have been a really graceful woman by now."?
"The doctor said she shouldn't be in crowdie places which was why I withdrew her from school. She is my niece and I care about her, what ever I did was for her on good, I want her to get better, to be the woman she is meant to be but she just couldn't shake off her parents death. Look at what happened last month, she almost lost herself again just because of the sight of blood. So can't you see? She isn't healed yet. Maybe if you stop trying to hook her up with Raymond you will see that."
"You shouldn't have said that Katherine" Gloria reprimanded.
"No I should, I thought she cared for her but she just wants to get her hooked up with a man. Felicity is not ready for that yet."
Mercy took a huge breath and dropped the bread she was making, "heaven knows I care about Felicity. I have been with her since she was a day old and she had been so lively and cheerful. Her parents death affected her which I know but I just don't want her to dwell in the past. She has to move on and you are not letting her do that. Keeping her locked up at home, not letting her associate with people is what makes it look like she is not getting better. If only you will let down your guard around her and see that it's been nineteen years. Nineteen years since her shock then you will realize that you are the one keeping her from recovering.
I never wants to tell you this but I think I should now, Katherine, you don't want to let Felicity grow up, you keep seeing her as a child because you believe seeing her like that and having her always running to you when she needs something is going to fill in the loss of never having a child of your own in your heart. But I'm only going to say this to you once, you need to let her grow up. Once you do, you will realize that you are the one who have been holding her all these while" she turned to the tap and washed her hands, leaving the dumbstruck Katherine in the kitchen.
Gloria watched her leave and sighed before looking at Katherine "your words hurt her Katherine. I may not have known her for long but from what I have seen, she really do care about your niece, almost like her own daughter."
Katherine heaved a sigh "but she knows how much I don't want Felicity to be with Raymond. She knows how bothered I am that I can't keep her from him."
"But she is right you know. Felicity is not as little as you think. She is a fully grown woman, all she needs is guidelines from the right sources and before you know it, she will know how to take care of herself."
"But her doctor said ..."
"Forget what her doctor said. It's been years" Gloria interrupted "just like Mercy said, it's been nineteen years, she should be better now."
"But some shocks lasts longer than that."
Gloria shook her head slowly "I think Mercy is right. You are afraid of letting Felicity grow up, you are afraid of losing her when she does."
"No I'm not" Katherine defended.
"Yes you are and you know it. If you want Felicity to grow up, then you have to let down your guard and let her have all the things you took from her."
"Which is?"
"Let her go to school. You can hire private lessons for her, let her be taught about the things in life. You can do that Katherine, that's the best thing you can do for her in this life. You can't say there is no money for that, I'm pretty sure Mr. Baldwin will give his consent. Besides, you being angry with Mercy because of the things we told Felicity is uncalled for. For goodness sake, Mr. Baldwin is her husband, is true he has not been with her and they stay in separate rooms which I still don't understand why, but he has every right to be with her. She is his lawfully wedded wife.
Which is why I have always wanted to ask why you are still so protective of her. If you had known you were not ready to let her go, why did you allow her to marry in the first place?"
Katherine wanted to answer but then she remembered Raymond had insisted that no one else is to hear about the contract. Which only means that, to Gloria, whatever Raymond does is right, after all, they are married, "I understand but it's just that..."
"What's going on here? Why are you still here Katherine?" A male's voice asked behind them.
The older women looked to see Raymond standing in the kitchen, his body was full of sweat. His work out clothes sticking to his body because of the sweat, he seems to have returned from a run. "Good morning Mr. Baldwin" Gloria greeted.
He ignored them and walked straight to the refrigerator and opened it, he brought out a bottled water and drank directly from it, tossing the now empty bottle into the trashcan, he faced them "now, you mind explaining to me why you always hold a meeting in my kitchen?"
He was looking at the both of them but Katherine knew he was referring to her so she cleared her throat, "can I talk to you in private Mr. Baldwin?"
"You didn't answer me earlier, why are you still here, shouldn't you be gone by now?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, I should have but something came up."
"What is that something?"
"That's what I want to talk to you about."
He stared at her for some seconds before walking out of the kitchen. Katherine knew that was him agreeing so she followed him. They went straight to his study room and he faced her when she closed the door "speak."
"First of all, I will like to know why you breached the contract."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"What I'm talking about is that this morning I talked with Felicity and I found out what you did to her on the wedding night and how you let her touch your...touch you" she couldn't bring herself to say the word, "the contract strictly read that you were not to go close to her."