Exactly one year after Nnanna's burial, Ego stood before the gods once more.
It was the day of Eyipu Akwa—the ceremony that marked the end of a widow's mourning period and formally released her from the bond of marriage to her deceased husband.
Accompanied by members of her own family and Nnanna's, she walked quietly to the shrine of the chief priest.
There, sacred rites were performed on her behalf. Prayers were offered to the ancestors, libations were poured upon the earth, and sacrifices were made to ask the gods to loosen the spiritual bond that still tied her to her late husband.
The clothes she had worn throughout the year of mourning were gathered into a heap and burned, their flames carrying away the grief, restrictions, and obligations that had defined her existence for the past twelve months.
Finally, Chielo, Nnanna's mother, gently removed the mourning cloth wrapped around Ego's body.
With that simple act... The rituals were complete.
According to the customs of Umudibia, she was no longer a widow bound to the dead.
She was free.
Free to wear bright colors again.
Free to move without restrictions.
Free to marry again if she so desired.
Yet freedom had never felt so empty.
For an entire year, her life had belonged more to tradition than to herself.
She had been forbidden from sharing a man's bed.
Her movements had been carefully watched, limited to the market and only the most necessary social gatherings.
She had sat upon bare floors instead of mats, dressed in mourning garments, and carried the burden of grief before the eyes of an entire village.
Now all those restrictions had ended.
But the ache inside her heart remained untouched.
*
As evening settled over Umudibia and the last of the visitors departed, silence returned to the little compound.
Ego sat alone upon the cold earthen floor.
The fire had long gone out.
Darkness slowly swallowed the room.
She wrapped her arms around her knees and allowed the tears she had restrained all day to flow freely.
"What kind of life is this?"
Her voice was barely above a whisper.
"What have I done to deserve such suffering?"
"Which god have I offended?"
"Why has life chosen me for this pain?"
"Why did death take the only person who ever truly loved me?"
"Why..."
"Why Nnanna?"
The questions vanished into the empty night.
No answer came.
Her thoughts drifted back through the years.
Back to the beginning.
She had been born after seven painful years during which her mother had been mocked as barren.
When she finally arrived, her mother rejoiced.
Her father did not.
He had prayed for a son.
Instead, he received a daughter.
From that day onward, he never allowed her to forget it.
His disappointment became another burden her mother was forced to carry.
The beatings continued.
The insults continued.
Palm wine remained his closest companion.
Many nights he returned home drunk and unleashed his anger upon both wife and daughter.
Her mother had even pleaded with him to marry another wife, believing another woman might give him the son he desperately wanted.
But poverty denied him even that.
Sometimes Ego wondered whether life might have been kinder had another wife entered the household.
Perhaps she would have had brothers and sisters to laugh with.
Someone to share the endless chores.
Someone to ease the loneliness.
Growing up, her life appeared peaceful to outsiders.
Inside the compound...
It was anything but.
There was always work waiting.
Fetching water.
Gathering firewood.
Cooking.
Cleaning.
Working on the farm.
She scarcely had time to play with children her own age.
She tried endlessly to become the son her father never had.
She carried heavy loads.
Worked beside him.
Performed tasks other girls rarely attempted.
If hard work could earn love, she would have earned a father's affection many times over.
It never happened.
Nothing she did was ever enough.
The only day she remembered seeing genuine happiness on his face was the day she married Nnanna.
Not because he was losing a daughter...
But because he was gaining a generous bride price.
She closed her eyes.
Had she not lived honorably?
She had obeyed every instruction her mother gave her.
She respected the elders.
She honored the gods.
She spoke kindly to everyone, whether rich or poor.
She never repaid insults with insults.
Even animals received gentleness from her hands.
She avoided men until she was ready for marriage.
Nnanna was the first man she had ever loved.
The first man to hold her.
The only man to know her as a wife.
"What more did the gods expect from me?"
Her voice trembled.
"What did I fail to do?"
She remembered another story from long ago.
Shortly after she was born, a terrible illness nearly claimed her life.
The chief priest had been summoned.
After consulting the gods, he declared that she would live.
Then he made a prophecy.
"This child has a great destiny."
"One day she will become the wealthiest woman in Umudibia."
"But for that destiny to unfold..."
"She must choose her own husband."
Those words had changed her life.
They were the reason she had never been forced into an arranged marriage.
They were the reason she had found Nnanna.
A faint smile crossed her face through her tears.
He had been everything her father was not.
Patient.
Gentle.
Faithful.
He had never struck her.
Never raised his voice in anger.
Never made her feel unwanted.
With him, she experienced happiness she had never imagined possible.
The laughter she had missed during childhood returned in abundance.
He accompanied her to the farm despite preferring the forest to cultivated land.
When she cooked, he insisted on helping.
He chopped vegetables crookedly.
Stole pieces of dried crayfish before the soup was ready.
Pretended innocence whenever she caught him.
She always laughed.
Sometimes so hard that her stomach hurt.
Those memories had once brought comfort.
Tonight...
They only deepened her pain.
Then came the sorrow they had carried together.
Month after month, everyone waited for news of a pregnancy.
None came.
The months became years.
Still...
Their compound remained without the laughter of children.
She prayed endlessly.
She offered sacrifices.
She reminded the gods that she had fulfilled every duty expected of her.
Surely...
It was now their turn to bless her.
The heavens remained silent.
Eventually, she sought the village's high priest.
"What is wrong with me?"
"What have I done?"
The old priest smiled gently.
"The gods have not forgotten you."
"They have wonderful plans for your life."
"Their time is always the right time."
She laughed bitterly through fresh tears.
"So this..."
She looked around the empty hut.
"This was their wonderful plan?"
"To take away the only man who loved me?"
Even in the darkest moments of their childlessness, Nnanna had never blamed her.
His own mother urged him repeatedly to marry another wife.
He refused every time.
"My heart belongs to one woman," he would say.
"I will never replace her."
Whenever anyone called Ego barren, Nnanna defended her without hesitation.
He confronted friends.
Corrected relatives.
Even argued with his own mother.
He stood between Ego and the cruelty of the world.
Now he was gone.
And the cruelty had returned.
Soon after his death, Chielo herself had accused Ego of murdering her son.
Others whispered darker things.
Some called her a barren widow.
Others called her a witch.
They claimed she had destroyed both her husband and the children she had never conceived.
Each rumor pierced her heart anew.
She buried her face in her hands.
"How am I supposed to live without you, Obim?"
The room answered only with silence.
"Nnanna..."
"Come and take me with you."
"If death could hear me..."
"Let it come for me too."
"What is left for me in this world?"
She lifted her tear-filled eyes toward the dark roof of the hut.
"What kind of life is this?"
"What have I done to deserve all this?"
No voice answered.
Only the lonely sound of a widow weeping echoed into the night.