The solomon of settlement

Wayne Schubard is a close talker, a lawyer who represents *Dynamo corporations- a fledging  automobile company in the united states already doing quite well in the industry- and who doubles as the company's treasury department executive for compensation and accrued dividends payout, is a white, quite plumpy man in his mid 40s with a fast receding hairline preceding a sparse mop of straight black short hair with a sprinkling of grey locks with lines etched finely by the sides of his eyes and upper cheek bone who starts his sentences about 47 cm from your face and with a rather thick husky voice, leans in to make his point.

This is an unusual trait for a guy who has to deliver the type of news that most of us would prefer to dispense from across the room or better yet, by an email from a do-not-reply address as part of his duties is to fire members of their staff, buy out little company rivals and merge it with *Dynamo automobile as well as stated above, in charge of paying compensation and accrued dividends which is about the only nice part of his job.

"...Dollars are a surrogate for worth"

 He says to us, leaning in as usual, to end a long introductory speech which pretty much was advertising his own skills and expertise at what he does after dismissing a set of family before attending to us.

 "So, you're Habiba Adagiri, am I correct...with... um.. the pronunciation?"

 He said, referring to Mom as he raised his head from a paper he was reading from to look at her then pointing at Nicole, he says he reckons she's Nicole to which she affirms with an emphatic positive nod. Wayne cleared his throat, adjusted his grey jacket and sitting position as he got ready to go into business.

"So your late husband, made some.."


 He started, referring to both Nicole and Mom to which Mom quickly cuts in to correct Wayne, saying she was his only legally married wife and Nicole was just a babymama which got Nicole giving a smirk heavy with hurt and sarcasm as she looked ahead, stroking her long, sleek-straight brunette hair tenderly to shake off the awkwardness of Mom's indirect zing. Wayne sensed the tension and quickly averted his embarrassed gaze as he bowed his head into the paper he was holding but went on anyway, making sure to be careful with how he went about describing who was what to whom.

 "Mr Ahmed Adagiri like we mentioned in our earlier letter to you both respectively had made a significant amount of investment in our company many years back when we were still unknown and trying to find our feet and now as we've managed to make a headway and recorded a few success stories, significant sales and recognition nationally and internationally, we thought it natural  to fiscally reward and also pay quite a significant amount of dividends that has accrued over time..."

 He paused midway, leaning in again but this time, to scan the faces of Mom whose face was now eager and expectant, not with all she has been going through lately especially money-wise and clearly needed the cash badly and Nicole's whose face was serious and ready whilst us kids sat on a leather seat behind them looking curiously at them and each other, Wayne went on

 "...And in the forms he filled, he stated that the beneficiaries to whatever accrues from this investment should go to and in order as it's written, first and foremost to Ms Nicole Adamson and her son Karl O. Adagiri.."

 I saw Mom's reaction to this as her light complexioned face went blue in the cheeks with shock and disbelief mashed with anger as her cheeks moved, a depiction of her teeth gritting in rage beneath as Wayne read on

"...and Mrs Habiba Adagiri and sons Qatari O. Adagiri and Abdulmajeed Adagiri to be divided in a 55/45 percentage respectively"

Mom shut her eyes for like three seconds to allow her remain calm and not lash out, she obviously couldn't believe why her late husband would leave all these shocking discoveries for when he was no longer alive with no one to take the anger out on and more so, why he would give his babymama with a son a percentage higher than her, a legal wife with 3 sons. Hamz quickly turned to me in shock, he went,

 "Dad didn't mention my name in the document? Jeez! Why?"

I smiled and told him that when he made the investments, he wasn't yet born and he never updated it till he died, this seem to calm him abit as he heaved a sigh of relief. Wayne paused and asked if Mom is alright, Mom shook out of her reverie and said she was fine,

"Just a slight headache nagging me all day but I'll be fine, pls proceed Mr Schubard"

Wayne nodded while Nicole slightly gave Mom a side glance and almost immediately, looked right ahead then Wayne continued

 "So you'll provide us with your account details so we wire the money to you as soon as possible as I would be leaving the country in three days after which I must have rounded my duty call here in africa and I want to make sure there are no complaints before I leave"

Mom sighed and asked to see the signature on the document before she gives her assent to the declaration, she can recognise Dad's signature even when woken from her sleep, she just wanted to be sure her late husband did do this to her. Mom and Nicole wrote their account numbers on a piece of paper provided them by Wayne, provided their identity cards as proof they are indeed the beneficiaries to the dividends and thereafter, shook hands with Wayne as we all stood up to leave the office.

 "What you did there was uncool Habiba, must you state that I'm a babymama? Huh? You need to quit being inciting and rash"

Nicole spewed as we descended the stairs towards the car, Karl quickly hurried towards his mom to hold and stop her from starting a fight, Mom scoffed and went,

 " I love you Nicole and God knows I accepted Karl as my son and treated him like I treat my children, if not in fact sometimes giving him preferential treatment over his younger brothers but give me a break to be human and to ruggedly possessive, I got the shock of my life when I learnt my late husband had a son with a white lady before having our own first child and the babymama knew about us and I never knew they exist and I found out about this years after my husband had died and our collective kids all grown up, then now, he's putting you before us in his dividends? His rightful wife and kids before God and man? No offense to you Karl but it's the truth. Is that fair Nicole? Huh? We just lost our home, we lost everything except our lives and personal effects, his family tortured me for years psychologically, mentally, physically even when he was alive and more after his death and now even in death, rather than his memories keeping me company and soothing my soul, he chose to give me nothing but unflattering and shocking surprises? Were you expecting a hug Nicole?"

Mom lashed out, flicking a tear away as she hurried past us towards the car that brought us all. We all settled into the sienna bus that brought us all as QT started the car's ignition and drove us away as I sight behind the curtain of the office we had just left, Mr Wayne peeking at us and apparently, listening to all that transpired just a few minutes earlier, he quickly dropped the curtain on sighting me catching him. Silence descended on everyone in the car as Mom would occasionally bop with sob and quieten down almost immediately... But how did an otherwise happy news go so south so suddenly?

A WEEK EARLIER

 We had just had lunch on a hot saturday afternoon after scrimping and scratching to get enough money for lunch when Mom's phone began to ring, it was Dad's attorney and longtime friend Lawyer Smith, he asked if Mom was at home to which she said yes and he said he was on his way and hung up, Mom was surprised and started wondering if the Adagiri inheritance had finally being shared or something yum came up from Dad's family and they needed us to collect it, she couldn't concentrate as she wondered what the seeming emergency it could be that warranted Dad's attorney to request to see her. He got to our place and after we had all greeted him and he expressed his shock at our new abode and he and Mom had talked about all that transpired to get us there as read in TSUNAMI and CAMPAIGN OF CALUMNY, he disclosed to Mom about a certain investment Dad had made years before he died which had now yield so beautifully

"...And their agent would be here in a week to attend to investors from Nigeria and also settle compensation to early investors whose stocks have yielded so much since inception"

Mom was really elated to hear the news until Lawyer Smith added,

"...Am sure Nicole should also be preparing to come here even though she could have easily seen them in the states but since this is tying you both together and the rep is coming to Nigeria, it makes sense for her to come"

 Mom shook her head in disbelief,

 "What did you just say? Nicole? Karl's mom? How has this affected her?"

She asked and that was when Lawyer Smith handed her the letter which she read through as her mouth gradually opened up in horror! "I can't believe my eyes!" Apparently, the investments and its yield was to be benefited by both Mom and Nicole in a ratio she was yet to find out. Few days later, Nicole arrived and even though Mom was happy to see her and made her comfortable, she couldn't help but feel as though anytime she plans to reap something from Dad, out comes Nicole but unknown to us, Nicole was going through a separation which could lead to divorce and wanted some attention and show of love from us but she never told us about her situation and probably thought we ought decipher this by reading her mood or something.

 PRESENT DAY.

The next day, Wayne Shubard had a meeting with Nicole and Mom where he went into great detail at explaining why Dad did what he did,

 "When late Mr Adagiri chose to invest in our unknown company back then when we had nothing but our dreams and ideas, he said he wouldn't have done this if it wasn't for Ms Nicole's prodding to help support a few guys with a big big dream and so he thought if anything positive or amazing comes from it whether he was alive or not, he feels Nicole should have a bit larger percentage than his wife more so as Nicole was essentially on her own while you Mrs Adagiri had him, his love, affection and greater living expenses than Nicole and her kid"

 Mom just gave a dry smile and said it was cool while Nicole dabbed at her eyes as she fought back tears,

"He was my real real love...we loved each other so much and had a baby, if it wasn't for his mother who said she didn't approve of him marrying a white woman, I would be married to him"

 Nicole said of Dad as Mom swiftly turned to look at her in utter disbelief and clearly wanted to weave a tsunami of expletives her way as she raised her arm for effect but took in a shot of breath, quieten down then simply said,

 " It would been wonderful to have you cope with the late Matriarch and just so you know, I've been in his heart, way, way before you surfaced"

 Wayne raised his hands to stop both women and assured them both that my late Dad must have truly loved both women but maybe he liked different attributes in each one more than the other or maybe he almost loved them equally, the fact remains he looks out for and takes care of his women and the 10 percent difference wasn't so huge to deserve fighting over or not sufficient a measure of quantifying Dad's love on Nicole over Mom. Mom went with it especially so after Nicole apologised to her if her actions caused her pain as they all cheered afterwards with drinks to their solomon of a settlement.

 KEEP UP!