Free Legacy by Jayne Olorunda Page B

university. So it was with a great sense of pride when he graduated unaided and embarked on his chosen career. His ultimate dream was to have his name on a plaque outside his office and one day to have his own chartered accountancy firm. So far he was heading in the right direction.
    Gabrielle had never met any of Max’s siblings, but she had seen pictures of them all, pictures taken in a place that was so alien and far away, that it could have been another world. The entire family were captured in a photograph outside Max’s family home, a large imposing white house. They stood together dressed impeccably and smiled happily at the camera. I still have that album and looking at it, it is difficult to believe that this family was so fractured; the pictures showed such a joyous group.
    In the back of Max’s photo album was a picture of a lady of unrivalled beauty. Gabrielle assumed she was a relative and asked him who she was. She was aghast when he replied,
    â€œThis Gabrielle, is the most beautiful woman in the world,” his chest swelled with pomposity as he continued “one of our many Nigerian, beauties, this is Miss Nigeria. ”
    Gabrielle fumed, how he dare imply that Nigeria was swarming with beauties.
    â€œIf your Nigerian women are so bloody beautiful then why don’t you go and get one?” she sulked.
    A few days later they began to speak again. Never again was the beauty of the women from his homeland ever mentioned. The picture was never seen again.
    Max had had a happy childhood. He spent his free time playing under the Nigerian sun and holidaying in exotic Nigerian locations. Free time as a boy was not plentiful; leisure was a rare commodity, so he made the most of it when he got it. His childhood involved more schooling than most children, but even this he enjoyed. Gabrielle doubted that his boyhood self knew any different.
    Max’s childhood died with his mother, his father swiftly took on a new wife and started to build a new family. By all accounts this family was one that Max and his brothers were not a part of. They were not permitted to dine with his step brothers and sisters, weren’t even allowed to play with them and only allowed to speak to them when they absolutely had to. His father so taken with his new wife never defended his hitherto precious sons. Instead he encouraged them to go and study medicine; to leave.
    Max in choosing to study accountancy left home alone and unfunded. Moving so far away, to a strange land, didn’t daunt him, he was simply relieved to leave his by then miserable home and callous step mother and never look back. In fairy tales the wicked step mother always gets her comeuppance, but Max’s stepmother flourished in Max and his brothers’ absence. She grew stronger and stronger, her tentacles reaching into every aspect of Olorunda life. Like Gabrielle’s family, Max’s family were God loving and strict church goers. Church was paramount in all their lives.
    Max often talked about how his stepmother didn’t like him or his brothers, in fact as far as he was concerned she detested them. As such he didn’t trust her and no longer felt welcome at home in her presence. He spoke to his father and tried often to express his feelings, but his words were futile. For Max the further he went from her and what remained of his family the better. Funding a place at university, thousands of miles away, was a small sacrifice for such an escape. He resolved at that young age that if he would ever marry that it would last, if he had a family it would be a happy one. If death intervened in his marriage his vows would remain intact.
    Max had a brother in Edinburgh who had promised to visit, but as the wedding date coincided with his exams, he committed to visiting later in the year. Max seemed happy enough with this and therefore so was Gabrielle. If only her family would have a change of heart they could have compensated for