Chapter 5 Lucy's Innocence

It was a Saturday morning, and Titi was up with the little girl for morning sports activities with her friend Ajayi, the CEO of the orphanage home where Lucy was nursed.

Pam! Pam! Ajayi hun. Tee baby..! As he used to call her. Hop in, we've got to go now. Remember you said you would be watching the Super Eagles match at the Surulere stadium against the Black Stars of Ghana later this evening. And you have some washing to do as well.

I think you will make a good husband from the appearance of things. Titi remarked.

I don't want to think about that right now, said Ajayi.

Mr Ajayi had lost his fiancée two weeks before the wedding, and it has been two and a half years since then. But he doesn't even want to think of entering into any marital relationship. It could be a result of trauma.

In the meantime, he is just satisfied with Titi's friendship, not planning for marriage at all. Titi, on the other hand, is just fully occupied with Lucy and wants to do anything to give her a good life, even if it means depriving herself of marriage in case the man is not willing to adopt and take care of the baby.

In the game park, they had a nice time, but something strange happened that prompted them to leave earlier than planned. Usually, Titi would go to the children's section with Lucy for a nice, messy time with play dough and clay play. But today, she decided to do a little exercise while Lucy played with other children on the big play mat with the centre nanny.

A glance at the phone and a Nord, a further step closer to have a better look and then a snapshot, which is against the rules of the centre.

You don't get to snap any child without permission. But this fellow left the gym centre for the children's section after seeing little Lucy.

Soon enough, Titi was alarmed by the security, and she swung into action with the help of Ajayi.

Before the troublemaker who had just gone into the restroom could come out, they had gone.

Little did she know that they were being tracked.

It was a small house at the end of a quiet street where the world felt softer. Distant laughter of children playing outside- Titi had to hide with the baby. Inside, however, the world was different.

Titi sat on the couch, her arms wrapped around the tiny bundle in her lap.

Lucy.

She was so small. So fragile. Her tiny fingers curled against Titi's chest, her breath warm and steady. A miracle born from tragedy.

Titi swallowed the lump in her throat. She had promised herself she wouldn't cry again.

But as she rocked the baby gently, humming an old lullaby their mother used to sing, the weight of it all pressed down on her.

The night her aunt died. The way her aunt's husband had crumbled, his heart giving out before he even made it to the hospital. The way she had stood there, alone, holding a baby that wasn't hers, while the rest of her world burned down around her.

Titi is a wonderful young lady with a promising future. She had plans to give Lucy the best life she deserved. She had plans to quit her job to travel with the little girl to the UK if her plans with her uncle, who raised her, worked out. She applied earlier this year to a private blockchain company for the position of director of media and publication. If it worked out, she would be leaving soon for the United Kingdom.

She planned to give the little girl a good chance to have a better life, seeing that she was still under serious threat from the warnings given to her two years ago and now what had just happened at the gaming centre.

There are parts of the country and even the city where she lives that she dares not visit, especially with the baby. Such was their fate.

Lucy stirred, a soft whimper escaping her lips. Titi pressed a gentle kiss against her forehead. "Shh, little one," she whispered. "I've got you."

But had she?

And the whispers-those damned whispers-followed her everywhere.

"You shouldn't have taken the baby."

"That child should have gone to the father's side of the family."

"A girl raising another child? How's she going to survive?"

Titi ignored them. She had to.

Because Lucy was all she had left.

Indeed, Lucy was a storm of laughter and curiosity, a whirlwind of tiny feet pattering across the floors.

She curled up against Titi's side, sleeping, her tiny fingers gripping the fabric of her dress. Titi felt something she hadn't felt in a long time.

Hope.

Is this hope?

One evening, while Lucy was colouring on the floor, Titi was cooking. A footstep was heard, but she wasn't sure. She stopped stirring the soup and paid keen attention, but the gentle music from the radio and the humming of Lucy as she colored the papers were a bit distracting.

Then,

A knock at the door.

Titi's heart stilled.

Of course, it was too late for visitors. Wiped her hands on her apron and moved toward the door.

She took a deep breath.

Then she swung the door open.

Dear reader, this isn't a good visitor.

Right there, stood a man on the porch, his face hidden in the fading light.

Titi's stomach twisted.

A man, tall, broad-shouldered and dressed in dark clothes. The kind of man who didn't belong in neighbourhoods like hers.

The Voice, calm and deliberate. "You have something that belongs to us.

Titi's grip tightened on the door. "I don't know what you're talking about."

The man smiled. It wasn't friendly.

He took a step closer.

Behind Titi, Lucy giggled, still lost in her colouring.

The man's gaze flickered toward the sound.

And that's when she knew.

They had found her.

They had found Lucy.

Titi's blood ran cold.