Chapter 1

• AMARA:
• I stood in my room preparing to sleep when I heard the knocking on the door.
• I walked up to the door and pulled it open, and then I saw my mother's maid, Agnes, smiling at me.
• Agnes was dressed in a long blue gown; she was light-skinned and a young woman of my height. I am 24 years old. I was wearing a long blue nightgown, too, as it was already nighttime, around 11:30 p.m. on the 31st of December.
• We were waiting for the New Year's celebration to begin, and I had pulled my hair into a bun shortly after drying it from taking a bath in my bathroom.
• "What do you want, Agnes?" I asked, looking at her face, and she smiled back at me.
• "Amara, your father sent for you downstairs," Agnes informed me. I sighed and replied, "But we just finished having our dinner in the dining room. What does my father want to say to me again? I am not interested in the New Year's celebration."
• Agnes smiled faintly and replied, "I don't know, but your Dad is downstairs with your mom, and the guests have all gone outside, preparing for the fireworks."
• "Hmm, okay. Tell my father I will be downstairs soon. Let me go and relieve myself; I'm coming," I told Agnes, and she turned and left my corridor.
• I sighed and went back into my bathroom to relieve myself. I got out and went downstairs to the living room of my father's large white mansion. We live on the outskirts of the city, in the countryside. My father is a chief and involved in agricultural farm produce.
• I am more like a princess at home. My mother is the center of admiration, and my people love me, as my parents taught me to be kind and helpful to those around us. We were preparing for the New Year's Eve, and I don't know how to feel about it.
• I am the only child of my parents. I am still single, and my parents aren't pressing me to get married. My father is an understanding man, but after a few bachelors have come to ask for my hand in marriage, even my crush, Charles Wilfred, my father refused.
• His reason, I do not know, but my mother assured me that my father wanted the best for me and couldn't just give me away to any male suitor who would probably treat me less in the future. I understood and sighed, going downstairs to the living room.
• We live in a duplex house surrounded by many trees and gardens. My father's mansion was fenced, and now that the celebration was ongoing, we had many visitors, and the guest rooms were packed with my cousins and aunt.
• Finally, I walked into the living room, and Agnes stepped out of the kitchen and told me, "Your dad requested that you meet him in his home office."
• "Okay," I said, then went to my father's home office to see him. I suspect what he had to tell me was private so that none of our relatives would overhear our conversation.
• Finally, I arrived at the front of my father's home office. I knocked gently and heard his calm response, "Come inside."
• I quietly pushed the office door open and walked into the large office, which had two guest seats and a set of four blue couches.
• My parents sat on a blue couch, and my father smiled and said, "Come, Amara, have a seat before the fireworks start. Your mother and I have something important to say to you."
• "Okay, Dad." I walked into the office and was soon seated on another blue couch across from my parents. My mother was wearing a red nightgown, and my dad wore a white garment and black trousers, which I could see—because he was sitting on the same blue couch as my mother.
• My dad grinned and said, "Amara, it has come to the point that your mother and I need to inform you about our arrangement. We have been keeping it from you, but now is the time to tell you about our decision. Well, I'm sure you're familiar with my friend, Mr. Joshua Briggs."
• I smiled and replied, "Yes, Dad. I know Mr. Briggs, the one who lives in the city and visits here sometimes."
• "Good. You are married to his only son, Darlington Briggs, and you will be going to the city tomorrow to live with him," my father informed me.
• "What? Dad, I don't understand. How can I be married to your friend's son? When? I cannot remember getting married to any man, or did I have a memory loss?"
• I stared at my parents in shock. How did I get married without remembering it and without wanting to settle down and have my own home? My father sighed, and my mother smiled understandingly.
• "It was an arrangement I had with Mr. Joshua a long time ago. You are not officially married to Darlington Briggs, but you will have to live with him to see if you both can be compatible to become a true couple," my father explained.
• "Dad, I don't understand what you're saying. Do you mean I will visit them, or am I already married to the man you're saying is your best friend's son? And do what married couples do with him?" I asked my father, wanting to understand him better.
• "Amara, as I said, you are married to Darlington Briggs, and you should be a good lady to him when you get to their house. You don't have to worry about anything; Mr. Joshua has paid for all the necessities for your hand in marriage for his son. So Darlington is your husband, and you are his wife now. The only difference is that Darlington didn't come down here to marry you officially, nor did you wear a wedding dress to walk down the aisle with him. But you are his wife by our traditional custom," my father emphasized.
• "Hmm, Dad, I cannot marry a man I don't know. I can't go to the city to be with him. Mom?" I looked at my mother's face, wanting to hear her response about all these arrangements.
• Mom sighed and said, "Amara, calm down. It is for your good."
• "How, Mom? I cannot go to the city to live with a man I'm not familiar with, Dad. I do not like the bustling lives of city people. I want to remain here, where there's no noise and wild lifestyle," I protested and wanted my father to change his mind about these sudden arrangements.
• "I can understand your complaint, but I trust Mr. Joshua's son to take good care of you, so you're going to the city tomorrow," my father stated.