p@rt 16
“ISOKENE”
(St©p MY WIFE FROM SMILING)
©️Opeyemi O.Akintunde
Henry and I st©pped by a canteen to eat, I refused eating. He ate a whole lot.
When It was time to leave, Henry was being sluggish , I stood up and left him, telling him he should catch up with me. After I left him behind and was alre-ady close to the main road, I decided to look back but he was nowhere in sight. I didn’t see him anymore, I tried going back to look for him but I couldn’t find my way back.
The routes I saw didn’t match where I had just pas-sed, it all looked confusing….
I woke up from that dream and I was sure I heard God when He said….
“ You left him behind a long time ago, Daughter, You are far ahead of him Spiritually. Are you going to leave him lost in the world? Or will you go back and find him?”
I broke down in tears, I knew what this meant, God wanted me to go back to Nigeria to get back my husband, but God! This was not going to be easy! Just like in the dream, I didn’t know the route back to my husband’s heart… He was like a stranger. We had not spoken in months. His mistress was pregnant. He was in love with her… I had used the route I knew best…PRAYER… But it didn’t work out!
I asked God again screaming in the empty room of my new house…
“God do you want me to go back to Nigeria?”
God didn’t say Yes or No, I felt God was saying…” I am not a talkative “ rather I heard my first daughter’s voice as she stood by the entrance of my room…
“ Yes mummy, If You can’t hear God, You sure can hear me….I don’t like it here… I want us to go back to Nigeria, the movies painted America to be some kind of paradise, but now that I am here I am not feeling this place… I want to go back home and besides I had a dream just now….”
“A dream?” I asked
“ Yes I saw we all running a race but Dad started slowing down till we couldn’t see him anymore. At some point, I told you Dad was no longer with us. You st©pped and we all went back to get Daddy… Then I woke up… Mum, I think Daddy may be in some form of trouble in that village where there is no network for him, Let’s go back home and find him”
My daughter didn’t know she just preached to me, as I broke down in tears. She sat down beside me crying.. and she said almost the same words Isokene had said to me
“ Mum, although we have a beautiful house here in America, but it doesn’t make it our home.. Home is where you, Dad and us are….Mum, Let’s go back home.”
Home! Where was home and did we still have a home?….
I called my brother in law and I told him I was returning home. He was excited and he said
“ Aunty, ma-king mistakes are bad, but what is worse is when we don’t try to correct them”
Before the dream , I had started working as a Dishwasher in a big restaurant, I had given myself a new look, I went on low cut to avoid spending money on br@ids and all that. I was re-ady to start a new life in America but here was God s£nding me back to Nigeria.
I stayed back for another two weeks to have the house sold so I could have my money back though it was at a lesser price. I lost some money.
My children and I returned back home and as we got to the security post, We were met with the shock of our lives…
The mistress had made my house her HOME…. She was now in charge, There was a new Security man who didn’t know who we were, the color of our house had changed, There was a new maid, new furnitures…My home had become her HOME….
I stood in total shock at how beautifully she had transformed everything and everywhere in my home and had made it hers….
Just like the dream I had , I couldn’t find the way to my home again, this was Margaret’s Home, Was there any hope of ma-king it mine again? Why did God bring me home? She had moved into my home and had become the boss.
As I stood transfixed, I told myself that she had every right to throw my children and I out…We were the ones who left our place in the first place before she took over….
Was there hope for my marriage?
My children stood in shock not un-derstanding a bit of what was happening….
p@rt 17
“ Mum, What is happening? I heard my daughters saying as we were looking at a strange house that used to be ours and the new security man…
“ I don’t know either” I said as I watched the new security man approaching us in the Taxi …
“ Good Afternoon ma, plea-se who are you here to see?” The security man said
I swallowed ha-rd as I tried to say something…
“ We are not here to see anyone, this is our house, Who are you?” ….My first daughter, Gold had jumped down from the car to challenge the security man…
“ Gold, st©p it, we nee-d to talk nicely to the man, he is only doing his job” I said with the little strength in me…
“ Sir, plea-se tell your boss, it is his wife and daughters that are at the door “ I said very calmly
“ His wife?” The security man asked very confused..
“I am sorry, maybe you are in the wrong house, this is Mr and Mrs Henry Majekodunmi’s house and The Mrs Majekodunmi I know is upstairs…” He said…
My daughters were confused,my second daughter who is highly emotional was alre-ady crying….
“ Mummy, Is Daddy married to another woman?,Mum what is happening?” Gold, My first daughter said….
Just then the security intercom rang and the security picked it in a rush, I saw him looking up at something, I followed his gaze, it was a CCTV c@m£ra that had just been installed.
Apparently the new Mrs Majekodunmi had seen us.
Instead of having to face the embarras-sment, I beckoned on Gold and Emerald to get back into the taxi, but I was surprised when I heard,
“ Ok ma, I have heard you ma, I will open up for them, Yes ma…”
The security man pressed a bu-tton to open the new automated gate…
“ Hmm… So Henry had this kind of money to make all this kind of beautiful changes, and he never showed it” I thought silently as hatred filled my heart for my husband….
My children and I carefully walked into the compound as the taxi driver drove into the compound. Just then, a fair skinned beautiful lady walked out of the ap@rtment with a beautiful smile, I could see that she was pregnant….
“ Welcome Mama, Gold and Emerald welcome.. Mama you didn’t inform us you will be back, I would have asked the driver to come pick you up…” she said smiling
I looked at her very strangely, my instincts told me she was Margaret, but I wanted to hear it from her….Finally she said it…
“ Mama, I know you have not met me, Yes I am Margaret, it was Henry who told me you didn’t accept our terms and that you had relocated to America.. I was the one who suggested we move into this place since he built it, rather than wasting money on rent where I was staying….” She said like she was giving a friendly chat
I was very speechless….
But my first daughter wasn’t….
“ Sorry, plea-se who are you? And what are you doing here?” Gold had asked
“ Gold, your dad told me you are very outspoken, I can see he is right… but I believe family matters should be discussed indoors, Why don’t we all step in” She said pointing towards the new door
We all followed the direction of her hand, but on stepping inside I wanted to run back, everything and I mean EVERYTHING had changed, my wedding pictures were no longer there, her pictures had replaced mine, her two sons’ pictures had replaced my Children’s pictures.
“ Where are all my pictures? “ Gold had screamed out….
“ She has even replaced mum’s pictures with hers” Emerald said….
I just couldn’t say a word, but what kept ringing in my head was…
“ God, when you knew all this had happened, why did you ask me to come back here” I said as tears were dropping from my eyes
“See girls, I am not a devil, I am just Dad’s new wife, Your dad fell in love with me and he wanted to make me his second wife, but Mum was not willing to share Dad with me…!, Honestly I was not planning to take over,but I did when I felt Mum wasn’t interested any more… You see that’s a lesson for you girls, when you know you are not done with something, you don’t leave them where others can pick it up….” She said as she suddenly bec@m£ the adviser, then she continued….
“But you see like I said I am a very nice person, if Mum is still re-ady to share, You guys are welcome back.. All your stuffs have been neatly packed into your mum’s room…. Once again you are welcomed”…. She said smiling
I sat there crying as she walked away, but Gold was not throu-gh I heard Gold screaming at her…
“ You are just a thief, a thief, a gold digger, a prostitute”
I didn’t even have strength to st©p her as we all were crying…. Margaret turned and walked back to us…
“ No sweetheart, I am not, thank God you are a lady, soon you will grow up and un-derstand. Listen Gold, p@rt of the truth your Mum may not tell you is that, she neglected your dad, and I was just pas-sing by.
Unfortunately for your Mum, at that time I was hungry and desperate for a male figure in my life, and on seeing your loveless dad, I decided to pitch my tent with him.. Gold I want you to be very honest with me, if you are so hungry and famished and by chance see a chocolate that has been dropped by someone else who appears not to nee-d it, won’t you pick it up to save yourself from dying of hunger?” She asked
And for the first time in my life I thanked God for training my children in the way of the lord….Gold gave an answer I never thought she had the wisdom to give…
“ That is the difference between you and I ma with all due respect, only a child who was not well trained or probably did not wait to recieve proper training from her parents would take what does not belong to her, regardless of how hungry she is.. To steal someone else’s chocolate because of hunger has no other name for it than Gluttony, indiscipline and Theft… I would never steal out of Lack. Why, because my mother didn’t teach me that, My guess Ma is that your Mum didn’t teach you that taking another woman’s husband even when he is lonely is still call theft, or maybe she taught you, you just didn’t listen….”
The silence that rent the room was thick, Margaret stared at Gold who was staring back at her and I feared for my daughter.. I stood up and pu-ll-ed her back , but Gold pu-ll-ed awayfrom me and walked in…
On her way in, she st©pped in her tracks and looked towards the door, she shook her head and ran up the stairs….She had seen her father….
“ Daddyyyyyy” Emerald said running towards the door, Margaret had been hit by Gold’s words as she ran upstairs too…
p@rt 18
Henry walked in and practically pushed Emerald away from him, he gave me a look that told me, he was not happy to see me. Without saying a word to me, he ran up the stairs to meet his mistress…Emerald ran up to me shattered….
“ Mummy, Daddy did not even hvg me, Mummy….She has taken away my daddy’s love from me….My Daddy doesn’t love me anymore….” Emerald said crying so loudly
“ No don’t say that Emerald, things are just complicated right now, things will get better I promise and if it doesn’t, there will always be a way out”… I said comforting Emerald. Emerald was her Dad’s Egg So she felt really bitter he treated her that way…
Gold! Where was she? I pu-ll-ed Emerald and ran up the stairs, I didn’t want her doing anything terrible to herself. As we got upstairs, I heard Henry shouting at Margaret…
“ What I am saying is you shouldn’t have let them come in, you should have let them stay outside till I c@m£, I would have gone to look for another accommodation for them, I wasn’t the one who asked her to leave, she left on her own” My heart shattered hearing the love of my life saying this about my children and I, the charm Margaret was using was definitely a strong one, but on the contrary I heard her say
“ Henry, we had an agreement, you are not to leave your wife because of me…I am a Christian and I have a conscience. If I was in her shoes, I wouldn’t want to be thrown out of my husband’s house because of a new woman.. Henry, this can work out…
My father had three wives and I have learnt from his mistakes…. I know how dehumanizing it is when a man Favours one woman more than the other…Just be a good father and husband to us all and I will be fine “ I heard Margaret saying….
“ It is easy for you to say, is it possible for me to have two women I love un-der the same roof looking at each other as rivals, it will run me insane!”
Henry said angrily as he walked out.
He bu-mped into Emerald and I. He gave me a long stare that said “I hate your guts”….
I walked towards my old matrimonial room with every step like a brick was on my b©dy…Margaret had the decency to keep My matrimonial room unt©uçhed, while She converted Gold’s room to their Matrimonial room….
As I stepped into my room, Margaret followed me, and she spoke to Gold
“ For a 14 year old girl, you spoke wisdom, If I was not pregnant maybe your words could have made me leave your happy family, but unfortunately I am carrying your father’s baby and that has given me a permanent place in your lives….I am not as evil as you think I am , I am also just looking for where to l@ymy head, I also want to be happy ” as she said this I saw tears flowing from her eyes, to avoid us seeing her tears she ran from the room….
I cautiously moved further into the room where Gold was seated on the floor in a corner…
“ Mum, why didn’t you tell me?” Gold sounded unbelievably calm
“ I was trying to save and keep you from this kind of trauma” I said sitting beside her on the floor
“ But which is worse Mum?, We could have prayed together, maybe it won’t have gotten to this level”
“ I didn’t want to disturb your academics”
“ I am not going back to school until that woman leaves this house, this is not her place” Gold said affirmatively
“ That is not going to happen any soon, You heard her, She is carrying your father’s baby and that has given her a permanent stay in your father’s life and may I add, it is a baby boy, Your father’s greatest de-sire…”
“ I am not angry at the baby, in fact I have always wanted a baby brother too, she is only helping you to carry the baby, she has to leave and just like Jacob, my education is on hold till God s£nds her out” Gold said like she was the boss
“ Gold!, I am not going to let you tamper with your academics because of my mistake “
“ Mum, we all make mistakes, You remember you once told me, when you were helping me with my take home and I made a mistake while using a pen.. I cried saying the mistake could not be erased because I was using a pen , You said “ No matter how indelible a mistake is, there is always a way to erase it all you nee-d is to have the right corrector” Mum, you brou-ght out an ink eraser and erased my mistake, I was able to write the correct answer afterwards… Mum, I was just in Primary 3, when that happened, but it never left me”
As she said those words I broke into a thousand pieces, my loving Henry was gone, he hated my guts, my children were in pain. Could all these be corrected? It seem Gold was listening to my innermost cry, because she said
“ And Mum don’t bother about us, we will walk our way into Dad’s heart back, No matter how much he loves another woman, the woman can never take the place of his own blood”
Emerald and Gold sat beside me on the floor wiping my tears….Then Gold gave me the best suggestion ever …
“ Mum, do you remember when the parents of Jesus left Jesus behind, they had to go back to look for him, Mum, Dad is lost, we nee-d to go back and get him…Do you have someone you can trust who is spiritual who can join us in this search, like a Prayer p@rtner….”
I wept, I wept and I wept, My Daughter was stronger than I was , she knew the right thing to do….
Isokene! That was the first and only name that popped into my heart… Yes, she was a trusted friend… I had to call her to inform her I was back. At this point I didn’t nee-d hypocritical Christians who would pretend to be prayer p@rtners and yet would be the first one to tell everyone what I was going throu-gh….
I nooded…
“Who?” Gold asked
“ Isokene “
“ Who is that?, I don’t think I know her” Gold said
“ She is my distant cousin, but she is a good person” I said vouching for Isokene…
“ Ok Mum, because we don’t want fake friends….Let’s call her”
“ I am taking you out of here now, plea-se get your things” We heard the voice of Henry as he stood by the doorway, looking straight ahead trying not to maintain eye contact with us….
To be continued