I had a feeling Aunty Meg already knew something she was holding back from me. Could it be she already knew the pregnancy I’d gone to abort didn’t belong to MD? Did she suspect I already had a lover somewhere?
“Aunty Meg, let me ask you something, is there something you know that you’re not telling me?” I turned to her, looking her straight in the eyes.
“Something I know? Like what?” she’d retorted. From the look on her face, it was difficult to tell if she was being truthful or not. Her face had a dead pan expression that seemed hard to read through.
“I don’t know but you’re sounding as though you know me more than I know myself, or more like you know I already had a lover somewhere so you’re merely encouraging me to go on and have some more,” I told her, my voice laced with anger.
“Oh, please, Anita, stop sounding like that. Stop sounding like a naive young lady,” Aunty Meg responded. “All I am trying to do is to help you get through a difficult phase of your life. You are too young and pretty to be married to a man that does not live with you. It’s nothing but absolute loneliness and it can be terribly frustrating. There will be times you would long for the warmth of a man and he won’t be there for you. He will be back at home in the arms of his main wife. And you are just like any other woman, you have blood running through your veins. So, it’s always going to be extremely difficult for you to cope as a young lady with the many nights of loneliness and desperation….Or am I not making any sense to you at all, Anita?”
I sighed heavily. “I will be lying if I said you’re not. You are making sense of course,” I answered, looking away from her. It was as though she knew exactly what I was going through all this while and why I still had to keep my relationship with Junior.
“It’s been very tough for me, Aunty” I’d continued. “You have no idea what I have been through in the last few months. The loneliness and the desperation can be strong sometimes. But then again, my conscience worries me endlessly. MD has been a wonderful person. A good man, a great husband and father. Cheating on him feels like betraying him, like one stabbing him in the back. But it’s been so tough Aunty,”
We got home and I was still overwhelmed with the issue Aunty Meg had raised. But I was trying to get off my chest.
“There is also something important I need to discuss with you, Anita,” Aunty Meg said as we stepped out of the car.
“What’s that?” I’d wondered what she had up her sleeves this time again.
‘Have you discussed about your future with MD?” she’d asked.
I was lost. She wasn’t making sense to me. “My future? What future are you talking about?” I couldn’t understand her.
“Your future with MD and that of your child,” she replied. “If something happens to him today, are you and your son well taken care of in his Will? Does he even have a will yet, and if he does, are you in that Will and well taken care of? This is the only way you can be sure that his wife and family won’t shut you out of whatever should be yours if MD drops dead today! So, the question is, if something happens to him today, are you sure you have been well protected and taken care of?”
I thought long and hard about what she just said. Now, she was making sense. To be honest, I hadn’t given a thought about what she just said. As hurtful as it may sound, this woman was making sense. And the earlier I began to take her very seriously, the better for me.
“I think you’re making sense, Aunty…” I began to nod my head slowly in agreement.
“Of course, I’m right,” Aunty Meg shot back at me, her voice rising as she spoke. “Do you really think his wife genuinely loves you? Yes, I know you told me she’s a nice woman but deep down inside her, do you imagine she will be happy with you? A young girl like you coming from nowhere to share her husband with her? And not only that, you have given her husband what she couldn’t give to him, a child! So, you think she will be sincerely pleased with you? She can’t. It’s not possible.”
“And let me shock you, Anita,” Aunty Meg continued, speaking with even more conviction now. “Do you think for a moment that MD loves you more than he loves his wife just because you have given him the child she couldn’t give to him? Is that what you think?”
I looked at her and then looked away. I was not sure what to say anymore.
“No, please, give me an answer, do you think he loves you more than he loves his first wife?” he asked again.
This time, I nodded. “I should think so,” I answered unconvincingly.
“You should think so,” she snarled at me. “Siddon there and be thinking. Listen to me and listen good, my dear young lady, you can never take the place of his first wife, no matter how many kids you give to him. That’s one of the reasons he rarely spends the night at your place. What you owe him is his child, that’s what he places high premium on right now, not necessarily you.”
I looked up into space for a long spell and just shook my head. This was starting to look really scary. “So, what do I do now?” I asked, totally puzzled.
“You start thinking and planning, dear,” Aunty Meg returned. “You start letting MD know that you’re starting to get worried about your future and he needs to show you some guarantee or proof that you’re well covered and taken care of.”
I was really confused. This was a whole new territory for me. It’s no familiar terrain at all. If I brought this subject up with MD, wouldn’t he start thinking somebody has been telling me something? Wouldn’t he start thinking I am starting to become difficult lady for him? Wouldn’t he start thinking I was in the relationship for money? And that’s one impression I would not like him to have of me.
“Thank you, Aunty Meg, I will start work on all that you said,” I said to her.
“And when do you hope to do that?” she asked me.
“Right away,” I said to her,
“Ah, are you serious? It’s like you have suddenly woken up,” Aunty Meg said to me.
“You can say that again Aunty Meg, you have opened my eyes to something I had not given a thought to…..” I returned.
…to be continued
