I gave her a faint smile with a slight nod of the head. “Everything is alright,” I managed to reply. But she was not convinced.
“Look, Anita, I have known you for a while, something is not right, why are you sounding like this?” she persisted, looking deep into my eyes as though the answers to her questions were hidden inside my eyes.
I slumped into the chair behind me. She came and sat beside me.
“Talk to me, Anita, how did it go? Did something go wrong?”
I nodded. “MD’s wife and I had a fight,” I said quietly.
“Jesus Christ!” she exclaimed. “A fight? How? Why?” she asked, genuinely concerned about what happened. “I hope you don’t mean you had a physical fight with her o!”
“No, of course not, but to be honest with you, it very nearly got physical between us, that was how bad things went,” I lamented ruefully.
“Oh, my God! But how did things get that bad? Did you abuse her or what?” she asked me, really looking bewildered by what I just told her.
“I did not abuse her, she got on the offensive when she realised what my mission was. She obviously is not ready to accommodate me and my son into that family right now!” I told her.
“I told you! I told you, didn’t I?” Aunty Meg jumped to her feet. “I knew you shouldn’t trust that woman. You see what I mean?”
I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t exactly sure whether she was wrong or right. I simply nodded.
“So, what next now? What are you going to do?” she probed.
“Don’t know yet but MD will be here later today so we will talk about it,” I said to her, trying to hide my real sadness.
“Listen to me, my dear, when MD comes here, be very frank with him. Let him know you’re not happy with the way his wife treated you and let him know that, no matter what may have happened back at his place, you need him to do the proper thing, and which is, he needs to put a ring on your finger, period!”
She made sense. MD needs to do the needful if indeed he values me. He needs to prove that my son and I are an integral part of his life. But how would I do that without starting another kind of drama again? Not with all that transpired between Aunty Elizabeth and I back at their home. It’s something I needed to handle very carefully.
“You are right, Aunty Meg but I also need to be very careful how I go about it,” I said to her. “The trouble that erupted between me and his wife is yet to clear off the ground, so I must watch his mood to decide when I make this demand of him,” I explained.
Aunty Meg nodded, smiling wryly. “I understand you, no problems. You can take all the time in the world but I do know that this is a serious matter that should be treated with the urgency that it deserves,” she retorted, obviously not impressed by my response to her suggestion.
“The truth of the matter is that, the longer you wait, the more difficult it becomes for you to press the issue. You need to secure your future and that of your son now, or do you think you will forever remain MD’s newest bride?” she added, looking me straight in the eyes for emphasis.
I was lost. Didn’t understand what she meant by that last sentence. “What do you mean by I may not remain his newest bride forever?” I asked, puzzled.
“Oh, so you don’t realize that there is a possibility that MD could find himself another beautiful young bride tomorrow and shift all his attention and devotion and even resources to her just like he shifted all of that away from his wife and transferred them to you when he met you?” Aunty Meg continued to pierce through my heart with her words that probed the depth of my senses. “And what’s more,” she continued, “you don’t even think it’s possible that he could get another young babe pregnant tomorrow, do you? And what do you think will become of you if that happens?”
I thought about what she just said for a moment and the very thought of it all scared me. “God forbid!” I returned, my whole being revolting against the idea of MD taking another wife over me.
But, I soon realized that it was not impossible. He is a man. He is good looking. And what’s more, he has the money to marry as many wives as he possibly desires and manage as many concubines as his libido can contain.
“My dear, it is not a matter of God forbid, it is a matter of you must not let it shock you when it happens,” Aunty Meg continued with her sermon. “Yes, it is possible for you to prevent it from happening, which I doubt because every man will tell you that. No matter how well you spice your rice everyday, he will still get tired of eating it. Instead, he wants to try another type of food outside. The truth is that, no woman can stop a man from marrying another woman once his mind is made up.”
I was getting really worried now. I cannot stand the thought of MD abandoning me for another woman. How would I leave with that?
“But MD loves me, he won’t do that to me, Aunty Meg, I know he won’t,” I gushed, my voice trembling with fear.
“But he loved his wife too. Probably still do. Yet, he came after you,” she responded. “And luckily for you, you gave him the child he had been looking for, and to put the icing on the cake, you gave him a son, and for that reason, you will always occupy a special place in his heart. But all of that could be in a matter of days if a pretty new bride comes into his life.”
“And do you know the biggest shocker MD could give you if another woman comes into his life?” she asked me, a look of mischief in her eyes.
“No, I don’t know,” I shook my head, wondering where she was going.
She beamed me a wicked smile, “He could get that woman pregnant too!”
…To Be Continued
