I could barely sleep. I was lost deep in my thoughts. A lot of questions were racing through my mind. Did I handle the situation right? Did I make things any better than they were for me? I wanted to entrench myself and my child in MD’s home and family, did I achieve that tonight? Would it have been better for me if I made friends with Aunty Elizabeth rather than made her my enemy? Despite everything, one thing I have learned is that she has such a strong hold on me. In fact, it appears to me that she was his backbone financially before he became the rich man that he is today. So, definitely, if something happened to him today, she was solid enough to get me and my son deleted from his will and that was the last thing I wanted.
But it was important I showed how much I wanted to be recognized within the scheme of things. I would not let my son be trampled upon and treated like a nobody right in his father’s house. Looking back at all the drama I caused, what could I have done differently? Maybe I shouldn’t have called Aunty Lizzy barren. That must’ve hurt her greatly. There were so many things I said that I shouldn’t have said.
MD too seemed very upset with me. Will he still scold me and possibly stay away from me for a while because of my unruly behavior? I didn’t think so. He would not be able to do so because of his son. He loves Junior a great deal. But I was certain I hadn’t heard the last of this from MD. I was tossing and turning in bed. I needed to be honest with myself, I had really made a huge mess of things. I began to weigh my options. Should I see Aunty Lizzy in the morning and apologize to her before I leave and apologize to MD too? Or, should I just pick up my things and my child and head back home without a word to any of them? Even to me, that no longer seemed like a sensible thing to do. I made up my mind, I was going to see both of them and apologize to them before I leave in the morning.
Morning finally came. I barely slept a wink. I took Junior to the bathroom and gave him his bath. I was already hearing movements around the house. It was just around 6.30 in the morning and it seemed the whole house was up and about.
I got Junior dressed up and had a shower myself. Minutes after, with my bag in one hand and holding Junior with the other, I stepped out of the room and told one of the maids I needed to speak with her madam.
“Is she awake already?” I asked her.
“Yes, ma, she is,” she answered, looking at me with a curious look on her face.
“Can you call her for me, please, I want to see her before I leave,” I said to her.
“Okay, ma, let me go and call her for you.”
She left and returned a minute after. “She is coming, ma,” she informed me.”
About a minute or so later, Aunty Elizabeth emerged. But she wasn’t the only one, MD was right behind her….
They were both surprised especially Aunty Lizzy. She was wondering why I asked to see her. From the look on her face, it was obvious she was still deeply asleep when she was woken up. And she clearly didn’t like it, more so when she found I was the reason why her precious sleep was interrupted.
“Good morning, Anita,…so you still want to leave us so soon?” MD asked genuine concern in his eyes.
“Yes, MD, I need to leave, I think it was a bad idea coming at the time I did,” I said to him.
“No, Anita, don’t talk like that, it was not a bad thing you came here at all, we are always happy to have you and Junior come over anytime, any day……,” MD tried to explain. But I was not even paying attention to what he was saying.
“It’s okay, MD, I agree with you, it’s not a bad idea I came here with my son, I think the only problem was that the timing of my visit was wrong. So, I will definitely try to work out a better time next time,” I promised him.
But I was barely looking at him as I spoke, I was looking at his wife. Her face was glowing with anger. She looked like she was struggling to suppress the urge to reach for me and strangle me, that was how livid she appeared.
“Why did you ask the maid to wake me up?” Aunty Lizzy asked me, her eyes gazing hard into mine with intense hostility.
MD threw her a quick glance that seemed to say, ‘Will you stop bickering for Christ’s sake?’
“I’m so sorry, Aunty, I didn’t mean to interrupt your sleep,” I promptly apologized. “I just wanted to have a word with you before I leave your house this morning.”
“I see,” she’d shot back, a cynical smile on her face. “You want to insult me some more before you go? You want to call me more horrible names, right?” she added, her voice cold and hard.
I shook my head in response. “No, Aunty Lizzy, I have no such intentions, I can assure you,” I said to her, meaning every word of it. “I asked the maid to wake you up for me so I can see you before I leave.”
“Okay, so, here I am,” she shot back at me.
MD was trying to get her to be calm and civil to me but she was not even paying attention to him. I couldn’t blame her. If I was in her shoes and had taken the kind of insults she had taken from me, I would do something much worse.
“It’s alright, Aunty Elizabeth, I am not here to insult you or anything like that, I am actually here to apologize to you for everything that happened between us…
…To Be Continued
