DECISIONS 4

With all these revelations there is nothing else to discuss. The issues between us are over. There is no apology that can turn back the hands of time. Even my parent won’t want their child to get married to a man who has six kids or more outside and his major objective of living is sleeping around all sorts of ladies including maids. I cried as we were going back home. I was tired and frustrated. My lines were ringing; friends were calling and stupidly on everyone’s DP my picture with his is always there with PM reading 4days to go. I really need four days to get out of this town. 

I told Ngozi to start arranging a runaway plan for me. I can’t stand explaining this to anyone. My parent would do that. I won’t even tell them where I am going to. I would just call them up and let them know I’m good. All these were my plans. 

Immediately we got home I walked straight into my room. I needed to be alone to remain sane. A little bit of tears in everybody’s eyes and I knew I was really the cause of these pains my family is going through. If I didn’t bring the useless Desmond to them I wouldn’t have to go through all these insults. I thought I needed to apologize to them. I pulled together all the courage I had and opened the door from my room through the passage to the sitting room. I pulled the curtains aside and saw Desmond in front of me.

He knelt down and said: Sheila; I have wronged you, not just you and your family but everyone. All these you know about me today are true but in all sincerity that isn’t me. I have never loved before I met you and the reality of all is that you are the only one my heart is tuned to. Probably if I had told you all these before this day we wouldn’t have gotten to this level but baby believe me I’m a changed person and together we could build a world of our own. The decisions for our future lies in your yes or no. it’s four days to our consolidation in front of the whole world but at this time I’m at your mercy my love. 

He stood up slowly and I saw the sincerity in his eyes. I held him tightly and at that moment I knew I can never let Desmond go. I gave him a long kiss in front of everyone and after a while I told him “Desmond it’s over”. 

Now I’m out of the house, and its four days to my wedding. I have to decide either to go on with the wedding with the knowledge of all those children or call it off with an abortion.   

What do you advice?  Please I need your comments………

DECISIONS 3

It was Uncle Charles’s cool word that stabilized mum. He was called into this mess when it turned out to be a little beyond the physical. I recalled all the moments I’ve had with Desmond and I can say categorically there was none that he showed he had a child somewhere. Now Helen wants to leave, we really can’t keep her. I started feeling polygamous already. I know my husband to be has two male children or more outside our intending matrimonial home already. I’m about entering a life of struggle and the fear of what I went through in my house growing up is what I’m about experiencing.

When mum was fully stable, Uncle Charles called for prayers. Africans disturb God with their prayers and I know in heaven they would be tired of how lethargic and dependent Africans are. The prayers lasted for like ten minutes and the echoing amen were directed towards heaven. In Jesus mighty name we pray ……….. Praise the Lord alleluia. Now prayer is over, it’s time for action. I can’t sit here and watch my whole future crumble, and I don’t think I have that patience of waiting for Desmond any longer. I need to see him and ask him what is really going on. I’m going insane; I screamed and all attention was placed on me. 

I jumped into the back seat of the car with Uncle Bunmi and Uncle Charles in front. Ngozi never left me anyway, and Desmond’s house was our destination. We would be there in the next thirty minutes but suddenly traffic was up at the moment. I just felt something would happen… like I would wake up or it was all a kind of setup from Desmond but how come the child look a lot like him. Helen was so close behind, making the turns as we do and intimidating with the luxury of her car. 

Now Desmond’s house is in view. The two uncles at the front seat started advising me not to be naughty when we get to Desmond’s house. They still call them in-laws as if they are deaf to all that is going on. I didn’t complain nor did I say a word. The only comfort was those hands of Ngozi patting me regularly to stop me from crying.  We parked our car behind his car outside the gate and Helen one more time blew her horn for the gate to be opened. The stupid security didn’t even check who was inside the car, he just opened. The whole truth was about to be exposed I know but I was told to sit back inside the car for the case to be presented. 

I waited for like five minutes after they’ve entered and then told Ngozi I can’t bear sitting inside the car when I’m about to be judged. I would find my way inside. We argued respect for uncles a little but when I opened my door she knew she had to rush out with me. I didn’t knock at the gate as I normally did but pushed it open and like a tout marched into the living room. I knew I wasn’t going there to do anything stupid but I needed to see for myself. When I entered I saw a crowd I didn’t expect in there. Apart from Uncle Bunmi and Uncle Charles, there was a family gathered there with them and my entrance was about to change everything.  Desmond’s head was bent in soberness and then I knew he couldn’t deny it any longer. 

I knelt down to greet the parents and elders in there and sat beside my uncle. Tears kept rolling from my eyes and I wished I had done abortion before now to terminate the baby Desmond kept inside of me. Desmond’s dad stood up and acknowledged the presence of everybody. He continued with some adages and wise saying to calm the atmosphere. He expressed his regret for this day and said if not for his child he wouldn’t be caught in this kind of mess but not withstanding he had to do as a father. 

He turned to a lady seated at the edge of the room and started like this: you said when your oga go to work; you used to come and see my son in his room. And he used to give you money and promise you he will take you abroad. But now you are pregnant for him right. The dad turned and looked at me and my relatives and said my son just got our nieghbours house help pregnant again. That’s the sixth pregnancy case I’m settling in four years. Sheila my daughter; it’s your decision that I stand with. He turned and faced Helen and his son and called the boy by his native name and the boy ran to grandpa. I stood up as Ngozi supported me walked slowly outside. I was about opening the gate when a man barge in with a cutlass and his 16 year old daughter…… her tummy was also protruding………………………….

DECISIONS 2

The same shock I went through was now being exposed to everyone at home. Everyone asked questions like I knew the answer until they turned to Helen to tell them if it was really true. She narrated the story again and again until the conviction was grand. I started hating Desmond from that moment but would I call off my wedding I’ve been planning for six months off because I knew he got a woman pregnant?  What if she was telling a lie? I kept a part of me in that denial of she might be telling a lie. After a while we were all convinced about her story and it was time to summon the culprit in this whole saga. Uncle Ben told me to call Desmond and put the phone on speaker. I should behave I never knew something was wrong and stylishly invite him to the house to face Helen and the truth would be known at that point.

I dialed his number after so much composure and he smoothly started the conversation again. I asked how his day had been and he started the whole jargon session of hi being at the fashion house where he is adjusting his shirt for the wedding. He had gone to the photographer to finalize on locations for after wedding shooting. He had also paid the travel agency for honeymoon in Zanzibar. All these took my mind out of what I was supposed to do until I was pinched by my mum telling me I had to invite him. 

I waited for him to be done as I told him I wanted him to come to the house to see something I just got. He was hesitant a little as he asked what I wanted to show him. I brought out the femininity in me with tones of conviction and he promised he was going to be with me in less than an hour. I was about ending the call when I heard his hello again. I pulled backwards to listen again and he said there was something he wanted to tell me. I relaxed as he continued….

Desmond: it’s four days to our wedding baby and sincerely there is something I need to tell you. I never wanted to tell you before because I didn’t believe in it that much but I was convinced lately. Although I have taken care of that side of it being a problem but I think I should let you know. When I was in my final year in the university; you remembered one girl I told you we were dating called Freda. We were pretty close at that moment but it was with caution and I knew it wasn’t anything more than university love thus I was so protective. She wasn’t so sure about me so one particular day she set me up with her very close friend. It was a friend’s birthday party and I had a lot to drink. I was so high that I couldn’t remember what happened afterwards but top my surprise I saw myself naked on my bed the next day lying beside a lady. I struggled to open my eyes fully to comprehend what was happening and to my greatest surprise it was Freda’s friend. I snapped into reality and woke her up. She acted like it was consented but when I showed how angry I was she adjusted. It was during our final exams that she told me she was pregnant. I thought she was joking until I came back from UK six months ago and saw the boy was just a copy of me.

When mum heard this she fainted

DECISIONS

We’ve all made decisions in life and either it is right or wrong, it’s dependent on the outcome of those decisions. The truth is life doesn't allow a free flow of triumph around us all. Our efforts need to count and the distractions that affect us are later called indecisions. There are lots of things as humans we cannot decide. All through childhood through teenage hood decisions were made for us. Adulthood gave the power of choices to many of us. It was an invention to a lot of us thus making a mistake was a regular. The hardest decision I’ve ever had to make was the one I am about either regretting or going through with it.

Marriage: a passage rite for all through which we transform from single to married; A conviction of a life time with or without stress; an acceptance of a partner in whom your existence lay and finally a decision that can make you or mar you if it ends up being wrong. 

The stage is set already, marriage classes are over. The Aso Ebi and souvenirs had been rolled in. Donations were coming in from family friends and well wishers. Prayers were being rendered to make the day a wonderful day. The event planner can’t just stop calling me. The hall was designed in 3d and I saw the splendor of the day. My wedding gown is a marvel made in Italy and shipped into Nigeria. For the first time in my life my step mum was fully part of something that was going to be a success to me. I loved the tension going on around the house and one major thing I was so sure of was “sex would now be legalized”.

The makeup lady (Ngozi) just walked into my room to check the colours to be used in less than four days time. She is a very lovely person and her advices her heavenly. I know I wouldn’t mind someone like that as a sister but I never really had a sister; only step sisters. The gadgets she brought out were much and I wondered if all these were to be applied to my face just to be a diva on my wedding day. We joked a little about how I felt getting married and she rolled in her advices again. When it’s close to wedding days my dear lots of temptations arise. Just try to be calm she said.

The colours were marching except for my nails. I didn’t like the acrylics she proposed. In the middle of those deliberations my phone rang. The number looked like one I knew ever since but the voice was alien after I said hello. The lady on the other side lacked a little courtesy as she went on to ask if I was Sheila Bello. I said yes surprisingly at who knew me and I never knew. She went on: my name is Helen and I don’t intend to spoil your day to come pretty soon. I have a four year old son for the man you are about to get married to. And I just thought it right to let you know he has not been a good father to his son. Even though we aren’t married; the promises Desmond made to me before he travelled to UK for his masters were divine. I scrambled around and gave him all I have and could borrow. Our relationship was four years old at that time and he got me pregnant as a conviction to show he wasn’t leaving me forever. He came back when I delivered and since those two weeks he had spent with his son; the next picture I saw of him was on his wedding card. I don’t intend to get married to him any longer though but I’m just scared for you because you might be getting into marriage with a man you practically don’t know. The wrong decisions I made about Desmond are regrets I’ve grown past right now but be careful.

The line went off and immediately I discovered I was fading away. Ngozi rushed towards me and faintly I heard her shouting help. I didn’t do that intentionally but in five minutes I was up and stable. They kept on asking what happened and I said nothing. I pulled myself together and told everyone to leave me with Ngozi. I narrated the story to her and we decided it was nice to call the girl back. It was the second call that she picked. I was subtle in my voice as I begged her to visit me if she was in the same town just to confirm what she was saying. She agreed as I gave her my address and she said in thirty minutes she would be in my house. I dressed up at least to impress whoever my boyfriend got pregnant and thirty minutes on the dot I heard a car horn at my gate. I told Musa to open the gate for her and surprisingly a range rover sport drove in and a lady in her late twenties stepped out of it. She turned to the other side to open the door for his son and the look on the boy’s face showed he was (Desmond junior).

Helen is practically the finest lady I’ve ever met. Lovely height and a physique that later on even affected my dad and his friends. I walked over to her and escorted her into the sitting room. The look on everybody’s face changed when they saw the little boy and the question was “don’t tell me Desmond has a child”? ….. The truth I won’t tell you because you just found out.

PRAYER POINT

Prayer points

·         I cast the goat that eats the green grass of your life into hell for barbecue today in Jesus name.

·         The horse that rides on your path of destiny I castrate today in Jesus name.

·         The soldier ant that climbs up the trouser of your future; I burn you with fire today in Jesus name

·         The catfish that distracts you from your tomorrow shall be pointed to kill today.

·         The snail that makes your destiny slow would be ordered today.

·         The dog that barks at your guest of prosperity shall be sacrificed today

·         Every monkey that jumps from a department of your success to another eating your banana of profit, I incapacitate you in Jesus name.

·         Every mosquito that causes malaria of poverty I cast out today in Jesus name

·         Every bad water that causes cholera of pride and haughtiness I throw out today in Jesus name

·        Every cold weather that instigates the trypanosomiasis of sleeping around in our sister’s life I cast it out today in Jesus name

·         Every chicken that lays the eggs of success shall be found in your life in Jesus name

·         The turkey of prosperity shall be in your poultry in Jesus name

·         The tilapia of stagnancy shall be grilled today in Jesus name

These and many more we pray