ANDREA
“That’s the new wife and she is two months pregnant, she would pack into the house tomorrow. My sister in-law concluded and rose, her face lit with a triumphant smile. It was as if she had won a much coveted award after completing a major project.”
“I froze in an instant and became speechless. My eyes reflected a whirlwind of emotions and as l ruminated on her words, the blood in my veins turned to ice. A moment of silence ensued as a tense of atmosphere engulfed the whole place .l looked at my husband, his eyes were cold as night, a disdainful smile twitched at the corner of his eyes. Anger bubbled in my heart, my forehead became drenched with sweat and my eyes glistened with sadness.
I felt the earth slipping under my feet, honestly I didn’t know how I got the strength to stand up and l went to my bedroom, however, I was accompanied by a sudden myriad of strange emotions that tugged at my heart, which was a huge departure from my usual calm demeanor.
I didn’t even know how the rest of the party went.
Ladies, I couldn’t sleep that night, l rolled from one edge of the bed to the other with tears dripping ceaselessly from my eyes as I reviewed my marital journey with Dennis and wondered what I did wrong to deserve the huge betrayal. Tears streamed down like waterfalls from my eyes throughout the night”.
“Your friend is a merciless betrayer, unfriendly friend indeed”. Isabella answered.
“Excuse me, you mean you didn’t displayed any drama and madness there?. I would have landed a series of thunderous slaps on her two cheeks, they would have known that no one has the monopoly of madness and that madness surely has an expiry date”. Terry said , sadness filled her tone.
“No, instead, l resolved on my next plan overnight. I thought I needed to run for my dear life. I felt if they could both betray me then I wasn’t sure my life was safe staying under the same roof with them. Fortunately, I had been managing my husband’s business located outside the town and there is an apartment he built there. So early the next morning, I packed out of the house with my two children. I was afraid for my life being the only surviving child of my parents plus the fact that Genevieve’s father was a prominent political chieftain in her state while my parents were retired teachers”.
“So it wasn’t really about your husband’s money and your husband was already dating her while she was mourning her late husband?” Damilola cast a sympathetic look at Andrea.
“Up till now, I don’t know the reason because Genevieve and I have never spoken about it since then”.
“Didn’t you meet her afterwards ?”. Isabella asked.
“My dear, I have not returned to that house and I avoided any family function that she would be present. I value my mental health. However, our mutual friend said Genevieve told her my husband chased hard after her and even went as far as meeting her father to speak with him over his marriage proposal”.
“ And she couldn’t tell you then? Nalla asked in a perplexing tone.
“That means you left your marriage for her”.
Terry said with a pretty serious expression.
“I didn’t leave my marriage, I left that house for them and like I said, l moved to another house owned by my husband. Marriage to Dennis became an endless list of pain afterwards, I became a shadow of myself and l lost my ambition and drive during that time. I was an ambitious young lady but I became suicidal after that episode. I almost cursed my husband from the depth of my heart during that period but thank God I never did, it would have affected us all now”.
“You shouldn’t have left at all” Sakiya said.
”My dear, you needed to be there to see that I was my only support system except for God anyway. My husband was the breadwinner of his extended family and they had always been supportive of his decisions whether right or wrong, all because he paid most of their bills”.
“Waoh”. Carol exclaimed.
“One of his closest friends however visited me three weeks later in the office.
“He wanted to date you?”. Isabella asked with a frown.
Ann shook her head in surprise at Isabella.
“No, he came to apologize for not telling me beforehand. He said he wasn’t supportive of his action and that was the reason for his absence on that day. He encouraged me to return home but I declined. I told him, I was ready to start life there again. Surprisingly, my husband came with his uncle three months later to apologize”.
“What kind of apology is that? He knew what he was into before hand”. Carol said with a matter of fact tone.
“It was about his children, he missed them. So after much pleading, we reconciled but I told him I will rather stay where I was. He built another house for us four months later and also agreed that I should be managing the estates there”.
“So, Genevieve never reached out to you?” Terry asked, in barely a whisper.
“My sisters, her cousin was the only one who spoke to me. I guessed because her husband is a polygamist and she is the first wife”.
“So she understood what you might be going through?“ Terry added.
“Exactly, she called twice to encourage me to face my life and children “.
“So what’s up now?”.Nalla asked
“I haven’t finished my story”.
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