For a mother, who was just delivered of a
baby, she was just too sad. The nurses were curious when Uju cried
when she saw it was a girl. Of course, she knew her husband would have
left the hospital in anger. Why wouldn’t he? This was her fourth baby
and it was another girl!
She felt like a failure because she had
not given him a heir. Her first-born, Abigail, 10, was in secondary
school and her in-laws already sniggered at her. Though her husband did
not complain, she could see that he was not happy.
She spent two days at the hospital and
did not see her husband until she got home with the baby. This time, he
had packed her things into the guest room and said he didn’t want to be
disturbed with the cry of her daughter! Uche, her husband hurled abuses
at her and the children. He cursed the day he met her and kept asking
why he married from her family.
She accepted fate and nursed her baby
with the help of her nanny, Nkem. She had brought the girl from the
village to help with house chores and at her shop. Nkem came when she
had her third daughter. Then, she needed extra help around the house and
sent a message to the village. Fortunately for her, Nkem was available.
Nkem’s mother was late and was a very good friend of Uju before her
death. Uju didn’t hesitate to enroll her in one of the secondary schools
in their neighbourhood because she was a good hand with her children.
When her last child turned three years,
Nkem was 19. Then, Uju observed that her children had started
developing resentment towards Nkem. Whenever she asked her first
daughter the reason for this, she told her that Nkem was becoming
annoyingly secretive.
According to her daughter, she had come
home from school unexpectedly and opened the bedroom door to see Nkem
counting money. There were packages on the floor while new underwear
were on the bed. She asked Nkem where she got the items but Nkem shut
the bedroom door in her face.
Uju became curious and probed her
daughter more. Her daughter told her that Nkem was always sneaking into
their daddy’s bedroom. The girl said she watched as Nkem tiptoed into
the room but came out again.
Uju was worried but she didn’t believe
her husband could have an affair with her maid. When she could not
contain it again, she discussed it with her husband and told him Nkem
had to be sent back to the village!
Her husband refused and he scolded his
wife for talking that way. He said the teenager was an orphan and they
should help her through school. She accepted her husband’s advice.
Six months later, Nkem took ill – she was
vomitting and was feverish. They rushed her to the hospital thinking
she had malaria. After examining her, Nkem was discovered to be
pregnant! Her skin was pale while her face and legs were swollen, she
looked three months gone already. Uju chided herself for being too
preoccupied not to have noticed her pregnant maid.
“This is an opportunity to send her
home,” she told herself but again, her husband opposed the decision –
Nkem must be taken care of since her parents were dead, he said. At that
point Uju became angry with him and they quarrelled to the extent that
family members were invited.
Was she shocked when her husband later
confessed to his elder brother that the pregnancy was his? As expected,
the in-laws implored the distraught wife to accept Nkem as her husband’s
second wife. She agreed.
Six months later, Nkem gave birth to a
baby boy! Her husband was happy and threw a party. Her husband cannot
get over the joy of having a male child. It has been hellish for Uju,
who is thinking of packing out of her matrimonial home.
No comments:
Post a Comment