Before 40 part4

......Before 40 continues
Part 4
I was the only one in the living-room when I heard a knock on the door. Bro.Kenneth was in the bedroom doing some God-knows-what, so I went over to attend to the door. It was two women asking after him; one was elderly while the other, who held a young boy with a toddler strapped to her back was very much younger. I let them in and called out aloud, informing Bro.Kenneth he had visitors. On sighting them as he came out of the room, he almost lost grip of the magazine he held. His countenance was a blend of shock, fear and anger. “Nkechi, what are you doing here with Mama?” he stuttered.
Mama? Nkechi? I didn’t get. I stood still in their midst as though I had responded to a pressed pause button. The little boy helped solve my puzzle when he walked over to Bro.Kenneth and greeted “good afternoon daddy,” he said. Simple as those words were, it sounded so complicated my mind dawdled in processing them. Goosebumps suddenly sprouted all over me, my dazed eyes turned 360degrees within its socket. Did I hear well? As though his mother could sense my troubles, she spoke up and cleared the air.
“What responsible man would abandon his wife and two children?” That was the last I heard. The next was that of Rev. Father Jeff. “Praise God! She has come through,” he said, looking down at me on a hospital bed while he pinched a bead from the dangling Rosary in his hand, murmuring some words of prayer . Beside him was my mother with worries etched on her face. My head ached as I recalled all that happened before I blanked out. I couldn’t still believe Bro.Kenneth kept me as his side chick for over four years, leading me on all those time. I cursed the day I met him. My whole life was turned upside-down, I felt completely devastated. I couldn’t concentrate at my place of work and eventually got laid off with entitled severance. Rev. Father Jeff held counselling sessions with me. All I did was listen, I was too ashamed to share the undignified lifestyle I had with Bro.Kenneth which gnawed continually on my inside. The Reverend added his usual line of words, “You two were not meant to be, the right man will come at the right time.” I hated to hear him repeat this statement that seemed to have become a memorised litany. I concluded I wasn’t destined for love, so I hardened my heart from then. I got so angry with God and went on what seemed like a sabbatical leave from church and all that is God’s.
Rev. Father Jeff however, wouldn’t just let me be. He kept calling at my house, reaching me on phone, praying and admonishing till I found my way back after 6months. I had hardly rejoined the church when an oral proposal was waiting for me at the church office. Rev. Father Jeff said a young man came to him showing his interest in me. He said the man who recently returned from abroad joined the parish while I was away and noticed me when I came back. Could he be the ‘right man at the right time'  the Reverend had often talked about? I told him I will be thinking about it.
The following Sunday, Rev. Father Jeff introduced us to one another. “Sister Monica,  -meet Mr. Simpson Smith.” You needed to have seen this man, his appearance didn’t compliment his uncommon name at all. Apart from being the perfect depiction of plain-looks, what grabbed my attention the most was his suit that looked like he was thrown into it. Is this suit or shoot? How can this man in my brother dash me (hand-me-down) attire claim to have come from abroad? Anyway, abroad get levels, perhaps he meant the impoverished, under-developed countries of the world. Even at that, wouldn’t they at least have a good  tailor to help fit to size? I thought mockingly. It’s the Reverend that can be deceived, I had learnt too much to be. Father Jeff left us alone to discuss. The man said he is convinced I’m the woman for him. “ahh-ahh-ahh!” I laughed deep down; so loud within I almost apologised, thinking he had heard, sealed my grin with a long trail of hiss, “mtcheewwww!” Who was he trying to fool?
I have had enough of all these born again brothers’ religious gimmicks. Convinced? Shedrach had said something similar till he travelled abroad, got wrapped up in something stronger than his conviction that robbed him of it. Weren’t Franklin and Bro.Kenneth also Christian brothers? Yet they toyed with my emotions and made a mess of my heart. I am no longer game to the cunning tactics of men.
With modesty, I declined the proposal. Like most men, it took Mr. Simpson Smith time to read between lines. He thought I was just simply being a hard-catch, so he kept chasing. I sweated him out by avoiding him at the church and ignoring most of his calls. Panting heavily, he gave up on me.
Rev. Father Jeff held many counselling sections with me after, encouraging me to give another man a chance. Now that I have eventually done that, I expected him to simply join I and Bernard in holy matrimony without delay. This he did at last.
Though I do not have the heart of love required in such union for Bernard, he needed me to bear a child with which he would claim his inheritance and I in turn would be financially secured. So the marriage was somewhat like a contract, a fair deal at that.
Two months into the marriage with no conception, we became worried, went for medical check-ups and necessary tests were carried out that confirmed us fertile and healthy to conceive. “So what’s the problem? What sort of trial is this?” I cried within. It was 10 months to Bernard forfeiting his inheritance. He began losing faith in the orthodox medicine. Gradually, he tended towards the traditional way. Bernard brought home lots of bitter, smelly herbs which we took together. To further enhance his pursuit, he began investing in all kinds of energy drinks not leaving out the locally made ones. Our love making now became more of hard labour as it was centred on making baby. My gosh! how I dreaded it.
Bernard called for sex at any and many times in the day, even at times set apart for prayers, not minding if I was tired or not in the mood. I had on occasions encouraged him not to lose faith in the place of prayer. As without faith, one can receive nothing from God. He was always quick to counter with the only scriptural verse he seemed to have memorised verbatim, “faith without work is dead,” he says, “you keep the faith while I do the work.”
7months to his forfeiting his inheritance, there was still no issue. I became worried sick, wondered if God was punishing me for past misdeeds. Pressure kept building by the day. Bernard became snappish at me as though I was God who gave babies. However, he kept working at it. At that point, I for one had given up. After all, we weren’t hoping for a premature baby to claim his inheritance. Probably he could be considered if we could at least conceive. I cried to God in prayers. Maybe my requests got stuck somewhere in the cloud or were left pending, for at two months to his birthday; the d-day, I was still as barren as a desert.
At a time Bernard became ill and weak. At first I thought he had only overworked himself as a result of the energy drinks he abused. But when it got to a point where he could do nothing except talk, I had to rush him to a private hospital. After over a month on admission, we were told to try the general hospital as he wasn’t responding to treatment. By then, Bernard had become terribly skinny as though he had been drained of several pints of blood. His breath was short and unsteady. From there, I brought him home. Already the illness had depleted my bank account. To take him to the referred hospital, I went to relatives to source for money, which I strongly hoped wouldn’t be for his funeral. Along the line, Rev. father Jeff; whom I had informed of the situation, asking for his prayers, came around. I thought he had come to add to the contribution, when he said God revealed Bernard had a confession he must make before prayers can be answered. Confession? As if I didn’t know..........,thoughts of infidelity had formed on my mind at different times before. Even though I never denied him my body for once, I knew I could hardly satisfy him with the rate at which he demanded sex. But toooooo far beyond my imagination were the words that turned out of Bernard’s mouth. Then I realised I had been living with a total stranger. It all felt like a nightmare when he revealed his true identity.
TO BE CONTINUED........