Odi was a wonderful brother I met in the new church I starting attending outside campus. He was a good cake with a beautiful Icing. He was very active in church and the icing on the cake was that He was RICH. From the first day I noticed him in Church, I knew he was a good catch. He had a close resemblance to Bro Stephen as they looked really clean and tush. However, Odi was more CLASSY. We got quite close and became friends. What sealed the deal between us both was when he told me he was a single dad and his daughter was in the United States with the mother. He told me he was trying to get custody of his daughter. He showed me the picture of a beautiful girl. I told him I also had a daughter, Jadesola who due to my mother’s recent death had been taken to my Aunt’s place. He told me he didn’t like the idea of passing my child from one relative to the other, he encouraged me to embrace her and find how to train her on my own… I was glad God had given me a man who did not see my having a child as having an incurable disease. One thing led to the other and Odi proposed. He told me, he wanted to marry me and I could bring my daughter along with me to the marriage. Odi was a dream come true, He was the perfect will of God I was looking for. He was good looking, wealthy, he accepted my past and most importantly he was social. Odi was the kind of Christian that loved to go the beach with me, He was not as boring as Bro Kennedy who was always talking Scriptures. He was funny like Bro Stephen but a better version. We shopped a lot, there was no sophisticated restaurant I didn’t know… I met his friends, they were classy people as well. He was a consolation after my mother’s death as he took care of my bills and that of my daughter. Mmesoma however wasn’t comfortable with the relationship… “ I have nothing against him, all I am saying is you need to pray and ask if he is the best for you, there are good guys, but I don’t want to get married to a good guy, I want to get married to the best guy.. I believe the same for you too.” “ Mmesoma it’s only the blind that will not see that Odi is God’s consolation for me” I replied “ If you say so…” Mmesoma had said I completed my final year in the university in grand style. Papa and Bro Kennedy became inconsequential as Odi was a bigger deal. Kennedy, Papa and I graduated leaving Mmesoma behind, But Mmesoma and I continued our friendship. I insisted on doing my one year National youth service before tying the knot with Odi, who was in a hurry to get married to me. After Youth Service, Odi and I met a huge roadblock on our marital journey… “ I said you can not marry him, you must marry a Muslim. Was it not the Christian Evangelism your mother was always going for every morning that ended her life, so you must marry a Muslim brother!” My father had refused bluntly. My mother had married my father out of love and felt he would be converted along the way, but that never happened. My father practiced his religion while Mum practiced hers. It was always during their fights she would always “ If only I married the will of God for my life, my life would have been better”, hence she always rang it in my ear to marry a Christian. Since she was dead, my father wanted to force his will on me… He wanted me to marry the Imam’s son Mustapha. At this point, I knew I needed God’s intervention but Odi gave me a suggestion….
To be continued
