“Why don’t you move in with me?, By the time we have two to three kids, your father will realize there is nothing he can do about it, then we will do the proper marriage?” Odi had innocently suggested. The idea made sense to me. Odi was a good guy, he had taken me to see his father who accepted me. His siblings also showed me plenty of love. There was therefore no cause for alarm. Mustapha was a no go area for me , though he was a cool guy, but the religion issue would be a serious battle as being a Muslim didn’t go down well with me. I had nothing against the Islamic religion, as I had Muslim friends, but I had seen too much rancor and drama between my parents over their religious difference to want history to repeat itself in my life. They were always arguing and fighting especially when my father wanted the children to follow his path…. Therefore, at that point, Odi’s advice made sense. I moved in with Odi and life was sweet. I wish there was a better word for how my life felt. I wore designer wears, same with Jadesola who started living with me. Odi pampered me like a Baby, He loved Jadesola like his own. However, he didn’t like me keeping friends. He told me he didn’t want envy around him as most ladies were always envious of their happy friends. What Odi said made sense, so I lost contact with ALL my friends, including Mmesoma… I felt I didn’t need them, I had Odi and Jadesola for all I cared. But…. Trouble started brewing when after eight months of moving in, I had not gotten pregnant. Odi started questioning my inability to have a baby as he wanted to have a baby. He loved kids as this was obvious in the way he treated Jadesola. He had enrolled her into one of the best private schools in Our city. She had a private music teacher, She had a ballet teacher, She had a diction teacher as he told me he wanted to improve her spoken English. Staying with my mother didn’t help Jadesola’s spoken English and Etiquette so Odi said he wanted all that to change…. You should therefore understand how unhappy he was when I had not become pregnant after eight months of living together as Husband and Wife…The pregnancy was a way of winning my father. I also started suspecting disaster on my end, as the realization dawned on me, that Odi was not yet legally married to me and if I didn’t get pregnant soon, he could send Jadesola and I out of his life. I knew the abortion could have been the cause of the delay, but the relief I had in me was the doctor’s report. The doctor had said there was nothing wrong with either of us. He told us to be calm and rely on God. However, Odi was not calm and I could understand, his first daughter was with the mother abroad and his wife was yet to have a child. I tried IUI and IVF, but it failed on several counts, so I decided to take matters into my own hands as I felt God was possibly punishing me for the abortion I committed. I went to as many places as possible, I did all sort of things and I wasn’t sure which one paid off, but exactly 3 years of moving into his house, I found out I was pregnant. Odi and I were over the moon, Odi especially had too much joy exuding from him. As a gift for being pregnant, he bought me a Gas station. He told me he had more in store for me, especially if the child was a boy… I returned to all the places I went and kept praying the gender of the baby should be a boy…. The 7 months after I found out I was pregnant was one of the best time of my life, Odi spoiled Jadesola and I silly. I silently thanked God I didn’t end up with Papa, Bro Kennedy or even Bro Stephen…. I didn’t let Odi and I know the gender of the child as I was so sure it was going to be a boy. I therefore didn’t do any Ultrasound scan. I only went for my antenatal regularly, where I was reassured that the baby was doing fine as his/her heartbeat was perfect. On the 14th July, the day had started casually except that I had a dream overnight. I saw that I was drenched by rain and I was carrying Jadesola and a baby in my hands, A man was trying to drag the two children from my hands, I saw Odi and my mother closeby, but as my late mother saw that I was under attack , she ran towards me and defended Jadesola with all her strength but Odi stood Akimbo with no strength to do anything…The wicked man eventually took the baby from my hand and slammed her on the floor…. I had woken up really frightened but prayed and called my Spiritualist who told me he would work on the dream. I had driven Jadesola to school because Odi was out of town. On my way back from Jadesola’s school, my water broke in the car. I carefully drove myself to the hospital. I called Odi and explained things to him, he was elated and he told me he was going to take the next flight to town. The delivery was so painful I kept gasping for breath. Odi came in time for my pushing… I pushed and pushed and I gave birth to Iremide ( My goodness has come)….Odi and I had chosen that Yoruba name before the baby’s birth…. But Iremide didn’t look anything like goodness, I saw Odi’s reaction, followed by the nurses’ reaction and I knew something was wrong… “ Was she a girl?” My heart sank at the thought . I asked the nurses to let me see my baby and all I could shout was “ JESUS!” The one name I knew could help me out of this trouble….
To be continued
