THE MARRIAGE: A Touching Tale – Episode 10

THE MARRIAGE
(A TOUCHING TALE)
EPISODE 10
Femi ran out after Shana and saw that when she was running past their car. He increased his pace and caught up with her. He grabbed her and she pushed his hands away from her.
Shana: “Leave me alone, don’t you ever touch me again! I h@ťě you!”
Femi: “Please, listen to me. She was lying; I never said any of those things that she said”.
Shana: “I don’t care what you said or didn’t say. All I know is that I am done with this marriage. That insult and embarrassment was too much for me to take, did you see how everyone in the mall turned to stare at me when she said you told her that I am too wide? For more than one year now I have been tolerating your excesses because of the love I have for you, I understood the fact that you were cheating on me probably because I was unable to give you a child. Now I am pregnant and yet you and your mistress won’t allow me carry this child in peace. If your plan is to cause my blood pressure to shot up so that I can have a miscarriage, then you have failed. I am sure you miss wh@ťěver it is that she does to you on the bed and so you can’t wait to have me out of the way. You don’t have to wait any further because I am leaving you for good, I am going to my parents’ house and I will tell them all that you have been doing to me all these years”.
Femi: “You are getting worked up over nothing. That lady was just lying”.
Shana: “You still have the mouth to talk? As if I didn’t see your phone where you saved her name as real deal?”
Femi momentarily lost his voice and he didn’t know what to tell her. He knew that he would fall into serious trouble with his father if news of his extra marital affairs should get to him. He was also afraid that Shana’s anger could lead to a rise in her blood pressure and this could have adverse effects on the baby. Ignoring his status and those passing bye, he got on his knees and held his wife on her feet.
Femi: “Baby, please forgive me. Yes, I know her but I never told her any of those things that she said. Yes, I had one or two intimate thing to do with her but I never said your…your…I never said your V@ģĭń@ is too wide. I couldn’t have said that. You are my wife, the mother of my unborn child and you are the one I truly love. She is jealous and that is why she wants to cause problems for us”.
Shana: “Are you sure? I hope you are not just saying this because you don’t want me to leave with your child?”
Femi: “No, I am saying this from the depth of my heart. I love you more than I love myself and I promise never to cheat on you again, in fact, I swear!”
Staring at him from her standing position, Shana’s heart melted and she knew that was no way she could end their marriage like that. She loved Femi more than anyone and anything in the world and so she had no option than to forgive him. She gave him her hand and he stood up.
Shana: “This our naughty daddy”, she teased. “I told you to start behaving well but you just won’t listen. Don’t you know that our baby is watching you from the womb? Do you want him to grow up behaving like you?”
Femi: “I have changed o. I promise that such a thing will never happen again. I promise to be the best daddy in the world”, he placed his ear on her stomach. “Wow, I can hear my boy kicking and calling my name, you see my child is glad you forgave me”. They laughed and drove home.
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Femi got to work the next morning and saw a mail about the new staff that was employed and sent to his branch. He was skeptical when he saw that it was a female staff, he had made up his mind to avoid any extra marital affair ever since Shana got pregnant and he knew that he could go back on his words if he stayed close to a hot female banker. At exactly 7:10am, the new staff walked into his office. His face lit up when he saw her, the same applicant that had come to beg him for employment that he had sent away.
Nana: “Hello, mr Manager. Surprised?”
Femi: “Of course I am not surprised. I know that desperate ladies like you can go to any length to get what they want”.
Nana: “Good, thank God you can see the desperation in me”.
Femi: “I guess you are here to work and not to talk. So, go to the human resource officer, she will show you to your duty post and tell you all that you need to know concerning your job”.
Nana: “I know where to go. I just came to inform you that I want you. It doesn’t matter if you are married to ten women. I am one woman that knows how to get what she wants. Forget my size and appearance, I know what I have upstairs. I am coming for you, watch out”. She left Femi in his office dumbfounded. He couldn’t deny that the girl was attractive and he knew that he would need the grace of God to overcome this temptation.
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Shana woke up in the middle of the night feeling feverish. She was already used to feeling feverish ever since she got pregnant but this one was particular because she always slept well at night but that night, she had found it very difficult to fall asleep. She peeped into Femi’s face and she realized that he was fast asleep and snoring. She picked her phone and checked on the time, 02:13am, it read. She got up from the bed and went to the bathroom to ease herself, careful not to wake Femi up. She realized that her temperature was high and she took a hand towel, dabbed it with water and placed it on her head. After some minutes, she returned to bed where she kept on tossing up and down for some minutes. Then she felt a sharp pain in her lower abdomen and woke up with a start. Femi who was fast asleep also jerked up at that moment.
Femi: “What is it?” he asked with alarm in his eyes.
Shana: “I don’t know, I have been feeling very uncomfortable. Then there is this sharp pain in my abdomen”.
Femi: “Could it be the baby coming?”
Shana: “Don’t be silly, Femi. The pregnancy is not even six months yet. The baby has some months to stay in there”.
Femi: “Don’t blame me, I can’t wait to have him around, you know….”
“Ah! Yaay!” Shana screamed forcing him to swallow his word”.
Femi: “What is it? Are you okay?” he was obviously frightened this time around.
Shana: “My stomach”.
Femi: “What is wrong with your stomach? He asked sitting up from the bed”.
Shana: “Femi”.
Femi: “Yes?”
Shana: “I feel wet down there”.
Femi: “Where is down there? Wet as how?” he was beginning to lose his patience.
Shana: “There”, she pointed in between her legs.
Femi quickly grabbed the duvet that was covering her and flipped in on the floor. There they say that Shana was bleeding.
“Jesus Christ”, Shana shouted and closed her eyes, shielding them from the blood.
Femi: “My God you are bleeding. We have to rush to the hospital now before something happens to the baby. He picked his car keys from his bedside drawer and carried her gently not minding the havoc the dribbling blood was making on his pyjamas.
Femi drove to the hospital where his wife had registered for ante natal and the nurses on duty rushed to the car and took her in. The doctor on duty was the same doctor who attended to Shana when she was involved in an accident and he wasted no time in collecting her file and rushed in to the room where Shana was lying in the pool of her own blood.
Doctor: “Mr Femi, what happened to your wife?”
Femi: “Doctor, I don’t know o, we were lying down and she suddenly started complaining of pain in her abdomen, next thing, she was bleeding”.
The doctor sent Femi out when he noticed that he was nervous.
Few minutes later, the doctor came out and Femi who was waiting outside the door ran to him.
Femi: “Doctor, how is my wife and the unborn baby? Can I go in and see my wife now?”
The doctor, who was wearing a frown, cleaned the sweat forming on his brow with his handkerchief, an act that confounded Femi’s agony.
Doctor: “Come with me to my office”.
Femi’s heart flew to his heart, he felt within him that all was not well with his wife.
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Question: Is Shana dead? Who is responsible for her misfortune?