Thorn between episode 51 – 52

TITLE: TORN BETWEEN

WRITTEN BY OGECHI ALABI

LIFE GOES ON 3

The children were ready for the Thanksgiving service very early because they stayed at Big Mummy’s house. All the children stayed with Eucharia because they were about the same age (except the twins), their house was bigger and they liked her a lot. There was a bus given to Adim by his company for logistics during the burial. Eucharia asked the bus to take the children and the maids to church. She intended to go to the church in her car with Mama and Flora.

Thelma came out dressed and sent for the maid. She asked her to bring the boys so they could go together with them to church. The maid informed her that Big Mummy had said all of them would go to church with the bus.

“Who is she to tell me how my children will go to church? They would go in their father’s SUV to church and not in a bus like peasants. If she enjoys doing that with her children, she can’t do that with mine.”

The boys did not want to go with their mother. Thelma went over to Eucharia’s house to bring her boys. She was not allowed there, but she went anyway knowing Eucharia was not home. She dragged her sons kicking from there to her place. The other children wondered why she was creating a scene. Urenna begged her to take it easy, but she snapped at her and said, “My sons will not travel by bus as peasants, if your mothers enjoy you being hauled into buses, I do not. Not when their father has a nice vehicle.”

Dumebi came out as she was speaking and asked what happened. When she was told, she looked at Thelma and said, “That is childish coming from you. The bus is an airconditioned bus used by expatriates. If they can use it, why can’t we? Even if it was not, what is the big deal? Is it not to go to church and come back? Is that why you entered our compound? You can never see my mother flaunt any agreement she makes with you or my father, but you do. First, you turned her into a nanny for your boys, and now you want to normalise entering our compound. Please, do not try this again, do not enter our compound and respect boundaries.”

“Are you talking to me? Dubemi, how dare you speak to me in that tone?” She raised her hand to slap her, but Chinemerem caught it mid-air and flung the hand.

Dumebi continued, “I don’t know what has gotten into you today, but this will be the last time you will ever raise your hand at me or my siblings or enter my mother’s compound. Let your maid come back and pick up the rest of your children’s things here; they are no longer welcome in our home.”

Thelma was so upset that she was humiliated in the presence of the children. They had gathered outside when she created a scene. She could see they were angry and was scared they would beat her up if she went any further. She walked out of the compound to hers. Adim was at Papa’s house to have breakfast with his family and left her to be humiliated by his untrained female children.

When he got back home, he asked Thelma to get into the car for them to leave for church only to see the boys with her.

“Are they not going with the others?”

“No, they are going with their father and mother. They will not be packed like sardines inside a bus.”

“It is a fourteen-seater bus, how many children are there? You are spoiling for a fight you will not win. Let’s go, it’s getting late.”

At the church, three rows of pews were reserved for the family. Adim waited outside for Eucharia and the rest to come. The children arrived first and entered the church. Thelma did not allow the boys to go in with them. Then the rest of the family arrived, Adim wanted his mother to enter the church first with Flora before he went in. Mama held onto Eucharia and they walked in together with Flora. Adim followed and Thelma tried to enter with the boys but Paul stopped her and told her the wives followed behind them.

Inside the church, Thelma rushed to sit beside Adim and kept her two sons beside her in the front row. Adim had sat beside Eucharia who was sitting beside Mama with Flora on the other side. The ushers told Thelma that children were not allowed to sit on the first row and then asked the boys to move to where the other grandchildren were. They gladly moved before their mother could object. Adim sat between his two wives.

When it was time for the first reading, Eucharia took it. Thelma was surprised when she walked up looking glamorous to take the reading. She looked so elegant that Thelma wondered how she did not notice before then. She spoke so well and then came down. Dumebi took the Responsorial Psalm, Paul took the Second reading and Peter’s son took the Gospel Acclamation. After that, the Homily was given and then Mama, Eucharia, Flora, Njideka and Prisca went to the back of the church to bring the Eucharist before the Priest. Thelma was supposed to follow them, but she refused to join the discussions that morning and even when Adim nudged her to go, she refused to stand up. She stood up to receive communion, but Adim stopped her. She could not receive communion when she was living in sin. It upset her too.

After the Communion, it was time for Thanksgiving. They went to the back of the church to walk with the gifts they came with. Thelma grabbed her boys again and stood beside Adim and waited so both of them and the boys would walk together as a family. Adim did not want that. He told her to allow the boys to walk with the other grandchildren while he walked with his brothers in order not to draw attention to them, but she refused. She held onto him and he almost lost it there. The other family members realised what was going on. Paul came to her and asked, “Are you his legitimate wife? His wife is behind arranging how the gifts will be presented, but you are here struggling for a man who isn’t legally yours. Why are you doing this? He is supposed to walk with Eucharia while you lead the children or walk with Nda Flora.”

She did not respond and she didn’t leave Adim alone. The women joined their husbands and saw the drama unfolding. Eucharia walked past them to Mama and said, let’s go. Thelma asked the boys to walk in front of them. Eucharia was angry at this point. What was she trying to prove? She turned around and asked the boys to join their cousins at the back where the grandchildren were. Then she said to Thelma, “Don’t start what you can’t finish. That I keep silent doesn’t make me a fool. If Adim is not man enough to know what is right and insist on it, then he is not worth my continued silence. Try me here and now see what happens.”

Read – Stuck With An Obsessed Girlfriend episode 36 – 37

Thelma asked the boys not to go anywhere and pulled them to her. Eucharia handed Mama to Flora and came to Adim and said, it is either me or her, who are you walking with? Adim removed his hand from Thelma and walked ahead with Eucharia. Thelma could not believe Adim chose Eucharia over her in such a shameful manner. She did not go in for Thanksgiving; she stayed outside. Her sons ran to be with their siblings and cousins. The humiliation was so much that she asked the driver to take her home, but he said Adim had the keys to the car.

After the service, they all came outside to take pictures. As they were there, Thelma saw and asked the bus driver to take her home as she was unwell. She did not join the photograph session. It was while they were taking pictures they heard what happened that morning. Eucharia was livid and turned to Adim and said, ”I have played the good girl long enough with you and that thing you brought into our family. What did I do to warrant all this? You never told me you were a polygamist, I would never have married you. Now I have to live a life of misery watching you with another woman every day.”

Paul stopped her and said, “Let us not do this here. People are watching and guests are in the house waiting to see you. Hapu (leave) Nda Adim and his concubine for now. Let us honour Papa, we will deal with her later.”

They left for the house. Eucharia was no longer in high spirits. She wanted to go home and cry, but she could not. She had an obligation to honour Papa. After this, she was taking a break from everything and everyone. She was tired of hurting and wondering how she failed as a wife to the husband of her youth and that he would rather be with another woman.

As they were in the kitchen, Prisca said to Eucharia and Njideka, “There is something wrong with Thelma, haven’t you noticed how emotional she has been of late? I looked at her closely today and I suspect she might be pregnant.”

“Preg what? How would she be pregnant? Nda Adim has said on countless occasions he doesn’t want more children, so why will she risk it?” Njideka replied.

“I am suspecting she is. I will ask my husband to ask Nda Adim if she is,” Prisca concluded.

Eucharia did not utter a word. If she was, then Adim was done for. How would he go back on his word to her? They agreed there would be no more babies, he would have it hot with her.

Prisca came back with the good news, “Nda Adim said she is not pregnant. He said she played him and got pregnant some time ago but unfortunately miscarried. He has been playing safe since then. He confirmed he had promised you no more children. She might not be pregnant. But what is pushing her to behave this way?”

Read – True love episode 27 – 28

TITLE: TORN BETWEEN

WRITTEN BY OGECHI ALABI

LIFE GOES ON 4

By the time the last guests left, it was very late and they could not discuss the matter that night as everyone was tired. So they retired for the night to address the issue the next day.

Adim went to Thelma’s house to sleep. Thelma had locked herself in the bedroom. She had been in the house since the church service ended, but she never came out. She realised she had misfired, but Adim had no right to treat her so badly and did not bother to check on her since the incident in the late morning.

Adim was tired and tipsy. He tried talking to her, but she did not respond. He was fed up and so he left the house and walked into Eucharia’s house. The children were still awake and chatting away. He went to their mother’s room, luckily the door was open. She was in the bathroom having her bath when he entered. She asked who it was and he said he was the one. He did not have a room in her house which was why he entered her room.

“She came out tying a towel and asked, “Why are you here?”

“Thelma locked me out and I do not have the strength to walk to my flat so I want to sleep here for the night.”

“But you don’t have a room here.”

Adim had started taking off his clothes as she was still talking, and he went into the bathroom to bathe while Eucharia quickly threw on a nightgown and tied a wrapper across her chest. She dropped a wrapper for him on the bed with one of her T-shirts and left the room. She attended to the children and sent them to bed as it was very late. She locked the back door securely and checked the front door. She was surprised to see Onyekachi and Onyedika in the bedroom with their nanny asleep. So Thelma allowed them to come back to her house. It was too late to send them back, and it was not their fault their mother was senseless.

She had Adim in the room and did not know what to do about it. Why did he come to her tonight? Was he trying to prove a point? She sat down in the sitting room dreading going into her room, but she could not possibly sleep on the uncomfortable chairs in the sitting room. It was too late to walk to Mama’s house. She braved it and went to the room. Adim had dropped his clothes on the chair and was on the bed. Eucharia folded the clothes neatly and kept them back on th chair. Then she took out a blanket and placed on the floor, took a pillow from the bed and laid down on the floor. It wasn’t comfortable, but she did not want to share a bed with Adim; it would give him ideas she did not want to foster.

Before long, she fell asleep. As she slept, she felt a hand touching her. At first, she thought it was a dream (she was used to having such dreams), until in her subconscious she remembered she was not alone in the room. She quickly opened her eyes and true to her thoughts, it was Adim. She tried to stand up, but he had pinned her down.

“Shhh,” he said to her.

“Please stop this, I do not want it.”

“Why? I am still your husband and a husband cannot rape his wife. I do not want to force you, please, I have missed you so much. You responded to my touch, and it confirmed you missed me too.”

“So because Thelma rejected you this night you came to me.”

“We both know if you had not sworn not to allow me to touch you, I would always be in your bed, you know that. You know I love you very much.”

“If you want me, stop sleeping with Thelma. I can’t risk this…”

“If I can come to you when I want you, I will stop sleeping with her. You can never say no to me, agreed?”

“Adim, you will still sleep with her.”

“She is not as sweet as you are and no other man has touched this body except me. I will do anything you say to spend more time with you. When we resume having sex, I won’t touch her.”

“You are lying and you know it. I do not want the children to hear us, please leave me alone.”

“I cannot, I am already here.” He kissed her face and then her neck. She did not put up much of a resistance. She had also missed intimacy wih him. She knew she was giving in too easily but what could she do except create a scene which wasn’t necesary. Adim got between her legs without a struggle; the rest was history. After doing it on the floor, he pulled her up and they moved to the bed. They went two more times and Adim wondered where he got the strength. Lately, he could only go once. They slept late into the morning.

Thelma woke up the next morning expecting to see Adim by the door or sleeping in the children’s room, but he was not there. She asked the maids where he was, but none of them knew where he went. She suspected he slept at his flat. She took a bath and got dressed before heading to the flat to check for him. He wasn’t there and the padlock for the burglary was outside, which meant he was not inside. She became worried. His car was outside when she came out, which meant he had not left the village. So where was he? She walked back to the house and waited for him.

It was about 10 am before Adim and Eucharia finally woke up. Eucharia was so ashamed of herself at how easily she gave in to Adim. If he hadn’t touched her and gotten her excited, there was no way he would have succeeded, but it happened. She felt good or rather her body was satisfied, but she was shy from the encounter. How would she face others? She took her bath before she woke Adim up to do the same.

Adim’s cothes and toletries were in Thelma’s place and would require him to tie the wrapper and t-shirt over, but Adim wore the clothes he wore the day before instead and went back to Thelma’s to change. When he entered the room, she jumped up from the bed and asked him, “Where are you coming from? Do you have a mistress in this village you went to spend the night with? I looked everywhere for you this morning.”

Adim ignored her and went to change his clothes. He was famished after the activities of the night before. He smiled to himself and wondered how he succeeded in convincing Eucharia to give in so easily. He reminisced on how it all went down and was getting excited again. That was what Eucharia did to him; he could not resist her no matter how hard he tried. If she had slept in the sitting room, he would have joined her there. If he could get her alone, he knew how to get her excited.

After dressing up, Adim wanted to leave the room but Thelma stopped him. “I am talking to you.Where were you last night?”

“Thelma, I do not want to strike you, but you are pushing me to the wall. You have turned my father’s burial into a place for vendetta. You have been disrespectful and uncooperative and I am fed up with your nasty attitude. I will no longer take it. What you did in the church yesterday was the height. If you want to know what I am capable of do this nonsense again. Get out of my way before I push you.”

Thelma was shocked at his utterance. She didn’t want him to push her so she moved aside for him to leave the room. She also got ready to go to Papa’s house. Adim hadn’t seen anything yet. She was going to report him and further disgrace him. How can he decide to meet with a mistress when his father just died and was buried? How can sex be at the top of his mind? She saw the smile and knew he had been with someone last night. He was happy, too happy for someone who was locked out. She had to get to the bottom of the matter of this.

Eucharia was in a good mood. She unconsciously dressed differently that morning. She wore an above-the-knee length gown. For Eucharia that was tall, it looked short. The dress was sleeveless and hugged her figure. It was a giveaway for the other wives. She seemed happy and she looked sexy. They knew something had happened, but the details were rusty. She made breakfast in the kitchen while singing and smiling at everyone. It was a simple meal of moimoi and pap. The beans was washed and blended before she arrived to mix and wrap them up. The moimoi was on fire when the children came complaining of hunger. They had not bathed yet. Eucharia assured them that by the time they had their bath and cleaned up the house the food would be ready. With the firewood, it would not take time.

Adim came into his mother’s flat with his brothers. He knew Eucharia was there with the other wives and went into the kitchen. When he saw her, he couldn’t hide his surprise at her outfit. He looked at her longingly while she quickly looked away shyly. Prisca observed the moment and kept quiet. Adim joined his brothers at the dining table to eat and then Thelma walked in. She greeted everyone and sat down beside Adim at the dining table. Adim ignored her; he knew she was spoiling for a fight. The men picked up their food they were served and relocated to the living room. They sat close to each other so Thelma could not sit close to Adim leaving her alone at the dining area. The wives came out to eat and met the dining room empty apart from Thelma. They didn’t want to sit with her and went to join the men.

They talked about outstanding bills that needed to be cleared and things they needed to do before leaving the village. As they were discussing, their uncle joined them. Eucharia served him breakfast too. Mama and Flora came to join them.

After discussing the burial and all that needed to be done, their uncle cleared his throat and said, “I know how your family is. You have been united from the onset and when you married wives, they were close and did things together. Njideka was a problem initially, but she changed and I have only heard good reports about her. The problem now is, why have you all chosen to be mean to Adim’s other wife? I observed she has been left out of everything. Why is that so? Why are you punishing her but accepting Adim that committed the crime with her?”

Adim wanted to reply, but Paul stopped him. He replied to his uncle by saying, “We do not understand what you mean. How did we treat her differently?”

“Look at now, she is sitting alone over there while you all were eating here. She looks like an outcast.”

“Nda, your daughter is the first wife of your son-in-law, when they go to his parent’s house, who sits beside him? Who makes food and serves it to her in-laws? Who stands beside the husband during Thanksgiving? I only ask these few questions.”

“The first wife is the legitimate wife to stand beside the husband, that I agree. Unless they are divorced, the second wife cannot lay claim to the rights of the first wife.”

“Very good. Adim’s second wife is disrespectful to not only her senior wife, who is the most senior wife of the family but also to the other wives. If she is asked to help set the table everyone will eat on, she will refuse to do it. She refused to join them to cook in the kitchen. Eucharia knows people who make clothes in Aba, she asked for our measurements so it would be uniform and fast. The second wife refused and asked for her material to be given to her. What more should I talk about? She did not contribute to the planning and execution of this burial both in cash and kind but was quick to drag for the bag that had the money Adim was sprayed until Nda Flora took the bag away from her. When I saw you, I knew she must have come to you to complain. I have sent for Dumebi and other children to narrate what happened before church yesterday. She raised her hand to slap Dumebi. I have also sent for her nanny and her sons. I want you to know the type of person she is. I blame Nda Adim. What made you stray and bring someone so envious of your wife and children as a wife? You have two wives and you spend time with only one. You have slept in her house every night since we came back, Njideka confirmed it. Why have you abandoned Eucharia? What did she do to you?”

Their Uncle answered him, “Eucharia insisted that if he was going to be with Thelma she was not interested in being with him. She was not ready to act as the first wife and accommodate the second. A timetable would have solved the problem.”

Paul responded, “Timetable? Eucharia is a Catholic and cannot practise polygamy. I am not asking him to go there for mmeko (settlement) but to spend time with his wife getting closer and planning together. The children are grown and should have a present father figure in the house. To me, my brother lost the right to demand intimacy from Uk the moment he had children with Thelma. Thelma should understand that forgiveness takes nothing away. Forgetting is more difficult, especially seeing the destruction you caused will breed resentment. It is not easy to forgive my brother, but he is doing everything within his power to make things right. What about Thelma? What is she doing except trying to compete with Uk? I do not know what she told you, but let the children tell us what happened yesterday.”

The children took turns to say what happened and even her sons indicted her. Thelma felt ashamed of her actions as she listened to them narrate what she did. She wanted them to deal with Adim and find out where he slept last night and not disgrace her this way. She was wrong but also felt the children disrespected her too. She disliked Chinemerem; if she had not cautioned, she would have beaten her blue-black. If they did not like her, why would they like her sons?

This was what she said in her defence. It was Dumebi who replied, “They are our father’s sons too and we love our father. Most importantly, our mother has accepted them and loved them as her own, why would we then reject them? We have been living in peace before the burial, what happened? Daddy stands to gain from a united family, not a divided one.”

Thelma apologised for her bad behaviour and attributed it to her hormones going haywire. She sincerely apologised to Eucharia and Prisca. She also begged Mama to forgive whatever wrong she had ever done that she refused to accept and she was willing to do her bidding. All the issues were settled amicably. The children went back to Eucharia’s house.