Unfulfilled promise episode 73 – 74

Unfulfilled Promises
Season1
Episode 73

We warned you, didn’t we? Now see your life Mum and I continuously told you not to marry her but did you listen? No. You went ahead and married her. I told you Calabar girls are not good. She has probably destroyed her womb through numerous abortions and now she can’t even conceive not to talk of giving birth. Is this not your fourth year of marriage? Yet no child.” Michelle raved as she stood in her elder brother’s living room, dressing down both him and his wife who was staring intently at the rugged floor.
“Michelle, why can’t you just leave us alone?” Dave calmly enquired and held his wife.

“Leave you alone? You must be joking. We’ve left both of you alone for four good years and what good has that done? Look, it was mum who sent me here o! Don’t think I’m here on my own accord. Left for me, I would have allowed you to die childless afterall, I warned you not to marry this tramp.” she hissed furiously.
“Michelle,” Dave stood up angrily. “I’ll not sit here and watch you insult my wife. If you were not heavily pregnant, I would have thrown you out of my house before now.”
“Yes. Throw me out.” She went closer to her brother and clapped her hands in his face.
“Jealousy! Because your wife can’t give you a child you want to make me lose mine. God forbid! This is my third child, whereas your wife hasn’t even conceived once for us to say she miscarried not to talk of giving birth. Shameless couple!” she sliced back.

Dave sent her a frowning appraisal, sat down and comforted his silently weeping wife.

“Mum told me to tell you to get ready to marry another wife. She’s giving this thing here three months to get pregnant or else she will personally come all the way from Port Harcourt to throw away her things and marry another wife for you.”

Dave continued to ignore her and console his wife.

“Okay o! Continue pretending as if you can’t hear me. I’ve warned you. And you, cry baby, continue crying like the baby you don’t have. Don’t go and look for how to get pregnant for your husband. Remember what you told me four years ago, that I’m a banshee who doesn’t even know the father of her first child. Fine, I accept it but at least, even with my temperament, I already have two sons and a third child is on the way but what about you, what do you have to show for your cool temperament? Barrenness, that’s what!” She released a scornful laugh.
Oleng burst into tears and ran out of the living room amidst her sister in-law’s laughter.

“Michelle, it’s enough. You’ve had your say, now leave. Give this message to mum. Tell her over my dead body will I watch her throw out Oleng’s things and marry a stranger for me. I love my wife with a passion and will stick with her no matter what. It’s not her fault that she hasn’t conceived yet. Such things happen. She’ll conceive in due time but in the meantime, you all should stay away from us. Don’t you know that too much pressure won’t help her to conceive?” He pointed out curtly
“Have we been disturbing her? Didn’t we leave both of you alone since you got married? Pressure my foot! If she’s capable of conceiving, she’d have done that a long time ago. Four years is even too much. It takes even less than a minute to conceive. Just face it; your wife has destroyed her womb, hence her inability to conceive!” Michelle spelt out bluntly.

“Enough!” Dave yelled, scaring her. “Now get out of my house and stay out. I don’t need your advice and do us a favor, leave us alone!” He pronounced with thunderous bite.

“Suit yourself. Mum was the one who sent me to you. You can take her advice or lump it. Personally, I don’t care,” she intoned coldly and walked to the door. “Remember that dad is no more and you’re now the man of the house, so behave like one or do we have to look up to Harry as the man of the house? Think about it.” With that she opened the door and closed it behind her quietly.
Dave rubbed his head vigorously before going in to meet his wife who was crying helplessly on their matrimonial bed.
“Angel, it’s okay. Please stop crying. Don’t mind her. She’s jealous of the love we share which she can’t boast of in her matrimonial home.” He held his wife in his arms and soothed her.
Oleng raised a tear stained face to look at him.“But she is right. We’ve been married for four years now yet I haven’t been able to conceive not even once. The doctors say we are okay, so why can’t I conceive? If I hadn’t gotten pregnant years back, I would have said I’m barren.”
“No, my angel, please don’t say that. You’re not barren. You’re going to conceive and give birth to our child.”
“When?” she yelled. “When your mum throw my things out?”
“No one, I repeat, no one is going to throw you out of this house. Angel, I love you and I can’t live without you. No one is going to control our marriage for us. Absolutely no one.” he declared and k-ssed her.
“O Dave! What’s wrong with me? Why haven’t I been able to get pregnant?” she sniffed.
“Angel, we can’t question God. If it’s His will for us to wait a little longer, who are we to complain? Please keep the faith alive. You’ll conceive and give birth to our child. You’ll see.”

“I want a baby now. I don’t want to wait any longer.” she wailed.

“Angel, please stop crying. It breaks my heart to see you like this…okay, why don’t we adopt a child while we still wait on the Lord?” He looked at her in expectation.

“I don’t want someone else’s baby. I want our own baby.” She started weeping profusely again.”You really shouldn’t have allowed your ex-girlfriends to abort those pregnancies. You would have had two kids by now.”

Unfulfilled Promises
Season 1
Episode 74

But would you have married me? I knew I shouldn’t have told you my secret on our wedding night.”

“I’m sorry.”
“O my angel!” Dave cuddled her to himself and glared at the wall He felt like killing Michelle for making his wife unhappy.
Oleng kept praying and praying within the three months given to her to get pregnant. She attended one church function to another and even went for checkup twice, yet at the end of the three months, she was still not pregnant. She was in great despair.
A few days later, Oleng went to see Zinny in Warri when Dave went off shore Zinny was now married to Eddy They got married two years after hers and already had a one year old son. Eddy and Dave were no longer friends much to her chagrin She didn’t know what happened between them but had tried countless times to bridge the gap between them but both party refused. And to her annoyance, Zinny hadn’t even tried to reconcile them.
She too had never visited her ever since she got married. She was always the one visiting Zinny whenever Dave wasn’t around.
Zinny warmly welcomed her when she came. They sat in the living room discussing things joyfully until Zinny heard her baby crying. She went to the room to carry him and brought him to the living room. Oleng carried him and they continued their discussion.
“Oleng! Why are you crying?” Zinny asked all of a sudden in alarm when she glanced at her friend and saw tears rolling down her eyes.

Oleng simply shook her head slowly and sadly. Zinny went to sit beside her and put her arm around her shoulder.

“What is it? Why are you crying?” she softly enquired.

“Just look at Emeka,” She looked down at the baby. “You’ve been married for only two years yet look at your son. I’ve been married for four years, four years, yet I haven’t been able to conceive let alone give birth. What’s wrong with me? Why is life so cruel to me?” she wept bitterly.

“It’s okay, Oleng. You’ll have your own baby. It’s just taking a little while but it doesn’t matter. You must surely carry your own child. No worry abeg.”
“You don’t understand my pain, Zinny. My mother-in-law gave me three months to get pregnant or she’d come and throw my things out of the house and marry another wife for Dave and now the three months is over and I’m yet to conceive.” She lamented sorrowfully.
“Wetin? She can’t do that. Gone are those days when mothers-in-law do that. What’s wrong with her? You be God?”
“You know she was against the marriage in the first place. So this is just an excuse to throw me out of the house. I don’t know why God is allowing them to torment me like this. God, what have I done to deserve this? What?” she demanded with pent up pain.

Zinny cuddled her with her baby in between them. ”Please stop crying and questioning God lest he gets angry with you and withhold your child forever. Remember Hannah, Sarah, even Rachel in the bible. It took time but they finally had children. Please just continue to wait on the Lord. Delay is not denial.” She consoled. “I’m happy you came. There’s this crusade that is taking place in my church. Tomorrow is the last day. I plan on attending and I’d like you to come with me. That’s if you no go say no since you be Catholic.”
Oleng sniffed. “The way I’m feeling right now, I’m ready to go to even a native doctor just to get a child.”
“God forbid! Don’t say that. E never reach that stage na. God go do am for you.”
“I’ll come with you. Thank you very much.” she sniffed.
You’re welcome, my dear. By the way, how’s Dave taking it?”
Oleng heaved before replying, “He’s as calm as ever concerning it. He keeps telling me that God will give us a child in due time. He promised me that no one will throw my things out of his house.”
Zinny was silent at that.
“Honestly, I can’t believe why I can’t get pregnant. Our family doctor ran a number of tests on both of us and said we are okay. I have even taken Clomid and some fertility drugs, even herbs yet nothing. If I hadn’t gotten pregnant for Eric then, I would have said I’m barren but I did. I keep thinking though, did giving birth to that baby at such a tender age cause complications in my womb? But then again our family doctor examined me and said I’m okay and the baby didn’t cause any damage.”
“Stop thinking like that Oleng. It’s because you married the wrong person.” Zinny pointed out bluntly.
“Please please Zinny. Please don’t start. Please,” Oleng’s mood changed “I know you were against the marriage from the onset but please don’t attribute my inability to conceive to marrying Dave. Please.”
Zinny shrugged with nonchalance. “Suit yourself but be sure I’ll tell you, ‘I told you so’ when the time comes.”
“Don’t worry it will never come. Please let’s change the topic. Have you heard from Marvy?”
“I called her last week. Hermasters degree program is really taking all her time.”
“It’s to be expected. M.Sc. is tough here in Nigeria not to talk of abroad where she’s doing it. She should be fast about it in order to begin her marriage plans. Education is not everything.”
“Na exactly wetin Kelechi tell am.”

L“Isn’t he to blame? Wasn’t he the one who sent for her?”

“It was just an excuse for them to be together over there.” Zinny said and they laughed. “Anyway, they have plans of getting married soon. I think when she finishes her program.”

“Thank God. I’ll call her when I get home to ginger her up.” she declared happily and laughed when Zinny’s baby laughed. Tears welled up in her eyes when she looked at the handsome baby.
Zinny saw them and hugged her friend. “Please don’t start again. God will do it.”

To be continued