Episode 15
Continues..
They had to stop, to watch, as the gateman opened the huge black gate so as to enable Matthewâs Ford Endeavour drive into the compound. As usual, Udale felt her heart skip a beat again, instead of being elated that her husband had arrived after a week. He hadnât told her prior to this time and the recent surprise stunts he had been pulling lately didnât sit too well with her at all. Udale glanced over her shoulders and noticed Janeâs broad smile as her husband approached them. Whether it was his huge stature which became even more obvious in the brown suit he is wearing today or the intimidating walking steps he gently took towards them that necessitated such breadth of smiles, it beats Udaleâs imaginations. She kept calm, praying silently that the young nurse wouldnât try anything funny today. They both have had very good company since sheâs been here and if not that she needed to go, Udale would have asked she stayed back or possible spend the night. Jane was young, she acted and thought so innocently like a child without worries.
Thatâs Udaleâs lifeâs dream â the day she would wake up and they would be absolutely nothing else to worry about any longer, not even her childless state.
âMatron, I know this is patronâ Jane said, giggling excitedly. If she had lowered her voice just an inch more, Matthew who already was quite close to them wouldnât have heard a thing. Udale quickly nodded in the affirmative as Jane almost threw caution to the winds. Frankly, the older woman know nothing about what was so much exciting to Jane. She was at the moment behaving like the typical âdaddyâs little princessâ who leap for joy after finally seeing the daddy she had been expecting for a very long time.
âGood afternoon Patronâ Jane greeted as soon as Matthew was at where they stood.
Matthew looked down at her from his height and was tempted to let out a resounding laughter at the âpatronâ part of the greeting, he only allowed a dry smile dance around his face as he responded,
âGood afternoon, my dear girlâ in a rather welcoming fatherly tone.
This was unexpected to his wife and she almost didnât remember to greet before Janeâs over curious reactions got her back.
âMatron, arenât you going to introduce Patron to me?â
Udale quickly cleared her throat and smiled faintly. âYou are welcome Sunshine.â she said, giving him a light side hug before continuing. She hoped he wasnât going to shun her when her brain asked her to attempt hugging him. They have collected harsh words to say to each other in the past fading months. In fact, the events last week, especially about the pregnant Angela, cumulated it all. He didnât pick up her calls neither did he respond to her text messages since he left here, and the most hurting silence was that on the text bearing the information about Laibeâs enrolment into the prestigious Aleka Academy. Thankfully, he is matured enough not to create a scene before the young girl he should decipher was her junior colleague because of the uniform she is having on, even though itâs his first time of meeting her.
âMeet Ms Jane, former Patron Odauduâs daughterâ Udale said, watching Jane sqÂŁÂŁze her palms in each other with head bowed as though she suddenly became a shy baby.
âYes! So much resemblanceâ Matthew affirmed and stretched out a hand to her.
Jane took it courteously as the initial display of shyness seem to have vanished all of a sudden, âMost times Iâm afraid because my father appears to know everyone.â
Matthew and Udale burst into laughter at that response.
âOf course, Philip Odaudu is a good man and one of the best chief nursing officers that hospital had ever had.â
Matthew replied as soon as he was able to stop himself from laughing.
âWell, Mummy, your darling wife here is fast at his heels and would beat his records in no time from now. Isnât that so Mummy?â Jane turned to face the smiling Udale. The question didnât appear like a question with the way her lips turned at the sides to form an inverted U as she said âMummyâ.
âYou are such a smart girl, Iâm so pleased to meet you.â Matthew confessed and that made Udale look up at him to be sure she heard correctly. Her husband had become so closed up recently to everyone, like he was enclosed in a metallic box of some sort.
Having and hearing him commend someone, especially that she is a young girl came strange through Udaleâs ears.
âThank you sir. But Mummy would only be pleased with me if I excused her and her husband soon enoughâŠâ the couple started another resounding round of laughter but Janeâs face was still expressionless. Udale wonders how the young lady does it sometimes â create and make everyone laugh while still wearing a straight face. Jane continued, without waiting for the laughter to die down, ââŠthat said, Iâll be leaving now sir and ma. Iâll pop in some other time. Mummy, thank you for hosting me and for the boiled yam and mashed eggs.â
âCâmon baby! You are welcome anytime. I truly appreciate your comingâ Udale expressed her sincere appreciations and Jane cowered lightly before stepping backwards.
âHow are you going? Is that your car I saw outside beside the gate?â
Matthew asked and Jane nodded her head up and down like monitor lizard.
Udale looked surprised as she saw the sincere concern on her husbandâs face for the first time in a long while and as Jane walked briskly towards the gate, she arranged the order and format with which her discourse with Matthew would ensue.
âBaba called on my wayâŠâ Matthew interrupted her thinking while pressing down the knob of the entrance door.
âHope all is well?â Udale asked, looking dazed.
Matthew shrugged as he walked into their large sitting room. âThe old man should know the wellbeing of his only granddaughter right? I guess that was why he called. He kept saying your line wasnât reachableâŠâ
Udale tried to stop her head from looking for trouble where there is none. Having Matthew respond that receptively to Jane was one big testimony for her so that even when it looked like her ears heard him stress the part of âhis ONLY granddaughterâ, she admonished herself to let it slide. He has been the topmost on her list of prayer points lately, itâs as if God is beginning to answer her prayers and soften his heart.
âAnd if we are going to adopt Laibe as our daughter, then you should wake up to your responsibilities as her mother. She is being mocked and traumatised by her classmatesâ Matthew said, dropping the bag in his hand on one of the couches and heading towards the kitchen.
Udale who had lazily sank into the chair as soon as she entered the sitting room dragged herself up and followed Matthew into the kitchen. She didnât understand his last statement. Laibe and her havenât seen nor spoken to him for a week now, how come he knew about whichever classmate was mocking her.
âI saw your text on Monday so decided to drop by at the school on my way from Lokoja this morning. Thankfully, it was their break time and I was able to get the teacher on duty to lead me to her class after the security man at their gate had worried my soul out with loads of questions. I was embarrassed on getting to the entrance of her class to find her almost running off because some group of students were singing scornful songs for the innocent girlâŠâ He bit his lips angrily, âI was so enraged. It took the persistent calming voice of their principal to quench the flaming fire in me. So annoyingâŠâ he let out a dry hiss.
Udale forgot her mouth wide open as her husband narrated the whole story while pouring himself cold water he picked up from the fridge into a tumbler.
âWhat!â Udale exclaimed involuntarily just when he sipped out of the water in his hand. Many things constituted that exclamation. One being that she didnât imagine bullies still existed. The last time she heard of such was her own days in primary school, more so that Aleka Academy was a private school and not one of those public schools around where everyone takes law into his or her hands. Well, itâs quite understandable; those children making up the Js1 class came from different background â some from public primary schools and others from private ones alike â and those with vices would need to be dealt with so as to get rid of it. Secondly, it could only mean one thing if Matthew could drop by to check on Laibe. Thirdly and finally, he sounds like he is agreeing to adopting Laibe as his own, was that not why he used the word âourâ?. All these lifted her legs with the speed with which they quickly flashed through her mind till she was in her husbandâs arms. She leaned her head against his chest tiredly wrapping her hands around his waist.
Matthew held her with his right hand as the other one was still holding the tumbler.
âYou scared me Sunshine!â Udale said in a sultry tone.
Matthew dropped the cup on top of the fridge and held her face up till his nose was touching hers. âI am so sorry Baby!â He responded. He calls her âBabyâ only at times like this when he is calm and in a good mood, otherwise, he calls her by her first name âUdaleâ.
Udale blinked shyly. âYou acted so friendly and normally with Jane, even though you are meeting her for the first time today but you flared out on seeing Laibe. You didnât even say a word to her up till now. To think that Laibe is just some months shy of thirteen, she is only a girl.â
Matthew withdrew from her and walked back into the sitting room saying âYou will not understandâ all the way through.
She stood for some minutes trying to imagine what was that unexplainable before going after him. Because the chairs were made of quality woods and other materials, it didnât matter how weighty she was as she sat on the handle of the chair on which Matthew sat.
âHoney, you told me you wanted to take another wife.â
âAnd your craze started when you saw pregnant Angela, huh?â Matthew cut in on her, smiling teasingly as he used his hand to draw her soft cheeks.
Udale smiled, âWell, what would you rather a helpless woman do? My position was threatened because I have not given you any child and you gave me attitudes to back it up.â She wrapped her hand round his neck and jokingly threatened to suffocate him.
Matthew just kept grinning from ear to ear as he watched his wife play like the baby he used to know again. He had watched the young, soft and innocent lady he married many years ago harden by every passing day. At some points he feared she would become inhumane with the way she was going and her only source of worry has been this childlessness issue. He is not particularly disturbed about it. Of course, there are so many things calling for his worrying self at the moment but his wife never seem to understand that worry wonât form the agile sperm that would fertilize her. If only she knew what he knows.
âYou may even be the architectural designer for the commencement of that relationshipâ he added quietly.
Alarm tried to sound on her head as she had few minutes to ponder on that ambiguous statement, she rather chose to rebuke it,
âThere may have to be a cold day in hell that day then. Iâll rather die than arrange another wife for you Matthew. I love you that personally.â She said, bringing his head to come rest on her b—m. She meant what she just said even when it appears Matthew was only teasing her with that. She is not one to bring another woman for her husband to impregnate because of her inability to conceive. Moreover, the doctor havenât categorically pinpointed who was responsible for this infertility. On her own side, she can claim to be hale unless proven otherwise. She hadnât done anything harmful all her life, no abortion, no consumption of illicit drugs, in fact Matthew met her as a virgin so it couldnât have been coming from her.
Inasmuch as she also trusted her husband a great deal, his recent âyou donât understandâ language is making her to suspect him. She kept repeating âGod forbidâ in her head as she moved his head on her b—m. She was nearly successful with that when the entrance door creaked and presented Laibe before them. They quickly sat up as she approached them. She was sweating profusely and her eyeballs look extremely worn out. Udale looked up at the wall clock. 2:45pm. Was it just her eyes? Laibeâs school uniform appear oversized on her this evening. Maybe, itâs been that way all along and she wasnât keen enough to take note.
âAunty, Uncle, go- good e-vi-ningâ she stammered her greetings that way.
âWhy are you home so early? I should come pick you up by 5!â Udale broke out in curiosity neglecting the young girlâs greetings and taking a glimpse at the wall clock for the second time. She knew the training Laibe will get in that school would be tremendous, itâs commendable enough she is greeting them in English in barely a week, she should gain good mastery of English in no time.
Laibeâs tension reduced when he saw her uncle smile in response to her greetings. A step forward. Maybe, he would find her worthy to be spoken to very soon. Her shivering palms were firmly interlocked in one another as she sqÂŁÂŁzed them. Perhaps, it was what happened that was so inexpressible for her or she had issues with how best to present it again. No one could understand exactly what went through her mind as she stood before them with confusion wrinkling her face.
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