UNCERTAINTIES

“No wonder my husband was with her”, she thought. She was beautiful and much younger. She had a pretty face and a gap between the fronts of her upper teeth. She knew how much her husband admired women with these attributes. “This would be a tough problem to solve”, she thought again. She had no intention of leaving her husband for any other woman. She had accepted this saying from her friend, Esi, which was a man in his life time, would cheat on his woman; maybe this was her time to go through this situation. However, if this woman should think that she would leave her husband for her then, she had another think coming.

As she was going in her head about them, she realised they had got up and were making their way towards the entrance. She was hit with another threat. The woman was well endowed both behind and in front. One could say God had been in his best moods when he was moulding her. She knew that her husband had been attracted to her because she was also endowed both behind and in front. The real challenge was that this woman was young and her legs were bigger in the calf than hers. This woman was exactly her husband’s taste.

She had seen the way they had looked at each other with so much affection. She had seen how she had been swaying her head shyly like a woman with her lover. The funny thing was that she was with her lover. She had seen them holding hands when they entered and her husband had even shown her courtesy by pulling the chair for her; something he used to do when they were dating. She had seen his hand go up to her cheek and touch her affectionately. She cannot remember the last time her husband was this affectionate to her. She had seen all these at a safe distance in the restaurant.

Marie and Kwadwo had been married for five years. Two years into the marriage, her in-laws had been hostile because they had not yet put to birth. Kwadwo had not been very supportive in those years; he nearly married a second wife if she had not stood firm and bared her teeth. Now, in their fifth year, she was pregnant and yet Kwadwo continued to give her problems. It was true that sometimes, someone can be married to his/her enemy or destructor.

Esi had been her informant. She had suffered greatly because her husband went in for another woman younger than her. The story was told of how her husband had dragged her into a rainy night when she was pregnant with their son. He had denied been the father of the child and as such ignored his duties as a father. Many people advised her to take up her case with the Domestic Violence Unit but she had been so in love to do such a thing. After fifteen years, she still harboured the thought he would one day come to his senses and ask for forgiveness. She blamed herself for her situation because she had paid no heed to the tell tale signs. She had therefore made it her business to warn people if she saw anything suspicious, especially between someone and another person’s spouse.

This was exactly what she had done resulting in the private eye job Marie was now doing. She had no doubt in her mind that they were having an affair. She followed them at a safe distance. Kwadwo hailed down a taxi car for her. She saw him paying the driver after he had given her some money. Esi had seen them twice at different restaurants. Marie praised herself for having the insight to wait for them at Kwadwo’s work place. She had then followed them into the restaurant. She had seen enough so she turned to go home.

Kwadwo gets home close to midnight as he had been doing for the past month. She was always asleep when he came home. When she had asked for an explanation to the late night arrival, he had only said that some clients were on his neck for their products. “What a liar! If your clients are that hard on you, will you have some time to sit and be affectionate to another woman for that long?”, she had thought. Kwadwo was amazed to find her up when he got home this time.

“What are you doing up at this time?”
“I could not sleep with you not in.”
“But I always find you asleep when I come in.”
“I guess I am much too worried today.”
“Worried? That someone will abduct me? You know this is the first time I’ve heard you use that word.”
“Kwadwo, that is not fair and you know it!”
“But you know I’m right. When I come in from work and meet you not asleep, hardly do you ask how my day was. Hardly have you met me at the door as I come in from work and even plant a kiss to my cheek. With this kind of attitude, a man will be driven to another woman who shows much care.”
“Oh so you think that just because a man is not been shown enough attention is an excuse for infidelity?”
“What I’m saying is that the woman should take part of the blame if her marriage fails and not take it all out on the man.”
“Are you telling me that you are cheating?”
“Come on my dear wife, cheat on you, never!”
“Hmm!”
“So how was lunch today?”
“Lunch?”
“Yes, lunch!”
“Why do you ask of lunch and nothing else?”
“Well honey, you were just complaining that I do not show how much I care for you.”
“Not that I am saying you should not ask about lunch, do not get me wrong. It’s just surprising that it was the first thing that came to your mind.”
“You should try to understand dear, these days the kind of food they cook outside is not very good. I was even thinking that maybe I should be making lunch for you to send to work. Won’t that be great? Then there will be no need for you to go out during lunch for food and you can trust the quality too.”
“Sweetheart, I know you are trying to show how much you care, but really I don’t think you should fret over the food I eat. You can be rest assured that yours truly gets the best of service when it comes to good food.”
“And company.” (as she fakes a yawn)
“What did you say?”
“Nothing, I am just tired. I think I’ll retire to bed.”

Marie went to bed thinking about the woman trying to take her husband. She had a dream where she was in a squabble with the other woman. Then suddenly she was out of the house with the other woman smiling sardonically at her while Kwadwo brings out her bags. The look on the other woman’s face was what woke her up with a start. Kwadwo was still sleeping with a smile on his face. Looking at him, Marie could not help but wonder if he was dreaming of the other woman, if she was in his arms in his dreams. She decided to take action.

She was cleaning, singing and whistling as Kwadwo was leaving the house in the morning, the next day. Just before he stepped out he had a call on his mobile. Minutes later, he put the phone to Marie’s ears. It was his sister who had been leaving in the States for a decade now. They have not had the opportunity to meet but she showed much interest in Marie. She always talked to her when she called her brother. Marie felt much closer to her than Kwadwo’s relatives who were closer to home. She had cut the line when she was done talking to Marie. But just when Marie was handing the phone over it started to ring again. She instinctively pressed the received button and just then Kwadwo snatched the phone from her. He quickly talked into the phone as he left the house. Marie just smiled and shook her head.

Since she was pregnant and could not do most of the fighting herself, she had ‘hired a lawyer’ or ‘the lawyer’ had offered herself. Esi had volunteered to help Marie teach ‘this woman’ a lesson. They had kept taps on Kwadwo and had found out where the woman stayed. The lesson they would teach her would surely keep her away from other women’s husband.

Kwadwo had left the office at 5pm and taken a different direction. They knew where he was going so they followed him. When he got to his destination, he parked the car in front of the house and brought out some carrier bags. It was obvious that he had gone shopping for the woman. They knocked on the gate when he had entered the house for some minutes. They were allowed into the house. The woman had come out to find out who they were looking for and Esi had started her verbal abuse. Kwadwo heard the commotion and rushed out with a baby in hand.

Marie was greatly surprised to see her husband with a baby in hand. Something within her just snapped. She could feel herself falling but she could do nothing to stop herself from falling. Esi caught her just in time before she hit the ground. As she was going down she said: “ah Kwadwo, you’ve killed me!”
At the turn of events, Kwadwo gave back the baby to its mother.
“Sister, I’ll have to rush her to the hospital!”
“Sister?”
“Yes, Esi, sister! My sister!”