‘Enough of this! I’m walking out of my marriage’ (3)

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This is the concluding part of Rita and Nelson’s story.  The duo met in a crusade ground somewhere in Enugu state. And before the crusade was over, they were already friends. They joined same church after the crusade and that was when their relationship began to sizzle. Below is the rest of the story.

Rita took Nelson home and introduced him to her mother. “She was happy when she saw him and pretended as if she hadn’t been anxious about my getting married. I told mum everything before I brought Nelson home. I told him about his career, his people and the fact that Nelson and I had never slept together. That it was a taboo in my church to do so before marriage. My mum loved him the more for that and said he was very unlike today’s men who would want to sleep with their fiancées before walking them down the aisle. So, before I brought Nelson home, mum had already developed soft spot for him,” she enthused.

The traditional marriage of the two didn’t make much noise. “My father was late and my mum kept on crying because the ceremony reminded her of my late father. It was my uncle that played the role of my father. He sat beside my mum that day and poor mum wasn’t happy that he was present taking charge. Reason was that my uncle treated us badly when my father died, he took over most of my late father’s properties because my mother never had a male child. She had just me, so according to the tradition my uncle was supposed to be the one to hand me over to my husband. Immediately after the ceremony I hopped into Nelson’s car, and my mum sat at the back and we drove off. I told Nelson already that my mum was the only one I had and that I would bring her into my matrimonial home and take care of her because she was already getting older. Hence she needed adequate care and he was game with that idea,” she said.

Rita’s mum came to live with her daughter and her hubby. “I loved that because my prayer when I was single was to bring mum out of her one room dingy apartment at Abakpa Nike in Enugu  whenever I got married and I thank God Nelson never frowned at it. Nelson had to convert his garage  into a room and parlour which he furnished for her. And then she was kept busy with little business which my husband opened for her. Her shop was close to our house so that she could walk down and walk back home when she closed. Mum was happier and without being told I saw that my mum was really home. We were all happy just three of us for five years but the major problem Nelson and I had been battling with was childlessness. Though my mum desperately  longed to carry her  grand children but I couldn’t get pregnant. Not that it was my fault, but my hubby’s. He was diagnosed with diabetes when he clocked 35 and had been managing it for three years before he met me. It was actually what brought him to the prayer ground/crusade where we met. He needed God’s healing. He said he actually came to see if God could heal him but that he couldn’t tell me because it was too early to start washing his dirty linen before me. That was his major reason for not making love to me when we were courting. He said he was afraid is erection would fail him and that was what happened the very first night after our wedding,” she recalled.

The problem of Nelson was that his medication really affected his erection which invariably affected his sex life with his wife. “I noticed it but I was thinking that it was mere anxiety. We never had sex through out our eight months of courtship. He said it was sinful to have sex before marriage that it would defile the bed according to the scriptures. And that we should wait until everything was tidied up, before doing such a thing. I agreed with him and was even happy that a man like Nelson could abstain till we tied the knots. It was when his weak erection lingered on that I became curious and started asking and he told me everything. That was when I realized why my hubby was avoiding sugary foods and stuck to his doctor’s diet. I pitied him and decided to keep his secret because I had no option. I loved my husband and he was indeed nice and caring to me and my mum. He loved and treated my mum like his. During our fifth year wedding anniversary, his mother started being on my neck to give her grand children. Nelson’s siblings were beginning to make some cynical statements about my childless situation. And each time I made a report to Nelson, he would plead with me to ignore them. His two sisters who called me barren peacock made me cry for two days. And when my mum confronted them they insulted her. That was when I lost my cool and beat two of them black and blue. I couldn’t stand watching  two ladies insult my mum over something that wasn’t my fault. I descended on them so mercilessly  that my mum started begging me to leave them. When Nelson came home and saw what I did, he supported me to their disappointment. They traveled home and brought their mum to my house. Nelson’s mum was known in the whole Oji River village, Enugu state  as a tigress, she was a no-nonsense woman. When she arrived and without pleasantries asked why I nearly killed her two daughters, I explained to her what happened and how they called me a barren peacock. She only said if I wasn’t barren, I should have proved other wise since five years I had been married to her son. I didn’t respond, because my mother told me never to insult an elderly person and that whoever keeps her mouth shut  when  an elderly person fumes  keeps her life. So, I decided to keep my life.

“When she saw I wasn’t talking, she now faced my mum and asked what she was doing in her son’s house. She called my mum a witch, that she could be the one behind my predicament. Oh that was when I broke down but I made sure I didn’t insult her. I prepared dinner for her which she refused to eat. Her son, my husband couldn’t say anything, he pretended as if I was the one responsible for our childlessness  even when I was giving him signs to talk to his mother. Enough of this! I think I’m walking out of this marriage but I would never disclose Nelson’s shame because he is a good man. I won’t even tell my mum about his short comings, that’s his top secret.

“I have agreed to go for an adoption according to my husband but his people wouldn’t let me be. They would always see me as a barren peacock. So, let me leave Nelson for good but I would not allow my mother go back to her dingy apartment at Abakpa. I would take her with me, she is all I have got. But come to think of it, Nelson is a good husband and I still love him but his people are wolves and my childlessness is not helping matters. What should I do?

Readers, over to you. Advise Rita on what to do in this situation.