It was like something exploded in the room the moment father dropped those words. Aunty Florence’s childless situation was one subject that was spoken about in hushed tones in the house. It’s a subject that often brought tears to my mother’s eyes. It thoroughly pained her that her blood sister had been married for years and was yet to have a child of her own. For father to have used her situation to smite mum must’ve totally broken her inside.
“Yeeh! My God! Daddy, Rosemary!!” mother screamed. She was shocked, just s I was to her father say what he just said. “How could you say this? How could you?”
“How could I say what?” father snarled at her, his eyes cold and unmoved by mother’ reaction.
“You just called my sister childless! You just called her barren!” mother was in tears now. Father was not impressed. He just had a cold, hostile on his face. I had never seen him look that way before.
“And so?” he shot back at his wife. “Have I said something untrue?”
Mother couldn’t believe her ears. Even I couldn’t believe I was actually hearing father speak that way. “Daddy Rosemary, you called my sister barren just because I asked that you let our daughter go over to meet her in Lagos and spend time with her in Lagos till we are able to do something about her pregnancy?”
Father rose to his feet. “Listen, woman, these tears don’t make any difference to me. They don’t change anything,” father shot at her. “I did not insult your sister by saying she is childless, it’s the truth. She is childless and that’s why you want to send my daughter over to her. You must think I am daft, right? You said you want her to go over to your sister’s place till we are able to do something about her pregnancy, is your sister a doctor? And what else can we do about her pregnancy if she moves over to Lagos to stay with your sister? You want her to go there and keep the pregnancy till she delivers to you the grandchild you have been waiting for, right? Is that not your plan?”
Father was shouting at the top of his voice. His entire frame was quivering with anger. Mother was just staring at him, totally nonplussed. She too had probably never seen father gt this angry.
“Out of your own carelessness, your daughter got pregnant right under your nose. Rather than for you to be worried about how she will get rid of the pregnancy and move on with her life and face her education, you want her to keep the pregnancy and bring forth a child that will always be remembered as the flesh and blood of a rapist! And you expect me to be part of that madness?” He turned to me. “You, am taking you to see a doctor tomorrow, I want to get rid of that thing in your womb!”
Mother nearly fainted. She opened her mouth but it just hung open. No word came forth. Inside me, what father said was sweet music to my ears. Finally, the man was putting his foot down.
“But…daddy Rosemary, you can’t do that….” Mother was saying.
“And can you please tell me why I can’t do that? She is as much my daughter as she is yours. In fact, as her father, I have more claim to her than you can possibly have.”
Mother gave it a deep thought. She knew she had to tread softly so she does not incur father’s wrath more than she’s already done. “Look, daddy Rosemary, I am not claiming I have more right over Rosemary than you do, after all, you’re her father, you reserve the right to take the final decision on any issue concerning her…”
“So, why then are you not accepting my decision concerning her pregnancy? Why do you insist she must keep a child she got out of a rape situation? Why do you want her to be nursing a child when her mates will be in the university?” father asked her for the umpteenth time.
“Because it is wrong before God!” she answered. “God will punish us and her as well if we get her to abort the pregnancy, please, my husband, don’t do this please….”
Father was not interested in hearing her pleas. “Woman, do not get me annoyed, I have taken my decision and that is final! I am going to return early from work tomorrow, when I come back, we leave for the hospital. God forbid, no child of mine will bring forth a bastard, the product of a rapist, inside my house!”
Mother was trying to say something but father had switched off, listening to the news he was watching before mother interrupted him. She reached for his hand gently to get his attention, but he angrily yanked his handoff.
“Don’t make me angry, woman!” he barked at her. “Don’t make me hit you, you know I have never done that before! Your daughter that was careless enough to have gotten herself into a situation where she was raped, you have not even scolded her, instead, you are eager to become a grandmother, the grandmother of a bastard, right? Is that what you want? If that’s what you want, no problem, but that’s not what I want and I am her father, and my decision is she must abort the pregnancy and that’s final!”
Undeterred, mother still tried to hold onto him but he got angrily to his feet and stormed out of the room.
Mother fell to the floor and started wailing. “You this girl, you see what you have caused? You see the shame you’re putting me through? Your father has never been this harsh to me before…see how he brushed me aside and walked away….”
I moved closer to her and helped her on her feet. “I am sorry, mother, please, forgive me…” Then, I summoned up the courage to bare my mind to her. I have always been afraid of my mother much more than I am of my father. Father has always been the calmer and gentler one. He rarely touched me. But mother was the disciplinarian. She was the one that could beat the living daylight out of you if you got her really pissed off.
“But mummy, you have not even asked me what I think we should do about the situation…at least, I am the one that is most affected.”
“Ehen, okay, tell me o, what do you think we should do?” she asked as she wiped the tears off her eyes.
“I think that father is right, there is no point keeping this pregnancy, we should just…..”She did not let me complete the sentence, a blinding slap struck me hard on the face….
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