I felt like my world shattered, and I had cried, taken my bath, and worn something casual before moving out to the living room to see him and the twins.

The sight of him always bent me over; I was imagining him having sex with my sister as I approached him. This was supposed to be my own man. The one thing that was my own that I believed to be something forbidden for my sister to cover and possess.

He knew something was amiss when he raised his head from the baby he was carrying to see my eyes laced with tears, and I was avoiding his gaze.

I picked my children up and proceeded to bathe, clothe, feed, and rock them back to sleep.

That night, I couldn’t sleep a wink, not because I slept in the day, but because I was a bit depressed.

The following day was much the same. No matter what my husband did to try to make me talk, I didn’t say a thing, and I avoided conversations with him. I made his meals but barely said anything to him for days.

That day, I received a call from his Aunt Bernice; she mentioned that she wanted to know how I was coping with the twins in my condition.

We chatted for about twenty minutes, and she bid me farewell, warning me to rest well. She offered to come help as she had nothing much to do at home; she was a widow after all, and most of her children were abroad while the last son was in the university. He attended the same school as my sister. I reassured her that I was going to spend some time with my family soon…

I was focused on my children for two more days before packing a few bags and leaving for my parents’ house.

I left him a note explaining that I was leaving to stay with my parents.

It was the longest words I communicated to him in days. He was a shadow of himself and hadn’t said anything to me directly in two days. He only communicated with the twins; they only made cooing sounds in response, which I’m sure added to his frustration.

My mum instantly noticed all wasn’t well; first, she thought it was the pregnancy—my sister had already told her, so she didn’t even give me the chance to break the news myself.

She welcomed me with a hug, instantly taking the twins, gesturing for my brothers to get the bags.

They went along as I paid the driver the cab fare.

I didn’t say much until after I had been served and I had eaten, and mum backed one twin and rocked the other in her arms.

I was still sipping the juice where I ate when she gently dropped the baby in my arms on the sofa, making sure he was comfortable, and then moved in close to ask how my husband was. And all hell broke loose!

Perhaps it was the pregnancy hormone, but I cried like I was mourning. So much that my mum realized something was wrong.

My father was on a trip, so she called to inform him.

The twins were fed again that night, bathed, powdered, and dressed for bed; they slept with my mum on the bed in her room and slept soundly even. That’s what I was told the next morning because I wouldn’t have known, as I was exhausted from crying and slept in my old room.

I woke up late the next morning, disoriented for a while, walked into the living room, frantically looking for my children, and only relaxed when I heard their sounds along with mum’s voice coming from the compound. She had the twins in their rocker under the tree in the compound.

They were making happy sounds and playing with their toys; sometime later, mum asked me straight what was wrong in my marriage.

I wasn’t too shocked; she had always known when something wasn’t right.

She continued that she noticed I was depressed from my appearance yesterday when I arrived and she mistook it for exhaustion, but when she asked me about my husband and I broke down, she didn’t know what to think. What gave me away was how I noticeably ignored his calls all evening.

My mother told me to take my time and explain what was wrong at my own pace. She mentioned that I have to so that it can quickly be resolved as my marriage is too young to encounter distressing issues.

I opened up to her the next afternoon, and she was devastated.

She called my sister immediately, and whatever she heard made her call my husband. She only asked what devil came into him to commit such abomination?

I don’t know what he said on the other side, but mum called my aunt who lives on the next street and asked her to please come intervene.

She was my favorite aunt too. Aunt Jane came at the speed of light.

Aunt Jane didn’t care that I was a grown-up woman now; she had me wrapped in her arms the minute she got in, and I was so overwhelmed that I started crying all over again. This time it was harder; Aunt Jane almost had that effect on me.

She was so sweet, cautioning me to take it easy in my condition but agreed I needed to let it all out to feel better.

She made mum call my sister, and although Grace was a bit misleading, making it look like she was taking advantage of me, there was no iota of regret in her voice.

By this time, Dad’s call had already come in while mum was on call with Grace; he called Aunt Jane next and was so angry about the whole situation, his voice was so firm and stern. I could practically feel the turmoil in his heart. He said he could cancel the trip or at least make it faster; he concluded he was coming by the weekend—today is Tuesday—and he said he was going to make a big deal out of it. The news would make the news.

Aunt Jane simply consoled him over the phone and encouraged him to finish his job first before returning as everything was in their control.

Aunt Jane waited to help with the twins’ night routine, commenting that I looked very pale. I realized I had forgotten I was pregnant and forgot to go in for antenatal after I was discharged from the hospital.

I made a call to the doctor, and he prescribed a pregnancy care supplement that best suits my condition.

Aunt Jane made me pack a few clothes; we dropped by a pharmacy on our way, and I bought the medicine.

I went with her to spend a few days.

She didn’t pester me for an explanation that night; she just pampered me, almost like she did when I was younger. Her husband is late, and her younger kids were out of the house too. She lives alone.

The next morning, she wasn’t so quick to raise the issue.

We went through the morning routine smoothly, and I sat with her in her shop after our meals.

She brought me a glass of yogurt and carefully sifted through the whole situation as I explained everything and sipped from the glass I poured.

I gave her my phone so she could go through the chats and voice notes I forwarded from my husband’s phone—his chats with Grace—to my phone.

Aunt Jane could neither believe her ears nor her eyes. What she saw was too shocking.

She commented that she had always feared Grace would do such a thing as this because my parents always indulged her instead of correcting her. She mentioned that it was because she was so sick as a child they almost lost her, so they gave her all she wanted, and never liked her getting upset.

She proceeded to tell me several similar stories from her experience, one of which was how her husband’s youngest sibling, who was living with them, tried to destroy her marriage, but she held her ground.

She encouraged me to be strong for my children and watch it in my condition, emphasizing the need for me to mend things with my husband and go get prenatal care at my hospital. “It’s one of those things in marriages, be brave and do not give up on your home.”

I told her how much I loved my husband and missed him. She encouraged me to forgive him and never let the devil tear my home apart.

I spent the next day lazing about. Aunt Jane had a conversation with James on the phone, and he was pleading and begging her to intervene. He was crying and was clearly in anguish. I couldn’t bear to listen any longer and excused myself to the room, where I began to cry silently and then knelt down to pray to God for divine intervention to mend my broken heart and my home and restore love and harmony in my marriage.

Aunt Jane, on the other hand, spoke with James’ mother and Aunt Bernice.

Aunt Bernice had opened up that she had suspected something the last time she visited—that something was indeed amiss. James had dismissed Grace and called her to help while his wife recovered.

She knew James would never act like that unless something had happened.

She opened up about calling her last son and instructed him to investigate Grace as they were in the same university and share what he found out with Aunt Jane. According to Aunt Bernice’s son, Thomas, Grace had the whole thing planned; she spiked James’ drink with a herbal concoction that made him extremely horny and seduced him while Janet was in the hospital.

She had been using this to blackmail him to visit her in school and get more money from him. All this information was gathered from Thomas’s course mate and friend, who was Grace’s roommate in school.

He even has a record of Grace’s conversations with her friends that were done by his friend. He also found out that although Grace had lied about James taking her virginity, she was nowhere close to a virgin and had lost her virginity in her year one at a freshers party.

All this was too much for them to take in. James’ mum and Aunt apologized nevertheless, pleading that Janet was now their daughter and be allowed to come back to the house.

Aunt Jane concluded the call with a promise to find out what it would take for the issue to be resolved and communicate it with James so that he can come along with his family to do the right thing and take his wife and kids back home.

By the time I was going back to my parents’ house, Aunt Jane had communicated with my dad, mum, and all other relatives, explaining what she learned and advised that this be resolved quickly to prevent the news from becoming widespread. What Grace did was shameful.

She made a call soon after to James, telling him what it would require for this to be sorted traditionally. He was to drop a large sum of money, drinks, and two goats to appease his wife’s family.

He brought his family with him to beg. He was made to prostrate and be in that position until everything was done. At that time, I, along with the kids, was made to wait in Aunt Jane’s house, but Grace couldn’t bear to show her face.

The families united, and Aunt Jane came to get me and the twins, all the while advising me to take it easy and build my home with my hands and all of my heart.

The twins were the first to squeal and crawl to their father; it was the best way to move faster. I was standing in a corner with my head down, tears falling down my face. I loved this man so much; I felt so hurt, but I can’t do life without him.

His family were singing my praises, calling me affectionate names in their local dialect that meant pride, queen, crown bearer, mother of kings, pure pearl, and the likes. I was given another set of gifts and money. James was instructed to beg me. He knelt with tears in his eyes, hugging my waist and sobbing his repentance.

I could no longer bear it and quickly helped him up, hugging him tightly while crying uncontrollably, while he continued to beg. We were both shattered, but something more beautiful was definitely springing from the incident. We were stronger than ever.

I rushed to hug Aunt Jane, and he prostrated in thanks to her. We went back with him afterward.

These past weeks have been the most challenging yet we came out stronger.

THE END