Crushed

Episode 22

“Wait mama. You mean the witch daughter of the Browns is my daughter? Our daughter?” Seyi asked, shining his face so forcefully as if he wanted to release about 5kg of faeces

“Her name is Mercy. I named her Mercy. We dropped the baby in a basket and set it at the entrance of his house. He had just got married at that time” She concluded her story and I really didn’t know exactly what to do
Should I shout and slap myself to reality?
Should I shake Mama and pinch her hard for not telling us this earlier?
Impossible!

Elder was Jean’s father and Mercy was my real child from the beginning, hah!
I started rolling on the ground and banging my head on the cold tiles
“Now baby, this is not the time to be sentimental. It’s time to take action. We have to save Jean’s life. Let’s approach the father right away” he said and I quickly sat up, wiping the tears in my eyes so I could see clearly

“Impossible! We are telling nobody the truth about this o…we can’t say this to anybody” I started
What would people say?
What great stir were we actually going to cause in the church is we actually go and say something like that?
Ah!

“Let’s put our egos aside and save this precious boy’s life. He is still my son and I love him” he said
“This isn’t any ego thing Seyi! We can’t tell anybody about it. If we probably find a donor from anywhere on this planet earth, oh yes! But not Elder! Oh no!” I was saying when he went to the large trolley, picked his car key and stormed out of the room
“Yeh! I need to stop this guy o!” I cried to myself as I stood of from the floor where I had been

“I am sorry. I am so sorry” Mama kept on repeating and I simply nodded as I ran after Seyi

“Seyi, don’t do anything nasty. Put the children’s feelings to mind too. They wouldn’t like this kind of situation” I started

“The earlier they know, the better for them” he said as he opened the car door and entered into the car, banging the door.
I quickly opened the other side too and jumped in as he zoomed off with speed
“Seyi, drive moderately please. You are not as crushed as I am right now, are you?” I asked but the man I was talking to was just so focused on where he was going and wasn’t even going to pay attention to me
“Things done rashly out of anger often result into disaster. One needs to think more on issues before taking action Seyi. These ego and pride of yours sha! Once your mind is made up, not even the wife of your youth do you listen to. Oga o” I exclaimed and the car came to a sudden halt!

I was scared!

Was he going to hit me?

He had never done so to me since we got married until earlier that day and I was unsure if he was going to do the same again. The tip of my tongue clung to the roof of my mouth in fear

Then, he hugged the steering and started crying profusely
I was confused

“I am sorry Bola. I am sorry” he continued until I had to clear my throat so he could raise his head and confirm if it was my own Bola he was talking about but it was as he raised his head, stretched his hands towards me and held my hands in his

“Bola, I should never have disbelieved you. I always knew that you are the real definition of a virtuous woman. I should never have doubted your integrity. It wasn’t you that did it. It was mama! Mama sold my child out and now the child is bewitched and needs deliverance while someone else’s child is actually who we thought was ours.” He started lamenting and I looked on as tears ran down my face

It had just been a sudden turnaround in my family since the past five days!
“It’s not Mama’s fault entirely. She was just touched as any mother would have felt” I tried to support Mama because I believed she couldn’t be blamed for what happened entirely. She wasn’t even born again at that point and you can expect anything from anybody who isn’t born again”
“Gosh! So you mean we would have to start contending with the witch and send our precious Jean to …but wait…Elder Brown couldn’t even be as bad as they are all painting him to be. He had been a very great source of blessing to me in my entire life that he wouldn’t do all these….i don’t seem to understand. What kind of machination of the enemy is this?” he lamented and I looked around in the car and luckily, Mercy’s bag was there.

I picked it up, unzipped and brought out the diary.

I unlocked it and gave it to him
“Read it!” I said as he collected it from me
“What’s this?” he asked and just placed my elder on the window and supported my chin with my palm.