Unwavering Faith
Story by Sophia Okehie
Episode 9
There’s this popular saying that ‘one man’s trash is another man’s treasure’, so becareful how you treat that person that genuinely loves you. Regret is never a pleasant experience as it usually leaves it’s victim feeling like they have missed out on something great due to an ill decision or action they once made. If there’s something you should try to avoid in this life, then it’s the ‘Had I known’ feeling, because you might never be the same again knowing that you can’t undo what was done or turn back the hands of time to do things correctly. Raymond couldn’t believe that a lady he once neglected and abandoned just because of her inability to bear a child was now the heavily pregnant woman he was staring at.
Life is such a mysterious puzzle indeed because you can never figure out what could happen in a person’s life the next minute. This is the exact reason we should never condemn or write anyone off because something could happen and change that person’s situation and we might just end up chewing back our words.
Raymond’s encounter with his ex-wife was a show of shame for him and the way Susan replied him even made matters worst. After few minutes of digesting the shocker she dropped on him with her blunt reply, he continued the conversation. “Mrs? Are you married again?” He shocking asked, “Yes I am, and thanks for walking away from my life because if you hadn’t, I wouldn’t have found my dear husband. Now if you don’t mind, kindly go away because I wouldn’t want my husband to come back and see you here with me” she replied.
The mode at which Susan replied Raymond gave him the clue that she wasn’t one bit into him again. He couldn’t believe that a woman that once loved and worshipped the ground he walked on now happily belonged to someone else. What a tough reality for him to wrap his head around in.
Before they knew what was happening, Williams majestically walked in on them. “Hey babe, have you made our orders yet?” Williams asked, “I was about to do so before I got distracted” Susan replied. It was when she revealed about being distracted that Williams even noticed Raymond’s presence. “Hello, please you are?” He gently inquired but Raymond remained mute and eventually walked out of the restaurant.
With Raymond gone, Williams tried to inquired whom he was and why he was at their table when he returned, and that was when Susan revealed who Raymond was and narrated all that happened while he went to redraw money. When she was done talking, he took a deep breath and smiled afterwards. He understood how shocked Raymond must have been seeing his ex-wife heavily pregnant and even wished Raymond was still around so he could thank him for letting Susan slip away from his hands.
In order not to ruin their outing, the lovebirds put the incident that happened aside and continued from where they stopped. After having fun to the fullest, they retired home because it was getting late. While Susan had forgotten all that happened earlier that day, it was unfortunately still fresh in Raymond’s mind. The image of seeing her pregnant hunted him all through the remaining hours of that day. Raymond couldn’t believe that his ex-wife was pregnant after over 5 years of them trying to conceive. It was then that it began to dawn on him that he could be the problem.
“I was with Venita and the son she gave birth to wasn’t mine, I was with Susan and she couldn’t conceive throughout our five years of being together, but now heavily pregnant for another man. Could I be the problem here?” Raymond wondered as he laid restlessly on the bed. It was then that he realised that he missed Susan and the thought that she now belonged to another man drove him highly crazy. He felt like a failure and loser, but that was just the beginning of his misery.
Turns out that Raymond visited a fertility specialist the next day and was made to run some series of tests. After the tests have been done, another meeting was rescheduled for the next day of which he was present. Raymond was anxious to know whether he had been the problem all these while. The results were out and it was confirmed that he had Low Sperm Count, which is a condition that affects fertility; especially if the fewer sperm that were released are also weak.
What actually hurt Raymond more wasn’t the fact that he had that condition, but the fact that it was curable. He died slowly within knowing that his home could have been saved if he had put his ego aside and followed Susan to do the numerous fertility test she did while they were trying to conceive. Back then, Raymond felt fertility issues only concerned the woman and not the man. He couldn’t bring himself to thinking that there was something wrong with him fathering a child and it’s sad to know that majority of men in our society today would never see themselves as the problem whenever there’s fertility issues in marriage, talk more of going for tests; that’s how come they never know they need help.
Like I said earlier, Regret isn’t a pleasant experience but it was too late for Raymond because it had already caught up with him. Days began to get longer and so was his grief. For once, just for once did Raymond begin to feel how Susan felt all those years; worst still, when he left her for Venita.
It wasn’t long before depression set in and that was when Raymond’s parents got to know everything that was happening and also their son’s condition. The reality of Susan’s pregnancy brought shame to his mum and she wished she never treated her the way she did.
While hell broke loose in Raymond’s camp, Susan and her husband were preparing for their bundle of joy that was due any minute. The parents-to-be joyfully awaited their baby’s arrival anytime soon.
One fateful morning, Susan’s water broke and fortunately for her, Williams was around to rush her to the hospital. The labour pains wasn’t that bad and after a little while of pushing, a bouncing baby girl was born. As Susan held her daughter for the first time, tears of joy kept falling off her eyes. Williams gave his wife a peck on her forehead for a job well done and held his precious baby girl too.
Jojo came to the hospital immediately after he got back from school and was so happy to see his sister. The happiness on Jojo’s face was priceless and everyone’s heart was filled with nothing but Joy. Susan and William’s parents came to the hospital as soon as the news was broken to them. A mini celebration party commenced at the hospital as they all welcomed their newest family member.
The news of Susan’s new born spread like wildfire and eventually got to Raymond’s ears. It killed him within and sadness overshadowed him. Deep down, he wished it was his child she was carrying. Too bad!
Raymond was restless and knew that the only way he could find peace was if he apologised to his ex-wife for everything he put her through and for what he did to her. He sought for ways to see Susan and learned that she was still at the hospital. Without thinking things through, he headed to the hospital to see her.
When Raymond arrived, he was able to locate her room and headed towards there. When he got to the door, his heart skipped several beats because he knew there were going to be alot of people inside that room that didn’t want to set eyes on him and also, he knew that he was invading Susan’s new family privacy.
Regardless of what the consequences would be, Raymond was about to risk it all if it meant that he would get his peace afterwards. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door and after the second knock, Williams opened up. One look at Raymond and he could already tell whom he was. “Why are you here?” Williams surprisingly asked and before Raymond could answer that question, Susan asked “‘Baby who’s at the door?”.
Williams took a deep breath, turned to his wife and family members present and said; “Your ex-husband is here!”.
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