I travel a lot, but I always make time to be home. I might be gone for a month, but when I am back, I am home for almost three weeks. It’s the nature of my job. Sometimes, too, it takes a long time before I travel again.
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My mother-in-law lived with us. She had been with us for over six years. She provided company for my wife and the two kids and also helped with the chores. Because of her presence, I always believed my home was safe until one evening when my first child, who was nine years old, told me, “When Uncle Charles comes around these days, he stays in your room for a very long time with Mom.”
Charles has an electrical shop in the vicinity, so anytime we had electrical issues, we called him. I didn’t even know the last time we needed his help until my boy mentioned him. I asked, “Where is Grandma when he comes around?” He answered, “She would be in the hall or her room.”
I asked him, so I didn’t assume anything, “So Grandma sees Charles when he comes?” He answered, “Yes, she even gives him food sometimes.”
My whole being shook into a spasm; I thought I would be rendered lifeless. Children are crazy, but they never lie, and the fact that he said it in confidence showed that he was worried. Then he said, “Don’t tell Mom I told you. She will ki*l me.”
So I put my second phone in my son’s drawer and told him to call me anytime Charles came around. I pretended I was traveling and left home. On the third day, around 6 p.m., my son called. “Dad, he has come.”
“Are they in our room?” I asked.
“Yes, he finished eating and went inside.”
A few minutes later, I was in the house. Immediately, my mother-in-law saw my face, she shivered and started acting jittery. She mentioned my name out loud, trying to draw her daughter’s attention, but I guess they were too far gone, so she didn’t hear her. The door was locked, so I knocked. My mother-in-law said, “Oh, she locked the door when she was going out?” Then she started shouting her name and saying I was around.
When she opened the door, my mother-in-law said, “Eiii, you can sleep, papa. I’ve been calling your name several times. Were you dead?”
He was hiding in the wardrobe. It wasn’t hard to find him because it was the only place that had a big enough space for someone to hide. He was sweating, with his trousers hanging around his ankles.
I said, “Thank you for everything. You can go now.”
While he was leaving, I was throwing my wife’s things out and screaming that she should follow him. Her mother was trying to stop me, telling me we should resolve it and that she didn’t even see it when he entered the room. She was the only one I wanted to hit, but God held my hand. I went to her room too and started throwing her things out as well.
When I was done and they were outside begging, I told them, “Because you two don’t have any sense, it took a nine-year-old to tell me what was happening.” My son was crying, scared she would beat him.
We are in court going through a divorce. The only thing we are fighting about now are the kids. She wants us to split them. She wants the second child, but if hell comes down, I will fight and go through till the end to have both of them with me. My lawyer tells me I have a great case because it took the child to reveal the secret.
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A Man Who Haggles Over The Price Of An Item Is A Red Flag
I’m acting strong and manly, but my insides are melting down. I cry alone at night. Ten years of marriage is reduced to rubble. I don’t know how I’m going to begin again. I don’t know if it’s worth it to try again. When all is said and done, I may go somewhere far away with the kids, leave the memories behind, and start all over again.
—Me Nua
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