Motherhood ๐๐ Part 14.
We didn’t hear from Julius since then. I never stopped praying for him. My heart still aches whenever I think of him. He is my son after all.
“Eunice!! Eunice!!”. I called out but got no response.
“What’s wrong with this girl? Ever since she got back from school, she has been acting weird and strange. She rarely goes out nor associate with people”. I wondered.
I decided to go have a talk with her.
When I got to her room, she was crying really hard. Her eyes were red and swollen. I was taken aback.
Immediately she saw me, she tried wiping off her tears.
“What’s the problem?”. I asked concernedly as I hurriedly sat close to her.
“Nothing. I’m okay”. She lied.
“How can you be lying to my face Eunice? You are obviously crying”. I said.
She got triggered and burst into tears.
I wrapped her in my arms.
“Cry it out sweet. Everything will be okay”. I said to her.
She kept on crying nonstop. I didn’t ask her further questions. I allowed her cry to her satisfaction.
I stood up and drove to a nearby supermarket and bought ice cream and lots of chocolate. My guess was that she recently got her heart broken by her boyfriend, hence the tears. You know heartbreak is common among people of her age range.
I gave her the ice cream and chocolates. She was so touched.
“They will help to calm you down”. I said with smiles.
“Thank you mummy”. She said tearily.
I let her be. I didn’t want to appear pushy so I left her alone. One thing with children is that they don’t like it when their parents are too pushy. They will feel like you are trying to invade their privacies and it will make them more secretive. When they feel they can trust you, they will willingly open up to you.
Two days later, I was home alone with Eunice. I just woke up from a quick nap. I stood up and went to the seating room.
Eunice approached me some minutes later.
“Ma, are you free”. She asked.
“Ofcourse dear”. I said to her. I urged her to seat close to me.
“I feel so terrible”. She said. She bowed her head for a long time.
I didn’t push her to speak. I just watched her with kin interest.
After a while, she spoke;
“I know you will judge me. Who won’t? I have done something I am so ashamed to share with anybody”. She said and started crying.
“You can talk to me sweet. Trust me, I won’t judge you”. I assured her.
“It’s because you don’t know what I have done. I am a terrible person and I don’t deserve to be alive”. She said.
My heart began to pound. “What did she do?”. I asked myself.
“Talk to me dear. A problem shared is a problem half solved”. I said.
“I never wanted to do it. I wanted to keep it but he told me he wasn’t ready”. She broke down in tears again.
“Hope it’s not what I’m thinking?? God please help me to handle this well”. I prayed in my mind.
“I was pregnant 3months ago. When I found out, I was so scared. I knew you’d be disappointed. My mother would also be disappointed. I was scared to my bones. I told him about it. He was so angry. He blamed me for being so careless. I cried. Mummy I cried”.
She started crying.
My heart was broken. How could she? In as much as I was angry, I tried to stay cool. This was a moment for me to win her trust. I didn’t want to miss this golden opportunity because the way I handle this issue will determine if she will be open to me in the nearest future.
“He asked me to terminate the pregnancy. I told him I was scared and didn’t want to dรญe but he won’t hear any of that. He bought me a drug and forced me to take it. He even inserted his fingers in my mouth to check if I was hiding the drug in my mouth and made sure I swallowed it. Moments later, I started feeling pains. The pain was unbearable. I saw stars. I saw death, I saw hell. I cried, I groaned. I wanted the pain to stop but it got worse. Then I started blรฉรฉdรฎng. Mummy, I thought I was going to die..”.
I couldn’t continue listening to her. My heart was damaged.
“What did he do when all these were going on?”. I asked.
“At first, he told me sorry that the pain would stop soon. But the pain wouldn’t stop. The blรณรธd wouldn’t stop coming out. I started crying uncontrollably. Then he told me to stop being dramatic that is the pain not similar to normal menstrual cramps? He also blamed me that if I wasn’t careless, I wouldn’t have been going through that pain”.
She started crying again.
“Who is the guy and how old is he?”. I asked.
He was my boyfriend. We met at a party. He is 30yrs old.
My anger tripled. Eunice was barely 20yrs old.
“Oh my goodness. Give me his number”. I screamed.
Reluctantly, Eunice gave me his number.
I called him immediately. The guy was nothing to write home about. He even denied knowing any Eunice not to talk about getting her pregnant. Thank goodness the phone was on speaker and Eunice could hear him.
Eunice started crying again.
“I hope you have learnt your lesson. I’m not going to start lambasting you because I believe your conscience is already dealing with you. There’s time for everything Eunice. You clearly haven’t gotten to the time for relationships not to talk about getting pregnant. You know where you are coming from. Out of your siblings, you are the only one in school and you are at the verge of graduating. I expected you be really careful and wise in your dealings. The deed has been done, so stop beating yourself. Just learn from your mistakes and never give room to the devil to penetrate into your life. When you get married, you will have sรฉx and even run from it, so why the rush?”. I asked.
She couldn’t stop crying.
“I will need to take you to the hospital to check if you are okay or you still need some evacuation and flushing”. I said to her.
I took her to the hospital and series of scans were carried out. Thank goodness, she was okay. They only gave her a drug.
I decided to also book some sessions for her with a therapist because she was obviously suffering from PTSD (POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER).
I didn’t tell my husband because I didn’t want the issue to escalate and also felt the need to cover her shame.
With time, she was able to bounce back from the guilt.
I spoke a lot of sense to her about men and relationships. She promised to turn a new leaf and rededicate her life to God.
A month after she returned back to school, she called.
“Mummy I was announced as the most dedicated worker of the month in church today”. She said excitedly.
My joy knew no bound. Happiness wanted to finish me.
“Thank God we snatched this one from the devil. The devil couldn’t win this one all to himself”. I said to myself.
To be continued
Judith Onyoyibo
