"Is the partnership of 13 years over just like that?" Anna asked her Mom, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"It is what it is." Her mother responded consoling her.
"How could he have forgotten? Do people forget that easily?" Anna wondered inwardly.
She and her partner had parted ways after 13 years when she was eight months pregnant with their second son.
"Don't make yourself miserable, it won't help anyone least of all you." Her mother said picking up the call from her ringing phone.
"It's your sister," she said handing Anna the phone. "She wants to talk to you."
"I heard you are still cryin g", Jane, Anna's sister boomed over the phone. "How stupid can you get? Stop feeling like you lost something, he did and you should be grateful. You should at least consider your children, the one out here and the one in your tummy. Try to cheer up, please. I'll call you back soon." She concluded and dropped the call.
Anna didn't cheer up, she couldn't. She kept waiting every night and day for her husband to call to apologize and say something, but he never did. The most painful part? His mother was solidly behind him saying the couple needed space away from each other. It was almost as if she had been waiting for the quarrel to happen.
"If nobody understands, I'm sure you do," Anna told her sister, days after while talking over the phone.
"Of course, I do, but what is the alternative? He's no longer interested, he would have come begging if he was. You need to move on."
"I'm just pained, how could his mother say such words? How could she say I frustrated him? I took her as my mother, and she hated me. What could I have done wrong? Why does she hate me?" She just couldn't help saying the things on my mind.
Everyone tells you to move on and focus on your kids, but they don't understand how hard it is. It's so hard especially when you have spent 13 years of your life dedicated to the same man. How was she going to start? Where would she even start?
"She's overdue already. Two due dates have passed, and the baby should have been born by now." The doctor announced to Anna's mother after he finished his examinations on her. "Have you been experiencing any signs at all? No matter how little?" He asked turning to ask Anna.
"No, sir, I haven't."
"That's quite worrisome."
"Why's that?" Her mother asked already looking troubled.
"The amniotic fluid around the baby is low, and can't last for long. One more week tops. Anything later, and we might lose the baby. It's not uncommon for mothers to not feel any labor symptoms though. We just have to do what's necessary as soon as possible."
How was she to explain to the doctor that she indeed saw symptoms? Nothing major but a few ones like abdominal cramps, short contractions that felt like she was going to die, watery fluid, and some more. She knew she was going to be asked why she didn't say anything. She didn't because she knew it was not the real labor signs, and she was determined to have her baby without a cesarean section. If it was indeed labor pains, it wouldn't have gone away.
She had her first son through a cesarean section, and she didn't want it to happen again. Her mother-in-law was going to pay the hospital bills for her delivery, and she didn't want to add extra costs so she kept mute and managed the pain.
Should she be the one paying? No. Anna and her husband made a bad investment that cleaned them out, and they were flatbroken. Going to her mother-in-law was the last resort.
"A woman takes care of her home, she cleans, cooks, washes clothes and everything for her family, especially her husband." That was what Anna's mother-in-law said when she insisted that she wasn't going to wash her husband's clothes in my condition. Who asks a pregnant woman to wash clothes manually because the electricity is off? It's absurd, right? Exactly how it sounded to her too. Mind you, there's a washing machine in the house, he just couldn't be bothered to use it. She was the wife who had to do all the household chores while her husband gallivanted around town leaving her to her vices.
"What's the way forward, Doctor? I don't care what means the baby is born. I just want the mother and the baby alive." That was Anna's mother talking, and she couldn't help but smile even in her current mood. She always was her daughter's biggest supporter and cheerleader.
Anna had the operation and delivered another baby boy. God! He was a carbon copy of his father, and she loved him so much. After the naming ceremony with many unresolved issues between her and her husband, they parted ways. She took her kids with her and never looked back.
She could admit to herself that it's hard. Sometimes she gets home and starts calling out to him, her husband for a gist and then remembers that they were no longer together. Many nights, she wakes up and reaches for him because she has gotten used to him being there. She would then sit in sadness because she felt alone and sad. How quickly people forgot. She was the one who stuck by him in the days of little, none, and plenty, and the days of plenty were very few.
She sees other women flaunting their husbands and almost always can't help it, the tears come rolling. Anna felt empty and useless. She questioned herself so many times on where she went wrong and she was miserable.
Anna always had thoughts like that occupying her brain, and they usually topped other important things in her head.
She had these same thoughts in her head when she was dressing for her three-month-old baby one day. She had just finished rubbing lotion on his body, and to her surprise, he smiled at her for the very first time. Right there and then, she knew everything was going to be okay. She smiled back and it's been nothing but joy since then.
What's more? Her older son has been topping the class back to back and she can't help how proud she always feels.
She always takes delight in telling everyone who cared to listen that, he always got lots of awards at the end of the session party at his school.
You could just see pure delight written all over her face at his accomplishments. God gave Anna double for her trouble, two beautiful, healthy, and smart kids. A little secret, she had even started seeing someone and it looked good. She was a hopeless romantic and would never give up on love.
Her older son is 7 years old, and his sibling just clocked one.
Her mantra these days is that her kids are her delight. Matter of fact, your happiness is what you make of it. Life can deal you tough cards, how you play to win is left to you.
What else does she have to worry about? She and her kids are fine, and she's been able to steer her life on the right track. She's raising gentlemen and the society will thank her for it someday.
