CHAPTER 47

Na'ima called her mum to asked her if she was responsible for Najiba's predicament. Immediately her mother picked up the phone, she heard her mother's very happy and hearty laugh. "My daughter you have finally received sense to fight for what belongs to you. All these years that I have been advising you to do the right thing and you were taking me for granted, I guess after you have been dealt with and almost thrown out of your husband's house you now know that you don't go into a polygamous home empty-handed and peacefully. I hope you have dealt with whoever carried out the job for you because I wouldn't want someone to pop up tomorrow and expose you. If you have not, just send me the person's contact details and I will clean up the mess from here." 

Na'ima sighed after listening to her mum ranting all about taking actions on people and hurting them because you are married to the same husband. "I thought you were the one who did the job that's the reason why I called you. Since it is not you and it is not me, so who would have done that? Or is it that her crazy friend who is on a killing spree? I guess whoever attacked her wanted to do us a favour by not letting us get our hands soiled." 

Are you trying to tell me that you were not the one who sent someone to attack her? I thought you were the one and I was here saying that you didn't do a good job because she's still alive and might recognise whoever attacked her and trace it back to you at the end of the day. That is what happens when you offend too many people because you won't even know who is after your life at the end. So you see my daughter that is karma. The fact that someone has attacked her does not mean that you and I should relax because she will get better and bounce back. I also assure you that her mother is not resting at this minute because she thinks that we are responsible for what happened to her daughter.

Na'ima tapped her head with her hand and rolled her eyes "mom how do you know that her mum thinks that we are responsible for her daughter's attack? Are you there with her to hear her accuse us? The way you cook up certain stories sometimes always make me think that if you have gone into journalism or become a blogger, people would have been calling you out every week because of the kind of stories that you will cook up and write" 

Na'ima was about to end the phone conversation when her mother suddenly said "my daughter you are still very young and naive so there are many things that you do not know. I don't need to be there to know that she is already accusing us of her daughter's predicament. When you have an enemy who you know that is after your life and something bad happens to you, who do you suspect first? Isn't it the known enemy? Anyway I don't care if she suspects us or not. All I know is that I am very happy and I wished that her daughter had died so that you and I can have some peace. I wonder why she refused to die in the attack? Do you even know that I am considering paying her a visit in that hospital and making our job easier? If she slips into coma who will ever know what happened to her?" 

"Mum stay off this case because if you put your hand into it and anything goes wrong, I won't get lawyers to defend you and I won't visit you in jail either. I am still angry at her for what she did to me and I know that I will definitely pay her back but this is not the time to complicate issues by going to put our hands in what we are not supposed to. Mum you are the adult here and you have more experience so I expect you to know that everybody is on surveillance right now and any wrong move will land us where we never expected. I am just happy for her predicament and I am also happy that since this happened, Zahid has not been to the hospital to check up on her rather he was seen in town with his new girlfriend who you and I need to take care of very soon before she gets out of hand." 

Naima's mother took a deep breath and said "you are right my daughter. Sometimes you just know the right things to say but sometimes, you talk worse than a fool but these days you have been speaking the right words and I think that little ordeal that Najiba put you through has really made you wise. So how are the pregnancy plans going? You must be the one to have Zahid's first child. Since he has made it his habits to keep frolicking with every lady he sees out there, you should also make it your business to have his first child as that will give you more status in the family and even if he divorces you tomorrow, you will still have a way of extorting him." 

Na'ima stamped her feet where she was standing as the issue of being pregnant for her husband has been troubling her for a while because she really wants to have a child for him also. "Mum you keep telling me about getting pregnant for my husband but how do I get pregnant for a person who I rarely see? You and I know that he cherishes Najiba more than me but look at her in the hospital with an injury that almost killed her life but he still did not show up and I know that even if I pretend to be sick, he won't come. Zahid has turned himself into a goat that has forgotten the road that leads to his house. I've been thinking of different methods which I can use to bring him home and keep him with me for a few days but none is appealing to me so maybe you can give me suggestions. I have been on fertility treatment for a while because I know that it's very difficult to get him and when I do, I want to get pregnant immediately." 

Zahid's wives think that they are the ones with the problem as they keep going from one gynecologist to another. His wives have spent a lot trying to get fertility treatments and taking different kinds of tests and even though sometimes they suspect that their husband is the problem, none of them has had the courage to confront him for fear of being thrown out.

Zahid is a person whom women take a liking to the moment they see him. Sometimes most women do not need his money because the only thing they need is his attention. Many ladies do not even care that he is already married as they have always said that any day he smiles at them, they will be ready ready to lay themselves at his feet without caring about their dignity. His wives are no different from those ladies because they don't care about what Zahid does or does not do as they have promised themselves that they will never leave and even when he threatens to divorce them, they end of begging him. Zahid knows this fact and that's the reason why he offends his wives without remorse. He goes around town with different women and does not care if his wives find out or not because he knows that none of them are willing to leave him because he cheated on them.

 Zahid knows that his wves have been seeing the best gynecologists but he decided to ignore them and told himself that when they are tired of going from one place to another, they will take a chill pill. He knows that he cannot have children because he did a vasectomy a few months before he married his first wife. This fact is only known to him and the doctor who did the procedure. Most times when his father calls him and start talking to him about having children, he just lies to him and tell him that he will do something about it but the truth is he is not ready to have children and he is not ready to reverse the vasectomy anytime soon. Even though Zahid is a playboy, he is not stupid because he knows that the moment that his wives begin to have children, the animosity within them will increase as each wife will start fighting for her child's rights and they will no longer pay attention to him because the only attention that they will give him, is to quarrel about how he's not treating one child right.

Although Zahid intends to reverse the vasectomy but he is not doing that anytime soon as he has promised himself that he would enjoy his life to the fullest before reversing the procedure. His doctor once advised him to be open to his wives by telling them that they can't be pregnant now because he can't get them pregnant but Zahid decided to keep it to himself and watch, so that he can know the wife that is unfaithful. He wants to see the wife that will come to him that she is pregnant then he will ask her where she has ever heard that sterile can get a woman pregnant.

When the families of Okafor and George got to the hospital, they were asked to wait at the reception because their daughter was being attended to in her ward and they cannot come in. Max could not sit as he kept pacing while Mrs Okafor held onto her daughter who has not regained her senses yet. Her only prayer is that her daughter will come back to being herself after she sees her daughter alive. She never knew the Shulamite loved Rachel that much because over the years, she has always rejected the girl and even when she was reminded that she has a daughter, she gets angry but since she quit modelling and came back home, it's like the old Shulamite was left behind somewhere and a new Shulamite came home. There has been a great change in her and it's really heartbreaking for her mother as she was telling herself that when Shulamite was wayward and carefree, nothing like this happened to her but the moment she resumed her motherly duties, everything began to go wrong.

 A nurse came and told them that two people should be allowed to go in because Rachel does not need a crowd right now and the families resolved that Max should take Shulamite in and maybe when she sees her daughter, she will get better. When they got into Rachel's ward, she had a bandage around her head and her face still looked swollen. Immediately Max set his eyes on his daughter tears streamed down his face as he held shulamite close to her. "Mummy, why are you looking at me like that?" Shulamite hugged her daughter and began to cry "I am sorry I left you unprotected from certain kinds of people. You don't know how much I blame myself for what has happened to you. Are you really alive because I thought that I would never set my eyes on you again." Shulamite began to cry and Max was sheding tears of Joy and sadness because he feels bad for his daughter's condition and feels happy that Shulamite is back to her normal self. It was like the heavens took pity on him and decided to bless him by making the love of his life to regain her senses and bringing their daughter back to life.

Shulamite did not even know how she got to the hospital because the last thing she remembered was Rachel being declared dead by the doctors. When they finally stepped out of Rachel's ward, she looked at Max and asked him why she can't seem to remember anything no matter how much she has tried. Max only smiled and told her that that is a story for another day because she needs to be happy that her daughter is back to her.

The family could finally breathe again but Shulamite noticed that Mrs George did not look at her with that disapproving look that she always have on face every time that they look at each other. She couldn't understand what was going on and she needed someone to explain to her but just as Max said before, she just wants to be happy at the moment then later she can ask questions. She wanted to walk back to Rachel's wardd again and really confirm that that is her daughter sleeping on the bed as she couldn't understand how this miracle came about.

She smiled to herself and said Rachel has always cared about everyone and she has never made them to regret having her. Shulamite promised herself right there that she will make sure that Rachel never regret having her as a mother as she will do everything to make sure that her daughter is happy and contented. She asked Max if he has heard anything about Ima because Shulamite has taken it upon herself that she will take Ima's life for what she did to her daughter but Max told her to stay away as the police are handling the case because she is already in police custody.

Despite what Max told Shulamite, she still made up her mind that she must pay Ima a visit and make her more crazy than she is already.

Shulamite walked into the police station and asked the police what they are doing about the case and they told her that they will file the case to court and by the next day, the case should be in court already. After discussing for a while, she decided to see Ima where she was locked up alongside her mother. When Shulamite got to the holding cell where Ima was, the first thing she did was laugh "I've always thought that you were a princess but I never knew that you could end up in a place like this. Or are you now the princess of prisons? You intended to hurt me and my daughter but unfortunately, you landed yourself in a very bad place and here I am standing before you and laughing in your face.  

Ima said nothing and was only watching Shulamite and listening to every word that she was saying. When Shulamite was done taunting her, she raised her head and looked at Shulamite and Shulamite might could almost swear that she saw a demon looking at her. Then she said "you think that you have escaped? Prison bars cannot keep me in forever so bear that in mind."