Chapter 79
Five Months Later...
After three rounds of sex, Funmi and Col. Anthony slept off naked on the bed, completely exhausted from their sex romp. It was the whimpering of the baby that later roused Funmi up from sleep and when she reluctantly sat up to check on the baby in the crib, she froze when she saw a man sitting in a chair which had been pulled in front of the bed.
He had a gun laid across his laps and it was no other person but her husband. Trembling in obvious trepidation, she quickly tapped her partner awake without taking her eyes off her husband and her partner woke up with a start, ready to complain about his sleep being disrupted.
When Col. Anthony realized that Funmi's eyes were fixed in terror in front of her, he slowly followed her gaze and much to his shock, he saw Funmi's husband staring at them while his left hand continued patting his gun like a baby. Col. Anthony couldn't really interpret the look on the Sergeant's face but one thing was obvious- he was not pleased. Who would be pleased to find his wife in bed with another man anyway?
"So, it's true..." The Sergeant asked, finally speaking after he picked a bottle of alcohol from the floor beside him, gulped it down in a rush till some of it was spilling down his chin to his open chest. He dropped the bottle on the floor and wiped his mouth clean with his sleeve before fixing bloodshot eyes at Col. Anthony again. "It's true that you have been coming here to sleep with my wife on my matrimonial bed who's still suckling a baby." He said in a quiet but menacing tone. "So this is why you keep making sure that I never rest in my own house. You are always posting me from one place to another; giving me one senseless assignment or the other so that you can have enough uninterrupted time to fuck my wife, you shameless dog!"
Col. Anthony gently pulled a pillow to cover his limp dick. He knew that there was no way that he could lie his way out of this situation. Funmi was naked, so was he, and the several used condoms which were strewn on the floor was enough to convince the heartbroken husband that he had fucked his wife thrice. Col. Anthony had thought that the Sergeant had been posted to Kebbi but how the man had returned so fast after five days of being away, baffled him.
"Oko mi (my husband), it's not really what you think..." Funmi said, sliding down to the floor on her side of the bed and squatting there as she pleaded in tears. "I told him that I love my husband but he refused to let me be. He keeps forcing me."
Col. Anthony turned to look at Funmi in shock. He was about to speak when the Sergeant suddenly silenced him. "Not a word from you! When people began to tell me that you always come behind my back to sleep with my wife, at first, I didn't want to believe it because I trusted this slut so much, but now, I had to come back home unexpectedly to catch you two red-handed by myself and there's no denying that the rumors are indeed true!"
"Sergeant, please let's settle this man to man. No one needs to know what is going on. You know what will happen to me if word about this gets out. I will give you whatever you want, just please stay calm so that we can settle this amicably." Col. Anthony tried to placate him.
"Yes, of course, we will... In fact, I intend to make sure of that!" He started to lift the gun off his lap, holding it properly and aiming down the Colonel's belly. "That was why I was patient enough for you to wake up. I wouldn't want you to get confused about where you are if you suddenly wake up in hell."
Col. Anthony quickly held out his arms towards the Sergeant as he frantically pleaded for his life. "Sergeant, put that gun down! Don't do this! Think of what this will do to you if you shoot me! You'll be court-martialed and sent to prison! Think of your beautiful wife! Your son! She's too young to be all by herself and your son definitely needs a father-figure around!"
"I'm not even sure the child is mine anymore." Said the colonel. "But at least, I'll make sure that you aren't left behind to continue sleeping with her when I'm behind bars and neither will you go with that penis of yours to hell." He stated and before Col. Anthony could utter another word, the sergeant pulled the trigger, blasting the pillow, shattering through it with and hitting the Colonel right on his reproductive organ which instantly soaked what was left of the pillow with blood. While the Colonel screamed in shock and agony, the Sergeant moved his aim upward and pulled the trigger a second time, blasting part of his head open and splattering his brain matter on the wall behind him.
Funmi clasped her hands over her ears and screamed out in horror and this seemed to trigger the baby who suddenly began to wail aloud as Funmi continued screaming in shock, scared that she would be next, but her husband said to her instead, "This is on you, Funmi. His death and mine will be on you. I would have loved to end your life right now so that you can go rot in hell with him but I will let you live for our baby's sake." Then he placed the butt of the gun downward and slowly pushed the nuzzle of the gun into his mouth, trembling and squeezing his eyes shut. Neighbors who had been attracted by the gunshots, screaming and crying started to rush to the apartment when another gunshot was heard from the apartment which suddenly made some of them duck or scatter in fear.
★†★
After being hit, Mrs. Eweala remained coma for eight months. When she finally came to, she was devastated to find out that one of her legs had been amputated while the other was put in a cast and she was told that she wouldn't be able to walk for some months and would have to be confined to a wheelchair. Unfortunately for her, her husband had engaged a white young white girl while she was in a coma and had her divorce papers were already waiting for her.
~†~
Violet gave birth to twin boys a year later and lived with her husband in the barrack but would most times take the boys to spend the holidays with their grandparents. She became closer to Esther and soon got used to the woman's talkative nature.
~†~
Stephen was made the acting Commanding Officer of the barrack after Col. Anthony's death.
~†~
Susan got married to the lecturer, gave birth to a boy, and had to reunite with Anne and the others three years later. They all patched things up as quickly as they could, and there was peace and love once again among them all.
~†~
The D.P.O. who had raped Doris was set up, disgraced and fired after being caught raping a woman in his office who had been accused of prostitution and was arrested the previous night. The newspaper did not hesitate in publishing his crimes all over the country as more women came out to give their own accounts on how he had also sexually assaulted them.
~†~
Doris' abusive ex-pimp and boyfriend was poisoned to death by one of the girls he had forced into featuring in bestiality porn. She had laced his food with poison and had watched him die which after she carted away with almost all the cash and valuables he kept in his house.
~†~
Anne and Jerry got married the next year just as they had planned.
~†~
After doing her best to care for her mother, Grace and Eric finally got married and relocated abroad.
~†~
Mr. Michaels employed a nurse to take care of Mrs. Eweala who soon slipped into depression due to thinking about how she had ended and everything she had lost. She had refused to travel with her daughter and definitely still didn't like Eric.
★†★
Mrs. Michaels watched how Violet played in the nearby garden with her twin boys who were now three years old. She had so much admiration in her eyes as she watched the Twins giggle while their mother chased them around. Anytime she caught them, she would place a smacking kiss on their cheek and this would make the boys laugh out more.
“Aren’t they so wonderful?” Mrs. Michaels asked her husband without taking her eyes off the playing trio. Her husband was immersed in the newspapers that he was reading and would occasionally blindly reach out for the glass of juice on the table in front of him to take a sip.
“Who are you talking about?” Mr. Michaels lowered his newspaper to look at his wife over the pages.
“Our beautiful daughter-in-law and our grandsons.” Mrs. Michaels replied.
Mr. Michaels glanced at them and nodded with an approving grunt. “You can’t seem to take your eyes off them, can you?”
“They are just so perfect. I wish they would come here and spend more time with us during all their holidays.”
“Soon, you will be asking that they move in with us.” Mr. Michaels teased.
“Well, I wouldn’t mind.” Mrs. Michaels smiled. “But I know that Stephen wouldn’t want that.”
“And I am in support of Stephen. Look, I love them too but Stephen wants them around more.”
“Speaking of Stephen, where is he anyway?” Mrs. Michaels asked, finally tearing her gaze off the trio to fix them on her husband. “I haven’t seen nor heard his voice all day.”
Mr. Michaels suppressed a smile, lifting his newspaper over his face to prevent his wife from seeing the expression on his face. He knew that his wife was good at reading his expression and he didn’t want to give away something he had been hiding from her for the last three days. “Well, he went into town for something important.” He finally replied.
“He has been behaving quite sneaky these days, haven’t you noticed?”
“What do you mean by sneaky?”
“Well, I don’t know? I have seen him acting weird. His actions have been suspicious lately. I have caught him making calls on two occasions and immediately he sees me, he ends the call or just quickly walks away.
“And what is suspicious about that? It could be about work.” Mr. Michaels defended.
“Work?” She frowned. “No, I don’t think so. I know my son better and I can tell when he is hiding something.”
“Then what do you think it is then?”
“When a man behaves like that, it could only mean one thing- he is seeing someone else.”
Mr. Michael scoffed. “Are you in any way insinuating that our son is having an extra-marital affair and cheating on his wife?”
“Well, I don’t know what to think, but who could he possibly be hiding or sneaking around make calls with?”
“Have you asked him?” Mr. Michael asked.
“How am I supposed to ask him such?”
“Has his wife complained to you?”
“No…”
Mr. Michael smiled and completely lowered the newspaper. “Eucharia, you know you can be paranoid sometimes, right?”
“I am not being paranoid, chief, I know what I saw.” Mrs. Michael insisted.
“Well, here comes your son, maybe you should ask him now.” Mr. Michael said, gesturing with his head past her.
Mrs. Michael turned her head to see Stephen approaching them.
“Mum?” he called and just then Violet stopped playing with the kids and they all walked to join the others in the gazebo.
“You have been cheating on your wife, haven’t you?” Mrs. Michael suddenly blurted.
Stephen who was caught by surprise, stared at his mother in disbelief. “What!”
“Yes, I have seen you several times being so sneaky and making secret phone calls.”
Stephen smiled, “Why don’t you come over to the house for a minute; I have something to show you.”
Mrs. Michaels paused then glanced at her husband who simply shrugged. “Are you trying to be evasive right now?”
Violet exchanged smiles with her husband then went around the back of her mother-in-law’s chair and place her hands on her shoulders. “Why don’t you get up, mum and come with us? We have got something to show you.” She helped the confused older woman up to her feet. When Mrs. Michaels shot her husband an inquisitive look, her husband only smiled, closed the newspaper and rose to his feet. Taking her hand in his arm, he began to lead her towards the house while the others followed behind with Stephen carrying one of the twins in his arm, against his body.
“What’s going on?” Mrs. Michael leaned towards her husband and whispered, trying to make sure that the others didn’t hear her.
“Just relax, darling, relax…” Mr. Michael patted the back of her hand with his other hand.
“So, you are in on this?” she whispered again.
Mr. Michael only smiled and said nothing.
Soon, they got to the house and as soon as they stepped into the living room, they discovered that all the lights had been switched off. Confused about why the living room was dark and the floor was strewn with flowers.
“What is going on?” Mrs. Michael turned to Stephen.
Just then, she was startled by a loud noise of “SURPRISSSSEEE!!!”
Mrs. Michael was startled and she spun around to see her living room lights now switched on and the place crowded with familiar and happy faces. With her hand placed on her chest to steady her beating heart which had jumped out of fright, she stared at the people in surprise. She had not seen some of them in three years. Her twin daughters were present; she had thought they were in school and had no idea when they had returned to the house.
Grace and Eric had left the states and were in her house. She could see Jerry and Anne, Rufus and Doris and more familiar faces and they were either holding balloons, bouquets of flowers and one of her twin daughters was holding a big cake.
“Happy birthday, mum.” Stephen said to his mother and kissed her cheek. “I was not cheating. I was only preparing this special day for you. And dad was in on it all along.” Stephen winked at his dad. “Oh, and this was Violet’s idea.”
Tears suddenly pooled in Mrs. Michael’s eyes and her twin daughters approached to hug her. She was so happy that the tears spilled even though they tried to wipe her tears. Pulling away from her daughter’s arms, Mrs. Michaels turned towards Violet and pulled her into a hug. “Thank you very much for this. I really don’t know what to say. I am indeed speechless. I always thought that after how horribly I treated you, you will find it difficult to forgive me even though I tried to patch things between us. But this alone has shown me that you bear no grudge whatsoever towards me and I must say that you are the most kind-hearted person that I have ever encountered. Not only do you have a heart of gold and gave me two handsome grandsons, you also made my son the happiest man in the world.”
“Say no more, mum… You are the best mother ever. I know that you have always been looking out for your son like any mother would and I would have done the same if I were in your shoes. I am glad to be part of your family and one way or the other, you have touched the lives of everyone present here today whether actively or passively and we are here to celebrate you and let you know that you are like another to every one of us and we will forever love you no matter what. Happy birthday, mum.”
The others drew closer and that was when Mrs. Michael noticed Susan. She had a baby strapped in front of her in a baby carrier. “Susan?” Mrs. Michael uttered in surprise.
Susan who was still feeling awkward around the woman after what had transpired in the past, stuttered to speak but Mrs. Michaels simply pulled her into a soft hug in order not to crush the baby. “Don’t worry, you will always be part of this family. You are always welcome here anytime you want… Now, let me see my grandbaby.” She said excitedly and helped Susan pull out the baby from the carrier which she carried in her arms. “Oh, she is so gorgeous!”
In unison, they all began to sing the “Happy Birthday Song” to Mrs. Michaels who kept beaming and her husband placed a kiss on her forehead. When they were done singing, the cake was presented to her and she blew out the candles, which was followed by loud cheers, whistles and loud applause. This had been made a very special day for her and it was surely a day that she would never forget in a hurry. A house full of people she loved. A home that was now brightened up by an ex-stripper whom she had misjudged.
~The End!~
© Angela Okoduwa