THE FOREVER KIND OF LOVE – a novel (17)
by : Pastor Taiwo Iredele Odubiyi
Cont’d
“Yes. And they courted for two years before they got married, so they’ve known each other for thirty five years.” Dayo told Mercy.
“And they are still together?” She asked. “Wow! He … your Dad deserves a medal.”
He chuckled.
“Seriously … he does. I know what I’m talking about.” She affirmed. “How many men are faithful and committed to their wives?”
He smiled and nodded.
“Even the ones who go to church, how many of them are faithful to their wives?” Mercy added as her mind went to her father who was not only a Christian but also the head of a department in the church they were attending, like her mother. Mercy and her siblings grew up in the church and had given their lives to Christ. Everything had seemed to be going on well but suddenly, their father was gone with another woman.
“There are still some faithful ones.” Dayo told her.
She agreed. “Yes but how many can you find? Some husbands would wink at a pole if they saw a skirt on it.”
Dayo laughed.
“It’s true! It’s pathetic!”
“Yes, I know.”
“Dayo, you won’t believe the things that go on in some of these corporate organisations.”
He nodded. “I know.”
“This lady is going out with that married man, that married man is having an affair with that lady, that guy is dating that married woman! For example, from what I heard, very few married men at the Secretariat don’t have girlfriends. Some of them have up to three girlfriends, and some ladies have three or four men – in the same place!”
He smiled.
Mercy spoke again. “When I hear such things, I’m like … what is going on? It’s scary!”
“I know.” He repeated. “Not all men are like that though just as there are women who would never do such abominable things. I’m glad you said that some men at the Secretariat don’t have girlfriends in spite of what is going on around them.”
Dayo had had three ladies throw themselves at him in the course of his job but he’d successfully resisted them. One of them was a rich married woman who owned a school. She’d offered to give him whatever he wanted if he would befriend her but how could he do such evil? He’d turned her offer down.
He spoke again. “What people do is a matter of who they are and what they have chosen to do. That’s the truth.”
“Yes.” She agreed.
“Good and godly men can still be found.” He added.
“Yes I know. Pastor Femi is a good man. My Pastor is also a very good man.” She said. “But they are few … sometimes I wonder how many men still say ‘Speak to me, Lord.”
“Some men still do. A number of factors are responsible for the insincerity and unfaithfulness of those men. The major one of them is poor relationship with God. God is faithful and able to keep anyone who will hold on to Him from falling. Being good and doing the right thing is a choice.”
“Yes, you are right.” She said and looked to the front.
Dayo told her, “I have an aunt living in your area.”
When he told her where the woman lived, Mercy said, “It’s not far from where I live.” She patted back a yawn.
“Do you live with your parents or alone?” He wanted to know.
“I live with my uncle and his family.”
He glanced at her and noticed that her smile had gone. He asked, “Where are you from?”
“Oyo state.” She said.
“Are your parents here in Lagos or your hometown?”
“My mum is late.”
“Oh, I’m sorry about that.”
When she didn’t say anything about her father, he asked, “What about your dad?”
He cast a sideways glance in her direction and saw that she had an odd expression on her face which he couldn’t quite identify.
She shrugged.
What does that mean? He wondered.
“My siblings and I were raised by my mum’s brother.” She simply said.
“How many siblings do you have?”
“Three.” She told him.
He exclaimed. “The four of you were raised by your uncle? You stayed together, you were not separated?”
She shook her head. “No.”
He exclaimed again. “He must be a very good man … and rich.”
She smiled but he noticed that it was not the usual smile, she looked slightly disturbed.
She spoke, “A good man, yes. Rich … er I wouldn’t say so. There were times he couldn’t pay our tuition fees and my mother’s other siblings had to contribute money to pay them. He was not able to cope especially when my sister and I, and two of his own children were in University. That was a very tough time for all of us. That was when I started the buying and selling business to make ends meet.”
He exclaimed again.
She added, “I guess one can say that he’s rich in love though.”
“Yes, you’re right. Not many people can do what he did.” He said.
Mercy nodded in agreement. Some months after she and her siblings started living with their uncle, she felt he didn’t love them and was very harsh with them but she had changed her opinion since. If the man had not taken them in and been strict, who knows what could have happened to them?
“You’re right.” Mercy added.
Dayo’s heart went out to her.
When they got to her street, she pointed at a house down the road. “That is it.”
“The grey one on the left side?”
“Yes. You can stop in front of it.” She told him.
As he brought the car to a smooth stop there, he peered through his side window at the one storey building. It was fenced round and had a black painted gate.
A woman came out of the house through the pedestrian gate.
Mercy got down and told him, “Goodnight, and thanks.”
She walked to the pedestrian gate, pushed it open and entered.
(To be continued )
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