I Thanked Her For Telling The Truth And Left (2)

Before going ahead, first, you must read the first part of this narrative. So, click on the link and do it.

One day, her mother phoned me up saying that she was willing to meet me. I didn’t want to go, but, considering her age, I felt that I had to anyway. So I took the bus one morning and went to see her. To my surprise, there were four people waiting for me when I reached the meeting place: her mother, her father, my ex-girlfriend, and a man whom I had never seen before. He introduced himself as the uncle and the village chief.

The uncle was the one to initiate the dialogue, and he was doing that by asking me to forgive the past and forget everything for the sake of the child that she was going to give birth to. He went on to say, “The tangle of her thoughts should be cleared up for her and she will then be able to carry the baby to full term and have a safe delivery.”

He was actually revealing his very ignorance through His words. He was the one who had come to tell a story without knowing the full details and He was the one who was going to be the advocate. I said, “Which part of the whole situation would you like me to pardon? What do you expect to get out of my pardon? Should I take her for a bride?”

Her mother spoke up, “You are aware of my stand. I do not want to get into the details that may put everyone to sleep. Marriage is very important. This child ought to be born in a house with parents who are together, not in a broken one.” My answer was, “When the child is born, and if it is my child, he/she will have a father who is responsible and who will take care of him/her. If it is not my child, I can’t do anything about it.”

The uncle retorted, “What do you mean if it is not yours? Who else could it be?”

I was just about to tell everything when her mother cut into the conversation, insisting on keeping it short. The uncle then raised his voice, “Why do you want me here to sort out this matter and then not allow me to do it my way? If you could settle it, then why call me?”

The room was suddenly quiet. I came to the conclusion that he was a man of great respec and power. I slowly communicated the entire story, taking care to provide every little bit of information. He was surprised at first. Next, he turned to my former girlfriend and said, “Is what he is saying really true?” She just stayed quiet. He continued, “Is the guy telling the truth?”

She answered in a voice that was loud and irritating, “Not everything he said is true. Some of it is false.” The uncle then asked, “Is it true that you wanted to give the baby to other men?” She replied, “Uncle, I was just kidding with those men.”

The uncle, who was enraged, rose and warned her mother, “If next time you call me for such a petty matter, then you will have to deal with me. If this man were your son, would you like him to marry a woman who has done this to him?”

He departed while we all remained silent. Her father whispered to her mother, “Look at the situation you have created. You promised you would not listen.” He also stood up and left but first apologized to me and wished me a safe journey home.

When I was about to leave, my ex-girlfriend asked me, “What, you will not give me any money? I am going to be very soon the mother of YOUR baby.”

As they could not convince me to accept her back, she started to operate on me as an enemy treating me as if I were her debtor. She would ring me up and say, “You are not sending money for the baby this month? You want me to have your baby and be starving?”
I thought about sending her something, but still she would complain saying it was too little or, probably, more for something else. She used to call claiming herself sick, showing me fake hospital receipts and demanding money in payment. I paid some of the invoices, but battled others, and the arguments started. Once she threatened me saying that she would take the baby and I would never see her again.

I called her bluff.

For more than a month there was no communication from her. The silence was suspicious. To be sure I consulted the calendar astrological signs day of the day she possibly gave birth. He didn't answer my calls nor did his mother. I was uneasy for days. I even had a dream in which she was mothering a baby that looked exactly like me.

One Saturday morning, I went by bus to her place. The baby was almost two weeks old, and I was completely unaware of it. When I asked her about it, she said, "Do you care?"

She didn't even allow me to see the baby. Her father was the one who influenced the issue and allowed me to hold the baby. When it eventually happened, it felt like the right thing, but my doubts were still with me. Her mother was saying constantly, "Look at her forehead, just like yours. Look at her toenails. Do you still think she is not yours?" 

I spent there three days trying to be with them and looking for a place that would do a DNA test. A friend eventually directed me to a place and they agreed to come and pick up the samples. But when the time came, my ex refused and said, "At this point, I will not force you to accept her as your child. If you do not believe me, you can just leave and you need not come back."

I respect men who are in power and use it when indispensable. Her father's shout was so strong that it roaming the whole house and everybody was scared. He said to me, “Come back when you are ready.”
The time I spent waiting for the DNA results felt like a lifetime. Several possible situations came to my mind:
"What would I do if she is mine?"
"She is lovely. I believe she is mine. What's the use of the DNA test if I have to waste money on that?"
"If she is not mine, I swear she will pay me back every single penny I have spent on her."

To be honest, the sight of the infant did somewhat calm me down. She was cute, and I thought I could feel a bond. It was as if I was a dad without anyone having to tell me. I rang my elder sibling, who was in the loop, and said, "I am of the opinion that the infant is mine. Make it to her forehead."

What I did was I shot him a picture, and his counter was, "How is it even possible for you to see your forehead in this tiny baby?"

The verdict came, and the chance of fatherhood was “Not Possible,” which meant I was not the dad. I should have been relieved, right?

No!

Partly my heart broke like the first time I was finding out about her disloyalty. I was holding the result as if it was a ticket to a trip. Silence in the room. Her father said, "You are a good man. Even if there are any sins, the angels will forgive you. We will take care of it."

READ ALSO: I Thanked Her For Telling The Truth And Left

I was on the bus going home, and I fell into a deep sleep. The feeling of weightlessness engulfed me as if all the weight an elephant could ever put on my chest had just been taken off. There were moments when I was neither laughing nor feeling sad; I was just being. The heavy burden of the story pressed down hard on me, and I was thinking of the baby and how she would come to feel when she grew up and learned the hard truth about her parents.

The scene still haunted me for weeks. I transferred some money to her for no specific reason. "Thanks, I am really sorry for all that happened," was her SMS.

—Baffour

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