MARRIAGE BOND

On this particular day, the house was unusually full and busy. We should have lodged outside our home but friends organized a little surprise party for us and when we got home, we had to postpone the trip. Relatives who couldn’t return to their respective residences stayed back to celebrate us. The crowded house didn’t stop John from planning to consummate our marriage this night. He was tired but not too tired to do what should give him absolute pleasure. John stepped out from the shower into the room where his new bride was seated on the bed in her lingerie. It was our wedding night and I had to look sexy for him. This lovemaking had to be special. I had to blow his mind with the recent styles I had learnt. It would be our second time and it had to be the best – one which should hold better memories than the previous. He perceived the cologne on me and planted kisses on my neck. Our lovemaking was great as I moaned in response to his movement, attracting inquisitive relatives who slept over to our door.

We started dating when I was in nursing school. Then John was a young man in his mid twenties. He showered me with love and gifts, with everything that made a relationship flourish. But one thing made us a little different, while I was a devoted Christian – one who should remain chaste until wedded by a church, John was one who attended church services at will, though he did everything right. So John felt our relationship was lacking, he felt we should know each other some more. I eventually yielded to this offer. Of course, I am his lady, and he is my man. The church wouldn’t know we were having sex.

After the awesome experience with John, I missed my period. I was still schooling and John was in his houseman year. He would love to make me his wife but we were not entirely ready and we needed to do things the right way. He suggested I terminate the foetus and as you'd imagine, I frowned at it. I went home and thought about how it was my fault – I opened my legs for him, received the pleasure, enjoyed it and didn’t take contraceptives. I am a medic but I was careless. I thought about how disappointed my brothers would feel if they ever learnt about it. Then I sent John a text message, and told him I would go ahead with the plan. We scheduled an appointment with a doctor and a D&C was carried out.

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Life continued, our relationship flourished but we never had sex again. I feared a repeat. Two years later we were done with school and started practicing. Later wedding preparations began and we married. Years passed by and there was no swelling on my belly. No missed period and no miscarriage to count. John became impatient and eager to become a father. He forgot how he had fathered a child with me five years back. He couldn’t bear it anymore; he needed to tell the world his manhood was active. He forgot how I felt or he stopped to care. One day, he came home with a pregnant lady. When I questioned him, I was sent out. I have been putting up with one of my brothers since then.

Months passed and I received a call from my pastor. I was asked to come to the church. And when I got to the church, I entered the pastor's office to behold a thin man seated in a armchair. On a closer look, I found that it was my husband. He came to ask for forgiveness. The pastor told me how the lady he had impregnated was positive with the HIV virus and how she and the newborn died. I was to be told later that I slumped into a chair beside him. Now I am battling with thoughts; the pastor has asked me if I want to continue with the marriage. John is my husband, we were joined in a church. Our bond said “for better or worse... till death do you part,” I should stick with him till our eyes close in death. Besides, marriage is more of commitment than the uttered words – it is more of doing than saying.