ARTICLE: “ISOKENE” (STOP MY WIFE FROM SMILING) EPISODE 7

After Isokene left my home, I was not the same again, heavy guilt poured on me, I sat
down to evaluate my life and marriage, If my husband backslided and was no more as
spiritual as he was, “Can I be like ISOKENE? Can I drop all my ministerial engagements
and responsibilities to make sure he gets back on his feet? “I asked myself….
Isokene was treating her husband like a lost child whose mother was willing to do anything
for in order to have him back. She was playing the fool, I was not sure I could do that
even though I was a marriage Counsellor. Just as I was ruminating over all these, my
husband walked in and I ran towards him in guilt like a prodigal wife.
“Honey, Welcome….” I took his bag from him, an action I had not done in a very long time,
probably years back. I could see the Look of shock on his face
My husband was a good man who never stressed me, he didn’t mind cooking for himself
when I am far away on “ministerial Journey” …At that point I knew I had not been fair to
him…
After he settled down on the bed, he kept looking at me strangely suspecting something
was up with me…
“Betty, what’s wrong? What about the children? Are they fine?” He asked looking very
disturbed. Due to my busy schedule, we had agreed to have the girls in the boarding
school.
“They are fine, I just need to ask you some questions”
Surprisingly my husband moved away from me and placed his hand on his head like
someone who had been caught doing something… I wasn’t sure why but I asked my
question that was born out of guilt…
“Henry, I want you to be honest, have I been a good wife to you, I hope I have not made
anything more important than you, I hope you are not hurting?”
I did not know what came over me as I kept blabbing, my husband was giving me a look
I wasn’t comfortable with, he moved farther away from me…
“Who told you?” He asked
“Nobody, I just figured out I had been too involved with my life matters and I was not
fulfilling my wifely duties”
“Kemi told you, I knew she was going to…Betty, I am sorry, I let this happen. I didn’t want
to disturb you or be an opposition to What God was doing with you. Honestly we just
started as casual friends, but since she is a widow, she started misinterpreting my
compassion towards her, and one thing led to another…. Betty, I don’t know how I fell in
love with her, but the Truth is I love you more than I love her…, I knew kemi was going to
tell you after she saw Margaret and I at the hospital.”
“Margaret! Who was Margaret? No one close to us bore that name!” I did a mental scan
as fast as possible…
It looked like my life was crumbling…I was saying one thing and My husband Henry was
saying another thing, confessing about a woman I didn’t even know existed….I almost
passed out, but I needed to be sure I was hearing him correctly….
“So what are you really saying?” I asked
“I don’t want a divorce, I still love you, but I don’t know how it happened, I feel something
for her also and we have gone too far for me to hurt her…” he said on his knees
“Could someone wake up from this terrible nightmare, if I was hearing my husband
correctly, he had a mistress who is a widow. He was in love with her and couldn’t leave
her….” I thought to myself
Whose case was worse, Isokene’s husband who had turned her into a veiled woman to
hide her smiles, or my very wonderful husband who had suddenly taken away my smile….
which I didn’t know if I was ever going to get it back….Then he said it again…
“I can’t lose you Betty, You are my first love but I love her too, she has become a lover
and most importantly a friend I can’t lose or hurt, She has helped me through a lot, We
have been together for close to a year, there are things you could not help me with, which
I totally understand is because of your busy ministerial schedule, but Margaret has been
there. For instance, she is the one helping me with my poultry business, She Is a good
person I can’t hurt”
I died and woke up, a million times over….How? My husband was in an affair for close to
a year and I never suspected….It was official, this was the end of my smile….Now, whose
case was worse? Mine or Isokene?
To be continued