I Do? III

The long awaited final part… please see part one here and part 2 here

…Titi was a nervous wreck. It was amazing to her how no one saw or felt the turmoil she was battling inside. Chudi was so supportive and loving and so eager to start his life with her that he just assumed that Titi’s aloof behavior  was her way of dealing with all the wedding stress.  Beep, beep, beep… Titi was jerked back to reality by the reminder that just went off on her phone, : shoot! I have my makeup trial today, she mumbled to herself as she fumbled for her car keys and rushed off to Ikeja for her appointment with her makeup artist.

She was half way on third mainland bridge when she just started shivering and crying inconsolably. The hawkers and people in other cars looked at her funny but she didn’t care, she just sat there bawling her eyes out, she was having the most severe cramps she had ever had in her life and deep down in her heart she knew that something was wrong with the baby. It took all of Titi’s concentration for her to drive and cry at the same time. With one hand on her stomach and another on the steering she drove and drove, until finally she got to the clinic. Parking her car in the middle of the hospital premises was the last thing she remembered before her world went blank.

Titi, Titi can you hear me? She tried to open her eyes but she couldn’t, the lights were too bright. Lights… she croaked and the nurse walked over and turned them off. Where am I? What time is it? She seemed disoriented until it all came rushing back to her. She sat up swiftly and touched her stomach. My baby, my baby, Dr what happened to my child? Dr. Obi held her hand and looked at her sombrely, I am so sorry Titi, you suffered a miscarriage and by the time you arrived here, there was nothing we could do to save the embryo. You became unconscious because of the vast amount of blood you lost so we had to perform an emergency D&C procedure to remove the rest of the…Titi didn’t hear the rest of the doctor’s explanation. The tears came back, deep wrenching sobs. The nurses tried to console her and the doctor walked out of the room to go see his other patients.

She cried and cried till there wasn’t any tears left, she had a terrible headache and she felt empty. As she toyed with her engagement ring, a part of her was immensely relieved that she lost the baby, that the consequence of her momentary lapse of judgement with Wale, had been erased forever but another part of her mourned the loss of her child and her future with Wale. It was time for her to leave but she couldn’t drive herself, she couldn’t call her mother and she definitely couldn’t call chudi so she called bimbo, her older sister. Hello…sister Bimbo, its me. I am at the hospital and I need you to come take me home. Bimbo burst into the room walking straight to Titi, what happened? Kilode? Titi knew she couldn’t keep it to herself anymore and so she told her sister the whole story. How she went to see Wale and one thing led to another and she found out she was pregnant, wale had no clue and neither did her fiancée Chudi.

Hmmmm… Bimbo took a very deep breath and looked at her sister with blatant dismay. How could you Titi? You are engaged to marry Chudi for heaven’s sake! And you very well know that Wale is also about to get married, why couldn’t you let sleeping dogs lie? What if you hadn’t had a miscarriage, what was your plan? Were you going to marry Chudi while carrying another man’s baby? Oh my God…she went on and on and eventually she stopped pacing and turned to Titi: you can never tell anyone about this. You will repair your makeup and I will drive you home. If mummy or daddy asks, you have menstrual cramps. Your wedding is next week and I am not about to let you ruin your life any further that you already have.

If being pregnant was bad, this was certainly worst. Every time she got a loving text or a call from Chudi her heart sank. Her wedding dress arrived and it was gorgeous. Chudi’s mum and her mum were currently out getting pedicures preparing for the big day. Only Bimbo knew how dead Titi felt inside. Against her better judgement, Titi got in her car and drove to Wale’s house, she had to tell him, he had to know, it was his child too. She sat in the drive way for hours till she finally got up and knocked. To her utter shock, it was Wale’s very pregnant fiancée that answered the door. Titi stood transfixed and she couldn’t get her mouth to form any words. Finally she mumbled; hello, is Wale home? No he’s not, who’s asking? Titi just turned around, ran to her car and drove to Chudi’s house.

He wasn’t home. He had gone for a drink with the guys at work so she sat in front of his house and waited. The soft evening breeze lulled her to sleep and she didn’t hear Chudi approach her. Hey babe, wake up. Why didn’t you use your key? She squinted at him, Chudi we need to talk. He sat beside her and took her hands and looked at her. I have been waiting for this talk for a very long time. For the past three months or more I know you haven’t been yourself and  I had hoped that one day you would tell me what’s wrong, I am listening, talk to me. So she told him, every single detail up to the miscarriage. He held her hands while she wept and tried to form coherent words to tell him everything that happened and finally she was done talking. She closed her eyes in sweet relief, feeling like a heavy load had been taken off her shoulders but the relief was closely chased by dread, fear of what Chudi was going to do.

She finally looked up at him and she saw that he had been crying too. He let go of her hands and stood up, and then he faced her and looked into her eyes; if you hadn’t miscarried would you have told me? Would have married me and led me to believe that the baby was mine? No, she said. I was going to tell you today, with or without the miscarriage. Who else have you told? Does wale know? No he doesn’t , the only person that knows is sister Bimbo and that’s because she came to get me from the hospital. Titi knew without a shadow of doubt that her future with Chudi was over, she was just waiting for him to say it and she started crying again. Hey, don’t cry. Look at me, listen..babe, I am glad you told me, and sincerely I forgive you because it could have been me. What if I was the one that cheated and got a girl pregnant, would you have left me? She shook her head no because for the first time she realized with clarity how much she truly loved Chudi. Babe, I am hurt and very angry by all that you’ve just said, but what can I say? I love you and I still want to marry you, you just have to promise me one thing, you can never see or speak to Wale again and we will never talk about this unfortunate incident ever again. Deal? Deal! She flew into his arms and wept with relief that all was well in her world, Chudi still loved her, the wedding was still on, life was good.

Chudi smiled as he hugged her, but she couldn’t see the wicked glimmer in his eyes, because what Titi could not know was that his girlfriend in the States just had a set of twins for him a couple of months ago and he had been looking for how to tell her. I guess they were even now.

The End…