Who betrayed me?

Estee met Bill in a religious programme. They were both in the same pre-arranged bus that transported people out of the event arena to various destinations. Estee and Bill sat close to each other during the programme and they were both surprised to see each other again in the same bus. That also meant that they were headed in the same direction. When they got  to where the last passengers all alighted from the bus, it was a huge relief for Bill to be offered a ride home by Estee who had parked her car at this last stop which was the same place they boarded buses from. They had not seen each other earlier on because they got on different buses to the programme arena.

Estee and Bill became good friends. They both worked in different new generation banks. Their friendship grew and soon the wedding bells came ringing. Estee and Bill were an above average Nigerian family; they both worked very hard and could afford to live very comfortably. They had family members from both sides who lived with them at different points in their marriage. When the children started coming, they did not have to go through the nanny blues; Estee’s younger sister Doby was living with them. She was an undergraduate and very resourceful; she knew exactly what to do and did all joyfully. She also did not complain about the work she did at home affecting her school work.

She looked after sister’s new baby so well that by the time the second one came she was almost like a professional nanny. She was a truly humble girl, she cooked, cleaned and did every other house chore that there was to do. Even when a nanny was employed so she could concentrate on studying for her final examinations, Doby still helped to ensure that the home was run smoothly.

At some point, Doby took ill and this disturbed everyone because in all the five years of living with Estee, Doby had never been so sick, maybe a headache once in a while but never so sick as to be admitted in a hospital. Thankfully she recovered and was discharged. It was a friend who visited Estee that first noticed and told her that Doby was pregnant, Estee waived this gossip aside. She knew that her sister Doby was a decent girl and she had never seen or heard that she was intimate with any guy. Another friend made the same observation and told Estee, although she dismissed her friend’s suspicions, she knew that she needed to have her sister tested.

A simple pregnancy home test confirmed this. How could the hospital have missed this? Estee and her husband Bill begged Doby to disclose who was responsible for her pregnancy but no matter how much they pleaded with her, Doby refused to divulge the information, she held on to it like her life depended on it. Even when Bill promised to talk with the guy towards finding a solution to it without informing her parents, Doby still kept the information to herself. Estee had never seen her sister that stubborn. She took a decision to send her back home to their parents so they could deal with it the best way they could.

Shortly after sending Doby back to their parents, Estee and Bill got a call from Estee’s parents telling them that Doby had mentioned the guy responsible. It was someone known to Estee and Bill and so they needed to be part of the decision that should be taken as soon as possible since Doby was already showing.

At the meeting, Doby was again asked who was responsible for her pregnancy and without thinking twice she said, “Uncle William”  “William, William, William”, Estee whispered, trying to think of any of their friends who bore the name William. She was still deep in thoughts when Bill knelt down in front of her and started asking for forgiveness. She was still confused, and that was when it dawned on her that Bill was short for William, all the relatives called her husband “Uncle William”, either she had forgotten that his name was William or her brain refused to accept what she had just heard. There were no signs at all that Bill was involved with Doby in any way, they hid this illegitimate affair very carefully.

While she was yet to recover from the first shock, her parents gave her another shocker; they had reached a decision that Bill would marry Doby without delay.  Since one sister was not enough for Bill that he had to taste another sister, he had to marry the two sisters. Estee even had a bigger problem on her hands, and all of a sudden, her sister getting pregnant for her husband seemed like a walk in the park. How could her husband marry her younger sister?

Estee pleaded and pleaded with her parents to forgive her husband and not make him marry her sister but all her pleas fell on deaf ears. Her sister also looked like she had accepted whatever decisions her parents made on her behalf. Estee promised that she would adopt her sister’s baby as her own but her parents would accept no other solution.

All the traditional rites were performed eventually and Bill had to rent a home for Doby where she would live with their baby. He also provides all her needs. The question Estee keeps asking herself is this, “Who betrayed me?” “My parents, my sister, or my husband Bill?”

The story “Who would have thought” encouraged someone to share this story with me.

 Note: Fictitious names have been used to protect the privacy of the parties in the story