Pastor’s Second Wife- Part Sixteen
Part Sixteen
A Story by Ayodele Adeoye
After the meeting, I went straight to Deji. “Who is the father of my son?” I asked him rudely.
“The DNA result has said it all,” he replied.
“What DNA result are you talking about? You better own up to the leadership of the church or else I will tell the whole world about your years of atrocities. I will tell them about Stella and everything you’ve been hiding.” Deji didn’t take me serious; he was so confident that he wasn’t the father of my son. Why then did he accept to pay my bride price? Why was he mute all this time? What is actually going on? I threatened him, “If you don’t tell the church the truth in three days, I will expose you. You know I have enough evidence to nail you.” With all these threats, he was indifferent.
I had been given seven days by the church to reveal the identity of the father of my son or face disciplinary actions. I was not allowed to return to Deji’s house anymore. Everyone deserted me as they all saw me as a fornicator, betrayer, liar and schemer. Where will I go from here with a two months old baby? Who will believe my story? Who will I confide in? That night, I rushed to the nearest ATM and made some withdrawals. I got the cheapest hotel around to pass the night and think of the next plan of action. While I was in the hotel room, I thought of an idea; go and do another DNA test. Yes!!! That is it! I am going for another DNA test. The challenge was now how to get Deji to consent to my new idea. Okay, another idea dropped; I will meet Elder Omojola and tell him everything that happened between me and Deji. I will also ask him to take us to another health center where we can run another DNA test.
Immediately it was dawn, I headed to Elder Omojola’s house. “Good morning sir, you must be surprised to see me I guess.”
“Yes sister Mercy, why are you here this early? I hope all is well?” he asked me.
“All is not well sir; I want to have a word with you in private sir.” He knew I was desperate and worried. We moved away to his backyard where he offered me a seat.
“Yes, Sister Mercy, can I hear you?” I took a deep breath.
“Sir, pastor Olumodeji is the father of my baby. I am ready to conduct another DNA at another medical centre, different from the former one.”
“Sister Mercy, are you sure of what you are saying?” he asked.
“Sir, I am not just sure, I have other revelations that will shock the church but I must first prove that Pastor Olumodeji is the father of my baby.”
Elder Omojola was curious and willing to follow the matter to a conclusive end. After my meeting with him, he stretched N1000 note to me. “Use this for your transport,” he said.
“Transport to where sir?” I asked him and held back my hand. “I have nowhere to go sir. I was ejected from Pastor’s house after yesterday’s meeting.”
“So where did you sleep with your baby last night?” he asked me.
“In a hotel sir,” I replied.
“Oh, I am sorry about that, I will ask Blessing to tidy the guest room for you now. You will stay there until we are done with this investigation.” When he told his wife that I would be staying in their guest room, the look on her face was not welcoming. I understand her thoughts, but I have to endure whatsoever they think about me until I am vindicated. Elder Omojola obviously had made up his mind to help, considering how swift he was at bringing up suggestions on how to get the whole truth. After Wednesday’s midweek service, he sought the permission of the Church Leadership to conduct another DNA test to confirm the first test result.
To the dismay of the Disciplinary Committee Members and the Resident Pastor who Deji was working with, Elder Omojola made a U-turn, saying something entirely different from what they had agreed on, especially since they thought they had already known that Deji wasn’t the biological father of my son. Elder Omojola told them that we would be having another DNA test tomorrow to ascertain the true paternity of my child. Bro Malachi and Sister Rebecca were obviously not comfortable with that idea.
“What are we going to need another DNA test for?” they both queried. “Does it mean that we can no longer trust the legitimacy of our own church’s official medical centre?” they asked, this time joined by some factions of the committee.
Elder Omojola, being a man of immense wisdom, refused to get embroiled with any feud with them, but rather, he convinced them to give him the benefit of doubt. It was as if God has decided to listen to my cries. It was as if God Himself was using Elder Omojola to vindicate me. He returned home and narrated to me all that ensued at the church and how he was able to convince them about the test. He told me that they had fixed the appointment with our own choice hospital on Saturday. That date looked like a decade to me. Saturday seemed so far, but I couldn’t complain but thank him lavishly. He was indeed a nice man who had already started taking me as his own daughter irrespective of the presumed abomination I committed. I wish I could turn the hand of the clock faster. This is surely the end of the road for Deji the dribbler. God would openly prove my innocence and put to shame that criminal that speaks in tongues…
“Everyone will soon know who he is.” I muttered. For the first time in several months, I really heaved a sigh of relief.
**************
Very early in the morning, around 6:30 am, I noticed an unknown number flash me twice. I couldn’t call back because it was a hidden identity. The phone rang again. This time, it rang for long so I picked.
“Helloo, who is this?” I asked with a jittery voice.
“Hello… It’s me… Can you hear me…?”
It was a female’s voice and it sounded so familiar.
“Who is this?” I asked again, but with a raised tone in a raucous manner.
“This is me, Stella,” she explained obviously sounding excited.
“Which of the Stella? I queried her.
“Helloo… Mercy, it’s me, Stella your friend na…!”
It was at this moment that I realised it was Stella my friend that called me…
“Jesus!!!!!” I screamed so loud not minding that my baby was actually sleeping. In a bid not to wake him up, I quickly ran to the toilet.
“Sister Stella, how are you…? Oh my God!! Where on earth have you been…?” I asked her a million questions almost in a split second.
“I’m fine and healthy,” she said with so much enthusiasm.
It was then that I remembered to ask how she managed to get my number as my former number which she had was destroyed when I went to kabba with Deji. I knew she didn’t have my new number… How come? I wondered.
“Wow, my sweet friend, how did you get my number?” I feigned excitement but deep down within me, I wished she never called.
“Have you forgotten I could get anything I wish to get?” she teased me.
It was still the old funny Stella who always knew how to make a joke out of everything. She hadn’t changed much I guessed. The Stella that called me wasn’t sounding as depressed as I thought she would. She was feeling so vivacious as though nothing happened.
”Anyway, I tried calling you severally to no avail as the number kept saying switched off, so I decided to contact your kid sister, Gloria, via her Facebook profile,” she narrated.
It was my kid sister, Gloria that gave her my new number… Now I see!!!
She told me she later delivered a set of twins after she absconded.
“Twins?” I shouted in utter disbelief.
“Yes!” she exclaimed.
The news hit me so hard with mixed feelings. I didn’t know whether to be happy or sad.
To add more salt to my already gruesome injury, she told me she would be coming to Lagos by weekend to meet with Pastor Deji, the estranged father of her twins.
Stella spent much time over the phone apologising to me for remaining incommunicado for such a long time. She asked if I had been seeing Pastor Deji and wanted to know what he said about her sudden disappearance.
As she was still talking to me, my son woke up and started crying. I didn’t want her to ask me further questions so I cut the call abruptly and switched the phone off. If you actually search for me in the land of the dead, you’d probably find me seated at the right hand of the devil scratching his back…
This unprecedented news hit me so hard… How do I face my good friend Stella? How do I explain to her that the father of her twins is the same father of my son? How would the church look at both of us after finding out that Stella was also pregnant for the same Pastor Deji? This is going to be a big blow to me entirely.
(Story copied from another source)
To be continued in part seventeen…
