A man and his many lives

“To have and to hold. In sickness and in health. For richer and for poorer. Till death do us part.”

These were the words that kept ringing in Eniola’s head as she sat there, watching her husband lying almost lifeless on the hospital bed. How could he do this to her and their unborn child?

Eniola was living the dream, or so she thought. She had a dotting husband who adored her, who gave her everything she could ever ask for, and more of the things she doesn’t even remember asking for. Oftentimes, he’d say I just thought you’d like it whenever he hands her a gift and catches the question in her eyes. These gifts were extremely feminine, one you could tell really needed a woman’s insights to put together – but every time she got one, he had the perfect response for her questioning eyes and oh, he was a man of sweet tongue. One of the many reasons she fell in love with him, to begin with.

When they met in the summer of 1992, her parents had hesitated to give their blessings because very little was known of his background or family lineage. He was a young man who just got back from the UK after many years and was so much in a hurry to return and Eniola was eager to go with him, for she was love-struck. Being the only child of her parents, they gave their blessings as they could tell that would really make her happy… and off she went, in hand, with her husband – or so she thought.

On arriving at their home in the UK, she found an old picture frame lying about in one of the vacant rooms, she asked her husband about it because something felt off. ‘Twas a family portrait albeit, the head of the man in the picture was cut off – leaving just the faces of the wife and two beautiful kids – twins, yes, they were. In his usual manner, Jide said that was a picture frame of his late elder brother and his family, he kept it so he could recreate it for them as a gift for when the kids come of age and Eniola bought the story. How thoughtful her prince charming was.

As time went by, Eniola realized she was having difficulty conceiving – in fact, she had never missed her time of the month for once, not since the night of their wedding and strangely, Jide was not the least bit worried. Albeit, after much pressure from her, he agreed to go to the doctor with her, his family doctor – the doctor who certified them both biologically fit and compatible to have kids, encouraged them to give it some more time and worry less. Following the doctor’s reassurance, Eniola decided to relax for a bit and put her energy towards pleasing her husband, for he has not for once been found wanting in his duties towards her.

One faithful day, she got a strange mail in the mailbox, it was a one-liner which said “YOUR TIME IS UP" This must’ve been an error she said to herself and went on about her daily routine. Two days later, the same mail dropped with the same content and nothing more. Now, this is creepy she said to herself and called Jide’s attention to it – for a moment, you’d think he had seen a ghost. His countenance changed immediately from that of homely to frightened and he immediately froze.

Eniola couldn’t understand what was going on, for a few minutes, she tried jerking him back to reality but to no avail – she didn’t know how it happened because everything happened so fast. A woman in her mid-fifties, white or maybe Caucasian stormed into the living room, gun in hand and aimed directly at Jide’s head and said “I warned you, didn’t I? I told you I was going to get you, no matter how long it takes. You took my money, leave me with the babies and run off to another country to marry a younger woman?” and with that said, she pulled the trigger – once, twice, thrice till Eniola lost count.

She then turned to Eniola, gun in hand and said “I could just kill you too you know? But I won’t. You’re as much a victim to Jide as I am – I mean, it’s not just you and I even. I hope that unlike me and the others that he has robbed off, you can pick up the pieces of your life together and start afresh, good thing you two have no kids yet. As for me, I’ll sort myself out with the law.” With that said, she dropped a thick envelope on the table and told Eniola, “In there is all you need to know about Jide, I mean, isn't that the name he goes by now”? Then she stormed off and Eniola screamed at the top of her lungs before passing out.

Eniola woke up in the hospital two days later, requested for her husband and they said he was in the ICU with very little hope of survival as he had come down with many gunshot wounds affecting vital organs. She requested for the envelope to be brought to her, for she had to see the content to actually know who she was living with as her husband – she had to know before even looking at him again.

Going through the envelope’s contents left her shivering - she had been living with a stranger and a very dangerous man all these years, how did she not know, not even a clue? This man, Adani Efosa as the name on the arrest warrant shows is wanted for the murder of his first wife and absconding with her life insurance, in Canada. He is wanted for fraud and domestic abuse of his live-in girlfriend in Australia with the alias Akintola Seun and then there’s Anita, apparently, the second legally married American wife whom he had abandoned with a set of twins and made away with all her inheritance – she was the one who shot him and left him for the dead.

Eniola couldn’t believe what was before her eyes – how could this man be so cruel to these other women, yet so good to her? Was she another of his victims given that she’s the heiress to her oil-rich parents? Did he also search her out – was it all part of the plan? A spiral of thoughts was running through her head as she sobbed uncontrollably. ‘Twas at that moment she remembered the picture frame she found in the empty storeroom – yes, the same woman was in that portrait. his wife?

Hours later, in the company of her parents who had just arrived in the UK following her earlier call, she went to the ICU to take one last look at the man she thought she had known for almost three years, the man she fell in love with at first sight – oh, Eniola, you have been played.

She looked up to her father with teary eyes and said, “Pa, I have been played. What if he succeeded in doing me as he’s done these other women, was he just bidding his time with me? All the niceness, the gifts, we even pray and study the bible together Pa, he was so perfect.” And to think that I just discovered that I am pregnant Pa, what do I do?

Her father looked at her with sorry eyes, holding her hand and that of the mother who reassuringly patted her shoulder and said “We’ll sort it out my dear, let’s get you back home to Nigeria first. Everything will be alright.”