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Daughter in law || Mother in law



Timi sighed deeply as he disconnected the lengthy call with his Mum. ‘Darling, Mama said she is coming over by next weekend’, he told his wife. Adana’s countenance changed automatically. ‘That is good. When exactly? And how long will she be staying?’, she quickly added when she noticed my gaze.

‘She did not really specify o; you know Mama now. By next week, we will know more details. But you know she is coming over to help with the babies’, I replied. ‘My sister is already around for that, dear. Plus you know my mother has already arranged to come over by month end. Where would they all stay?’ she replied with a scowl fast marring her features as she exited our bedroom. I just quietly decided not to press the issue but I could not help but wonder why Mama and Adana just did not get along well. They seemed to manage themselves whenever I am around but even a donkey would sense the tension in the air. Truth be told, Adana never uttered anything bad about Mama but you could easily read her despair anytime Mama was around. She even tried to keep to herself and stay away from anywhere Mama would be. On the other hand, Mama was not a cooked piece of ponmo. She could be as tough as nails and I am not talking about fingernails. But to me, it seemed that she tried to like Adana but my wife was just not meeting her halfway.

We had been married for more than three years and had been dating for four years before thing the knot. Adana already had a child, David, when we met. During our courtship, I had pressured her twice to get a D&C. The guilt of it wanted to swallow us when she kept having miscarriages after we got married. After five miscarriages, Adana was finally able to carry this pregnancy to 32 weeks. Her EDD was 4 weeks away and we were trying to take all precautions to ensure she did not stress herself unduly. She had resigned from her job some months after we confirmed we were having twins.

‘Daddy! Daddy!’ David ran into the room. ‘Mommy said lunch is ready. We are eating fried rice and chicken!’ I laughed as David was trying a dance step that should resemble something from all those music videos he watches. ‘We ke? It is the first person that gets to the table that will eat chicken’ I retorted as I dashed out to dining room. Of course, David’s nine year old legs got him to the dining table faster than my own legs. He literally crashed landed into his seat as he announced his victory ‘Mommy, I got to the table first! That means I will eat Daddy’s chicken too!’ My darling smiled at David’s antics as she arranged the serving dishes in the center of the table.

‘Yeeeee….’ She uttered as her hand went to her back. ‘What’s wrong? Are the twins kicking?’ I jokingly asked. The next scream that came out of my wife froze my brain cells. She slid to the floor holding her swollen belly. It seemed we were suspended in time. David kept repeating ‘Mummy, Mummy, what is the matter?’ Time stood still as my wife continued to writhe in agony while I sat frozen like a statue.

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