Due For Inheritance (D. U. I)

Chapter 4

Hayatullah was deep in thought. She is neither quiet nor reserved like her co-wives thought but she’s not about to show them her true colors because she and her children are at their mercy.

Before AbdulAhad’s accident, their rent was almost due and he promised to renew it as soon as he got back from his journey which he never came back from. Although she has more than enough cash to renew her rent but she doesn’t want to be cheated out of her right when it was time to share the property. For that to happen, she needed to be closer to the family.

Living separately with her husband was what she desired the most and even if he had no other wife, she wouldn’t live in a family house. This was why she gave AbdulAhad the condition to rent a house separately for her and keep her hidden from the rest of his family if he wished to marry her and he accepted. She had been living her life to the fullest, free of drama and family interference. She didn’t expect him to die suddenly, so she hadn’t prepared for her future or her children’s and had to seek another method to secure their future.

His wives maybe aware that AbdulAhad has a fourth wife but his children aren’t and AbdulAhad has about nine grown up children that she was sure would hinder her from getting a penny if her existence remained a secret from them.

AbdulAhad had forbidden his wives from mentioning her name in the house, which they more than obliged. They haven’t physically met or spoken, so, if she kept staying at the house her husband rented, then, she can bid her share of the inheritance farewell. This was why she contacted AbdulAhad’s lawyer and told him that she would like to stay with the rest of the family so that they can live together in harmony.

Unknown to her that there would be an investigation that she doesn’t know when it would end. The idiotic lawyer didn’t mention anything about it. Imagine her shock when she got to the mansion and the only thing she met rather than the cold reception she expected was that an investigation would be carried out before the properties would be shared and during that period, she would have to live with people she had only seen in photos.

She’s going to play the meek and quiet wife till the investigation is over and the property is shared. Then, she would keep staying in the mansion. She has no desire to pay yearly rent from her share of the inheritance because that would be her only source of income. She doesn’t own a business or wished to own one.

Raising her children is enough work on its own and when they eventually grow up, they would be given a position in the company where they would work to earn a living and take care of her too. Her future is set and all she needed to do is work towards it and make sure her goal is realized bi idhnillah.

The hot tempered girl, Hauwa and her mother, Hajara looked like the only stumbling block in her path and she envisioned that they would give her a tough time when she eventually announce that her stay in the mansion isn’t temporary but Hauwa is a grown up lady and would soon get married and move out of the house, and when she leaves, her mother’s wing would be cut and she would warm up to her eventually.

Aaidah too is a little harsh but like her half-sister, she would leave the house after marriage and the boys are not exactly vested in household affairs but she would deal with that when the time comes. What she needed to do is to prepare for the forthcoming investigation and pray that she comes out unscathed.

She, unlike AbdulAhad and his wives, came from a rich background but she had nothing to boast of for some period in her life. Her mum had married into a very rich household and they had enjoyed the privilege but when her dad died of breast cancer, their relatives who always resented her mum took everything from them leaving them with nothing.

Despite the fact that they were Muslims, they claimed that her mum had something to do with their father’s death as it was unheard of that a man suffered from breast cancer, a disease that was associated with women. No matter how convincing the doctor tried to be that men could also suffer from cancer of the breast, they remained unconvinced. She would have grown up in money if she lived with her paternal grandma but since she left with her mum after her dad’s demise, they lived together in penury.

This was another reason she didn’t want to associate with AbdulAhad’s family, either immediate or extended but as Allah wanted, her husband died and she met herself in the family drama that she had always avoided.