Against The Tide (Formerly Two Tribes)

13: Wedding Bells

Jameel

"What do you mean by what you just said?" Hajiya hauwa yelled. "You want to get married to that woman?"

Jameel heaved a sigh of exasperation. The moment he left his house for his mother's in Katsina state, he knew she wasn't just going to give in to what he wanted that easily, but he never expected her to be so irritated. "Hajiya," Jameel started, taking his mother's hand in his. "You already know how I feel about that woman. I have always done everything you ask of me. When I thought I had lost Afrah, I had no intention of ever getting married, but I didn't reject Najah because you specifically told me you want her to be your daughter-in-law, so please," he beseeched. "Support me in the decision I have taken."

Hajiya Hauwa removed her hand from her son's and shook her head. "I'm afraid I won't be able to support you this time."

"Why, Hajiya?" Jameel asked. He wanted so badly to know why his mother was proving difficult. His mother used to love Afrah a lot. "Don't you want me to be happy?"

"I'm not stopping you from getting married to her, I'm just not in support of it. You can go ahead and do your thing."

"Don't you want me to be happy?" Jameel repeated his question. He knew his mother had seen how miserable he had been in the past couple of years, so why wasn't she yielding?

"Not at the expense of my other child. Have you thought about how that poor girl would feel? She has practically no one she can call hers in this world, except for you and me. I promised her that I will make sure you're never unfair to her, and I plan to keep that promise. Najah is not just my daughter-in-law, I consider her the daughter I have never had. You've been married to her for less than two years and you're already planning to marry someone else?"

"Hajiya, you know I didn't marry her because I love her," Jameel's eyes floated upward. He was mentally and physically drained-tired of having to explain himself over and over again. "But that hasn't been leveraged for me to be unfair to her. You can ask her if you don't believe me. I give her the utmost respect she deserves. If that isn't the case, she wouldn't have supported me in this decision."

Hajiya's brows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"Najah is the reason Afrah agreed to marry me." He nodded. "Afrah told me she wanted nothing to do with me anymore, but after Najah spoke to her-I have no idea what she told her-she agreed."

"I didn't know Najah is so unwise," Hajiya Hauwa huffed. "I'm disappointed."

"She isn't unwise" Jameel disagreed. "She knows I won't give up on Afrah even though she doesn't approve of my decision. She knows that for a fact."

"So what's going to happen to Najah?"

"Absolutely nothing. I still won't be unfair to her. I won't treat her any differently."

"What if she asks you to divorce her?"

"Who? Afrah?" Jameel chuckled. "She's compassionate. She will never ask me to do that, and...even if she does, I won't do it. You know me, Hajiya, I will never do something like that. Please give me your support. It's all I ask for."

"What can I say when the person I'm concerned about isn't even concerned about herself? You can go ahead and marry her since you're bent on doing so. At this point, I don't even think I can stop you."

"You know you can, Hajiya. Just tell me you don't want me to marry her and I will forget all about the plans I have made."

"I don't want you to marry her." His mother declared.

Jameel exhaled slowly; his face dropping.

"When is the wedding?"

"Huh?"