Ezeabata In A Golden Marriage

CHAPTER 25

"What do you mean by divorce?!" Provokes Heaven

"Exactly what you heard!" Blurts out Nkechi angrily

"Mummy do you know what you're saying, i mean do you understand the weight that comes with what you..." asks Heaven

"Yes! i do. What i am saying isn't new to your dad. I have been thinking about it and my mind is made up!" Huffs and puffs Nkechi, intercepting her, stomps away into the house.

"Heaven let her be biko (please in igbo) To be honest, i think the best option now, seeing how our relationship is loosing love and respect is her suggestion. Ever since she mentioned it to me the first time, she has lost it and i fear that if i don't do anything soon it might not end well." Agonies Ezeabata.

Heaven sits beside her dad on the chair her mother was sitting on, before she walked away from their conversation. Not being too sure if she could put her hands on her father's because she could see him battling with pitiful emotions but then it's not like things has been so rosy and easy between Okafor and his children.

He being an adamant disciplinarian, is bent on training his children well based on moral codes. There's been times his children caught him being human and saw his frailties but it seems, they let his tough sides define him more to them than his softer sides.

Moreover the way and manner their mum talks about his weaknesses than his strength, makes them relate more to his "not so good" sides. They hardly remember that their father's upbringing has a lot to do with the man, he has become.

"Daddy are you okay?" She asks

"I am tired of the back and forth Heaven. I mean i am human too, but for the fear of God, our children and the positions we hold so dear in church, i would have granted her the divorce she desires for peace sake. Nothing is worth my peace and quietness, the pressure is harder and i desire to make heaven, Heaven!

Heaven couldn't hold back the tickle she got from how heaven sounded next to her name and she giggles. The father looks at her disdainfully, something he does a lot when people act stupidly or misbehave before him.

"Care to share the joke?" Says he

"Forgive my manners daddy, it's a reflex, you know from how my name sounds next to heaven" explains she

"Oh that!" Chuckles Ezeabata.

They both laughed a little and continues their conversation with the laughter reducing the tension they felt before, relaxing them.

"Honestly a lot is involved. I rather have God take me away, than to displease him or fail to be a good example to people who look up to me as a leader!" Says Ezeabata Okafor feeling excruciatingly painful about the marital relationship between him and his wife.

"God forbid it! Daddy you can't give up please. There has to be a way out. Have you thought of calling somebody, an uncle or any of my aunts to speak to her. There has to be something that can be done please." Resists and hopes Heaven

"Sometime ago i did something like that asking for intervention from her siblings. It ended in regrets. I was ridiculed. My wife made sure to kick on my last nerve and the rest is history because you know my daughter, that anger is one thing i haven't learnt to manage, though it's much better now as the older i get, i have understood well that it's time to let go of old habits and God is giving me grace but then my past before i became a changed man in Christ, seems to be what they prefer to remember me by. Says Ezeabata, embittered

"Hmm like they don't have any past themselves too". Thinks Heaven

"Mstchew" hisses Heaven

"What was that?" Asks Okafor