The Wedded Whore (Completed)

Chapter Thirteen

Obi paused before the door to his mother's room, hesitant to invade the plush interior. Then, summoning his will, he knocked on the door, turned the knob gently, and then he walked into the room.

The tall, upright figure who was seated in a chair before the stained glass windows was staring at him warily through kohl-darkened eyes, her lips compressed in a grim line. Hope's hair hung loosely around her slender shoulders, and she'd crossed one long limb over the other, the skin fair against the black sheen of her nightgown.

'Adamma visited you a week ago, didn't she,' she said, and her words were a statement and not a question. She'd travelled down to the country to visit her relations, so she'd not been able to confront him with her words until now.

Obi regarded the tall woman languidly. 'You were the reason why my wife pounded her way down to my hotel and tried to bring the entire structure down with her anger; you sent her those derogatory pictures that mirrored what she'd been.'

Anger flashed in the woman's dark eyes. 'I only wanted to remind the silly girl of her station in life; that was why I sent her those pictures. Now, I realize the insult that went with it and I should not have done it. What did you say to her?'

'Nothing out of the ordinary,' he replied quietly, shrugging indifferently. He then folded his arms across his chest and waited, knowing that there would more.

Hope leaned forward in her chair, her eyes flashing with anger. 'Nothing out of the ordinary?' she echoed. 'You said nothing?' Her voice had risen in anger. 'How could you be so stupid? Why did you choose to call her parents into your fight with her? You fool! You should have said nothing!'

'Said nothing?' A muscle in Obi's face tensed but he stilled it. 'The silly girl was making an exhibition of herself, and I also could not just let her slip away from my arms. Besides that, there was nothing I said to her that she didn't know already. I merely told her what she'd known all her life.'

Hope opened her mouth to say something scathing, but she thought better of it and leaned back into her chair. She said, 'Every man and woman is responsible for his or her actions. If a man were to decide to bring up a part of you that you wanted to remain buried, what would you do to that person? What would your reaction be?'

Obi's brows knitted as he contemplated what answer to proffer to his mother's question. 'Look for ways to get rid of the bastard, I guess,' he finally said after a lengthy pause.

'Isn't that what that woman should be doing to you? Looking for ways to get rid of you? Look here, son; I had thought that I hated Adamma, but then I cannot punish her for what her parents and I went through with each other. That girl deserves some kindness after all she'd been through. Even now, I blame myself for being so harsh on her, but I had been so filled with shock and anger at her for what I'd found out, that when she was crying, asking me to understand her plight and the horrid decisions she'd had to make in her life, I was only too willing to see her go. Now, son, I'm asking you to look for ways to get her back into your life and into your heart. She is your wife, not your whore.'

Dazed and confused by the seemingly contradictory actions of his mother and this new side of her which he was surprised existed, Obi contemplated on the most plausible course of action for him to take. Should he go to his wife and ask his wife to come back to him? If he ever went to her to grovel on his knees before her, then whatever respect she must have had for him would vanish. He had tasted a rebellious woman who could smile so easily when she chose to and then pout with fury when annoyed, a woman who was a sex goddess and knew how to please. She was a woman of strong will and steely determination; she'd branded herself to be his opponent and fight him till he crumbled with frustration. Her actions were telltale indications of the fact that she wanted to have nothing to do with him.