Consequences

Chapter 54

" I have friends, dad." It was a new day at the office, just a few days after I had left my parents house. Sitting opposite my father, I was telling him where I was staying. But I just couldn't tell him that I had gone back to the house Ola and I used for our weekend retreat.

"So you decided to leave the house over what your mother said?" I sighed.

"Dad I'm fed up with her way of doing things."
"She is your mother."
"I know, but it doesn't encourage me especially at a time like this." My father was reading a file but put it down and looked at me.
"Tola, tell me what you are going through?"
"Dad, I'm struggling to make sense of my life."
"In what way?" Immediately he picked up the office phone and called his secretary and told her that he didn't want to be disturbed.

"So, now we have all the time in the world to talk. That is, if you want to talk."

I stared at him. He was giving me a chance to tell him what I was going through, as if he didn't already know.

"Dad, I'm struggling to make sense of a tragedy that turned out to be false."

"Your husband, or ex-husband as you now call him, is alive. What more are you going through?"
"Dad why would he fake his death?"
"I see now why you have problems with your mother."  He said, getting up. He went up to the window and looked outside.

"You wanted answers as to what happened to take him away from you. Now that you know he's alive you want to know why he faked his death." He looked at me and then went to sit down.
"Tell me Tola, how many more questions will you ask just to pursue answers you may sometimes never get?"

"Dad, I think there is an answer to everything."
"Is that why you told me you saved a man's life just like my mother did?" I looked away.
"Tola, as far as I know, I never told you anything like that." I simply couldn't tell him I got this information from the stranger I met at the pub.
"I know, dad."
"So how did you find that out?" I couldn't answer that question as I didn't know what to tell him.
"I don't know, maybe it was a dream, some kind of vision." My father shook his head as he looked at me. I knew he didn't believe.
"Fine, don't tell me the truth...'
"Dad, but that's the explanation." He laughed.
"And how is that possible? You don't even take the time to pray." He said.

"Dad, I do pray." He laughed again.
"When was the last time you set foot in a Church?" I looked at him and smiled.
"Maybe I should start going regularly."
"And would that help you?" He asked. I couldn't answer the question. "Would embracing faith help you?" I still couldn't give him an answer.

"Now as a father I've done my best to give you a comfortable life. I wanted you to have a settled life even in your marriage. And I was lucky that you loved this man. It made everything easy for me and my friend."

"I understand what both of you were trying to do, dad."

"If you understand this, then I don't see why you are worried about your life." I closed my eyes and when I opened them again I took a deep breath and exhaled.

"Dad, I cant live like this anymore. I want to move on."

"Fine Tola. But if you want to do that, make sure you clear away problems of the past."
"What do you mean?"
"It simply means that if you want to make any sense of your life and move on, first clear away the old problems. Your problem should you believe it or not, is Ola." He nodded, "yes, whether you choose to accept him as your husband or not, you have unfinished business to settle with him." With that I got up.

"No dad, this I can't do."
"Why not?"
"Because I simply can't. I'm through with him."
"Sit down and tell me why you can't face your own husband, and sort things out?"