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One evening, Emeka invited Anita to his friend’s party. There, Emeka made known his intentions towards her. Anita refused out rightly, and left the party in annoyance. Emeka could not understand what went wrong, or where he had offended her. He rushed after her, but could not catch up. Anita had driven off.
The following day, Emeka visited Anita at home to find out what went wrong. A knock was heard at the door; Anita’s mother, who was still living with her, opened the door and ushered him in.
“Good morning ma!” Emeka greeted her.
"Good morning my son", she replied. "Please come in and make yourself comfortable. Let me call her."
"Thanks ma", Emeka replied.
She went in to call Anita, but to her greatest surprise, found her crying.
"My daughter", she called, "what is the problem? Talk to me, I am your mother."
"It's Emeka", she answered!
"What has he done this time?" Her mother asked.
"Last night, we were at his friend’s party and he proposed to me."
"Is that why you want to kill yourself? There is nothing wrong at all. I will handle the situation by myself this time around."
Anita called to her mother and reminded her of what she had suffered in the bid to get married. "It is better for me to remain the way I am than to receive another shock; or do you want to buy your daughter before her time?" She said.
Anita’s mother consoled he, asking her to clean her eyes and not cry again. She promised her that as long as she was still alive, no man would deceive her again. She told Anita that Emeka wanted to see her. Anita went downstairs to see him.
She greeted him and they embraced each other. Emeka kissed her.
"My dear, how are you this morning my angel?" He asked.
"I’m fine", she answered.
“Darling, why did you behave that way?" He asked.
Anita pleaded not to open up the conversation again. Emeka got up in annoyance and demanded an explanation for her behaviour the previous night. He shouted at her to talk. Anita discovered that Emeka was anxious to know, and she tried to calm him down in order to explain things to him. He called her to come and relax in his arms, and apologized for shouting at her.
Emeka was such a quiet, gentle man. He was rich, handsome and brilliant. He was lovable- he was every woman’s dream man. Emeka showed total commitment to the relationship, and he decided to marry Anita. His maturity attracted her.
Anita explained why she couldn’t marry him, but could continue to keep their relationship at that level. She said many men fell in love with her because of her money, and some had turned out to be married already. After collecting huge amounts of money from her, they disappeared. It was through this that her son was born. She was happy with her son and had ruled marriage out of her life.
Emeka said, “You should have told me this."
He promised her not to be worried, and that he was going to make it up to her.
“I love you with all of my heart, and I am not going to break your heart. We are made for each other”. He said. "You are the woman I have been looking for; hard working, caring and loving. I have chosen you to be my wife and nobody can change that", he added.
"Emmi my dear, I really love you; I was scared, and I don’t want to be hurt again."
Emeka called Anita’s mother, and assured her not to bother, promising to be a good son-in-law to her. Right there, Emeka proposed to Anita.
Two weeks later, they wedded and travelled to Germany. Anita had four children for Emeka three boys and a girl. They have a happy family.
Ten years later, Charles came looking for Anita, and was told she had married and travelled with her husband.
Later, when Charles heard that Anita and her husband came back for Christmas holidays, he went to see her, requesting to see the boy whom he claimed was his son. Anita was surprised to see him and annoyed that he could raise such an issue. After overcoming the initial shock she asked, “What do you mean?” Charles replied that he wanted to see his son.
"After all, I am his father", he said.
Anita quickly asked, "How could you come back and lay claims on the boy after all of these years? You denied being responsible for his pregnancy. It is unthinkable", she continued, "that you could come now to ask for him simplly because your wife could not give you a male child." Anita retorted furiously, "Infact, the boy is not your child, and you are not responsible for his pregnancy. Please get away, and never come back here again.
Charles replied; "The battle line is drawn; you will see me again", and left.
He later made some consultations on the matter, and was reminded that he never married Anita and thus, could not lay claim to anything that came out of the old relationship. It was against custom for him to do this, since they were not married and he had never paid any dowry for her.
Upon all entreaties by his friends' relations not to take the matter to the court, he went ahead and took the case to court anyways. Eventually, he lost the case: Anita and Emeka were given the maternity and paternity rights for the young boy.
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Writer Profile
EDITH
I am a Nigerian journalist presently residing in Cotonou Benin Republic. I completed my secondary and tertiary education in Nigeria.
I worked in Champion Newspapers Limited from 1992 to 1994 as a news reporter. During my stay at Champion Newspapers, I was exposed to basic newsrooms operations, including coverage of field assignments such as newsgathering and generation from beats like economy, business reporting, politics, feature and opinion writing and news monitoring on radio and television. I displayed a great amount of skill in all my assignments.
I worked with the Federal Radio Co-operation of Nigeria (FRCN) as a scriptwriter, presenter and a producer of Children’s Programme, Today’s Woman, Health Corner and Radio Drama from 1994 to 1999.
I later joined my family in Cotonou Benin Republic in 1999. Due to the love I have for my career, I did not allow it to die or sweep away. I continued from where I stop in Nigeria.
Presently I am working with Capp Fm 99.6 as a presenter in Cotonou Benin Republic. I joined Capp Fm 99.6 in October 1999. Contributing Editor Les femmes magazine South Africa.
I am a member of African Economics Editors Network (AEEN) and International Women Media Foundation (IWMF) USA.
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