For weeks, people asked about the baby inside her. And every time they did, Amaka replied, “I’m not telling yet”. But the truth was that she didn’t know. She did not know how she came to be pregnant or the due date. What’s worse? She did not even know the father.
For a long time, Amaka stayed pure and chaste. She waited on the Lord for a man of her own as her sisters moved out one by one. The stifling conditions for marriage in their hometown made it difficult for them to marry the right way so they all eloped. But Amaka stayed. Ever-obedient Amaka; she didn’t want to defy her parents like her younger sisters did. So she stayed.
She tried to hold on until she could no longer live with the loneliness. At 43, it was evident that no man will come again for her. So she decided to live her life, ‘know man’ and spend some money. She just didn’t know this is where it would land her.
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When the questions became unbearable, Amaka was forced to get answers. She went from place to place knocking on doors of former boyfriends. Some threw her out and others sympathized with her. But none of them accepted responsibility for it.
Poor Amaka. She was almost giving up when she ran into Amadi; the same Amadi from seven months ago. He welcomed her and was strangely excited to see her. She should have ran when he welcomed her. Which man in his living condition would accept responsibility for a pregnancy he could easily deny? She forced herself not to think of that. For her, this was a great save she wasn’t going to throw away.
Amaka sat, ate the food he offered and fell into a deep sleep shortly after. As she drifted off to sleep, she saw something that made her question her decision. She wondered if she should have screamed for help when he stopped her from leaving. Something told her that she should have left when her guts told her the temperature in the room had changed. She closed her eyes and…
Amadi looked her and smiled. Indeed, God was in support of his next move. After the dibia had told him of the nature of the sacrifice required to bring him out of his predicament, he had asked God for a sign. He knew it was wrong by all standards to kill an infant, but he was at his wits end. So he prayed and God, seemingly, heard.
