Marriage Chronicles - Season 1 - Episode 28

4 years ago

Marriage Chronicles - Season 1 - Episode 28

☆☆☆☆☆
..COREEN..
I sang to my two baby boys as I drove them to
the day care..Aside from Cephas who was still in
jail and had at least 27 years and some months
more to serve, my 2 years 3 months old twin
boys were everything I had. Not a day passed
without me thanking the Almighty for blessing
me with twins. You see a few weeks after
Cephas’ arrest 3 years ago, I found out I was
pregnant and went down on my knees to thank
God for this blessing.

The first few months of my pregnancy were
hectic..what with Cephas’ court hearings and all.

Four months down the line, he was sentenced to
thirty years in prison…with hard labour.
That day the Faith that I’d come to have in God
was put to the test. I locked myself up in
Cephas’ room at his mum’s place and loudly
cried.

“God, you have saved me from Lubuto the ghost
and for this I am immensely grateful. But
Cephas? Does he really have to rot in jail? How
am I going to take care of the child that I am
carrying without my husband by my side? I don’t think I am ready to be a single mother, oh God.”

I was beating my b-----s in misery as I poured
my heart out to the Lord.

“We’ll help you,” came a voice from outside. It was mother in-law’s voice. “But for now please open the door, Coreen.”

I sniffed and wiped my tears before opening the
door. Mum in-law, Ethel and a heavily pregnant
Marjorie stood in the doorway looking teary but
obviously fighting composure for my sake.
Marjorie was first to hug me before breaking
down. “We’ve wronged you terribly, Coreen. You are nothing like that nightmare Lubuto. You’re your own person and my sister, mum and I have come to realise that you are just a victim of circumstances here..like we all are.”

Mum hugged me next, sobbing. “I am so sorry
for all the hurtful words I uttered towards you in
the past. The past few months have made me
realise just how much you care for my son and
our family at large..you’ve been praying without ceasing and even though your prayers haven’t been answered, I know God will certainly answer them one day.”

“Believe that,” Ethel backed her up and hugged
me too and in that position, we did a lot of
crying. I forgave the three of them and we
became friends since that day.

Mum in-law even insisted I move in with her
when Ethel and Marjorie left to go back to their
husbands and staying with her sounded like a
good idea cause I really needed the company so
I agreed.

Coming to terms with Cephas’ imprisonment was really one of the hardest things I had to do in my life and I was thankful to God for people like
Rosemary and Bishop Mwape who would
frequently call me to encourage me to accept
what was going and move on as in life,
everything and anything that happens to us
happens for a reason.

Bishop Mwape would say, “Regardless of the
hardships you are currently facing, sister Coreen,
never forget God loves you.”

There were nights when my hormones would
work me up so bad that I’d sit up in bed till dawn, wondering if indeed God did love me as much as Rosemary and Bishop Mwape assured me He did. And then I’d recall all that Lubuto had put me through and yet I was still here, alive and well, and I’d reprimand myself for ever doubting God’s love for me.
In the fifth month of my pregnancy, I went for a
scan and was told I was having twin boys. That
was officially the happiest moment of my life. I
was so eager to share the news with Cephas
that I feared I would develop a growth in my
throat if I didn’t give him the news asap so I
drove all the way to Mukobeko Maximum Prison,
now called Mukobeko Correctional Service, to
pay him a visit. I took with me some foodstuffs
of course and sat in the waiting area waiting for
Cephas and when I saw him, how malnourished
he looked, my eyes stung with tears but I fought
them lest I sadden him.

We hugged and took our seats. “Hi,” he said.
“You’re starting to show.” “My baby bump ka?

Am afraid I’ll burst soon enough, what with two
baby boys growing in there?”
“Did you just say two baby boys?” he was
beaming. “Tell me you’re joking!”
“Honey, we’re having twins.”
Cephas took my face and kissed me on the lips.
“Thank you.” “It’s God that we ought to thank,” I
said as I served him some food which could be
eaten right now. He didn’t reply. You know
Cephas didn’t really believe in God but I’d
glimpsed a hint of Faith in his eyes when I had
narrated to him how God had helped Bishop
Mwape, Rosemary and I to defeat Lubuto. And
now I was set on making sure he too became a
staunch believer like myself. While he ate,
Cephas looked sad. “How are you running my
business? Hope you aren’t facing too many
challenges though.”

“No I ain’t..The CEO your board of directors
appointed is really doing a great job.”
I worked as the CEO’s assistant though I did my
work from the Ndola branch.
“I thank God for him..and the board of directors
at large cause they’re all supportive,” said
Cephas who later on took a deep breath. “You
take care of yourself and my babies..oh Gosh,
this place is hell, Coreen. And I just wish I was
out there with you to help you raise our boys.
You’ll do a good job though, of this I am certain.”

His words were saddening me to the core. “I
don’t know how, Cephas, but you’ll get out of
this place before your 30 years are up. Just
believe in God and pray to him..I’ll be praying for you too.”

“Alright,” he said it just to please me.
And now today I drove the babies whom we’d
named Mark and Luke, to the day care as I had a
counselling session to conduct at church while
mum was busy with her day to day errands.
Did I mention I was now a part time marriage
counsellor?

Now you know. I dropped Mark and Luke at the
day care and drove to the church I now went
to..I went straight to my office and a few
minutes later, there was a knock on the door and
I told whoever was knocking to come in. A light
skinned lady who seemed to be in her early
thirties walked in.

“You may take a seat, ma’am”
“Thank you.”

“Is your husband running late?”
“Am afraid he’s not coming.” This wasn’t the first time a man was bailing on the wife and not showing up to such sessions so I patted her
hand. “I understand, Mrs. Bwembya.”

“Thank you…So, my husband has literally grown
tired of me after giving him four kids back to
back. He says am illiterate thus me giving birth
to children anyhow..The fact that I don’t work
also adds fuel to the fire. To be honest, am fade
up. He mentioned divorce the other day and
looking at how things are going, I might as well
just divorce his sorry a-s..am sorry for the
language.””

“It’s fine. What’s not fine is you making him treat you the way he is. He says you don’t work, look for a job. The kids? They are his kids too.

All these are just trivial excuses men give when
they wanna end things with a woman but tell you
what, divorce is a sin and you divorcing the
father of your four children will be the biggest
mistake of your life which you’ll be beating
yourself over every once in a while. You want my
advice,” I paused for breath. “Take the problem to the Lord and fight hard for your marriage cause divorce isn’t the solution..” whenever I was giving such sessions, I liked using my own story as an example and I did likewise today.

By the time Mrs. Bwembya was leaving my office
with her head held high, she was set on making
her marriage work come what may. That’s the
spirit, y’all married couples out there!

From church, I drove to Kabwe to visit my
Cephas who no longer looked malnourished but
just plain miserable. “Do you pray?” was the first question I asked him.

He chuckled. “I do, bosses. What with my friend
who prays with me?”

Cephas had informed me about two years back
that he had a friend who preached to him
(Cephas) about God and I was more than glad.

“That’s great, sweetheart.” We sat.

“How’s Mark and Luke?”

“They’re naughty but doing fine,” I said with a giggle. “I left them at the day care on my way
here. Mum will go pick them up at 16:00hrs.”

“I miss my boys. You bring them over for a visit
this weekend.” “Alright..Cephas?”

“Mmmm.”
“Please never lose Faith in God, I beg you. I
know being in here makes you doubt his
existence but just hang in there because not all
days are Sundays. You’ll leave this place soon.”

“I know, Coreen. I can feel it.”
Cephas and I talked about this and that and as I
was driving out of the prison premises, I heard
on the radio that someone named Anna Mumba
Sharma had just been arrested for indirectly
murdering both her parents. Apparently she’d
sabotaged her husband’s car in a bid to kill him
but things went terribly wrong and her parents
ended up dead.

God, what had Anna gotten herself into?
What I heard on the news was so disturbing so I
was prompted to drive to Lusaka and pay Anna a
visit.

When she saw me, she frowned and sat down.
“What do you want, madam Coreen? Have you
come to laugh in my face because I’ll rot in jail?”

“No, Anna. I’ve come as a friend. One who wants to find out why on earth you’d do what you did.”

“If my memory serves me right, I owe you no
explanation so just get the f--k outta here!”
“God loves you, Anna. Never forget that,” I rose to my feet while she clicked her tongue.

“Oh please,” she stood too. “Save your sermons, Coreen, cause I don’t need them. Neither do I need nor want any visits from you..you’re even lucky I didn’t scribble your bitchy name in my book of revenge.” “Revenge should be left for God..look where vengeance has landed you.”

“Eh…Go, please! Screw you, your God, William,
Rajesh and everyone else who has messed with
me!”

“You’re insane,” I couldn’t refrain myself. “And
may God have mercy on you.”

She cussed at me in Bemba as I left while I just
asked God to forgive her. I spent one night at a
lodge and decided to leave for Ndola the
following day cause I’d missed my babies so
much.

I was parked by hungry lion in Kabwe where I
was grabbing myself some lunch when my phone
rang. The caller ID was unsaved so I was quite
hesitant when picking. “Coreen, God has
answered our prayers!”

“Cephas? What do you mean?”
“I’ve been released, honey. It’s a long story
which I’ll share with you once we meet. Are you
back to Ndola?”

I was so happy right now that I was shaking as I
said, “As a matter of fact, am not. Am in Kabwe
so just tell me where you’re and I’ll come pick
you up.”