End of days

Chapter 52

Chapter 52

"Ehn...very good, you know we only mean well, we don't want you marrying someone we don't know where she is from, and for all we ..."

"I'm marrying her regardless of where she is from aunty"

"So you are not going to make any enquiry about where she is from? Come let me ask you, what if she comes from the linage of witches? or even mami water(water goddess)"

"This is my wife to be you are talking about, so please I suggest you watch what you say about her''

''All I'm saying is; if we don't know where she is from, then we might not attend your wedding''

''The wedding is in three weeks ma. Enough time for you to decide if you are going to attend, or not. Now, if you will please excuse me aunty, I have some errands to run"

''Then I won't attend''

''Then, please don't attend''

''What did you just say to me Rayford?''

''You heard me aunty, don't attend. That will be minus one mouth to feed at the wedding''

Rayford didn't wait for her to respond before he strolled out of the house, aunty Ajoke just there dumbfounded, staring at him as he walked away. He wasn't going to allow some busy body family member come tell him what or what not to do. If he doesn't nip this in the bud now, she will think she can always come and dictate what goes on his family, even after he is married to Jane.

Rayford was almost late for his suit fitting with his designer. He was supposed to be there with Dele his best man by 3pm, he was grateful Jane had set a reminder for him about it, if not he would have totally forgotten it was today. Dele already called to let him know, he was on his way there.

"I still don't understand the meaning, of these stunts mummy is trying to pull" Dele said to Rayford as they rounded up at the designer's. The suits were a perfect fit, save for some few buttons that needed fixing, after that, the designer was going to have it brought to them.

"You know how that woman can be at times, what even baffles me the most, is that she was okay with the fact that Jane is an orphan, I don't understand why the sudden change of heart" Rayford said in confusion.

"I'm sure, aunty Ajoke has a hand in this, you know she specializes in sowing the seed of discord? But I'm glad you have taken your stand on this, if they are not okay with it, then that is their problem"

As they walked to the car park where their cars were parked, Rayford saw Lauretha coming down from her car, with a boy who looked to be between the age of twelve, to thirteen years. "Isn't that Lauretha?" Dele pointed out.

"Yes she is, and I need to talk to her" Rayford quickly ran to where Lauretha's car was, as she was locking it.

"Hey Lauretha, how are you?" Rayford asked not taking his eyes of the boy for a second.

"Remi, why don't you go inside? Mummy will come join you soon" Lauretha said to the boy.

"Okay, mummy, good afternoon sir" the boy greeted Rayford before walking away.

"Is that my son?" Rayford asked after the boy was off earshot.

"You have no son by me"

"I don't get you Lauretha, first you keep the boy away from me for this long, and now you won't let me see him. Then why did you tell me about him in the first place?"

"I already told you what to do, if you want anything to do with your son"

"You know, you are asking for the impossible. I can't leave Jane, and come marry you"

"Then, we are done having this conversation" Lauretha walked out on Rayford.

When Rayford got back to where his car was, he saw Dele still standing there. "Guy, you are still here? I thought you would have gone"

"How could I? When you hurried off the way you did, what's up with you and Lauretha anyways?"

"Does that boy look like me?"

"Oh was that the boy?"

"Yes, and she wouldn't even let me talk to him"

"Guy na wa o, it's as if everyone is against you getting married to Jane"

"And they are not going to succeed, come rain, come shine, I'm getting married to Jane and there is nothing anyone can do about it"

Rayford got into his car and drove off, it was already too late for him to go back to the office, he was just going to finish what he was supposed to do at the office, later in his house.

He decided to call Jane, "hello handsome" came her sweet voice which always sounded like a melody to his troubled heart.

"Hi, beautiful how is your day going?"

"You know, the usual wedding preparations and all"

"Remember not to stress yourself too much, that's why we got a wedding planner to handle all the stress and planning"

"I know, I'm trying not to overwork myself"

"Good, are you busy at the moment?"

"Not really, what's up?"

"I want us to inspect some houses"

"Why?"

"Because I want us to get another house to leave in after we got married"

"But what about the one you already leave in?"

"Babe I will explain, when we see. Just get dressed, I'm coming to pick you up in the next thirty minutes"

When Rayford got to Jane's place, she was already dressed waiting for him. He hugged her so tight, he didn't want to let go.

''Baby, are you okay?'' Jane asked.

''Yes I am, come on let's go''

''I have something I have been thinking to tell you''

''What is that?''

''I think, I might be pregnant''

''Are you sure?'' Rayford leaned back to have a proper look at her face.

''I really don't know, my period is two weeks late, and you know these contraceptives can't be trusted 100%'' She has been so carried away with the wedding preparations, she didn't notice she was late. Not until her period tracker had sent her a reminder this morning, that she was due to have seen her period two weeks ago.

''Okay, I need you to calm down'' Rayford could see Jane was clearly scared. ''There is one way for us to find out, I will quickly rush to the nearby pharmacy, and get us some pregnancy test kits okay?''

''Okay'' Jane nodded.

Few minutes later, Rayford came back with several pregnancy test kits. "I didn't know which brand to get, so I decided to get several brands instead, just incase one fails''

''Okay'' Jane said, without making any effort to take the bag containing the kits from him.

''Come here baby'' Rayford drew her closer to himself, and used his hands to frame her face. ''I want you to know that; we are in this together, and no matter what the result turns out to be, we are a team, okay?''

''What if, I'm truly pregnant? what then becomes of me, my dreams to own a business before I start having children?''

''And I'm going to make sure, all of that happens. I'm going to make sure, you live the life of your dreams, that I promise you"

''Oh Rayford, I'm so scared'' She held him tightly, resting her head on his shoulders.

''You don't have to be scared baby, now just go into the bathroom, and do the test''

Jane collected the test kits from him, and went into the bathroom to find out if she was about to be a mother or not.

Rayford paced the room as he waited for Jane to come out of the bathroom with the test results. What was keeping her, why was she taking so long to come out? He didn't know why, but deep down, he was wishing the result comes out positive.

Finally she came out with a test strip, and showed it to him. "it's negative" she said calmly. "I used four different test strips, and they all came out negative"

"Okay, so it was just a scare" Rayford sat down on the bed. "Come sit down, you look so pale" Jane joined him to sit on the bed.

"Why are you so scared of getting pregnant?"

"I already told you, I want to be able to have started my own business, before having children"

"Do you think, having children will make you not to be able to actualize your dreams?"

"Not really" she placed her head on his shoulders. "I just fear that; I might get carried away or get too busy with the affairs of being a wife and a mother, and I might not remember my own dreams and aspirations"

"And you think I would allow that to happen?" He raised her head from his shoulders, and then changed his seating position, so he was facing her. "I will never allow you to forget, or not pursue your dreams and aspirations for any reason. I'm not getting married to you so you could become a baby making machine, or some wife who always cleans up after her husband, and then does nothing else for herself. If that's what I wanted, I would have hired someone to bear me children, and then get a nanny and a maid to look after them'' He placed his forehead on hers. "Baby, we are going to help each other, reach our fullest potential. Marriage is for companionship, and part of my duty as a husband is to see to it that you as my wife lives the life of her dreams"

"Oh Rayford" she hugged him tightly. "I don't know what I have done to deserve a man like you, I love you so much, and I promise to be a loving wife"

Rayford smiled at her sudden burst of emotion. "I love you too baby"

They remained in that position for about five minutes, before Jane remembered they were supposed to see some houses.

" Rayford?"

"Yes baby?"

"You said you were going to tell me why we were getting a new house, when you came?"

"I don't want us raising a family in that house, it has a lot of sad memories in it"

"Is it because of my kidnap?"

"Yes, I just want us to get somewhere new, and start afresh"

"Okay, that's fine by me, though I like the kitchen in this house" Jane pouted as she spoke.

"And we will choose a house, that has a bigger and better kitchen than this one"

Since they couldn't go and inspect the house anymore, they decided to go out and get something to eat, and when they were done, Rayford dropped Jane off at her place before going back to his place.

Amaka was supposed to meet with Dele after work, so they could discuss about some of the things, they were going to be doing for Jane and Rayford on their wedding day. Since they were both going to be the best man and bridesmaid.

The appointment was set for 6pm, and Amaka made sure to get there before 6. It's already 7pm, and Dele wasn't there yet. Amaka was already fuming with anger. "Who does he think he is, to keep me waiting? And he didn't even call to inform me, he would be running late" she was already getting famished, she had wanted to order for something to eat from the restaurant, but their food was too expensive, who sells a plate of rice for five thousand naira? All thanks to Dele who insisted they met in this restaurant, now she's not only has to wait for him, but she has to starve while doing so.

Dele parked his car some distance from the restaurant, he arrived since 5:30pm, he even saw Amaka when she walked in, but chose to stay in his car for an extra hour, he wanted to make sure Amaka got there before him.