MY LAWYER AND ME

I lay in bed and watched the rain trickle down my window. My curtain was open because mum had strolled in earlier in the day to watch the garden in an invain attempt to encourage me that life existed outside 'Him'. I heard her, or I had thought I did cause I nodded in response. But my brain, my being was too numb to act up. I was spent and tired. Then there was this constant nudging in my belly. I hadn't eaten in two whole days. It wasn't a fast... There was food, mum or Ifang always brought one meal type or the other. I just didn't have the zeal. Then there was this cold that never went away. The heater was on moderate level, yet... I looked at the small form cradled inside my arms. I must have startled her some how cause she stirred in my arms. My little princess, Clarissa was sleeping deeply and sweetly beside me. She was so innocent, so pure. Yet just barely three, she had become a point of gossip on the media. " My beautiful little one... God, I failed you... Mumma failed you...am so sorry," I said to my self as I caressed her afro curls. "Effua, you still in bed? That baby isn't laying in bed properly," mum said as she walked up to us and propped Clarissa's pillow. "You much aware that at some point you have to pickup," she continued "If not for anyone but for this baby. You all she's got. A mother has to damn all consequences for her babes. Most especially when she was unfortunate to be entrapped by a brute, a monster who never valued her or the offspring!.." I looked up sharply. " Mum," I protested "she isn't supposed to hear such words. What if she heard you. It's bad enough that Simeon is her dad. It's worse her hearing the truth," I said.. or was it me that didn't want the truth. Mum softened and sat, careful not to wake her grandchild. She loved the little cub so much. And in order not to hear what was written in black and white before me, I planned on using Clarissa against mum cause she was bent on spelling the obvious for me. She was blunt, one thing I loved about her... Dad usually described her nature as 'black is black and blue is blue.' However as much as I loved her, at this time truth was what scared me the most. "At some point you need to wake up and smell the roses Effua. Who the hell is Simeon? I mean he is a criminal that masked his true form with that demeanor of his that he thought he could use to steal. Unknown to us deep down that he had planned his act from the start.... I mean who beats his 7 months pregnant wife to a coma all because she uncovered his planned escape plot with another woman as well as with property papers of his in-laws." Tears filled my eyes and I sat up carefully because the pains and emotion flooded back into me like hot flushes. I still hurt real bad from the bruises.... I mean a broken left arm and two cracked ribs... In addition the scar of a forced abortion due to a dead Foetus from severe physical trauma. " Mum, was I wrong in getting married," I muttered. " I Loved Simeon. I didn't cheat. I didn't deprived him. If he had told me he wanted my share of the property, I could ha...," "You could have what?," Mum cut in angrily, her tone so aggravated that It seemed another being had over taken her body. " do you even know what you are saying? He was running away with all I and your father have laboured for you. He was running away with our swear, our tolerance, our lifelong years of endurance. He had stolen property papers from the house and had almost gotten away with switching ownership of the property before God intervened and you caught him." And just like that it hit me as if mum's anger was the kick I needed all that time to wake from my delusion. All along, I had evaded this truth like a plague. It was falling into place like a jig saw puzzle. From the first date I and Simeon went on four years ago, his true nature was glaring. Inspite of the obvious, I had warded off all red flags and warning signals that erupted in my subconscious. Then suddenly the emotion I had bottled up against Simeon all this time raged in me. I was overwhelmed with anger and a zeal to fight. I glanced at our child...My child and resolved to fight for ourselves. I was done playing the helpless wife. I was going to fight that beast for every pain he had caused me. But I was going to need God's help. I let myself lay my head in my mum's lap and she heaved a heavy sigh as she touched my head. " Mum," I said almost inaudibly," It's cold." " It's not cold Effua. " Mum said "It's realization. It's been cold since I walked in here, like the heater wasn't warm enough. But you couldn't feel all along cause you didn't want to. Now, I guess a part of you is ready to face the truth." 'No mum,' I thought to myself ' It wasn't a part of me. It was all of me that was ready.'