By the end of their first year, they started having issue . . . no matter how hard they tried (and they did) they couldn’t get pregnant. So all the problems they thought they had overcome came rushing back.
“Only God knows what is wrong with her Hausa womb! All those concoction the make them drink all in the name of being fertile, who knows that they have mixed with what"
“He can’t get her pregnant? Well Color us shocked! Not! Like we didn’t know Yoruba men are not the most virile men out there”
On and on and on it went that by their 3rd year, they were strangers in their own home. Those who knew them said it was obvious they still loved each other but everything else going on in their life buried the love. This made it easier for him to succumb to family pressure by taking another wife, who of course got pregnant, just like that. He was very, very, very sad the day he told Hadiza his 2nd wife was pregnant. She accepted the news as dignified as she could in the circumstance, wished him well and told him she wasn’t staying. She would go back to her parents’ house in Zaria, continue her teaching job and just live her life. No, she wasn't asking for a divorce but she couldn't stay in the house with him and his 2nd wife.
He pleaded with her but she stood her ground even though it hurt her. They would still be husband and wife but not in the same house. If he loved her, he would allow her do this. So he did. She moved back to father’s compound, luckily she had her own private flats away from prying eyes. He would come see her every week....leaving his newly pregnant 2nd wife with his family. In the fourth month of the pregnancy, Hadiza got pregnant, making Niyi the happiest man ever. He all but abandoned the other woman and carried on like this was his first child.
Understandably, this pissed the other woman off and it didn't help that she had the support of his family but Niyi didn't care, it seemed in his mind her child was his family’s child and Hadiza’s was his. This caused a lot of family problems with the other woman’s family pitching their tent with his family. Ironically, it was during these brouhaha Hadiza’s family took to him. . . he had finally won them over. Unfortunately, they didn’t have much say in what was happening, all they had to offer was their support.
The 2nd wife had her baby, it was a boy, cementing her position as the mother of Niyi’s first son. It would be sweeter if Hadiza had a girl, . . I bet she thought. Yeah, well no such luck. . . Hadiza had a boy about 2 months after hers and because it was premature, Niyi was at Hadiza’s side morning, afternoon and night, making it very clear he wasn’t budging, not that anyone tried to pry him away. Their child survived and he assumed now that they were a family, she’d come back home and they would live happily ever after (honestly, I don’t know how men reason), she didn’t want to but she did it for him. The 2nd wife was not having any of that and given the fact that she was in her territory (she was also from Ogun state), she had the backings of her people. Hadiza on the other hand was a lone ranger with just her son and her husband but she was willing to live with the other woman’s troubles as long as it was directed at her.
One day, Hadiza came home from work to find her 3 years old son with marks on his body, His nanny told her the other woman had beaten him over a small offense. Hadiza went to the woman’s quarters, beat the living day lights out of her, packed her things and left the house. Niyi came home to utter confusion, found out Hadiza had gone back to Zaria, jets over there . . . all macho you are my wife and that is my son, now get in the car let’s go back home where you belong and she told him she would only if wanted her child dead before his 5th birthday.
I imagine he rolled his eyes at her high drama but she was insistent, there had been a few times her son eaten something the other woman prepared and became violently ill but they had always chucked it up to him being a premie baby and probably allergic to things. Anyway, they went back and forth for a long time and she said NO. He got angry and said whatever, you are no longer my wife. . . blah, blah, blah, this, this, this, that, that, that and poof! It was over. Oh he still saw his son and all but whatever was between them was no more.
She never had any other child, she threw herself into bringing up her son and her work, she became the headmistress of an all girls school (she considered all of them her children) and He went on to have 4 more children with his 2nd wife, 2 with his 3rd, 1 with his 4th and a few bastards sprinkled all over the state. yes! After losing Hadiza, he didn’t seem to care. Once in a while, their paths crossed. . . for their son’s graduation, when he got married, the naming ceremony of their grandchildren but it was understood there is no going back. When she died at 53, he locked himself in his rooms for days; it was their son and his brother who had to talk him out.
Oh yeah, another Irony, Hadiza’s son and the other woman’s son become very close, they would joke about being th first twins born two months apart. Their children grew up to be the closest of all Niyi’s grandchildren, ready to do battle for one another and people knew better than to try and come between them. . . it was them vs. everyone else, which included cousins from the other wives. Hadiza's granchildren got to know their step grandmother and found her. . . let’s just say she was not the ogre or the wicked witch of the west they had imagined (I've always wanted to know what she thinks when she looks at them)
Well there you have it.
If you subscribe to the whole it is better to have loved and lost than to never love at all. . . you probably see nothing wrong with this story. For me, it is a sad story, there is nothing sweet about it. I mean seriously, who won here? Hadiza who died of a broken heart? Niyi who naively believed love can conquer all or his 2nd wife who spent her life living in the shadows of another, knowing no matter what she did. . . she would never be the ONE for husband? How about his other wives. . . sucked into an already screwed up life all because Niyi wanted to prove himself?
If I had the power to yell CUT, I'll do it in a heartbeat, save everyone the heartache and redo the moment Hadiza and Niyi met . . . so they don’t. Of course, I’ve been told doing this would be tantamount to cutting off my nose to spite my face because the chances I’ll be here today if they never happened is slim to none. . . see, they were my grandparents.
Even with that in mind, I’m still not convinced this story does not deserve another take. I find it extremely unfair that one wrong turn can derail your entire life story. . . and I can't stop thinking about it.
“He can’t get her pregnant? Well Color us shocked! Not! Like we didn’t know Yoruba men are not the most virile men out there”
On and on and on it went that by their 3rd year, they were strangers in their own home. Those who knew them said it was obvious they still loved each other but everything else going on in their life buried the love. This made it easier for him to succumb to family pressure by taking another wife, who of course got pregnant, just like that. He was very, very, very sad the day he told Hadiza his 2nd wife was pregnant. She accepted the news as dignified as she could in the circumstance, wished him well and told him she wasn’t staying. She would go back to her parents’ house in Zaria, continue her teaching job and just live her life. No, she wasn't asking for a divorce but she couldn't stay in the house with him and his 2nd wife.
He pleaded with her but she stood her ground even though it hurt her. They would still be husband and wife but not in the same house. If he loved her, he would allow her do this. So he did. She moved back to father’s compound, luckily she had her own private flats away from prying eyes. He would come see her every week....leaving his newly pregnant 2nd wife with his family. In the fourth month of the pregnancy, Hadiza got pregnant, making Niyi the happiest man ever. He all but abandoned the other woman and carried on like this was his first child.
Understandably, this pissed the other woman off and it didn't help that she had the support of his family but Niyi didn't care, it seemed in his mind her child was his family’s child and Hadiza’s was his. This caused a lot of family problems with the other woman’s family pitching their tent with his family. Ironically, it was during these brouhaha Hadiza’s family took to him. . . he had finally won them over. Unfortunately, they didn’t have much say in what was happening, all they had to offer was their support.
The 2nd wife had her baby, it was a boy, cementing her position as the mother of Niyi’s first son. It would be sweeter if Hadiza had a girl, . . I bet she thought. Yeah, well no such luck. . . Hadiza had a boy about 2 months after hers and because it was premature, Niyi was at Hadiza’s side morning, afternoon and night, making it very clear he wasn’t budging, not that anyone tried to pry him away. Their child survived and he assumed now that they were a family, she’d come back home and they would live happily ever after (honestly, I don’t know how men reason), she didn’t want to but she did it for him. The 2nd wife was not having any of that and given the fact that she was in her territory (she was also from Ogun state), she had the backings of her people. Hadiza on the other hand was a lone ranger with just her son and her husband but she was willing to live with the other woman’s troubles as long as it was directed at her.
One day, Hadiza came home from work to find her 3 years old son with marks on his body, His nanny told her the other woman had beaten him over a small offense. Hadiza went to the woman’s quarters, beat the living day lights out of her, packed her things and left the house. Niyi came home to utter confusion, found out Hadiza had gone back to Zaria, jets over there . . . all macho you are my wife and that is my son, now get in the car let’s go back home where you belong and she told him she would only if wanted her child dead before his 5th birthday.
I imagine he rolled his eyes at her high drama but she was insistent, there had been a few times her son eaten something the other woman prepared and became violently ill but they had always chucked it up to him being a premie baby and probably allergic to things. Anyway, they went back and forth for a long time and she said NO. He got angry and said whatever, you are no longer my wife. . . blah, blah, blah, this, this, this, that, that, that and poof! It was over. Oh he still saw his son and all but whatever was between them was no more.
She never had any other child, she threw herself into bringing up her son and her work, she became the headmistress of an all girls school (she considered all of them her children) and He went on to have 4 more children with his 2nd wife, 2 with his 3rd, 1 with his 4th and a few bastards sprinkled all over the state. yes! After losing Hadiza, he didn’t seem to care. Once in a while, their paths crossed. . . for their son’s graduation, when he got married, the naming ceremony of their grandchildren but it was understood there is no going back. When she died at 53, he locked himself in his rooms for days; it was their son and his brother who had to talk him out.
Oh yeah, another Irony, Hadiza’s son and the other woman’s son become very close, they would joke about being th first twins born two months apart. Their children grew up to be the closest of all Niyi’s grandchildren, ready to do battle for one another and people knew better than to try and come between them. . . it was them vs. everyone else, which included cousins from the other wives. Hadiza's granchildren got to know their step grandmother and found her. . . let’s just say she was not the ogre or the wicked witch of the west they had imagined (I've always wanted to know what she thinks when she looks at them)
Well there you have it.
If you subscribe to the whole it is better to have loved and lost than to never love at all. . . you probably see nothing wrong with this story. For me, it is a sad story, there is nothing sweet about it. I mean seriously, who won here? Hadiza who died of a broken heart? Niyi who naively believed love can conquer all or his 2nd wife who spent her life living in the shadows of another, knowing no matter what she did. . . she would never be the ONE for husband? How about his other wives. . . sucked into an already screwed up life all because Niyi wanted to prove himself?
If I had the power to yell CUT, I'll do it in a heartbeat, save everyone the heartache and redo the moment Hadiza and Niyi met . . . so they don’t. Of course, I’ve been told doing this would be tantamount to cutting off my nose to spite my face because the chances I’ll be here today if they never happened is slim to none. . . see, they were my grandparents.
Even with that in mind, I’m still not convinced this story does not deserve another take. I find it extremely unfair that one wrong turn can derail your entire life story. . . and I can't stop thinking about it.
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