Dear Taiwo,
Please, help me sort out this riddle threatening my home, I am not sure if calling it a riddle will be the best way to describe it, but sincerely, I am short of words to describe this situation going on in my home right now.
My husband and I have been married for over 17 years and God blessed our union with three children, two girls and a boy who happens to be the last child and the only boy of the family. God has been so good to us, because, by His grace we lacked nothing.
We both worked with a bank, and of course, we met and got married there. Eventually when the children started coming, I voluntarily resigned so I can take good care of our children. I went into business, selling fabrics.
In no time my business became a success, the contacts I made in the bank and the grace of God were the secrets of my success. My husband and I had a good life and our family was fine. We had no problems, short of the normal little quarrels between husband and wife, our home was a perfect or should I say a near perfect one.
When we moved into our own house, my mother-in-law had to move in with us; my husband happens to be her only child, although he has other half siblings, because my father-in-law has more than a wife, though, my mother-in-law happened to be his first wife, but because of her inability to have children on time, he took other wives, who had children before her, but he still remained the first and only son.
Because of mama’s failing health, she had to move in with us. I really didn’t mind her coming to stay with us; we never quarreled, we maintained a cordial relationship. The only time we disagreed was whenever she talked about the fact that we have to have more children, most especially because we had just one son. I have never thought she was serious, because we would talk about it jokingly and let it rest.
I lost my mother few years after our marriage, in fact, she had died before I gave birth to my son, so having my mother-in-law live with us was a blessing, because, she was always around whenever I had to travel out of the country to shop for fabrics for sale. My daughters were in the boarding school, only my son was home, because he was still too young to go to the boarding school.
Mama was a good company for him, more so, her been around was a relief to my house keeper who had to always stay back in the house whenever I had to travel. Due to stories and experience I have heard about of people who employed live-in house helps, my husband and I decided that we would not employ one, so we opted for a house keeper, who resumes in the morning and closes in the evening.
We however had an arrangement that whenever I had to travel out of the country on business, she stays at home with my son. So when mama came, travelling and leaving my son with her was easy.
I returned from one of such trips to meet a young lady aged between 19 and 24 at home, she was introduced to me as my husband’s cousin who lived with mama. She also had to move in with us since mama had left home to reside with us.
I was not comfortable with this development, more so, I saw no reason for the urgency and why both my husband and his mother couldn’t wait for me to come back from a seven- day trip before taking such a decision. I raised this with my husband, he pleaded with me to exercise some patience as the lady in question would soon leave our house to go to school.
Few months after she moved in, I started hearing stories about her supposed closeness with my husband. My house keeper was the first person to tell me this. I was really confused because I know she is not a frivolous person, but I was still confused.
Later, my one and only friend also called and told me that she met my husband and his supposed cousin in a hotel. A new trend also started, my husband began to keep late nights and at all these times, and his supposed cousin was always away from home too.
I couldn’t raise my observation with my mother-in-law because I didn’t want to add to the brewing trouble. The day I raised my observation with my husband was the day we had the biggest and most serious quarrel in our 17 years of marriage. As if that was not enough, he told his mother what I accused him of and she joined forces with him.
His cousin too has also become so rude and insolent. She would look for any reason to insult me right in my own house and her attitude to me and my house keeper is so unbearable and both her and mama have started extending this to my son.
Just as I was about to let go and leave them to their evil device and work at it for peace to return to my home, I got a very shocking report from both my son and house keeper. My son caught my husband kissing his so called cousin, he was so shocked and went to report to the house keeper, by the time she arrived at the scene which was the guest room where she was staying, my husband was actually having sex with her.
The house keeper had to shield my son from witnessing the scene. This was when my husband was supposed to be at work. He even had the guts to threaten to sack the house keeper if she told me anything.
My house keeper is not a young woman; she is a grandmother. She told me all she had witnessed and pleaded with me to do something fast before it is too late. My mother-in-law too who used to be like a mother to me has totally changed; my husband is gradually slipping away.
Please, Taiwo, help me. What should I do? How do I go about this? Losing my home is the worst thing that can happen to me. I am not happy and my home has turned into something else, please, help me.
but a wah de backside dis een sah!!. sumaddy caaan fool fool suh?. ooman kick de home wrecker out a house and if yuh husband waan falla har mek him gwaan tuh. it nuh tek raaaas rackit scientis fi figga dis yah one yah out kmft. cho, it caan hat mi fi some a dem dyam eediat ooman yuh si man.
a dats y mi nah live wid nuh in law enuh…not 1 a dem nuh good…is a second wife di man wah tek pan r unda style…
addi choot yes know it. notice how de mumma change up pon har?, all she wid de whole ting tuh.