Affair….

EUNICE ANSAH-AGYEMAN

THE AFFAIR

EPISODE 11

Chelsca sat dejectedly with her backpack strapped to her back on the stairs to the pickup room.

Henrik was an hour late in picking her.

All her friends had left and she was there with the attendant who had just gone inside to put a water bottle they found outside into “the Lost and Found” basket.

The sound from the sliding gate indicating someone was there made her look up.

Henrik drove in and parked a few inches from her.

“Home alone?” Henrik asked in a bid to make her smile.

Chelsca folded her arms and frowned her face.

“Hop in Princess. Let’s get you home before your mother skins me alive.”

Chelsca wouldn’t budge.

Henrik pulled the handbrake and got out of the car.

“Looks like this Princess wants to be carried to the car,” he said as he tried to lift her off her feet.

Chelsca resisted.

The attendant had come out now and was looking on.

“Please, I’m sorry I wasn’t here earlier. I was held up in a little meeting. Let’s get you home, okay?” he tried to convince her.

“You forgot to give me the hug and a kiss here! I am not getting in the car until I get it,” Chelsca said, pointing to her left cheek and folding her hands in front of her again.

“Ha, so all this show is for a kiss and a hug? Women and kisses. Tell me, what does a kiss do for you?”

“It makes me happy,” Chelsca replied.

“Ok, now how will I hug you when you have folded your arms like that?” Henrik teased.

Chelsca let down her hands and smiled. Henrik gave her a big hug and planted a kiss on both cheeks and carried her into the car.

He thanked the Attendant for her patience and gave her some money.

Henrik drove out of the huge school gates into the main street. He made the first turn to the right and sped on in silence. His mind was racing with thoughts about Melissa’s revelation. He passed the pizza shop and made the turn to the house. Chelsca got furious.

“Why didn’t you stop for pizza. You promised we would stop over today when you pick me up,“ Chelsca lamented.

Henrik realized he hadn’t paid much attention since he picked her. He had been preoccupied by the Melisa issue. He made a U-turn in the middle of the road and headed back to the Pizza Shop. Henrik got down and unlocked the door for Chelsca to step out. He took her by the hand and led her to the crowded pizza shop.

They walked to the counter and placed their order. Henrik led his daughter to the available table he saw close to the entrance. Henrik sent Chelsca with some money to go get herself an ice cream for herself and water for him.

He went over the events of the day with Melisa several times. He needed to find a solution to this problem. Henrik needed a solution fast otherwise things would get out of hand.

He played with a million and one options in his mind but still held the view that abortion was the only way out. He had to convince Melisa somehow to do that. Henrik thought of offering her a lot of money as compensation if she agreed but knowing her he dropped that idea.

“Daddy, are you tired?” Chelsca asked when she returned.

“A bit, but why do you ask?” Henrik replied.

“You are not talking. You didn’t even ask how school was.”

Henrik smiled even though he was saddened by her remark. He hadn’t been himself since the mess he had invited into his life. He looked at the innocent girl sitting across from him and understood why Melisa wanted to keep the baby.

Children were precious gifts from God. He sent them to you to brighten up your life and lift your spirits when you were down. In Melisa’s case, she had yearned for a child all these years and now that she finally almost got one, he wanted to take it away. That would be so unfair. He took Chelsca’s small hands in his and licked the stream of ice cream on her hand in a playful gesture. Chelsca giggled.

“You know I love you, right?”

“Yep!” Chelsca said whiles licking her favourite ice cream.

“How would you feel about having a brother or sister in the next couple of months?”

“Is Mommy pregnant?”

“No, I just need to know if you are ready.”

“Yes, I want a brother. I would love a brother so he can beat all the boys who worry me at school.”

“Hey, is someone worrying my Princess at school? You don’t have to wait for a brother, that’s why Daddy

is here. Tell me and let me go and knock some sense into his head.”

“Ok. Oheneba is always teasing me because I write with my left hand. He says I do that because I am not smart. He takes all my pencils and erasers and gets me into trouble with Mrs. King. Sometimes he takes my biscuit and put it in the trash can,” Chelsca enumerated.

“Why haven’t you told me this before? I will go with you tomorrow to see your teacher about it, Okay?”

“Okay, he does that to all the girls, but he stopped worrying Emefa because her brother came to warn him.”

“Sweetie, I will get him tomorrow. But you should always report him to your teacher whenever he does something mean to you.”

Henrik picked the pizza pack when it was ready and drove straight home. Kiara-joy was already home.

“Mommy, is it true you are pregnant?” was the first thing Chelsca asked when she got down from the car.

“And where is that coming from? I hope Daddy is not pumping his ideas into your head,” Kiara-joy said with a smile and planted a kiss on Chelsca’s cheeks. She hugged her tightly and let go. She went over to Henrik with open arms. They embraced tightly with Henrik holding on so tightly that Kiara-Joy felt squashed.

She kissed him on the lips. Chelsca was already in the house devouring her pizza. Kiara-joy could tell Henrik was troubled about something. She asked Henrik if he was ready to talk about whatever was weighing him down but he assured her it was work related and didn’t want her to worry about it.

He put his hand around her waist and re-echoed the fact that he needed another child in the house. He joked about going inside and trying to get her pregnant right then. Henrik pulled her closer and kissed her again and made her promise never to leave him no matter what happened.

Kiara-joy reassured him that she was there for keeps and loved to be with him and that there was nothing in this world that could change that. They walked arm in arm into their living-room.

That night even though they had ended up making passionate love, Henrik found it hard to sleep. He tossed in bed several times and replayed what Melisa had told him in the restaurant over and over again. He looked over at his beautiful and innocent Kiara as she lay asleep peacefully. Henrik knew the news about him impregnating another woman would crush her soul.

She had given her all to him and Chelsca. She had not held anything back. Indeed she had been nothing but a good wife and a real treasure. Above all, she had worked so hard for their marriage to work. Henrik shuddered to think of the effect all these were going to have on her. She was very principled when it came to those things. She never liked the step family thing.

From her point of view, the worst thing anyone could do for their kids was to give them step siblings when their parents were still married. She had battled with that when her Dad had a child with another woman. She had seen how crushed her mom had been and how she never recovered from it.

And she had told Henrik at one point that she had never forgiven her Dad for that. In their case, the stepmom in question had refused to take care of the child and he had been dumped on Kiara-Joy’s mom as soon as he was born.

He had grown up without knowing his biological mother who passed later on after his birth. Still Kiara-Joy had tears in her eyes every time she talked about her father’s unfaithfulness. It was something she never got over.

It even affected how she saw men but eventually he had won her trust. Now, he had breached that trust and he was aware that she would never forgive him for that.

He prayed and hoped that Melisa would reason up and terminate the pregnancy. He was sure the affair would be forgiven eventually but when there was a reminder of it in the form of a human being, that would be too much to just sweep under the carpet.

Henrik prayed for sleep to engulf him and relieve him of the cross of guilt he was carrying but sleep deserted him that night.