CHAPTER TWENTY.
Weeks passed and nothing changed between Adele and Jamal. He did not make it up to her like he had promised. They kept having sex like a regular couple and most times, Adele would wake up to an empty bed. He hardly stayed the night after spending the night with her.
Adele was heartbroken and devastated. She wanted to tell Grandma all what Jamal was doing to her, but on a second thought, she changed her mind. It was her marital problem and she had to deal with it herself.
Since her and Jamal were not on talking terms, she decided to immerse herself in her work to avoid thinking about him all the time. She was so busy with work that she forgot to care for herself. The past week, she had been feeling tired and nauseous most of the time. At first, she thought it was bad food she ate, but as the feeling prolonged, she began to suspect pregnancy. Her and Jamal had been having unprotected sex and she also noticed her period was more than one week late.
Without any hesitation, she took a test in the morning, and when it came out positive, she had no idea what to do or what to think, so she called her husband who was then at work, much not to her surprise though, it was his secretary who answered and said he was at an important meeting.
She immediately called in a sick leave at work that morning and went to the hospital to confirm her doubt.
At that moment, she was seated in the doctor’s hospital, waiting for him to come in with the pregnancy results. Her heart was pounding so hard in her chest that she feared it would rip her rib cage and hop out. She was silently praying in her heart that she wasn’t pregnant. That the test she took had shown a false positive result.
At that moment in her life, m in her marriage, everything was in chaos. Her husband was not in love with her and he dreaded spending time with her. She did not want to bring a child into that kind of marriage to experience all that she was experiencing.
“Miss Mackenzie, your test results are ready.” The doctor announced as he walked into the office and over to his seat. As he sat down, Adele closed her eyes and made a short prayer to Lord, begging him to make the results negative. “Are you ready to know your results, Miss Mackenzie?” The doctors asked and Adele quickly snapped her eyes open. She was tempted to say no, but she did not. She knew she had to know what the results stated so she would know how to go about things.
“Yes, I am.” She replied lifelessly as she rubbed her sweaty palms together and fumbled with the hem of her dress.
“Your test results show that you are five weeks pregnant.” The doctor announced and immediately, a fat tear rolled down her cheeks as she looked up at him. Her heart missed a beat and blood paused in her veins. The news jarred in her eyes like loud music and she could feel her breath hitching.
The air in that office suddenly felt like sulphur steams, choking her and making it impossible for her to breathe.
She was disappointed.
She was not happy with the news one bit!
“Mia Mackenzie, did you hear me?” The doctor asks and Adele snapped out of her trance. She quickly wiped away the tear that had rolled down her cheek and smiled at the doctor who looked very confused.
“I’m sorry I was just.. shocked by the news.” She said, trying hard to laugh. “I… I wasn’t expecting it to be positive, but it’s cool.”
“Are you sure?” The doctor asked, concerned.
She wanted to burst into tears right there and tell him she wasn’t happy at all, but she managed to keep a smiling face as she nodded at him.
“One hundred percent sure.” She lied between her teeth and the doctor nodded with a smile.
“Alright then…” he said, handing over the brown envelope which contained the test results. “Our next appointment is in two days, which is Friday. When you come, we’ll schedule your antenatal sessions. You can come along with the father of the child. It would be nice if he can be part of this journey.” The doctor explained and Adele suddenly burst into laughter.
The thought of Jamal coming for atenal with her cracked her up.
He would rather die than do such a thing. She was sure of that.
“I’m sorry doctor, forgive my manners, I just thought of something funny.” She apologized as she tried to keep a straight face. “I will be here on Friday, hopefully with the father of the child.”
“I will be waiting.”
“Thank you very much doctor, I will take my leave now.” She said and left the office.
Once she got into her car and the driver kicked off, she burst into tears and cried hard, caring less about the fact that the driver was seeing her cry from the rear mirror.
Getting pregnant was the last thing she wanted at that point in her life.
When Adele got home, she spent the whole day just sitting alone and staring at space. She wasn’t happy that She was pregnant at all. In fact, she spent a long time only blaming herself for not taking contraception and thinking how she would bring a child to live among her and Jamal.
How were they going to love and care for a child when we neither loved or cared for each other?
Their relationship was so bad and she wasn’t even eager to tell him about the pregnancy.
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After dinner, which was a quiet one as usual, both Adele and Jamal retired to their bedroom. Adele was exhausted and just wanted to go to bed, but that plan of hers was ruined when Jamal called her name.
“Adele.” She heard her husband call and she stopped on her tracks and turned to look at him.
“Yes, Jamal.”
“Your publishing firm published nother irrelevant article today and I was not happy with it. I had to take it down.” He explained and Adele was lost because she had no idea what had happened at work that day since she had called in sick. However, she was irritated by what he had done.
“How is it that you have the power to take down articles as you wish?”
“I’m a powerful man around here Adele. I’m sure you know about that.”
“Yeah, whatever.” She said and turned to leave but he spoke again.
“I was told you went to see the gynecologist today. Is everything alright with you?” He asked with a hint of concern in his voice.
Adele laughed hysterically as she turned to face him once more.
She did not say a word to him. When she was done laughing, she turned on her heels and began walking out on him. She barely made few steps towards the door to the closet when Jamal followed and caught her arm, and as he made her turn to look at him he yelled at the top of
his lungs:
“This is just too much to take! Why do I have to hear from strangers that my wife has been to a doctor? I waited for you to mention it first, but you didn’t. You never do! Is it so hard to tell me at least whether you’re sick or not? Do you have to keep me awake all night wondering?” He was enraged.
“I called you this morning to tell you, but you were busy working as usual. Did your secretary not tell you? Anyway, it was just a regular visit.” Adele whispered as she pulled her arm out of his painful hold.
“I’m sorry… I misunderstood.” He uttered, not even raising his eyes to look at her.
Adele just rolled her eyes and walked into the closet. She didn’t have the strength to argue with him that night.
How he knew about her visit to the gynecologist remained a mystery to her.