“Who is Tania?” She couldn’t help but ask her mother. Sophie sat beside her mother, patiently waiting for her to get calm.
Slowly, the rising and falling of Mrs Peter’s chest began to relax.
“What’s going on with you and Darryl? And who is Tania?” Sophie asked again.
“Tania is the woman he got pregnant with, and he has refused to marry her” Mrs Peter said, sticking her nose up in the air.
“What?” Sophie gasped in surprise. She knew Darryl was full of surprises, but she didn’t expect him to do this much.
He got someone pregnant and married someone else without his parents’ blessings. Whatever his mother said, Darryl had it coming.
“This is terrible.” Sophie mouthed. It was not new to any of the Peters that having a child out of wedlock was not accepted.
“I know, and I have made up my mind to do everything in my power to stop him from making this mistake.” Mrs Peter said, determination laced in her voice.
Sophie’s eyes traveled around her mother’s face as she talked, and she could tell that her mother was not bluffing about what she had said.
“Mother, you have to take it easy. It might not be a big deal as you think of it.” She tried to calm her mother down.
Making decisions out of anger was an awful thing to do, and she was willing to stop her mother before she hurt herself or others in the process.
Anger surged through Mrs Peter as she heard Sophie’s words. Mrs Peter knew that Sophie would be at her brother’s side. She had been expecting Sophie to say it was not a big deal.
Like a time bomb, she exploded. “How can you say this is not a big deal? Have you forgotten what happened to this family when your father made the same mistake? Do you want to go through that again?” Sophie’s face pulled into a frown as she listened to her mother’s outburst.
“Don’t drag dad into this, mom. Dad didn’t know he had gotten someone pregnant until after years of getting married to him. And we agreed to accept her, but you refused to. That’s your mistake, not his.” Sophie’s nose flared up as he inhaled sharply to calm herself down.
Their house might be a boxing ring if either of them refused to calm down, and she wasn’t ready for that to happen.
Sophie was not ready to tolerate her mother if she continued to point out others’ mistakes while ignoring hers. Every one of them knew that Dad was oblivious of his other daughter from another woman. And they also know that the woman wasn’t just anyone, she was his lover before his parents forced him into marriage. So why is her mother trying to put the blame on her dad? She pondered.
“Isn’t it funny that you have quickly turned my good deeds into evil deeds? Everything I did was to protect you and your brother and protecting you both is what I will always do.” Mrs Peter sounded adamant.
“We know you are trying to protect us, but at what expense? You don’t care about what will happen to others at the expense of getting what you want.” Sophie pointed out. “That girl grew up without her father because of you.”
“That’s what I am trying to prevent. I don’t want another child to grow up without a father. I don’t want to make the same mistake again.” Tears welled up in Mrs Peter’s eyes as she said.
The world could call her selfish, but the pride and dignity of her family must be protected. Since she got married to her husband, keeping her family together was everything she wanted, and she won’t allow that change now.
Mrs Peter might have done everything in her power to chase the other woman away out of jealousy, but this time was different. She was more understanding now, and she knew the power of having a stable family, and she was ready to make Darryl understand that as well.
“Mother,” Sophie started, placing her hands on her mother’s hand. “I understand you, but Darryl might not understand you. Why not let him be?” she tried to persuade her mother again.
“Never!” She yelled at Sophie as she loosened her hands from Sophie’s grip. “The woman with his child will be his wife, and no one else.”
“He just said he is married. Didn’t you hear him when he said it?” Sophie asked a rhetorical question.
“Did you attend his wedding?” Mrs Peter fixed her gaze on her daughter as she asked.
“No. Why?” Confusion laced in Sophie’s voice as she answered.
“Did I attend the wedding either?” Mrs Peter asked again.
“No.” Sophie answered in the same tone.
“Did your father attend the wedding?” Mrs Peter asked the third question, her eyes still glued to her daughter’s face.
“No. Can you tell me the reason for these weird questions?” Sophie snapped.
“So, tell me who witnessed your brother’s wedding if we didn’t.” Mrs Peter gave her a questioning look.
“Oh my days!” A knowing look etched on Sophie’s face as she understood her mother. “Don’t tell me you don’t believe he got married to that woman.”
“To me, his marriage to that woman never happened. I didn’t witness it and none of my family witnessed it.” Mrs Peter clarified.
Nodding her head in disapproval, she stared at her mother like she had just grown two heads. Her mother had become unbelievable over the night. Maybe she didn’t know this side of her mother because she had been out of the state, studying.
“What will you do this time? File a court case against his wife?” Sophie raised her eyebrows as she questioned her mother.
“Filling a court case is unnecessary. I can’t afford to create a scene for the media again. But I will definitely do something that will make that woman leave on her own accord.” A smug look etched on Mrs Peter’s face.
“You think she would just leave like that? If you want to make her leave, you have to plan something big to make her leave.”
Sophie wasn’t in support of her mother’s idea, she only asked so she could give Darryl a heads-up about her mother’s plan.
“We will have a grand dinner tonight, and I will invite Tania to have dinner with us. This way, I will announce her engagement with Darryl.” Mrs Peter said with confidence as she imagined how her plan would unfold in front of her.
“Mother?” Sophie gasped in shock as she listened to her mother’s grand plan.