Broken | ✓

CHAPTER THIRTY NINE: BEGINNING MIDDLE END

                            Ireti

I met Calvin when I moved out of Mummy Tee’s house, Tife was one then and I was still struggling with mastering the art of motherhood. One evening Tife wouldn’t stop crying no matter what I did, when I heard a soft knock, it was Calvin asking to come in to help me with Tife. I was reluctant, I had seen him around and exchanged pleasantries, I didn’t really know him but I had reached my limit with Tife’s crying so I handed Tife to him and he instantly stopped crying. That was how an alliance between them was formed.

I thought it wouldn’t matter that Tife didn’t have a father because he was still a baby but he recognized the presence of a male figure and it turned out that was what the crying was about. He had gotten use to Mummy Tee’s husband’s presence and suddenly there was no man anymore so the face of another man brought him comfort. That day left me wondering when Tife would begin to ask for his father but luckily for me the presence of Calvin filled in for the absence of Jide.

Calvin had the cutest daughter, Nina, and because she was only three years older than Tife they became playmates. I had grown attached to her, I loved braiding her hair, something her father was terrible at. Her late mother was black and she inherited a huge amount of that blackness from her hair to her skin color. Each time, Calvin stepped out with her, they earned stares from people because of his whiteness.

Calvin was better at child rearing than me, he had to learn it on his own because his wife put Nina’s life before hers. He had to be both a mother and father to Nina but since our lives intertwined, we had been reducing each other’s work load. He was filling in for Jide as Tife’s father and I was filling in for his wife as Nina’s mother. Aside that we were each other’s companion, a break from life’s sternness.

More times than once, friendship between a man and a woman leads to something more especially for people like Calvin and I who didn’t admit it but we were in need of arms to wrap us in. We grabbed the arms nearest to us.

“Hey, birthday girl” Calvin hugged me from behind, planting a kiss on my neck.

“How did you get a cake past me?”

“You are not always on your toes babe and you have the smartest four-year-old kid” he replied, his head resting on my shoulder.

One of the things I liked about Calvin was how he couldn’t keep his hands off me and not because he was fueled by lust but because there is so much love in those small innocent caresses. It made me feel important, made me feel needed.

“Thank you” I pecked him on the lips.

Solace rested in Calvin’s eyes, he was the kind of person, you blab your whole life to without fear of scrutiny. He had that effect on me, first I was sharing the small things then the big things before I could hold back, he already had my life records on the palms of his hands. I was attracted to him because of this solace, I was looking for a place to rest and he became a nest. I didn’t have to help him pick up his broken pieces while I struggled with mine like it was with Jide. With Calvin, it was easy.

“I have another surprise for you” he brought out two tickets to an art gallery. We were both big on art, he was a photographer.

“Is this the one I have been dying to see?” I gasped.

“One and the same” he replied.

“Oh my God, thank you babe” I squealed.

“But wait, it is by nine in the evening, what about the kids?” I inquired.

“Your sister offered to take them in for the weekend, so we have the weekend to ourselves” he grinned.

“Well, that seems nice” I kissed him again.