SHADOW OF THE PAST

31 The Secret

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With a gloomy face, Chief Odetola sat down in his Pastor's office over the issue of Tomisin being his illegitimate child, which he just found out while eavesdropping on his sister-in-law's conversation with his wife.

At first, he was so annoyed that he wanted to barge in and vent his anger on the two sisters, but he kept his cool. He thought of the day being a special day for his wife, so he remained silent over the matter.

At midnight, he found it difficult to sleep all through. He kept rolling back and forth on the bed he shared with his wife, as the thought of how he had returned home forty-five years back from a business trip to meet the beautiful angel.

Who could have thought that beautiful angel (Tomisin) was not his offspring?

‘So, all my years of labor on this child were all in vain? The child I cherished so much was not truly mine? Oh, God! How do I get over this at this old age of mine?’ he thought within himself as he rolled back and forth on his bed brooding over the matter.

The following morning, he left the house very early and went over to discuss the matter with his pastor.

Pastor Kunle sighed heavily after he had listened to Chief Odetola's explanation…

“Chief….this matter is such a serious one that needed to be handled with great wisdom from above.” Pastor Kunle paused for a moment, racking his brain on how to solve the problem.

Pastor Kunle happened to be the resident pastor of ‘His Grace Ministry’. He is forty years of age, married with two kids. He had spent twenty years in ministry. Since he was ordained a pastor, he had never come across such a trivial issue.

“Sir,” he continued “Can I involve the elders of the church in this matter?” he asked and Chief Odetola shrugged his shoulders in acceptance of Pastor Kunle's suggestion.

••• ••• ••• ••• 
Lucia took her wanted husband in secretly and commenced treatment of self-medication on him.

Olanrewaju's health kept deteriorating with the few days he spent receiving treatment from his wife. He was so weak that he couldn't stand on his own and each time he's been fed by his wife, he usually pukes the food he was fed on.

Lucia began to get fed up with the issue, she thought that if she continue to hide him, he might not last up to a week. She might wake up one day and meet him dead.

With tears trickling over her eyes, she picked up her phone and put a call through to Femi who was still at the hospital watching over his sick father.

She explained everything to him over the phone. She confessed to him that she was fed up with hiding her husband from receiving the necessary punishment he deserved. So, she asked Femi to inform the detective in charge of the case that Olanrewaju is ready to surrender. She told him over the phone where her husband was.

••• ••• ••• ••• 
Pastor Kunle summoned three elders in the church and narrated the whole issue to them.

The elders took their time to brood over the issue and concluded by inviting Jadesola over.

Jadesola on her arrival discovered that her husband had found out about Tomisin being an illegitimate child to them. She was asked to put a call through to her sister (Bukky) who had traveled back to Lagos that she would be coming over for a church program in her area.

The elders knew that by telling her the truth, she might want to flee and won't attend the meeting they were planning to hold at Pastor Etim's church in Lagos, which will probably jeopardize things and won't make the issue easy to resolve.