MAKESHIFT HUSBAND (COMPLETE)

CHAPTER TWENTY

Hajiya Bintu closed the door behind her as quietly as she could then turned the key twice.

She turned the knob again to be sure she didn't make a mistake. Satisfied, she pulled out her phone and dialed a number after hiding her own line.

"Hello Hajiya Bintu" a man's sharp voice came through the phone.

Hajiya Bintu frowned. She hid her number so she wouldn't be recognized so how did this person know she was the one?

"Hajiya are you wondering how I recognized you?" The man laughed. "Kar ki damu. You're one of my high paying customers so of course you deserve special treatment hence I kept this line for you alone."

"Alhaji I have no time for useless chitchat. Akwai aiki. I have a jib for you" She whispered, eager to end the call and delete the number from her phone again.

"Hajiya, your husband has been well behaved recently and the ladies have learnt to stay away so what could possibly be the problem?"

"This is not for me." She rolled her eyes as if he could see her.

Of course her husband would be well behaved and the ladies would stay away too. She wasn't born into the world to joke around so she'd taken drastiv measures early and for rid of all the women.

She sighed in her heart. If it were not for Zainab's stubbornness, they wouldn't have to resort to this level and dig up this old friend.

"Hajiya are you listening?"

"Yes I am fa. It's my last daughter's problem. Zainab ba, wallahi her husband went to marry one woman haka kawai and now he's refusing to divorce her. I just want her out."

The man was quiet for a while. "Hajiya you want her out forever or out of his house?"

Hajiya Bintu was quiet for a while. "She's almost like a clingy woman. Just do whatever you think will work best. No need to worry about the money. I'll have everything ready"

"Okay. You know the drill ai hajiya. Half payment and the lady's information. My boy will be at your house tomorrow"

Hajiya Bintu hung up and deleted his number from her phone. She and Alhaji Yakasai came a long way together.

From the very first year she married Alhaji, she set up a lot of precautions to keep him all to herself and hadn't it worked?

She dialed Zainab's number but all seven times she tried, it ended up in voice mail.

Hajiya Bintu frowned and cursed Zainab's stupidity again. All of her other daughters except for husna were all women who knew to stand for themselves one way or the other and remain the only woman in the house but now zainab was following in her footsteps.

She hissed again and typed a short message to her daughter asking for the necessities before nightfall.

Hajiya Bintu deleted everything that could serve as evidence of her actions and washed her face in the toilet to regain her calm. She'd never felt this way in any of her dealings before so why now?

*************************

"So you mean you want to not divorce Maryam?" Amina asked a swollen faced Kamal. She looked at Salman who was pretending he wasn't in the room through the corner of her eyes and was even more convinced that he definitely had something to do with Kamal's black face.

Kamal nodded and winced. Salman had dealt him a strong blow on his head earlier at the hospital when he barged in on his and Maryam's conversation.

"Maryam's pregnant now and I had been having thoughts of not going through with the divorce dama."

Amina smiled at him. "Are you sure you aren't doing this just for the mere fact that she's carrying your child?"

Kamal wondered if the woman had a private talk prior to this conversation.

"I understand that you feel bound to my daughter because she's carrying your child" Amina continued. "But I know what it means to be in a loveless marriage myself and Maryam is my only daughter. I love her too much to take that risk so I will ask you this question. Do you love her?"

He didn't know what to answer with.

Did he love her?
Not sure.

But he enjoyed the little time he spent with her. He liked the fact that she was a good conversationist, she was good in bed and a good cook with an inviting personality. Above all, she made him feel at home, free and unreserved whenever he was with her.

"Take your time to think about it Kamal." Amina patted his shoulder. "There are two more months left. You can decide before then but let me make one thing clear: unless I am satisfied with your feelings for my daughter, I will stand by  the divorce"

Salman glanced up at his mother to see if she was joking but to his surprise, she had a dead serious expression as she spoke.

Kamal sat for a few more minutes and bade them goodbye.

"You're really going to let him divorce her after knocking her up?"

"You're stupid" Amina cursed at her son. "What knocking her up? You better say respectful things and this reminds me. How can you hit your sister's husband? Just see what you did to his face."

"I walked into the room and heard him saying stuff about divorce so I lost my temper and didn't think clearly." Salman muttered. "But Mamie you can't let them divorce. Do you want Maryam to be a single mother?"

"And what's wrong with being a single mother?" She scoffed. "Better that than staying trapped inside a depressing cage in the name of marriage."

Amina blinked away the dazed look on her face. Painful memories of the past had worked their way to her mind all of a sudden and she allowed herself to indulge in them for only a little while.

Salman boxed his ears.  Why talk about single mothers with such a tone? He'd hurt his mum now he needed to apologise to her.

"Which reminds me" Said the mother who needed an apology. "When are you getting married? Look at Kamal, he has two wives already. Your sister's already having a baby.......... Hey! I'm talking to you about serious things!" She called out to her escaping son. "You either pick a wife or I do the choosing"

Salman hurried out pretending he couldn't hear her.

Phew!

Such scary thoughts.

Who wanted to get married now?