and Mrs. Macaulay laughed. “Wings indeed! It’ll get better dear,” they said in unison. The years had indeed been good to her parents. Rita liked the way they sometimes finished each other’s statements. Every day, they were becoming more alike than she ever remembered. That was not all. As the years flew past, beautiful physical resemblances seemed to mark their features, maybe it had something to do with relating intimately with one person for many years.
Mrs. Macaulay continued. “Go and drop your bag upstairs, then come down for lunch, okay?”
“Yes mom.” Rita stood up, carrying her box but stopped as she approached the door and turned to her father. “Please, tell me again, why do you read books on marriage and love?”
Mr. Macaulay’s eyes gleamed then became sombre. “Had I read these Christian books before marriage, I would have avoided a lot of mistakes. Honey, we’re indeed blessed to have such a good daughter like you and every day, for the rest of my life, I want to be a good husband to your mother and a good father to you.”
Rita went up to her room with a smile playing on her lips. Dinner time in her home was always fantastic, and that’s majorly because they talked as they ate and she got to watch dad steal glances at mom when he thought she wasn’t looking. Soon, it was night and Rita retired to her room after listening to advice from her parents on life, don’t withhold help from people and when you need it, you’ll find it. Remember how Jesus made Simon Peter a fisher of men after he lent him his boat. Remember how Abraham fed the strangers and got Isaac in return, remember how the Zeraphat woman offered Elijah shelter and got a child, remember how Ruth took care of her mother-in-law and got blessed with another husband, a wealthy and popular one. When her parents were done with the lecture, she thanked them then left making a mental note to treat people better. That second personality that almost always opposed her spoke now, you could start with Roland so you don’t cheat yourself out of a good relationship by cheating. She’d ponder on it later, she’d had enough lecture for one day. The minute her head hit her bed, she picked up her phone and started chatting with her boss. He simply loved having night chats with her. According to him, they helped him sleep better. Since doing that endeared her to him, she willingly sacrificed some hours of her night rest.
At 1am, sleep still evaded Mrs. Joy Macaulay. Her mind was disturbed for reasons unknown to her. Rita kept coming to mind, Rita as a child crying whenever they went for evangelical assignments without her, Rita as a teenager, quiet and willing to do whatever she was told, offering little or no opinion, Rita as an adult who seemed pretty balanced but was she?
Appearances could be deceiving.
Why was she thinking so much about her daughter who was only three rooms away? Since Mr. Macaulay was sleeping soundly, she decided to go check on her. She wiped her eyes with her hands and afterwards got out of bed gently. In two minutes, she was in her daughter’s room. “Rita, you’re not sleeping.”
At the sound of her mother’s voice, Rita dropped her phone on the bed and sat up. “No mom, I’m chatting with a client.”
Mrs. Macaulay folded her hands as she leaned on the door. “At 1am?”
Rita coughed. “Yeah, I’m trying to finalise some urgent business deals.”
Mrs. Macaulay raised her eyebrows and nodded. “And the conversation was so intense that you didn’t hear me come into your room?” She traipsed down the room, sank on the bed and looked at the phone before Rita hurriedly covered it with a pillow, coughing gently. “This isn’t the phone you came with the last time you were here.”
“Actually, the previous one got bad, so I bought a new one,” said Rita almost incoherently, as she yawned.
“Ok. Not to be nosy, but my eyes caught the ‘I love you’ line on your phone. Do you make use of that sentence when chatting up a client?”
“Actually, the client is also a friend. Her name is Sarah Okoro,” said Rita placidly.
Mrs. Macaulay nodded even though her heart screamed out that they were lies. She wanted to believe Rita. She was well brought up. There was no way she could tell lies and calmly at that. Oh Lord, let this intuition be an imagination I should never have worried about. “I see. Goodnight my dear” She gave her a quick peck.
“Goodnight mom.”
Rita heaved a sigh of relief as her mother left the room but Mrs. Macaulay was anything but relieved. As she got to the bedroom, she met a husband who was about going to search for her in the house. “Where did you go to?”
Mrs. Macaulay had her hands on her hips, worry clearly marked on every part of her face.
“Honey, is anything wrong?” Fred asked.
She noded, unable to shake off the uneasy feeling at the pit of her stomach. “I’m not sure but I really hope not.”
He took her hand in his and pulled her closer. “What is the matter my love?”
She snuggled deeper into her husband’s embrace. He held her tightly, caressing her hair.
“It’s Rita, I went into her room and found her with her phone. She said she was chatting with a client at this ungodly hour. The Rita that I brought up does not stay up late at night.”
He kept his hand over hers. “Give her some space honey. She’s not a little girl anymore. She’s twenty four. The youths of this dispensation are always with their phone.”
She shook her head. “I understand but that’s not all, she told this so called client, that she loved him.” She frowned as she remembered her encounter with Rita, “Though she claimed it was a female, I don’t believe her.”
Mr. Macaulay smiled. “And she’s not old enough to be in a relationship? You got married to me at 20 years, woman. At eighteen, I was already wooing you, remember? There was no phone at that time, so I’ll stand at the road junction that leads to the market for hours just to see you because I knew you always took that path on your way to and fro your mother’s shop.”
Mrs. Macaulay’s face curved into a smile. She and her husband had indeed loved each other for many years. Although the early start of their marriage had been rocky and investing so much time into the church ministry had been the only way to avoid dealing with their problems, they later came to terms with their differences. Now, her heart beat for her daughter, she wanted to be sure she was okay. In despair, she clutched tightly to her breasts which now sagged, Rita had suckled on them. “I know that she’s not a baby. I’m just worried, my motherly instinct tells me there’s something terribly wrong plus she’s got a new phone. That’s two phones in one month. Now, that’s not being prudent, is it?”
“Okay, calm down. There’s no need for you to get all worked up, I’ll talk to her in the morning. But for what it’s worth, we’ve raised a good daughter, you know that, right?”
Mrs. Macaulay smiled. “Yeah.” She gave her husband a peck on his cheek, pressing her body to his until she fitted him perfectly, her legs on his thighs, her head on his shoulders and her breasts on his chest. “I love you my darling, I always have.”
He gave her a peck on her forehead then kissed her fully on the lips. “I love you too. Now, go back to sleep, just as you said, this is an ungodly hour to be chatting.”
Mrs. Macaulay’s smile broadened. “Yes, my Lord, it’s such an ungodly hour to chat but not so ungodly for my husband to
