I shook my head slowly. If only this woman knew she was merely wasting her time. There was no need for the promises she was making, there was no pregnancy to keep for her anymore.
“I understand what you….what you are saying, Aunty, and I promise to do my best,” I answered, trying to meet her gaze as she stared deep into my eyes, searching for answers. “All you want is for me to make sure the pregnancy grows and I keep the baby alive, right, Aunty?” I tried to smile.
She nodded excitedly. “Yes, yes, Rosie, that’s all!” she quickly returned, happy I was responding the way she wanted.
“It’s no problem, Aunty, I will do my best. I will make sure nothing happens to the baby or the pregnancy, I promise,” I assured her. And I was impressed with myself the way that came out so smoothly.
She hugged me tightly for some seconds before squeezing some money into my hand. “Here, take this and use it to buy anything you want, maybe a nice shoe or a nice dress or something, anything you like. I will also get you some more nice stuffs, okay?”
I nodded, wondering how she would react if she heard I had already terminated the pregnancy she so badly wanted.
“Listen, Rosie, I want you to trust me, you have nothing to worry about,” she assured me for the umpteenth time. “In fact, let me tell you what I have been thinking, its something that has been on my mind for a while now but I don’t know if it will sit well with you,” she suddenly sounded very serious.
“What is it, Aunty, what do you have in mind?” I urged her to speak on.
“I have been thinking, dear, I know that you don’t want this pregnancy, you have made that very clear to me. Even your father is not in support of you having a babe when you should be in school along with your mates. It’s only your mum, my sister, who wants a grand-child. So, I was thinking I should tell you that I will like to take the baby off you once you put to bed and go back to the village to continue with your education, that way, you will not have to carry any shame or stigma with you back to the village and nobody, not even your mother will know what transpired between us and everybody is happy at the end of the day. And trust me, my husband and I will reward you handsomely if you do this for us…..”
I swear, I could not believe what I was hearing! It was as though this woman was speaking to me in Spanish language. So, this was really her plan all along? She wanted me to come to Lagos, give birth and then she takes the baby away from and send me back to the village? Some people are just too selfish. No, wicked is a better word.
“So, Aunty, if I understood you correctly, you want me to put to bed and then you will take the baby away from me and send me back to the village?” I asked calmly, trying very hard to conceal my disgust.
“Ah, Rosemary, you don’t seem to like the idea? It is for your own god, my dear,” she said stupidly.
“So, what will now happen to the baby?” I probed further.
“We will take care of the child, my husband and I will make sure the baby will never lack anything,” she responded.
“And what will now happen to the child later?” I probed further.
She paused a little, trying to be very careful with her words. “Nothing will happen to the child, Rosie, we will take of the child and you can always come down to Lagos to see the child as well. “
“So, this child that we are talking about, whose child will it really be, mine or yours?” I fired the question she didn’t want me to ask.
“Ha! Rosemary, what kind of question are you now asking me again?” she retorted, looking everywhere but my face. I just stood there, unmoved, staring at her straight in the eye.
“Of course the child will be our child,” she answered, trying to force a smile on her face but the effort didn’t quite work out. It only showed that she was trying to lie to deceive me.
“I don’t understand, ma, your child?” I threw back.
“No, Rosie, when I say our child, I mean your child and ours, my husband and I.”
“How can a child belong to all of us? What will be my place in the life of that child as the biological mother? If I leave the child behind for you and I only come here once a couple of years, how will the child ever know that I the true biological mother? To be honest, I don’t get this at all,” I expressed my displeasure. It took everything inside me to restrain myself from calling her names.
“But, Rosie, I don’t understand, I thought you said you didn’t want the child, so why are you now sounding like this just because I am offering to keep for you the same child you’re begging me to help you kill? Or were you not the one insisting you wanted to abort the pregnancy?”
I smiled wryly. “Yes, Aunty, I know that. I won’t deny that I want the pregnancy terminated and I’m sure you know why I am I took that decision. But that does not mean if for any reason I decided to keep the pregnancy, I should now be willing to just give birth to the baby, deliver it to you and the forget I ever had a child, that’s not something my conscience can live with!”
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