‘Is there anything wrong in marrying our housemaid?’

‘Is there anything wrong in marrying our housemaid?’

 

My name is Derex. I come from a very wealthy family. I am the fourth of five male siblings and we live in Lekki, in Lagos State. Right from my childhood, we had everything at our beck and call.

My father owns companies in Lagos, Abuja, Kaduna and Port Harcourt and as a golden rule, immediately after your National Youth Service, you must work in one of the companies in any state of your choice. However, we all settled for the company in Lagos. Before we started working, my father paid us monthly salaries while we were still in school aside from our monthly allowance at the end of the month. He said he did not want us to lack anything.

I was the most stubborn of all my brothers. As a rule, I only dated girls and made friends with people in our social class. I looked down on those I considered to be below my class. Because of my attitude, some of my extended family members consciously avoided coming close to me when they visited our house. I would describe myself as pompous but as I grew older, all that changed as I realised that life is what you make out of it.

At the age of 18, I started dating a childhood friend, Claudia. Both parents encouraged and supported our relationship. Fortunately, we gained admission into the University of Lagos the same year to study Mechanical Engineering. In our department, they knew us together as a couple. Our friends and family members all believed that our relationship was destined by God as we were inseparable.

The only thing that separated us was our compulsory one-year National Youth Service. While I was posted to Abuja, Claudia served in Lagos. However, despite the distance, we communicated a lot through the telephone and face book. Aside from that, we exchanged visits every two weeks throughout the duration of the service year. When I eventually returned to Lagos, I started working in my father’s company while Claudia got a job with one of the oil companies in Lagos as well. I made sure I picked her up after work every day since we both live in the same area. Sometimes, she spends the weekend with my family because my parents love and adore her a lot.

After one of such weekends with us, my mother told me that she had something very important to discuss with me. “Derex, my son, now that you have started working, why don’t you think of settling down with Claudia? Your three elder brothers are married and your younger brother is in the university. We all know she is a well brought up lady. Aside from that, everyone in the family likes her,” she said. I smiled and said, “Mother, I think you read my mind because I was thinking of proposing to her next weekend so that we can commence our marriage plans. I have waited for eight years to have her as my wife. I hope she will accept me?” “Of course she will. Claudia loves you as much as you love her,” she assured.

The next weekend, I took Claudia to her favourite restaurant and proposed to her. She accepted without hesitation. This made me so happy and we both agreed to officially inform our parents. About a month later, both families met to start discussing about our wedding plans. It was however agreed that the wedding should take place in the next six months, exactly on Claudia’s birthday. Both of us had no problems with that. I looked forward to walking down the aisle with the woman I love so much. But I later noticed that Claudia was not as excited as I was. I know that nobody is perfect but Claudia was too superficial and she cares only about herself. I felt with time she would change but how wrong I was.

Some weeks later, I fell sick and was hospitalised. I spent about eight days in the hospital but Claudia only came to see me once. That was on the second day. She did not even bother to call to find out how I was faring. Iwas shocked, I must confess. Whenever I called her cell phone, she did not pick my calls. If she did she would simply say, “Please I’m busy; I will call you back later.” But she never returned my calls.

Throughout my stay at the hospital, it was our house help, Shaki, who took care of me generally because my parents travelled out of the country. Shaki had always been a hardworking and caring girl and we all like her personality, although she had to drop out of secondary school when she lost her parents in a car accident. Shaki prepared my food and brought same to the hospital for me. Sometimes, even when I had no appetite to eat anything, she encouraged me to eat and even spoon-fed me if I needed, so that I would have food in my stomach to take my drugs. It was during that period that I came to like her even more. Claudia’s parents too came to see me once at the hospital too.

When I was finally discharged, I told the driver to take me straight to Claudia’s office but Shaki tried to discourage me. “Brother Derex, why don’t you go home straight and rest? You can see her tomorrow,” Shaki suggested. But I didn’t listen to her. When I got to Claudia’s office to enquire why she only visited me once and never bothered to call nor return my calls, she said that she had been very busy. “Sorry, Derex, I have been too busy. I will try and come and see you at home on my way home from work. Anyway, when were you discharged?” she asked. “I just left the hospital and I am on my way home but decided to see you first,” I emphasised.

She gave me a hug and a peck and I left. Surprisingly, she did not come to see me as promised. Even when I called her phone, she did not pick up nor did she send a text message to explain why she couldn’t make it. I was feeling downcast but Shaki tried all she could to cheer me up. The next day, a Saturday, I went to their house and her parents informed me that she went out with a friend. I complained to them about her attitude of late and they told me, I should talk to her because they cannot tell me anything. “Well, I will advise that both of you should sit down and talk,” stressed her mother. “When she does not even pick my calls nor come to see me, how do we talk?” I questioned. All my efforts to get Claudia and to sit down and talk proved abortive. I loved her so much and really wanted to know why the sudden change in her attitude towards me and our relationship.

A week later, I and my siblings decided to have dinner at the same restaurant where I proposed to Claudia and I got the shock of my life. As we entered the restaurant, we saw Claudia kissing a young man at a corner. I was shocked to my bone marrow. On sighting us, she whispered something into his ears, picked up her purse and they left immediately.

“It is over Derex, please forget about Claudia. She does not deserve your love,” said Paul my elder brother. I could neither eat nor drink as I kept seeing the flash of how Claudia was kissing another man. Although it was a hard and painful decision to make nevertheless I made up my mind to forget about Claudia and move on with my life. I informed my parents about the latest development and my decision when I got home. Then my mother said, “I am sure that was the young man I saw her with the other day. My son no woman is worth the trouble,” she added.

A few months later, I discovered that I had started developing interest in Shaki. I liked her intensely each passing day and I had to open up to her. She was shocked when I told her that I have fallen in love with her. Shaki started avoiding me but I told her she had nowhere to run to as she would soon become my wife. One day, she said to me, “Brother Derex, I want only God’s will to be done in my life.” To assure her that I was serious about marrying her, I informed my parents about my decision.

The day I informed my parents that I was in love with Shaki and would want her to be my wife, my mother flared up. “Derex, you must have gone out of your mind. You want to marry our house help? What did you see in her? Her tribal marks alone should scare you, “she stressed. “The fact that she is our house help does not make her less a woman. She is a nice woman and she has all the qualities I want in a wife, so what else am I looking for? And talking about her tribal marks, that is even one of the things I love about her,” I revealed. This made my mother even angrier and she started cursing the day she brought Shaki into our home. My father just asked me to have a rethink and I assured him there was nothing to think about as my mind was made up.

Some days later, I bought her some gifts to show my appreciation and thank her for how she took care of me when I was sick. She simply said thank you but I begged her for a hug and before we knew it, we ended up in the bed. I had no regret making love to Shaki because I had come to love her so much.

Weeks later, Shaki woke up vomiting and this surprised everyone especially my mother. “What is wrong with you Shaki?” she asked. “Madam I woke up and started vomiting. Maybe it is because of the beans I ate last night,” she assured. Not convinced enough, my mother took Shaki to the hospital and after some test was conducted, it was discovered that she was pregnant. “Who is responsible for this pregnancy?” My mother angrily asked. “It is brother Derex,” Shaki revealed. “I know it is not my son, so if you don’t tell me the truth, I will beat you and send you out of my house,” she threatened. Then I said, “Mum, if Shaki says the pregnancy is mine, then, it is mine. I believe her,” I stressed. This made my mother really angry. “Derex, how could you disgrace the family in this manner?” she asked. “Mother, I only followed my heart and Shaki is the woman I want to marry,” I said.

My mother started maltreating Shaki which did not go down well with my father and me so I threatened to move out of the house with her but my mother pleaded that she would change her attitude towards her and she truly did. She accepted Shaki and started treating her as if she were her daughter and this made everyone happy. However, whenever I bring up the issue of marriage, my mother seems not to be too happy about it. Anyway, Shaki gave birth to a bouncing baby boy and this made me love her even more.
She is pregnant with my second child and my mother is still reluctant about us getting married. She kept talking about the difference in our social status and I promised her I will send Shaki to further her education so that she will fit into our class but she is still obstinate. The truth is that Shaki has added so much value to my life, aside that, I believe she is my missing rib and I love her so much. Honestly, is there anything wrong with marrying our house help?