Chapter 42: A FATHER'S FEAR
It's been a week after the wedding and Phyllis decided to resume work since she had stayed home for three months. She was nostalgic about work and couldn't wait any longer so he informed Denzel about her decision to resume work but he didn't want her to because he felt their daughter was too young and needed much attention. He didn't want her to also put her into a creche or employ a nanny to care for Beryl as well. She told him that she intended to take be taking her to her office but he still failed to consent to it. She also didn't want to give her to his mother, her mother or Mrs. Richards because she wanted to bond with her. She was aggrieved with him but wanted to handle his stubbornness with calm.
"Phyl, I am going to talk to Mr. Richards to give you the permission to work from home so that you'll get ample time to attend to our daughter or you can even choose to be a stay home mom and I will give you a monthly allowance. In fact I would be glad if you choose the latter option because that's what I really want. Please, consider that for our family's sake." Denzel said. She sat still and couldn't utter a word for a while because she couldn't understand why her husband, a renowned barrister would even have that idea not to talk about voicing them out.
" Why do you badly need me to be a stay home mom, Dee?" she calmly asked him but with anger in her tone. " You will get ample time to raise our daughter and also perform other duties such as cooking, cleaning and washing." You'll be exhausted if you add work to these." She burst into uncontrollable laughter because she felt her husband was thinking like an illiterate. "Seriously? If these are your reasons, then I guess you don't intend for me to work ever again. We will be having at least two more kids, so that means that, I would have to stay home till i am done with childbearing. Are you also saying that, I will be the only one doing the house chores even when you have the time to help? Ah, Mr. Mansford, I am not seeing you well."
Just as he was about to respond to her, they both heard their phones beeping and when they checked, it was Amelia who had sent them pictures of Phyllis' office to them. She had plastered her room with floral wallpapers and had put a bed in the corner with a curtain covering where the bed was. She had attached a message which read " for you and my beautiful niece's comfort. I hope you like it?" She starred at Denzel quietly, hoping to get a response from him. He realised he had no choice than to allow her to resume work. "I'm assured my daughter will be comfortable with you at work so you can take her to the office but promise me that you'll be closing earlier than you used to and you wouldn't be travelling for monitoring and supervision for a while." He said. She shook her head and left for the kitchen to serve him supper.
Later in the evening when they were watching the news, it was revealed by the news channel they were watching that, a six month year old girl had been raped by her paternal uncle while her mother was washing. Denzel broke down when they were reporting the news. Phyllis was shocked to see him weeping bitterly like that so out of concern, she moved closer to him and tapped his shoulders and handed to him a tissue for him to wipe his face. She went to get him a chilled beer and sat closely to him. When she noticed that he was sober, she asked him the reason behind him crying.
He turned so that they would both face each other. He took Beryl from her and held her with a sad face. Phyllis was getting worried but she knew she had to be patient with him considering his mood at that time. "Phyl, I know I got you worried and angry not long ago and I am sorry. It isn't that I don't want you to work o, hmmmm! You see the news we just watched of a baby who had been raped by her uncle? Hmmm! I am the lawyer who's been hired by a concerned woman to sue the alleged rapist. The child's mother was threatened by her husband and his family not to report the case to the police else she would be divorced and that put fear in her so a neighbour reported the incidence to the chief of their town who convinced the mother to report it to the police. The chief called Mr. Richards to find a lawyer who will help the woman with the trial so I have been given the case."
Hmmm! Phyllis sighed. So how's the baby and the mother doing?" Phyllis asked. The baby is in a critical condition and has been admitted at the ICU at the paediatric centre of Komfo Anokye Hospital. She can not survive that horrendous act. I will be surprise to know she's even alive tomorrow. Baby, it's horrible."She broke down into tears again but this time Phyllis couldn't comfort him because she was also weeping bitterly after seeing pictures of the baby on his phone. They both cried for a while until Beryl gave a loud cry because she had woken up and was very wet. Denzel helped Phyllis to change her diapers and just when she was about to breastfeed her, Denzel's phone rang and when he picked it, it was the raped baby's mother. She was weeping bitterly because the baby couldn't survive the rape. He calmed her down and asked her to wait at the hospital for him.
He asked Phyllis to go with him to the hospital so that she could comfort her since she knew how to do that better than him. She quickly picked Beryl's diaper bag and water bottle and joined the car. They both couldn't even change their clothes before they left. Phyllis cried till they got to the hospital. She wiped her face with some of Beryl's wipes before she got out of the car. They saw the woman seated and crying under a shed while the media were trying to interview her but Denzel walked to her and took her away from there. He didn't want her to be in the spotlight because of her case else she would be more bitter than she was. Phyllis gave Beryl to Denzel and had a lengthy comforting conversation with her until she calmed down though she couldn't control her tears. Phyllis got down and convinced her husband to allow them host the lady whose name was Serwaa in their house for a while and he agreed to that. They asked her if she would be comfortable to stay with them and she sighed and said " where to even go from here for me to mourn my daughter is even the reason I'm weeping bitterly. I knew she wouldn't survive and I didn't even want her to because she had been destroyed and she would never have been healthy and happy in her entire life as a woman. My daughter would have lived traumatised for the rest of her life. May her soul rest in peace." She broke down again but Phyllis asked Denzel to allow her cry for a while so that her pain would be reduced.
Phyllis showed her to a room and asked her to bath before they even talk because she knew Melanie would be calmed in the bath even before they talk. She prepared hot chocolate drink for her to drink with a slice of bread for her to eat because she hadn't eaten for three consecutive days. Denzel and Phyllis sat with her in the living room with the Television was off because they knew the death of the baby would be all over the news and they didn't want her to weep again that evening. She broke down in the middle of taking the hot chocolate when she saw Phyllis playing with Beryl and began to share her experience. " It took me seven years to be able to conceive my daughter, Glory. My in laws harassed me to the extent of bringing a woman into my marital home for my husband to be with her since I couldn't conceive. They packed and threw my bags out one sunny afternoon because I asked my husband to go to see a doctor with me. My husband came to beg me two years after because he had still not been able to impregnate his mistress. He went to see a doctor who told him he suffered low sperm counts and needed to be treated so he sacked the other woman and came for me because he loved me. I didn't want to go back with him but I was suffering and being stigmatised because my marriage didn't work and I was being called a witch who had eaten her womb and all the children in it. No man wanted to be with me and even those who wanted to be with me, left after a while because people advised them to. So I thought I had no choice than to go back to him. Things haven't been easy for me but I decided to hang on and persevere. Do you know my baby was a twin? Her other twin died from fever three days after delivery." I can't imagine how a man can be this callous to do this wicked to me and my baby? How appealing is a three month old baby, that you would lose your self control over to rape her." She sighed again and Phyllis hugged her. She was also in so much pain and felt Melanie's pains.
Phyllis and Denzel asked to be excused so that they would have a discussion. They agreed that Phyllis shared the guest room with Melanie so that she would monitor her but he, would sleep with Beryl and would call her on phone to come and attend to her if she wakes up. They got back to where Melanie was seated and they realized she was dozing because Phyllis added valium to her hot chocolate so that she could sleep. She wanted her to sleep because she hadn't slept I three days and she thought that was bad for her. She walked her to the guest room and they both went to bed while Denzel went to bed with Beryl in their bedroom. He couldn't allow Beryl to sleep with her mother because they didn't know Melanie well.
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