Tell a story which end with the words… ‘and I have had to live with this stigma for the rest of my life’.

THE STIGMA OF MY LIFE

It was when I was in form there that my sister who was and still married to a businessman brought me to Lagos. I was fifteen years old then. The things that informed my elder sister bringing me into her matrimonial home in Lagos were mainly three: to help look after the young ones; continue my college education and act as the keeper of their shop near our house in ebute Metta.

Since my sister is a nurse and my brother-in-law is an international businessman, I lacked nothing. He often brought good dresses and shoes from Italy where he frequented f or business activities. My brother-in-law was very strict with me in spite of his generous disposition towards me in gifts, dresses, shoes and jewelry. He even found time to visit me in school whenever I and others had cause to stay a little longer than the normal closing time.

One day while I was in form four and my sister had gone to night duty as a nurse, my in-law told me t hat he liked me and would want me to make love to him since I was no longer a baby. I politely reminded him that he was my sister’s husband and I didn’t know about such a thing. He  merely told me that he understood my attitude and that I should not tell anyone since he was merely teasing me. He generosity towards me increased. I didn’t see the need reporting the matter to my sister. I feared she would not believe and could go ahead to suspect me seducing her husband. I heard something like that happened to a girl who was staying with her sister in a nearby street before my arrival in Lagos.

Almost a year after his first approach when my sister had gone home to visit our parents for about a week, he forced me into making love to him. He continued few more times to force me to do it with him until I became pregnant. He was more vocal in saying, that the pregnancy belonged to Emeka who was befriending me and who had actually shown interest in marrying me. He encouraged me to quickly marry Emeka and generously helped Emeka and myself to speedily get through the wedding ceremony.

I know within myself that my first son doesn’t belong to my present husband and that he is physically different from my other children, boys and girls, that are naturally Emeka’s. only my sister’s husband and myself know that my first son belongs to him and not to my ‘second’ but real husband. Many years have passed and nobody will believe my story so I have had to live with this stigma, and may continue like that for the rest of my life.