Wonderful man of my land
“I need to know why you are afraid,” Rose said without preamble once she took Susan to the balcony. She was beginning to think that there was something else Susan was not telling her. “Is there something else I should know?”
“No. It’s just that…” Susan trailed off, licking her lips nervously.
“That what?”
“It’s just that I don’t want to lose Tunji,” Susan said in a rush as she turned away from Rose. She didn’t want to see what she was sure would be the condemnation in her eyes. “If he hears of the whole episode, he’d see how it is my fault and see how dirty I truly am.”
“Susan! I don’t think you know how much Tunji loves you. He will not…”
“Well we don’t know that he will not turn away!” Susan said heatedly, cutting Rose short. “I know I have to do it because you believe it will help me heal, but I just need some time to gather my wits together.”
“No you don’t have to do it. At least not immediately. We can start the individual discussions first. Is that okay?” Rose asked softly, seeing how much damage had been done to her friend by a single act of stupidity and wickedness.
At Susan’s nod, she walked in and told Chinedu of the change of plan.
He obviously had some questions, she could see them in his eyes, but she was grateful when he didn’t voice them out.
Susan breathed more freely the moment Tunji and Chinedu left to go to the other office. She would not miss Tunji’s searching gaze. She knew he was worried about her, but there was nothing she could do.
“Let’s start,”Rose said, breaking into her thoughts.
“Okay.”
“Susan, we are going to pray first,” Rose announced, “I don’t know about you, but it helps me. I know we need this if we are going to achieve positive results.”
“Okay.”
Susan listened to Rose pray, wondering how come she seemed so comfortable talking to God. She never felt that way. She always felt like He was frowning at her, so she went without praying for months. Maybe Rose had not done anything to make her guilty.
Rose’s ‘Amen’ alerted her that the prayer was over, so she echoed it too.
Rose sat up, looking directly at her, her book and pen on her lap, and began. “So I will ask you what I asked before. Why are you here? I know I pleaded with you, but why did you agree to this? Why did you convince Tunji to come with you?”
“I want to be free. I want to be normal again,” Susan replied after a slight pause. “I dont know if it is possible, but I want to stop seeing intimacy with a man as a threat.”
“I want you to remember this reason whenever you feel this is not working,” Rose said with a nod. “I believe that with patience, and prayers, you can live normally again. You just have to be patient with yourself first, then Tunji, me and Chinedu. There are times you will feel like we don’t understand what you are going through, and you will most likely be right, but we expect that you explain to us what we are missing, because the fact is that we are on your side. We are also angry with Tunde. I’m sure you know that about me, but I want you to know that is also true for Tunji and Chinedu. Always remember the reasons you started this journey. Can you do that?”
“I will try.”
“That’s all I can ask. So, I want to to tell me about Tunde, how you met, what you liked about him, and if possible, tell me about the rape incident too. Tell me as much as you can remember, and as much as you want to. There is no pressure.”
The silence that followed Rose’s words had her wondering if she should change tactics. She was thinking on what else to do when Susan started slowly, her gaze fixed on somewhere behind Rose.
It was obvious she was no longer in the room, but was reliving her life seven years ago.
“I met Tunde on one of my walks back from school. It was during my SSCE and I was happy that I will soon be done with Secondary School.
I was mentally preparing for the next day’s paper when I bumped into him. He just stared at me while I apologised, until I became uncomfortable. I told him it was rude to stare and he laughed, saying I obviously had no idea how beautiful I was, and he would only forgive me for bumping into him if I will allow him take me out.
I was flattered by his words. I had never had a boyfriend, or even considered having one. My classmates’ taunts, that I would never get a man with all my nerdy behaviour, sometimes got to me but I was determined to get out of school with the best result possible.
I didn’t give him an answer, just told him I had to get home to prepare for my next paper the next day.
He stood at that same spot for the next few days, asking me out. It was like a game we played. He would wait there, say sweet words, make me laugh, but I would not voice an answer even though my eyes said everything he wanted to hear.
Then suddenly, I didn’t see him for a whole week. By then I was writing NECO exams.
When I saw him again, I barely held myself from running into his arms. Until, then, we stood at arms length while we played our game.
He had been sick and had been hospitalized, he told me. I believed him. I had no reason not to.
I was so sorry, I bought him some beverages and fruits the next day. I think that was when he knew how much effect he had on me.
He reminded me that if I had known where he lived, I would have known that he was ill, and my care would have made him get well faster.
I blushed.
A little more pressure, and I went to his place with him. It was a single room apartment, and in my eyes it was the definition of freedom.
I knew he was not much older than me, maybe five or six years, and here he was, being able to live as he wanted without any hindrance from his parents. It didn’t occur to me then, that that was the usual way when one is in the university.
I envied him, and fell a little more for him.
He soon convinced me how immature it was that we met on the streets before the eyes of everyone. He suggested that he come to my house to visit me, knowing I would not agree, since my parents were strict against such.
I ended up going to his house every other day. I believed it was the mature thing to do, and since I just finished from Secondary School, I felt matured enough.”
Looking at her, Susan broke the bubble which showed Rose what seven years ago was like to a younger Susan. “Please can I get some water? My throat is dry.”
Rose nodded and hurried to the kitchen, mentally making a note to herself to always keep a jug of water in the office during sessions.
As she walked towards the kitchen, she heard low voices from the other office, and hoped all was going on well in there.
She let her mind wander to what Susan had shared with her, between pauses. She had seen different emotions running across Susan’s face.
Happiness.
Sadness.
Expectations.
Contentment.
Susan had had plans in her head for Tunde. She had obviously expected it to last forever, and that made disappointment the bedrock of all other negative feeling that came after the rape.
While Susan drank, Rose wrote down her thoughts in her notebook. She will need to show Susan that Tunde had been playing a game with her, and was not who he had appeared to be.
Susan’s next words told her that Susan also believed she had gotten all the warnings she had needed.
Rose added guilt to thye list of emotions Susan felt.
“My first warning should have been his kind of friends. The calibre of people who came to his house were not the kind of people I would expect from the kind of man he portrayed himself to be. He explained to me that they were his course mates, ad they helped each other with school materials.
I believed him and saw him as a serious student.
He was a four hundred level student of the University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus.
My second warning was our first kiss, and how he told me I was acting like a child by ending it too soon.
He told me I had a lot to learn, and he was willing to teach me, but if I don’t give him a chance, he would leave me in my ignorance.
I apologised repeatedly to him, not knowing I was digging my own grave…”
So, why are you here?” Chinedu asked looking at Tunji who looked lost seeing that his wife was no longer in the same office. “Tunji, why are you here?” he asked again, trying not to notice the awkwardness in the room.
He wished he knew the guy before now, then he could have known his thinking pattern. As it is, he had no idea what to say to a man who is married to a rape survivor.
There was only one way to find out, and that is to keep asking questions.
Tunji shrugged. “I don’t know. I just thought Susan needed help, and since I don’t know what to do to help, I figured I should support her since Rose is willing to help.”
“So what’s in it for you?” Chinedu asked again, with a slight frown. “I mean, apart from the fact that she might agree to sex with you, what do you hope to gain?”
Tunji looked up sharply at the accusation in Chinedu’s voice. Did he just insinuate that the only reason he was here was so Susan could allow him have sex with her?
“Wait… What?!” Tunji asked, sitting up from his slouching position on the sofa. “You think I am here because I want her to have sex with me? Do you forget that she is my wife, and so it is normal to want to have sex with my wife?”
Chinedu almost smiled at the agitation he knew Tunji felt because of his direct questions, but he had to establish some truths. Replying with a deliberately condescending voice, he said: “No, I didn’t forget, in fact I think we are saying the same thing, she is your wife, and she has denied you sex, so you figured that you should support her in what may make her relaxed enough to have sex with…”
“Don’t. Don’t you dare reduce my wife to a mere sex object,” Tunji said with clenched teeth.
Standing up, he walked close to Chinedu, who thought he was about to get punched in the face. He knew he deserved it for pushing the man to the wall.
“Don’t you ever insinuate that all I care about is sex with her. You have no idea of the deep pain I see in her eyes each time she rejects me, and that hurts more than the rejection itself. I want her, yes, but I want her healed too. I want that pain to leave her eyes. I want her whole. I have only known her in a broken state, and yet I find her irresistible. I wonder how wonderful she would be when whole, and I want to find out. So don’t you dare define me as being shallow, at least I married who I am in love with, whereas you kept stealing looks at Rose as if she would bite you if you told her how you feel.”
“What? How did the tables get turned?” Chinedu thought. “Is it that obvious?”
Clearing his throat and mentally chiding himself, he spoke up with false confidence. “Please sit down, Tunji.”
He waited until Tunji was seated before he continued speaking. “I needed you to know why you are here, so we can work with that. Before I asked you the question, you didn’t even know why you were here, which is why you felt lost when Rose took your wife to the other office. I need you to remember this, and more importantly, I need you to act it out to your wife.”
Tunji didn’t reply. He just stared at him.
Feeling uncomfortable under Tunji’s steady gaze, he decided to be sincere, ditching the whole professionalism act. “Look Tunji, your wife is hurting. Thank God you know, but you don’t understand it. You are the most important person to her, not me, not even Rose, but you.”
“I know..”
“No you don’t. You were the first person she told about the incident even if it was before she saw you. She married you, even if she didn’t want anything to do with men. Despite her fear of intimacy with men, she married you, risking her peace of mind. You have to understand that she needs you.”
“Okay. What do I do?” Tunji asked, feeling overwhelmed with the responsibility Chinedu seemed to be piling up on him. “How can I help her?”
“Do you think she is to be blamed for being raped?” Chinedu asked, hoping the question would sound incredulous to Tunji as it does to him who asked.
“What? Are you okay?” Tunji asked frowning. “When did it become a lady’s fault that she was raped? She is yet to tell me the whole story, but as a man, I know there is no excuse for raping a woman.”
“You answered correctly,” Chinedu said. “But did you tell her that when she told you she was raped? Did you tell her you don’t blame her for anything, and that she did no wrong in loving the wrong man? The truth is most, if not all the ladies who are raped blame themselves on some level. They need to know that whatever mistake they made does not give a man the right to rape anyone. I think you should tell her that.”
Tunji slouched deep into the sofa and leaned his head on his palm, giving the impression that he was deep in thought.
Chinedu wondered at the chain-reaction in the world. Here was a good man suffering for another man’s misdeeds.
“I think we should take a break,” he said to Tunji who only nodded and kept staring at nothing.
“How do you mean you were digging your own grave by apologising to him?” Rose asked, interrupting Susan’s words.
“I shouldn’t have apologised to him. I did nothing wrong.”
“If you know this, then why do you say it with so much guilt?”
“I should have known then.”
“How could you have known Susan?” Rose asked sounding surprised. “You were what, sixteen, seventeen? This was your first crush, you didn’t have a previous experience. Don’t be too hard on yourself Susan, you are no superhuman. It was not your fault. You were not to blame in anyway.” She gave a slight pause where she got herself together. She was getting too emotional. She felt like weeping for the teenage girl who lost her confidence, innocence, and virginity because of some idiot who could not control himself. Taking a deep breath, she continued. “You didn’t know any better, if you did, you would have done better.”
But Susan was no longer listening. “It’s not my fault?” she thought. “It is not my fault. It is not my fault. It is not my fault,” she repeated as a litany. She hoped it is true, she wanted it to be true.
“I think we should take a break,” Rose said, leading her out of the office.
Outside the office, Rose saw that Chinedu and Tunji were already on a break. Sending a frown towards Chinedu to ask him why, he only shrugged and turned back to his phone. It was beginning to annoy her that he always seemed to prefer looking at his phone to looking at her. That is not a gentlemanly way to behave.
Ignoring the voice in her head asking her why it bothered her so much, she went back into her office to peruse through her notes.
Tunji was at the balcony, staring at everything and nothing, when he heard someone approach. Turning around to see who it is, he hoped it was Susan. He wondered how she was doing.
“Hi,” she greeted with a weak smile.
“Hi,” he replied searching her face for any distress.
She seemed tired, but not distressed.
She sat down by his side on the bench.
“How are you?” he asked, wanting to hold her hand, but afraid of her withdrawal.
“I’m okay.”
“I want to tell you something I should have told you long ago,” he said turning to look at her. He almost stopped talking when he saw the alarm in her eyes, but he knew he had to say it now. “I don’t blame you for what happened in your past. I don’t know the whole story, but I know you are not to blame. It is not your fault Susan, and I would never blame you.”
She froze and stared at him, before unexpectedly bursting into tears.
The only ting he could do was to take her in his arms and sooth her.
It was about five minutes later, when Susan had cried to her heart’s content, that Tunji realised this was the first time he was holding his wife this long. This was the first time she didn’t stiffen under his embrace.
“No. It’s just that…” Susan trailed off, licking her lips nervously.
“That what?”
“It’s just that I don’t want to lose Tunji,” Susan said in a rush as she turned away from Rose. She didn’t want to see what she was sure would be the condemnation in her eyes. “If he hears of the whole episode, he’d see how it is my fault and see how dirty I truly am.”
“Susan! I don’t think you know how much Tunji loves you. He will not…”
“Well we don’t know that he will not turn away!” Susan said heatedly, cutting Rose short. “I know I have to do it because you believe it will help me heal, but I just need some time to gather my wits together.”
“No you don’t have to do it. At least not immediately. We can start the individual discussions first. Is that okay?” Rose asked softly, seeing how much damage had been done to her friend by a single act of stupidity and wickedness.
At Susan’s nod, she walked in and told Chinedu of the change of plan.
He obviously had some questions, she could see them in his eyes, but she was grateful when he didn’t voice them out.
Susan breathed more freely the moment Tunji and Chinedu left to go to the other office. She would not miss Tunji’s searching gaze. She knew he was worried about her, but there was nothing she could do.
“Let’s start,”Rose said, breaking into her thoughts.
“Okay.”
“Susan, we are going to pray first,” Rose announced, “I don’t know about you, but it helps me. I know we need this if we are going to achieve positive results.”
“Okay.”
Susan listened to Rose pray, wondering how come she seemed so comfortable talking to God. She never felt that way. She always felt like He was frowning at her, so she went without praying for months. Maybe Rose had not done anything to make her guilty.
Rose’s ‘Amen’ alerted her that the prayer was over, so she echoed it too.
Rose sat up, looking directly at her, her book and pen on her lap, and began. “So I will ask you what I asked before. Why are you here? I know I pleaded with you, but why did you agree to this? Why did you convince Tunji to come with you?”
“I want to be free. I want to be normal again,” Susan replied after a slight pause. “I dont know if it is possible, but I want to stop seeing intimacy with a man as a threat.”
“I want you to remember this reason whenever you feel this is not working,” Rose said with a nod. “I believe that with patience, and prayers, you can live normally again. You just have to be patient with yourself first, then Tunji, me and Chinedu. There are times you will feel like we don’t understand what you are going through, and you will most likely be right, but we expect that you explain to us what we are missing, because the fact is that we are on your side. We are also angry with Tunde. I’m sure you know that about me, but I want you to know that is also true for Tunji and Chinedu. Always remember the reasons you started this journey. Can you do that?”
“I will try.”
“That’s all I can ask. So, I want to to tell me about Tunde, how you met, what you liked about him, and if possible, tell me about the rape incident too. Tell me as much as you can remember, and as much as you want to. There is no pressure.”
The silence that followed Rose’s words had her wondering if she should change tactics. She was thinking on what else to do when Susan started slowly, her gaze fixed on somewhere behind Rose.
It was obvious she was no longer in the room, but was reliving her life seven years ago.
“I met Tunde on one of my walks back from school. It was during my SSCE and I was happy that I will soon be done with Secondary School.
I was mentally preparing for the next day’s paper when I bumped into him. He just stared at me while I apologised, until I became uncomfortable. I told him it was rude to stare and he laughed, saying I obviously had no idea how beautiful I was, and he would only forgive me for bumping into him if I will allow him take me out.
I was flattered by his words. I had never had a boyfriend, or even considered having one. My classmates’ taunts, that I would never get a man with all my nerdy behaviour, sometimes got to me but I was determined to get out of school with the best result possible.
I didn’t give him an answer, just told him I had to get home to prepare for my next paper the next day.
He stood at that same spot for the next few days, asking me out. It was like a game we played. He would wait there, say sweet words, make me laugh, but I would not voice an answer even though my eyes said everything he wanted to hear.
Then suddenly, I didn’t see him for a whole week. By then I was writing NECO exams.
When I saw him again, I barely held myself from running into his arms. Until, then, we stood at arms length while we played our game.
He had been sick and had been hospitalized, he told me. I believed him. I had no reason not to.
I was so sorry, I bought him some beverages and fruits the next day. I think that was when he knew how much effect he had on me.
He reminded me that if I had known where he lived, I would have known that he was ill, and my care would have made him get well faster.
I blushed.
A little more pressure, and I went to his place with him. It was a single room apartment, and in my eyes it was the definition of freedom.
I knew he was not much older than me, maybe five or six years, and here he was, being able to live as he wanted without any hindrance from his parents. It didn’t occur to me then, that that was the usual way when one is in the university.
I envied him, and fell a little more for him.
He soon convinced me how immature it was that we met on the streets before the eyes of everyone. He suggested that he come to my house to visit me, knowing I would not agree, since my parents were strict against such.
I ended up going to his house every other day. I believed it was the mature thing to do, and since I just finished from Secondary School, I felt matured enough.”
Looking at her, Susan broke the bubble which showed Rose what seven years ago was like to a younger Susan. “Please can I get some water? My throat is dry.”
Rose nodded and hurried to the kitchen, mentally making a note to herself to always keep a jug of water in the office during sessions.
As she walked towards the kitchen, she heard low voices from the other office, and hoped all was going on well in there.
She let her mind wander to what Susan had shared with her, between pauses. She had seen different emotions running across Susan’s face.
Happiness.
Sadness.
Expectations.
Contentment.
Susan had had plans in her head for Tunde. She had obviously expected it to last forever, and that made disappointment the bedrock of all other negative feeling that came after the rape.
While Susan drank, Rose wrote down her thoughts in her notebook. She will need to show Susan that Tunde had been playing a game with her, and was not who he had appeared to be.
Susan’s next words told her that Susan also believed she had gotten all the warnings she had needed.
Rose added guilt to thye list of emotions Susan felt.
“My first warning should have been his kind of friends. The calibre of people who came to his house were not the kind of people I would expect from the kind of man he portrayed himself to be. He explained to me that they were his course mates, ad they helped each other with school materials.
I believed him and saw him as a serious student.
He was a four hundred level student of the University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus.
My second warning was our first kiss, and how he told me I was acting like a child by ending it too soon.
He told me I had a lot to learn, and he was willing to teach me, but if I don’t give him a chance, he would leave me in my ignorance.
I apologised repeatedly to him, not knowing I was digging my own grave…”
So, why are you here?” Chinedu asked looking at Tunji who looked lost seeing that his wife was no longer in the same office. “Tunji, why are you here?” he asked again, trying not to notice the awkwardness in the room.
He wished he knew the guy before now, then he could have known his thinking pattern. As it is, he had no idea what to say to a man who is married to a rape survivor.
There was only one way to find out, and that is to keep asking questions.
Tunji shrugged. “I don’t know. I just thought Susan needed help, and since I don’t know what to do to help, I figured I should support her since Rose is willing to help.”
“So what’s in it for you?” Chinedu asked again, with a slight frown. “I mean, apart from the fact that she might agree to sex with you, what do you hope to gain?”
Tunji looked up sharply at the accusation in Chinedu’s voice. Did he just insinuate that the only reason he was here was so Susan could allow him have sex with her?
“Wait… What?!” Tunji asked, sitting up from his slouching position on the sofa. “You think I am here because I want her to have sex with me? Do you forget that she is my wife, and so it is normal to want to have sex with my wife?”
Chinedu almost smiled at the agitation he knew Tunji felt because of his direct questions, but he had to establish some truths. Replying with a deliberately condescending voice, he said: “No, I didn’t forget, in fact I think we are saying the same thing, she is your wife, and she has denied you sex, so you figured that you should support her in what may make her relaxed enough to have sex with…”
“Don’t. Don’t you dare reduce my wife to a mere sex object,” Tunji said with clenched teeth.
Standing up, he walked close to Chinedu, who thought he was about to get punched in the face. He knew he deserved it for pushing the man to the wall.
“Don’t you ever insinuate that all I care about is sex with her. You have no idea of the deep pain I see in her eyes each time she rejects me, and that hurts more than the rejection itself. I want her, yes, but I want her healed too. I want that pain to leave her eyes. I want her whole. I have only known her in a broken state, and yet I find her irresistible. I wonder how wonderful she would be when whole, and I want to find out. So don’t you dare define me as being shallow, at least I married who I am in love with, whereas you kept stealing looks at Rose as if she would bite you if you told her how you feel.”
“What? How did the tables get turned?” Chinedu thought. “Is it that obvious?”
Clearing his throat and mentally chiding himself, he spoke up with false confidence. “Please sit down, Tunji.”
He waited until Tunji was seated before he continued speaking. “I needed you to know why you are here, so we can work with that. Before I asked you the question, you didn’t even know why you were here, which is why you felt lost when Rose took your wife to the other office. I need you to remember this, and more importantly, I need you to act it out to your wife.”
Tunji didn’t reply. He just stared at him.
Feeling uncomfortable under Tunji’s steady gaze, he decided to be sincere, ditching the whole professionalism act. “Look Tunji, your wife is hurting. Thank God you know, but you don’t understand it. You are the most important person to her, not me, not even Rose, but you.”
“I know..”
“No you don’t. You were the first person she told about the incident even if it was before she saw you. She married you, even if she didn’t want anything to do with men. Despite her fear of intimacy with men, she married you, risking her peace of mind. You have to understand that she needs you.”
“Okay. What do I do?” Tunji asked, feeling overwhelmed with the responsibility Chinedu seemed to be piling up on him. “How can I help her?”
“Do you think she is to be blamed for being raped?” Chinedu asked, hoping the question would sound incredulous to Tunji as it does to him who asked.
“What? Are you okay?” Tunji asked frowning. “When did it become a lady’s fault that she was raped? She is yet to tell me the whole story, but as a man, I know there is no excuse for raping a woman.”
“You answered correctly,” Chinedu said. “But did you tell her that when she told you she was raped? Did you tell her you don’t blame her for anything, and that she did no wrong in loving the wrong man? The truth is most, if not all the ladies who are raped blame themselves on some level. They need to know that whatever mistake they made does not give a man the right to rape anyone. I think you should tell her that.”
Tunji slouched deep into the sofa and leaned his head on his palm, giving the impression that he was deep in thought.
Chinedu wondered at the chain-reaction in the world. Here was a good man suffering for another man’s misdeeds.
“I think we should take a break,” he said to Tunji who only nodded and kept staring at nothing.
“How do you mean you were digging your own grave by apologising to him?” Rose asked, interrupting Susan’s words.
“I shouldn’t have apologised to him. I did nothing wrong.”
“If you know this, then why do you say it with so much guilt?”
“I should have known then.”
“How could you have known Susan?” Rose asked sounding surprised. “You were what, sixteen, seventeen? This was your first crush, you didn’t have a previous experience. Don’t be too hard on yourself Susan, you are no superhuman. It was not your fault. You were not to blame in anyway.” She gave a slight pause where she got herself together. She was getting too emotional. She felt like weeping for the teenage girl who lost her confidence, innocence, and virginity because of some idiot who could not control himself. Taking a deep breath, she continued. “You didn’t know any better, if you did, you would have done better.”
But Susan was no longer listening. “It’s not my fault?” she thought. “It is not my fault. It is not my fault. It is not my fault,” she repeated as a litany. She hoped it is true, she wanted it to be true.
“I think we should take a break,” Rose said, leading her out of the office.
Outside the office, Rose saw that Chinedu and Tunji were already on a break. Sending a frown towards Chinedu to ask him why, he only shrugged and turned back to his phone. It was beginning to annoy her that he always seemed to prefer looking at his phone to looking at her. That is not a gentlemanly way to behave.
Ignoring the voice in her head asking her why it bothered her so much, she went back into her office to peruse through her notes.
Tunji was at the balcony, staring at everything and nothing, when he heard someone approach. Turning around to see who it is, he hoped it was Susan. He wondered how she was doing.
“Hi,” she greeted with a weak smile.
“Hi,” he replied searching her face for any distress.
She seemed tired, but not distressed.
She sat down by his side on the bench.
“How are you?” he asked, wanting to hold her hand, but afraid of her withdrawal.
“I’m okay.”
“I want to tell you something I should have told you long ago,” he said turning to look at her. He almost stopped talking when he saw the alarm in her eyes, but he knew he had to say it now. “I don’t blame you for what happened in your past. I don’t know the whole story, but I know you are not to blame. It is not your fault Susan, and I would never blame you.”
She froze and stared at him, before unexpectedly bursting into tears.
The only ting he could do was to take her in his arms and sooth her.
It was about five minutes later, when Susan had cried to her heart’s content, that Tunji realised this was the first time he was holding his wife this long. This was the first time she didn’t stiffen under his embrace.