Thorns and Roses

Chapter 18

'Sir, may I kindly know your relation to the patient?' The nurse asked after she had walked up to where Jake sat. He had his eyes fixed on the screen of his phone and wished he didn't have to answer the question.

'Sir?' The nurse repeated.

'She is my wife!' Jake blurted out without turning his attention from his phone.

The nurse was taken aback by Jake's rudeness and tried to hide her displeasure in vain. Her colleague who had handled the earlier shift had briefed her on the patient named Esi Brandful and her sudden closeness to Doctor Samuel. She made a face at him and said curtly;

'Kindly follow me Mr. Brandful. Her ward is this way.' Jake got up to follow the nurse in the direction she was headed.

'I mentioned I was in a hurry. I hope you are not trying to delay me?' Jake grumbled. He really wanted to get this whole Esi thing over and done with.

The nurse immediately doubled her pace.

'Here is her ward sir. She stated with a slight smirk on her face. She had stopped abruptly beside a white door on a corridor they had turned to after walking past the laboratory from the OPD.

Jake ignored her and grabbed the door knob.

***_***

Eyram finally found her way through the heavy traffic. It hadn't been easy with the constant honking of her horn and heated exchanges between herself and commercial drivers she felt were in the wrong. Her heart skipped a beat as she took the last turn leading to Jake's house. She gripped the steering wheel and muttered a prayer- she couldn't afford to meet Jake at home, not today.

Eyram turned to Kojo whom she had strapped in the passenger seat. He had fallen asleep while she had been battling with traffic. She slowed down considerably because she was trying to work her around her current predicament. Upon arriving at the entrance to the house, she alighted from the car and pushed the gate open. Relief washed over her when she realized Jake's car wasn't parked in the driveway. Eyram did a short victory dance by wriggling her waist and opened the gate fully in order to drive through it.

After parking in the driveway, she balanced the groceries she had purchased in one hand and sleeping Kojo on the other arm. She had no time to waste. Eyram entered the main house by tuning the knob with the hand that held the groceries and pushing her way through with her back. She layed Kojo gently on the sofa in the hall and rushed to the kitchen.

'I will appease him by preparing extra jollof rice for him.' She thought to herself. She knew if she successfully run off before Jake arrived home, he wouldn't be excited.

It wasn't long before her imagination began overworking itself as she prepared the meal. She wondered how Jake's wife would be and tried imagining how she looked with the little details she had gathered from Jake's mother and Jake himself. She didn't have much physical description to go by but the character description given by Jake's mother caused Eyram to imagine Esi as an uncouth, dark and fat lady.

Eyram let out a loud laugh as she imagined Esi and Jake fighting.

'What's funny auntie?' Esi was startled from her daydream by a little voice from behind her.

She wiped her hand on the apron, turned around and placed her damp hand on her chest to feign fright.

'You scared me young man.' She said heartily and broke out into laughter.

'I am sorry. I am hungry please.' Kojo rubbed his tummy with one hand and his left eye with the other.

'I promise your jollof rice will be done soon. How about a finger of banana while you wait?' Eyram replied and grabbed a banana from the other side of the counter.