STEPPING INTO MAGGIE’S SHOE (Part 17&18) – OPEYEMI AKINTUNDE

PART 17
“STEPPING INTO MAGGIE’s SHOE …” S.I.M.S
©️ Opeyemi Ojerinde Akintunde

Our Wedding was the talk of the town. It was the wedding of my dreams. I had to pinch myself over a hundred times to be sure I wasn’t dreaming or hallucinating….

I believe you are wondering what happened so Fast, Well Let me take it slow…

After Chaba left, Apostle became a thorn in my flesh, he cared less about his status, class and popularity. He was always at my home, business place virtually everyday, sometimes with his Aides and at times especially at night he came on his own…

The “song” he always sang repeatedly in my ears was that before he lost his Wife, he had always had a soft spot for me. He told me, the moment the Lord told him I was his wife, he was excited, but his heart was broken when I got married to Julius.

“ Out of the Love I have for you, I wanted you to be happy with Julius, since that was where your heart was. It was one of the women in the marriage committee that tried to match make Chaba and I together, You know, the elders in the church feel I should not be alone not to give room for fornication…”

“ But Apostle …”

“ Ray…Happy, Please call me Ray…”

“ Hmmm.. That feels too heavy on my lips….but I will try it someday.. What I wanted to say is, Julius and I have done a traditional Engagement”

“ Your Mum has told me, about you paying your dowry, that has annulled the marriage, It is not in our culture for the woman to pay the dowry and God respects culture, besides scripturally, a man is to pay his bride’s dowry not borrowing from her to pay… I am ready to pay your dowry and even more, Happy please say Yes to me”. His smile was charming and I fell for it without restrictions….

We started hanging out, having fun. For an Apostle, he was romantic. He was completely different from the man I saw on the pulpit ministering…We chatted all day, We spoke all night doing midnight calls…. I became madly in love with him. He also was in love with me to the point that he almost made love to me at my parent’s house….

“ No… Stop it Ray…, We shouldn’t do this…”

“ Please… Just this once, Your body has been driving crazy…”

“ No, I am not about to destroy your ministry by making God angry with you… Until we get married, doing this will be fornication..”

He eventually calmed down and thanked me for helping him during his “ Insane moment” as he called it…

After about 4 months of serious courtship, with the church knowing about it, We got married on the 25th of April.

My Wedding gown was ordered from Dubia, My wedding ring from France. The wedding was classy. Apostle was all smiles…He was grinning from one ear to the other. In his eyes, I looked like a precious gift…

Our wedding had dignitaries from all over, My mother was in high Spirits, Aunt Julie was not in this world either. They were both glad I was getting married to the Apostle…

Apostle danced very excitedly at the wedding reception, he beat me hands down. I saw Joy in him, but somewhere in my heart, I felt unhappy for Pastor Maggie, at how her husband was already moving on…

We retired to a 7 star hotel, with the hope of Travelling to Barbados for our Honeymoon as planned. When we got in, Apostle got down to business and did his husbandly duties. The moment he was relieved, he slept immediately. No sweet words…No looking into my eyes like I had fantasized….

The next morning, I woke up with the fantasy that Apostle was going to be looking into my eyes, but I met him looking out through the window…

“ Hey!” I said

“ Good morning”…He said as he turned to look at me, trying to force a smile…

“ Guess you are an early bird” I said trying to start a conversation

“ Yes, you can say that..”

“ Thanks for the wedding, I felt like a princess yesterday”

“ You deserve more…” He said still standing far away from me, I stood up from the bed and walked towards him trying to get sexy with him, but as I got closer, he moved away not wanting me to touch him…

“ I need to get to an impromptu meeting today, I am not sure we will be able to go for the Barbados trip anymore”

“ Ok, No more Honeymoon” I said jokingly

“ Well, there is nothing special about the Honeymoon, since I have had a taste of the Honey already” he said sarcastically

Something was wrong!

“ Are you ok?, Did I do anything wrong?”

“ Why are you asking?” He asked

“ You are acting strange”

“Strange?, Well this is me!, I am Strange, Guess you need to cope and accept me that way” He said and after which he started packing his box, silently.

I silently packed my things as well wondering what on earth has happened.

We got to his home and I was met with a lot of shocking things….

For starters, Apostle told me, we couldn’t share the same room and also I was to stay in Pastor Maggie’s old room.

When I opened the door to her room, I ran back as a result of what I saw…

PART 18
“STEPPING INTO MAGGIE’s SHOE …” S.I.M.S
©️ Opeyemi Ojerinde Akintunde

“ I have this Phobia of sleeping with someone else on the same bed with me, so you have to stay in Maggie’s old room” Ray had said to me, and based on the atmosphere that had been the order of the day since we woke up at the hotel, I didn’t say a word, as I obediently followed him upstairs to the room he was referring to…

As I opened the door, I saw a messed up room, everything was upside down. Drugs were on the floor, the bedsheet and duvet on the floor. I stepped back in shock, and was even more shocked when Ray said
“ You need to clean up the room, ever since she died, I have not been able to step into the room.One, because she hurt me and two because I feel her presence there, but I know you are a prayerful person, you will be able to cast her presence away..” he said

With that, he left me at the door way… I didn’t know what next to do as Ray’s behavior was still baffling and seeing Him leave Pastor Maggie’s Room the way it was didn’t make sense…

What did he mean by she hurt him?

I turned and followed him to his own room…

“ Ray, why on earth are you acting strangely?, we just got marrried yesterday and you are acting like I forced you to get married to me. This was not the Ray I have known for months. If you know you have a phobia of sharing your bed or room with someone else, why get married…? I can’t cope …” I said in anger

“ Maggie coped …We never slept on the same bed for 12 years, You will be fine!” He said as he opened the door of his room with a key. That was weird , as I wondered why he locked his room in his own house…

“ Well, I am not Pastor Maggie…and besides what about the maid or housekeeper, I mean you should have someone who cleans this big house for you” I asked looking around

“ No, That was Maggie’s work, I don’t like having strangers in the house..We never had anyone living with us” he said as he dropped his travelling bag on the bed….

“ What? you mean Pastor Maggie was the one cleaning this big house of about 6 rooms and 2 large living rooms, a giant sized kitchen…” I was saying before he cut in

“ Yes…Like I said I am a private person, so I don’t like strangers around me…” he said with a tone of finality

I was dumbfounded to say the least, then it began to make sense, this was probably why Pastor Maggie was always looking tired and exhausted.

I looked around in his room and it was a beautiful sight… I wondered what kind of phobia he had that would not allow me to stay with him…

I eventually retired to Pastor Maggie’s room and spent the rest of the day trying to sort things out… As I arranged the room, I perceived there was more to the scattered room, but what it was I couldn’t explain. The arrangement of the room took me about two days.

I planned on giving pastor Maggie’s clothes and shoes to an orphanage. I treated her things with caution in respect to her and I kept talking to her like she was there…

“ Pastor Maggie, I am sorry to have judged you too quick, I am sorry for setting you up.. I am really sorry for everything”

I came Across a small book under her bed, where she wrote poems. I kept it among her books I was planning to also give out…

For those two days, Ray stayed indoors, anytime I went to his door to knock, he would reply that he was busy…

This continued for close to a week after our wedding… He didn’t open the door until Sunday morning. At this point I was broken and distraught. I was wondering why the attitude, but also at the same time, I felt probably I was under a test.

I felt Apostle was trying to know if I could persevere, so I kept calm till that Sunday Morning when he came knocking at my door.

I had knocked at his door the previous night asking if we were going to church and he replied No!

“ Get up ! Happy , We are going to Church, Change of Plans, You have just 8 mins, I will be waiting in the car” I was still sleeping when he was saying those words so how on earth did he expect me to take my bath and get dressed in 8 mins, I suspected he was joking…

I walked to the door of my room and as I opened the door, I was surprised to see Ray completely dressed…

“ Are you serious?” I asked looking at him from head to toe

“ Yes..please make it snappy” he said with a smile as he turned to leave

“ You expect me to be through in 8 mins…but I asked you yesterday if we were going to Church and you said No..”

“ That’s the way of a Pastor’s wife… Impromptu events, one of my Special members will be coming for counseling today” he said smiling as he kept moving away. His responses were really irritating

“ But you could have woken me up earlier, I don’t like impromptu events, I plan my life..” I said

“ You will learn soon, Maggie coped well…” he said

“ Indeed…” I muttered under my breathe “ No wonder, she was always wrongly dressed” I said realizing maybe one of the reasons why Pastor Maggie’s dressing was always catastrophic…

I had a quick bath and dressed in a gown I would ordinarily not have worn on the first Sunday after my wedding. Through out the service, I was unhappy at my look and how Ray was treating me…

I could see a lot of young ladies admiring me and I could read from their expressions that they wished they were in my shoes, because Apostle kept praising me on the Altar, as bringing him happiness and comfort in such a short time..

I managed to give smiles at intervals but the question that kept running through my mind was

“ What is happening? Am I under some form of test or is this the life I will be living forever?, Would intimacy with my husband be once in a week” This were some of the questions torturing my heart as I kept a fake smile plastered on my face through out the service…

What do you think ?