( Photo credit: George Popa)

”I stayed true to my first love,” Hannah’s soft voice droned on and I was held spellbound by the simple life she’d lived. A life of dedication in the face of outright betrayal.

”I fell in love the first time I saw Michael,” and her face soften at the memory with traces of a smile lurking at the corner of her mouth, ”my dad worked for the KGB then, he’s now retired, he was  absolutely furious when he knew I was dating ”an alien.”

My eyebrows shot up at the ‘alien bit’ and she laughed when she saw the expression on my face.

”A nonRussian is an alien to my dad,” she explained and continued, ”when it was obvious our relationship would face outright persecutions, we fled Russian and came to London, got married and life was good. It was rosy for the first five years and then the late nights began, I tried to question his erratic behaviors but the back of his hands was my reply.

I was on the edge of my seat and Hannah’s voice was becoming strained but I said nothing still, just listened.

”The trips to Ghana was a surprise at first, and then when it continued I became worried. Money was not our problem, I would have lived in Ghana if he wanted me to but he said no. Ten years later, still no kids and we were still married. You can imagine my frustration and failure that I couldn’t give my husband what he wanted. I left everything for him, my family, my friends… everything!

There was silence, it was as if she was reliving the horror of it all. I said nothing still.

”One of his friends came to our house one summer evening, as usual, he’d travelled, and he told me Michael was celebrating his tenth year wedding anniversary, he brought the family pictures as proof and my world fell flat. Michael had five children for his other wife, he’d built his family a beautiful house in Accra! When he came back, he had the gut to call me a barren woman.”

”Where is he now?” I finally found my voice.

”He’s gone to the office and you know what?”

”What?”

”I’m pregnant, at long last… and the beatings has stopped.”

”Have you forgiven him?”

”No, but I still love him which was why I wondered at the true meaning of love. I can’t leave him…I’m forty-five years old and I’m pregnant with my first child.”

”What about his other family? That’s bigamy! Are you okay with that too?”

”We don’t discuss it.”

”Do you think about it?”

She nodded and that was it, we heard the sound of a car pulling up at the drive way, that was my cue. I stood up and Hannah gave me a bear hug then asked, ”If you were in my shoes, what would you have done?”

I couldn’t answer her question. I left her house dumbfounded and sad at the same time, no wonder the poor woman thought love was non-existent!

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That was the concluding part of ‘The Listeners,’ I hope you like it!

Thanks for reading my post, love always:)