THE BrideGROOM Episode 18 – 20

THE BrideGROOM Episode 18

(Yesterday evening, Kate got a friend to call her and tell her that her step mother was very Ill. This she did, so that she could be allowed a day off today to go and see Chioma.
Mr Ambrose obliged her and took a day off work to be with the children.

When she was about to leave, Mr Ambrose gave her fifty thousand naira to take her ‘step mother’ to the hospital.

Before then, she had bought lots of maternity clothes, undies, baby clothings and toiletries for Chioma and had left them at her friend’s house.
On her way, she picked the items up from her friend’s house and also used part of the fifty thousand naira to buy a bag of rice and a few other food items for Chioma and her mother, then made her way, using the direction Chioma sent to her via SMS.

as has been the case since Chioma left the house, the previous night was no where near peaceful, as Shasha Cried almost all night.

At 9.30, Patrick who normally turns up to work two hours early was no where to be found; so Mr Ambrose decided to give him a quick call to find out what was wrong. Patrick told him that he is no longer happy to work for him anymore, as he misses Chioma and would only come back to work if she comes back to the house.

frustrated, angry and knackered, he decided to read the kids some stories)

MR AMBROSE: so what story should we read today?

TATIANA: the homeless piglet!

MR AMBROSE: but we read that last night. Shall we read The Singing Bird?

TATIANA: daddy, what is this thing on your tummy?

MR AMBROSE: (struggling to keep his eyes open) it is called Birth Mark.?

TATIANA : who gave it to you?

MR AMBROSE: God?

TATIANA: how come mummy don’t have it? How come nanny Kay don’t have it? How come Shasha don’t have it? How come I don’t have it!!!!
Daddy!!! (Shakes him as she calls out)

MR AMBROSE: Yes, darling.

TATIANA: stop sleeping! Shasha says when can we see mummy?

MR AMBROSE: Shasha never said that. She can’t talk yet. You kn-ow it’s wr–on-g to…to tell lies, right?

TATIANA: but you lied to us that mummy was coming back and she never did! Daddy? Daddy! Daddy!

MR AMBROSE: (mumbles) Yes, my angel

TATIANA: are you a liar?

MR AMBROSE: Yes (falls asleep)

(When the girls noticed that the story may never happen, they decided to do their own things. About 40 minutes later, Mr Ambrose was woken by the sound of the electric kettle which Shasha had pulled down. Luckily, there was no water in it.
When he got closer to the kitchen, he noticed that Shasha had emptied the bag of rice on the floor and was having some good time distributing it all over the floor.

He quickly grabbed her and checked she was not injured and thankfully, she wasn’t!)

MR AMBROSE: Jesus Christ!!! Tatiana!! Tatiana!!!! Mummy!!! Mummy where are you?
Shasha, where is Tatiana?

Shasha: Tatin door? (pointing to the direction of the door)

MR AMBROSE: Lord, please don’t punish me more than you have done already! Tatiana!!! Tatiana!!

(Mr Ambrose looked everywhere on the street but there was no trace of her. He entered every property in their estate but no one had seen her. At this point he went back to the house to pick up his car to go to the police station.
On getting home, Kate was already in the house, so he quickly told her what had happened and left Shasha with her and made his way to the police station.

After giving his initial statement, the police asked if he had a reason to believe that anyone could kidnap his child, he told them that his wife could have done that to frustrate him for refusing to give her maintenance money.
So the police followed him to Chioma’s house. When they got there, they met her eating some of the fruits Kate had bought her earlier)

POLICE OFFICER: Good day, madam.(holding up his ID) My name is Officer Ayodele. Could I ask that you come with us to the station for a brief interview over the disappearance of one Tatiana Chisom Ambrose, Please?

CHIOMA: eh??? Did I hear you right? Who’s missing! Ambrose?? Who’s missing. My own Tatiana or some other Tatiana??? Ambrose! Ambrose!!!! What have you done with my child? (Tries to attack him but was stopped by the police officer)

?????mama!! Mama!!! Ambrose has killed my daughter!!!

MADAM NKECHI: what is going on here. Ambrose, o gini??? Killed which daughter?

MR AMBROSE: Tatiana is missing?

MADAM NKECHI: (Picks up an empty can of Coke lying around and throws it really hard on his head) who is missing eh!???? the child that was left under your care is missing and you are here doing what??? Hieeee!!! Chineke biakwa o!!! (Runs into her kitchen and comes back with a bucket full of dirty water and baptised Ambrose with it???????????)

POLICE OFFICER: stop it madam!!!!! or I’ll arrest you for assault!

MADAM NKECHI: shut up! Mechie onu gi!!! Come and arrest me!!

POLICE OFFICER: a child is missing and this is only going to cause delay in finding her if we would. Every second counts! Why don’t you all cooperate and find this child then you can continue with your rage!
Madam get into the car please. I understand that you are heavily pregnant but I promise to make the interview as friendly as possible and you can always take a break when you need to. There is no need to worry at all.
My wife is pregnant as well, so i sort of understand how all these can affect you. But I’ll make sure you are alright. Please get into the car.

MADAM NKECHI: I am going in too!

POLICE OFFICER: phewww! Madam, you are very troublesome!

MADAM NKECHI : you are yet to see trouble. This is only the tip of the iceberg. You are about to shake hands with a troubled widow! Ambrose okwa gi! I will deal with you!

Chioma, her mother and Ambrose got into the police car and made their way to the police station.

THE brideGROOM Episode 19


CHARLOTTE: shall we go for lunch, it’s almost break time.

NINA: sure. We haven’t been out together in a long while

CHARLOTTE: Yes and we have a lot of catching up to do!

(The girls got to the restaurant, ordered some food and drinks, and as they ate, Charlotte began to tell Nina her worries..)

CHARLOTTE: I am not happy with my life, at all

NINA: how can you be, when you are married to a dead bit.

CHARLOTTE: it’s not about Deric this time. It’s about me. I am not happy with my lifestyle.
I have the money, and freedom yet deep down, I am not happy. And I don’t think what we told that man about his wife is right.
Deric is really mad at me because their marriage packed up as a result of it.

NINA: So? This is why I don’t like doing stuff with you. You didn’t break their home, did you?
Deric is stupid! He is more concerned about her than he has ever been about you!

CHARLOTTE: Deric is actually a good man. He is just frustrated that he has no job at the moment.

NINA: since when? Chai!! Hahahahaha! So you went on holiday with another man and maybe he wasn’t as great as you expected in bed, and all of a sudden, the Deric you told me was your worst nightmare suddenly became the best man in the world??? Girl!???

CHARLOTTE: Nina!! What are you insinuating? I never slept with Adrian!

NINA: you did, babe. I saw the videos from his phone. Come on! Don’t lie to me! You even initiated it. The video was steaming hot though. The lap dance, how you seduced him until he became helpless..

CHARLOTTE: stop!!!!

NINA: hahahahaha! You see why you should never lie to me?

CHARLOTTE: yeah, it happened and I regret it. How did you manage to find it?

NINA: I spent the night with him

CHARLOTTE: hmmm! Did he invite you?

NINA: not really…

(The ladies went back to the office and Charlotte decided to confront Mr Adrian about the the video clips)

CHARLOTTE: you are sleeping with Nina now, right?

MR ADRIAN: that is supposed to be personal. Get out of my office.

CHARLOTTE: I will . Can I ask that you delete every personal image or video of me in your possession. Thanks

MR ADRIAN: Yes, mother !
**************************************************
KATE: Oga, there is a knock on the gate

MR AMBROSE: is there? I’ll go see who it is.

(He opened the gate and there stood a couple and Tatiana. Immediately she saw her dad, she jumped on him and held him tightly around the neck)

MR AMBROSE: Jesus! Mummy!!! Thank you Jesus. Mummy are you okay?( looking all around her body)

MR IKE: morning, sir. My name is Mr Ike and and here is my wife. We own a restaurant at the end of this street. Don’t know if you are aware, but there is a narrow path at the back of that big uncompleted building . It leads to our house and we go home through it at the end of every day.

At quarter past 12 yesterday night, we found her on that path crying and calling daddy. We were shocked and my wife carried her, she was quite scared and when we asked her where she was going, she said she was going to grandma Nkechi’ s house to see mummy.
We tried to get more information off her but she was too upset to talk so we took her home and this morning, we decided to take her to the police station; but while we were driving past here, she said it was her daddy’s house

MR AMBROSE: oh thank you, Jesus! Since yesterday, I have been a walking corpse. I was getting ready to go to the radio station to put it on air that she was missing.
You guys are life savers!
She is a beloved child and I would have killed myself if anything had happened to her!
Thank you so much!!!! Please give me a minute ?‍️?‍️.

(Mr Ambrose went inside and brought the couple a cheque of one hundred thousand naira. They were very thankful and left. He showered her and took her to the police station where Chioma has now been detained for 24 hours.
She explained to the police what had happened and asked them to release Chioma. They cautioned him informally and brought Chioma out)

CHIOMA: (tightly hugging Tatiana and crying) oh! My little girl! Thank you for coming back . Thank you Jesus!

TATIANA: mummy, I was looking for you because I miss you

CHIOMA: I miss you too, darling but you must not leave the house without telling daddy or nanny Kay. Alright?

TATIANA: Alright, mummy. Mummy your tummy is very fat

CHIOMA: Yes, because I will be having a baby next month.

TATIANA: is it going to be a tiny baby?

CHIOMA: Yes, it will but then it will grow into a big baby

MR AMBROSE: Chioma, I am really sorry for what I put you through. I sincerely apologise

CHIOMA: please get Patrick to always keep the gate shut!

MR AMBROSE: Patrick left.

CHIOMA: why?

MR AMBROSE: because you are no longer at home. He said he will only come back if you do.

CHIOMA: just look after them, Please! Get someone else or take the responsibility. It doesn’t take a lot to lock a gate!

MR AMBROSE: ermm, do you want to have lunch with her somewhere?

CHIOMA: Yes.

(Ambrose took them to a nearby restaurant, they had lunch and he dropped Chioma to her house and went back home with his daughter )

THE brideGROOM Episode 20

Mr Ambrose has not been to work for almost two weeks and although Kate has been doing a fantastic job with the kids, Ambrose has become paranoid that something might happen to the kids if he leaves.
So he decided to go and speak with his mum to see If she could come over and look after them for a few days.
He took the kids with him and as they drove into the compound, Tatiana saw grandma watering her flowers and started jumping up and down in the car in excitement and trying to undo her seat belt….

TATIANA: grandma!! Grandma!!!???

GRANDMA : Yes, grand daughter! Awwww look at my gorgeous girls!!! Hang on! Hang on. Let dad undo the seat belt. Shasha sweetie! Look at You!?‍️?‍️

MR AMBROSE: (gets out of the car and helps the kids out) good morning, mother

Grandma: morning, son. How are You?

MR AMBROSE: so so.. have you heard from Dad?

GRANDMA: we just finished speaking on Skype. He’s doing well. Going for his hospital appointment at 3pm their time

MR AMBROSE: both of you use the internet more than I can ever do in my life

TATIANA: grandma, where is grandpa?

GRANDMA: grandpa went to America to see his doctors

TATIANA: Why?

GRANDMA: because he was feeling a bit unwell (carries Shasha and holds Tatiana as they walk into the house)
Ambrose, what did they have for breakfast?

MR AMBROSE: I bought them biscuits, mother

GRANDMA: you did What??? Ambrose you fed your kids biscuit for breakfast????

MR AMBROSE: well, that’s what they asked for?

GRANDMA: Oh don’t sound daft! You don’t give kids everything they ask For! You are there to help them be kind to themselves. They are not!
Tatiana, would you like some cornflakes, sweetheart?

TATIANA: Yes!!! Grandma!??

GRANDMA: Shasha, would you like some cornflakes, sweetie?

SHASHA: yesh, Kanma?

GRANDMA: Ambrose, help yourself in the kitchen

MR AMBROSE: mummy, my business is suffering

GRANDMA: fantastic.

MR AMBROSE: mummy! Did you actually hear me or you just answered?

GRANDMA: you said your business is suffering.

MR AMBROSE: so what is fantastic about it????

GRANDMA: everything! This is only the beginning

MR AMBROSE: mummy!!

GRANDMA: son.

MR AMBROSE: I just wanted to come and ask you if you could come over and look after them a little since daddy is not home.
Ķ

GRANDMA: I love these kids to bits. Because Bartholomew passed away. God rest his soul, they are the only grand kids I will be having. So they are precious to me, but I will not look after them.
Since you have decided to be stupid, you must take on the responsibility that comes with being stupid. Even if it means your business going into liquidation, so be it!

MR AMBROSE: but she cheated on me!!!

GRANDMA: unfounded!!!! Unfounded, son!!! You make me question the essence of your education, son!
The money I spent sending you to the university in America is beginning to look like a waste!

MR AMBROSE: mummy, I am a billionaire!!!

GRANDMA: with a midget brain! A bankrupt brain! Come on now, son! Your wife was accused of infidelity which she denies and I believe her, by the way.

A sensible man will discreetly do a DNA test to ascertain the paternity of the child before making a public mockery of his wife!

You have done none of that because your tiny lazy brains won’t go that far and you expect me to come and play mother to your children so you can continue to enjoy your business life as if nothing happened!

MR AMBROSE: mum, stop!!!?

GRANDMA: shut your tramp! How dare you raise your voice on me? Are you crazy? Have you lost your mind?? How dare You!
Don’t think you have grown wings, I will break them into tiny pieces, son! Mummy will do!

MR AMBROSE: I’m sorry, mum

GRANDMA: not yet, you will be sorry by the time Shasha starts school next week. And you must send her to school o! No excuses otherwise I’ll take you to court for neglect!
Little kid in diapers!
Look at how much suffering you’ve put that girl through!?
I went to see her on Monday and she barely attends her antenatal because she cannot afford transport fare!
That is a woman who held your home together while you climbed the ladder of success! Ungrateful pathetic fool!??

MR AMBROSE: but she is carrying another man’s child!

GRANDMA: oh! You are doing my head in, now! Says which doctor?????
By the way, didn’t you get a Romanian lady pregnant whilst in the university and convinced her to abort the child? Who is playing holier than thou here??? Don’t play that game with me, I know you, son!

MR AMBROSE: at least i wasn’t married then!

GRANDMA: what difference does it make?

MR AMBROSE: mummy, so you won’t have them for just one week so I could go to France and come back?

GRANDMA: I won’t have them for one minute! As soon as they are done having their breakfast, you are taking them home. Mr self-sufficient!
**********************************************

MADAM NKECHI: Why are you up early, Chy?

CHIOMA: mama, I’m going to the market with you. I’m bored of staying here all by myself and crying?

MADAM NKECHI: so that is what you do when I leave, right?

CHIOMA: I’ll come with You, mama.

(Chioma followed her mum to the market and was helping her attend to customers when she heard someone scream her name..)

JUDITH: Chioma!!

CHIOMA: no way! Who am I seeing?????? Judy!!!! Oh my God!?? (hugs her)

JUDITH: how’s family and the kids??? Wow! Look at You! Another one baking!

CHIOMA: They are doing very well, thanks. How’s work?

JUDITH: not bad at all. Can’t complain! What are you doing here?

CHIOMA: helping my mum today.

JUDITH: I bet your husband isn’t anywhere near. He wouldn’t let you do this at all. I remember how he wouldn’t let go of you at Lola’s wedding. He didn’t even allow you help her get dressed. ??? such a loving husband God blessed you with

CHIOMA: so how is your brother. Is he walking now?

JUDITH: thankfully, yes. He was in the wheelchair for five months

CHIOMA: Wow! God is great!

JUDITH: babe, do you mind coming with me to the car. I need to talk to You?

CHIOMA: sure!

(They walked to where Judith parked her car, she opened and held the door for Chioma, stood by until she was comfortably seated, then she got into the driver’s seat herself and shut the door)

CHIOMA: nice car, you’ve got!

JUDITH: thanks. Babes, is everything okay with You?

CHIOMA: yes, everything is fine?m

JUDITH: you can’t be saying that with tears in your eyes and expect me to believe You, can You!
I appreciate that pregnancy can affect people in different ways, but Chioma, you look far from being okay!
When I saw you at Lola’s wedding, i didn’t need a prophet to tell me that you were happily married, right now, I also do not need a prophet to tell me that something ain’t right.

CHIOMA: I and Ambrose are separated and the kids are living with him. He accused me of cheating and getting pregnant by another man. Judy, I feel so worthless and heartbroken.??

JUDITH: but you are not worthless. You are a daughter of a king. You are a royal diadem in the house of God. He sees you as a royal priesthood, His own special Child.
He can heal your broken heart if you give him all the fragment of it. He loves you with an everlasting love.
It doesn’t even matter what you have done. He said, though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed from you

CHIOMA: I have tried everything I know, Judy???

JUDITH: then it’s time to try God. You know that He is the originator of marriage right? God is interested in marriages. He is able to rebuild these broken walls. He is able to restore all the years that the cankerworm has stolen. He is able to bestow on you a crown of beauty instead of ashes
The oil of joy instead of mourning and a garment of praise instead of this spirit of heaviness. From this mess, he is able to make a beautiful message to the world.

CHIOMA:?????

JUDITH: I’ll take you to Lagos with me. By the grace of God I am comfortable. Stay with me until you put to bed and wait for God to perfect his work in your marriage.

CHIOMA: I don’t want to stay far away from my kids

JUDITH: from Lagos to Abuja is only about an hour flight. Whenever you wish to see them, I’ll make sure you do. Please, come with me. Okay, beautiful?

CHIOMA: ??? okay. Let me go and tell my mum

To be continued

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