Maggie waited impatiently for Daniel to arrive. She couldn’t wait to give him the news and she wondered how he would take the news. She wondered if this was just what she needed. She had felt Dan slipping away but had never suspected what she found out last night.
****
Last night or rather evening Dan had gone out jogging and left his phone in the house. Maggie was busy cooking in the kitchen thinking sadly how it would be nice to have the pitter patter of little feet in the house. She couldn’t believe that they had been married for seven years and no children yet.
Maggie had given up her career as a nursery school teacher when she married Daniel. Daniel was from a wealthy family and she had met him when he came to pick his nephew from school. Daniel had said it was love at first sight but it wasn’t for her. She was from a poor family and she did not believe in fairy tales where rich princes married poor Cinderella’s. Daniel had taken his time, charmed her and her family. He had swept aside her objections and made her fall for him.
Maggie had planned to have children immediately but nothing seemed to materialize. Daniel told her not to worry the children would come. She felt helpless having nothing to do so she started gardening and putting her life into managing the huge shamba that they had been given for a wedding present.
Maggie and Daniel had started getting worried in the third year when nothing was happening. They went to a doctor and Maggie was found to be ok. Daniel was found to have a low sperm count but he was given medicine to help with that. The only problem is that he always made it seem that she had the problem. But because Daniel was the breadwinner and everything and she did not want to make him look like less of a man she kept quiet.
As she was working in the kitchen and thinking about the past Daniel’s phone rang. She usually did not pick his phone so she continued what she was doing. It rang consistently, being disconnected, and called again. She went to the sitting room to get the phone and tell the person that Daniel was not at home. But by the time she did it had stopped ringing. Then she saw a flashing message. Maybe it was the same person. Dan was such an important busy person. Maybe it was a client wanting to get in touch. Dan would be upset if he missed out on an important deal.
Maggie punched in his security code, he had never changed it all the time she had known him, but there was no need. They trusted each other with stuff like that. What she saw made her have to seat down.
“Darling I am just from the doctor. I am so excited. I am pregnant and it’s is going to be a baby boy. We can name him Kamau like your father. I will be waiting for you tomorrow night. Can’t wait to see my baby daddy again. Love you loads and loads.”
Kamau was Dan’s father so there was no wishing that the text was a mistake. Maggie felt pain like she had never felt it. She felt like someone had ripped out her heart. She could not believe it. She sat on the sofa and cried and cried.
Fortunately she remembered that she was in the middle of cooking and that Daniel was due any moment. She deleted the message knowing that there was no way Dan would not notice that his message had been read if the person asked him. “Let her think that the message did not reach.
That night as she slept beside the man she had loved, a man she thought would never betray her she felt the stirring of hatred. “After all I have done to keep quiet and allowed Daniel to pretend that I am the one with the problem, he goes out and has an affair. And the slut is pregnant. What am I going to do?”
In the morning she called her sister Mary. Her sister was going to have her fourth baby and was heavily pregnant. She had married a friend of Dan’s. When she explained what was going on, her sister told her not to cry.
“My dear, this is not the time for tears. If you allow yourself to wallow in it, you shall lose the battle. Come here right now I will have thought of something.”
Maggie went to visit Mary. Mary hatched a plan. It was only a short term plan but they would think of a long term solution later. The idea was to make sure Daniel did not leave her for the other woman. It had to work because Maggie did not know what she would do if it didn’t. The sisters went to the pharmacy to get some things and then they went for lunch.
****
It was seven o’clock and Maggie was waiting for Daniel to come home. She had called him at lunch time and told him there was something she had to tell him, exciting news. Dan asked her, “can’t it wait until I come home later. You know today is the night I hang out with the boys?”
Maggie told him it was something that couldn’t wait. He asked her to tell him on the phone but she said it was something she had to tell him in person.
“Fine,” Daniel said, “I will pass by there then see if I will get time to go see my boys?”
Maggie took a bubble bath and had some wine while she was there to calm her nerves. “Will it work? Will it work?” She thought. She wore a dress that was a favorite of Dan’s and the perfume he loved. She had prepared a delicious meal for him and all she wanted was for him to come.
When Daniel arrived she rushed to get him a drink. He was clearly impatient to be off to see his “boys.”
“Maggie just tell me what’s up? What’s with the romantic lighting and the sexy clothes? I told you I have to go.”
“I was going to tell you after dinner and show your surprise. But since you are so impatient let me bring it so that you can see it. “
Maggie rushed to the room and brought something to the table.
“What is it?” Dan said impatiently.
“It’s a pregnancy test and it’s positive. Actually I took two just to be sure. We are going to have a baby. Isn’t that the most exciting news in the world? We are finally going to be parents “
That shut Daniel up. He was speechless and could not say everything. Maggie saw the fake smile that he pasted on his face and inside she laughed. Daniel said that in light of the news he would not be going out. He went to the sitting room,brought out a bottle of scotch and started drinking it.
****
Later as they were in bed with each of them trying to pretend that they were sleeping Maggie thought. I have caught you. Now to plan B. She smiled and as she lay in bed she gave thanks to God for a clever, pregnant sister.
As she lay in bed she thought of the conversation she had with her sister.
Mary had said “You know that baby can’t be Daniel’s. After all you have been trying to have a baby for 7 years. Daniel’s diabetes caused him to have a low sperm count. And there’s no way after all that long another woman can just get pregnant.”
Mary continued “That slut is trying to get Daniel from you by giving him a child. We have to think of a solution otherwise you will lose everything. That slut will get everything you worked for. She probably got another man to get her pregnant so that she can claim to have an heir. You know I depend on you. My husband may have money but he never spends any on me. So we have to think of something otherwise …”
Maggie had just said “I know!”
She left it hanging. Maggie knew what she had to do. There was only one only solution to her problem. Daniel had to pay for humiliating her and cheating on her after all the things she had put up with. How to do that was what she needed to think about. As she drifted off she thought the saying is true ‘hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.’
Daniel had to die and she had to make it look like it was due to natural causes!
Potentash 2011/2013
