Restore 12

The truth was Wale had barely thought about Nedu these past days. His mind had been occupied with getting better and spending time with Jade and Segun. He dropped the phone and saw that Jade was nowhere to be found. She must have slipped away while he was speaking with Nedu; maybe to give him privacy to make his call. He remembered she had never done that while they were married; she always listened in on his call and then tried to quiz him about every single detail when he dropped the call. He had noticed so many changes in her during this time they had spent together; she seemed more like the woman he had married, only better.

He stood up and went to look for her. It was time they had some serious conversation.

Jade was in her room sorting through the clothes she would wear to work the next day. She had found the old jealousies and insecurities coming back when she discovered Wale was speaking with the lady he had had a date with on the night he had the accident when she left the living room to give him some privacy, determined to occupy her mind with something else beside petty jealousy. These past days had been so enjoyable with just the two of them; she had lured herself into a false sense of security. It was the call that woke her from her slumber; it reminded her that all was not as she wished yet.

Wale coughed to get her attention. She was so intent on her chore; she didn’t notice he had been standing by the door for a few moments. “Hi.”

“Hi back.” She forced a smile

Wale knew whenever Jade forced anything and this smile was as forced as they came. “You left me alone back there.” He pointed back to the living room.

“I wanted to give you some privacy.”

“Hmm, you never did that while we were married.”

She smiled and this time it was genuine. “Back then, I knew next to nothing.”

“Yes I can see that. You’ve changed so much.” He looked into her eyes. It got intense and Jade had to look away. Wale was not about to let her off that easily, though.

“How about that famous explanation you’ve been promising me? Can we do that now?”

She held back, still wary but Wale approached her, took her arm and led her to the settee beside the wardrobe. “Sit down, please.”

Jade sat, wondering if she could do this. Can I do this? Can I let him in once more? I don’t want to be hurt anymore. Help me Lord, take charge of this discussion. “Where do I start from?”

“Anywhere you like. I just want to know what’s been happening in your life ever since.”

She placed her hands on her thighs. “Well…let me start from when we separated.”

He nodded.

“As you may likely know, I was a mess when you left. I was devastated and I made many mistakes including being silly enough to try to turn your son against you. That was the worst and I regret it to this day.”

Wale’s mouth tightened as he remembered all the arguments and accusations that had flown from one camp to another. Jade saw this and faltered, but she was determined to go on. She took his hands in hers.

“I know I really hurt you and caused you unnecessary pain and for that I am sorry. I am especially sorry for the rift between you and Segun that I was partially responsible for…”

“Fully responsible for.” Wale interrupted

Jade smiled. “No Wale, partially responsible. You didn’t try hard enough to win your son, did you?”

“What was I supposed to do when he was living with you and I only got him when you felt like it? And that was after you had filled his mind with every sort of lie about me.”

Jade patted his hand to soothe him. “We’ve established that I was unfair. Can we move on from that? Please?”

“Okay.” He acquiesced

“So, after all that brouhaha, you can only imagine how devastated I was. It was so bad at one point that I had to send Segun to live with my mum so I could get myself back together. Then a friend of mine invited me to church and though I was a Christian superficially, I knew I wasn’t working in alignment with God’s plan for my life. So, I rededicated my life to Christ and started on the path of healing. I asked for forgiveness for the part I played in our divorce and I have been praying for the restoration of our family ever since. In a way, this accident of yours is a blessing, because it brought us back to a point where we couldn’t avoid each other anymore.”

Wale sighed. “So, what are you saying? You want us back together?”

Jade smiled. “I never stopped loving you Wale. I was just so blind and stupid to throw away what we had. I don’t know if it was inexperience or insecurity, but we were pretty young when we got married and it could be that youth that made me destroy the best thing that ever happened in my life.”

Wale took her hands and looked into her eyes. They stared at each other for a few moments before he drew her into his arms. “I never stopped loving you either.” He whispered in her ears.

He withdrew but didn’t release her hands. “I was selfish too Jade. I didn’t work hard enough at our relationship. I didn’t have to flirt with all those women and I could have handled your jealousy better. As you said, we were young and we made so many mistakes but are you sure we can continue from where we stopped?”

“That’s exactly the point. I don’t want us to continue from where we stopped. I want us to start again; anew, afresh, with God at our side and in our home. Can we do that?”

“Hmmm. Let’s see how it goes. I don’t want us to rush into anything. Let’s just take it a day at a time and go from there.”

“Okay, I’ll like that. I can work with that.”

He drew her into his arms once again and they sat together, holding hands and talking about their past and all the future may have in store for them.