After the death of my father and stepmother, I got even closer to my brother, the second son of the union. Though our other siblings became friendlier, they were still a little bit distant. I took care of all of them in my own little way, not minding the pain their mother made me go through in my father’s house.
For me, the fact that my name was on her lips, during her last moments on earth, was enough to tell me that she tried to seek for my forgiveness. I worked for about one year in a private hospital after my youth service and immediately started my residency. In no time, I became a consultant physician.
My kid brother moved in with me when I took up an appointment with a federal teaching hospital. He helped in so many ways and also gained admission into the university to study Accounting under my roof.
Things were going on well for me. My regret was that the last daughter of the family almost took to prostitution in spite of the words of wisdom and help from her brothers. My immediate younger brother, my stepmother’s first son, on his own part, said he was not destined to go to school, that he would rather have me set up a business for him. This was after his third unsuccessful attempt at gaining admission into the university through the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board.
He also refused to consider the polytechnic option, saying if he could not go to the university, he would just go into business, that the ultimate aim of everyone was to make money.
After so much trouble, I raised money for him to buy three cars in a bid to start a small auto business. I registered the business in his name, but had some shares in it. My stepsister got pregnant along the line, but luckily for us, the man, who was responsible, accepted her and the baby after a lot of trouble.
I also had to beg one of my close patients to help employ him as a teacher in his private school for him to calm down and accept the responsibilities of a father. As time went on, I set up a private practice with the help of my aunt’s husband. He invested heavily in firstrate equipment for my specialist hospital, and in no time, I was able to buy back his investment.
Meanwhile, my aunt was watching as I was playing the role of a father and mother to my siblings and kept on praying for me for not letting my father down. She knew I was doing all that to make my father happy in his grave since that was his last wish. But she was worried that I was doing that at the expense of my own future happiness.
She said I was paying too much attention to them and using all the resources I would have used to raise a family to cater for my stepbrothers and sister. According to her, God says we should love our neighbours like ourselves, not more than ourselves. Her children were also doing extremely well, but she was just amazingly good to me, like the mother I never grew to know.
She moved in with us and kept on drumming it in my ears that it was time I thought of settling down with a good woman or I would live my entirely life training children, instead of sitting down at my old age to reap the good fruits of my labour.
At a point, she even started crying, saying she did not want to think that my late stepmother had placed a curse on me to use all my money to train her children at the expense of my own happiness. She threw herself into fasting and prayer and encouraged me to do the same.
I could hardly fast, though I did not joke with prayers. But I made sure that I took her seriously. I had been close to my matron, a trained midwife, for a while. She was single and quite young, having enrolled at the nursing school immediately after her senior secondary school.
I noticed that she liked me a lot, but I was not giving any woman any chance because of what I had experienced as a child between my father and my stepmother.
To cut the story short, I decided to make my aunt happy, one thing led to another, and I brought her home as my wife-to-be. In fairness to my aunt, she objected to my choice, saying that she was not comfortable with her level of education.
She had expected me to bring home a fellow medical doctor or some other professional. But I tried to educate her that she was also a professional in her own field, having gone through various stages of the nursing training.
Reluctantly, she accepted my choice and moved back to her husband’s house soon after we started courting. Our wedding was a very big one. All my patients, especially the wealthy ones, turned up impressively.
In fairness to my aunt, she objected to my choice, saying that she was not comfortable with her level of education. She had expected me to bring home a fellow medical doctor or some other professional. But I tried to educate her that she was also a professional in her own field, having gone through various stages of the nursing training
Close and extended family members also turned out in a way that overwhelmed my wife’s family. But I was not allowed to spend my money at all. My aunt and her husband carried all the expenses. They said my mother did that and more for them when they were getting married, and since they could afford it, they would do anything to make her happy in her grave.
My wife had to stay off work for a month to attend to family issues and also rest. I asked if she would want another job, but she said there was nothing wrong in husband and wife running the same business. So she remained the matron at my hospital. As expected, her posture changed in the hospital and everybody gave her the respect they gave me, the medical director.
But, on her part, she became a totally changed person, and made everyone work under undue tension. She would follow a nurse to my office without any reason, even when I was the one who called for that nurse. In two months, she fired three nurses and hired replacements. When she got pregnant, and was having early complications, she was advised to rest at home. This was when the real trouble started…
To be continued.
