If you haven’t read the first part of this story, here’s the link. Kindly read it before starting this one.

After the wedding, we went for our honeymoon in a nice hotel in the Eastern region. We were there for about a week and then we came home. Originally, Ken wanted us to start trying for kids at least six months or a year after marriage. He explained, “I want us to get to know each other more intimately before the children arrive. You know how they say kids change everything.” I smiled at him and responded, “Yes, you are right. We should enjoy each other for a while before things change.” However, I had my own agenda. See, I was already thirty-two by the time we got married. I had no intention of waiting for another year to get pregnant.

I lied to him that I was on birth control and he believed me. We had been intimate lots of times before we got married and nothing happened so why would he doubt me now? I encouraged him to empty himself inside me every time we had intimacy. I also prayed fervently that it wouldn’t take long for me to conceive. A week after our honeymoon he returned to work. I remember vividly the day he was going to work. I asked him, “Must you go already? Can’t you ask your boss to give you more days off? I want to spend more time with you.” He smiled wistfully and said, “I wish I wouldn’t have to leave for work at all so I could spend every day with you, but honey, we will starve. Let me go, I will be back soon.”

While he was leaving I tried to delay him by being innocently seductive but he saw through my act, gave me a kiss and set off. The first thing he did when he arrived at work was to call me to let me know that he was safely at work. I went about my day bored out of my mind. Then around 3 pm, I called him. I wanted to ask what he wanted to eat for dinner but he didn’t answer any of my calls. I figured he might be busy or he just couldn’t hear his phone ringing. He worked in construction as a project manager so sometimes the loud machinery blocked out the sound of his phone.

I expected him to see my call and return it but he never did. Around 5 pm, I received a call from my father-in-law. He said, “Mary, I just got a call from Ken’s employers saying he has been involved in an accident at work. We are on our way to the hospital so hurry up and meet us there.” As soon as the call ended, I began to shake and panic. I kept praying and hoping that his injuries wouldn’t be anything serious. “God, please heal my husband and make him alright.”

When I got to the hospital, Ken’s mum was in tears but his father was stone-faced. When he saw me, he held my hand and took me inside. Ken’s boss and a colleague were also there. They looked confused. I asked what was going on and they told me they were waiting for the doctor. I asked the boss what happened and he told me, he wasn’t sure. I asked him again, “How bad is the injury?” “Very bad,” he muttered. His response caused me to start shaking all over again. My heart was beating very fast and I could feel my stomach churning. `Not long after, one of the doctors came along with a nurse to see us. “Is my husband okay?” I asked them. They didn’t respond but the expressions on their faces told me everything. I myself have worn a look like that every time I had to share tragic news with a patient’s loved one.

Oh, I prayed. I prayed all my fears were just in my head and that my Ken was actually fine and ready to go home with me. But when the doctor finally spoke he said, “Hmm madam, I am sorry. Your husband didn’t make it.” Those words cut me as deep as a hot knife would cut butter. I didn’t want to believe her so I asked her to show me my husband. She was a bit reluctant but, in the end, she took me to where his body was. He was wearing a reflector vest over the clothes he left home that morning in. His shirt and reflector were drenched in blood and that was when I noticed that there was a huge gush on his head. Everything went black after that.

When I woke up, my husband’s family and my family were all around me. I was confused at first but then it all came back to me. I began crying uncontrollably. I felt a few hands holding me but I was inconsolable. After only two weeks of marriage, my Ken was no more. When he said he was going to spend the rest of his life with me, I never thought he meant two weeks.

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A month after his demise, we held his funeral. And I found out right before the funeral that I was pregnant. I was really surprised that with everything I was going through, I hadn’t had a miscarriage yet. My mother-in-law encouraged me to be strong and accept the baby as the last gift from Ken. At the funeral, my mother and my sisters wept way more than I did. I understood the source of their pain. They must be thinking, “Just when one of us has managed to break the jinx or supposed curse on our family, tragedy strikes.”

Although everyone tells me that it wasn’t my fault, deep down, I believe that it’s my fault. No one on my mum’s side of the family had ever married or had a good marriage so why did I think I would be different? The dreams Ken had before our wedding were all signs that I should have walked away but I didn’t. Now, I have gotten someone’s son killed. It has been almost six years since I became a widow but not a day goes by that I don’t think of Ken and what we could have been if he hadn’t been taken away from me.

I lost him but I am thankful for the good relationship I currently have with his mother. We both bonded over our loss. She is such a strong woman. She and my mum came to live with me when everything first happened. Although the woman lost her son, she became my pillar of strength. When I woke up in the middle of the night to cry my eyes out, she would come to sit with me and comfort me. She would give me words of encouragement that were backed with scripture. We would pray and she would stay with me till I fall asleep. I expected her to blame me for her son’s death but she has shown me nothing but love.

His Wife Found Out About Us | Beads Media

I miss my sweet Ken every day. What keeps me going is our son. He is the spitting image of his father. About a year ago he asked me, “Mummy. where is my daddy? When will he come to us?” I fought back tears as I told him, “Daddy is in heaven. We can’t see him now but we will all be together one day.” I don’t think he understood what I told him that day but when he is older and asks me about his dad, I will tell him everything about Ken and how much I loved him. Maybe when he is old enough to understand the world, I will share with him why I think I am responsible for his father’s demise. Until then, I will try my best to raise a man Ken would be proud of.

–Mary

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