We got married in January last year. The next February 14th was our first Valentine’s day together. We didn’t have the opportunity to celebrate Valentine together when we were dating. I was almost always away on that day due to work or due to personal runs. So after three years of dating and after one month of being married, Valentine was here again. I wished I could do something bigger for her but I didn’t have the financial power to carry out my dreams.

So I started looking out for smart ways to celebrate the valentine without spending beyond budget. “A good meal outside of the home will do,” I thought. “Or maybe I should get her a necklace and earrings to match.” Everything I desired to do for her promised to cost more than I could pay so I decided to ask her what she wanted.

She said, “Anything from your heart will do.”

I left it at that.

When we woke up one Val’s day morning, I told her, “Let’s eat out after work today. I have a very biiiig surprise for you.” I was lying. I still didn’t know what to get her. I thought of finding something small for her as the day runs toward the evening. At around 1:30pm, I was eating lunch when I had a call from my wife. When I picked the call, I realized it wasn’t my wife’s voice. I asked who that was and she answered, “I’m your wife’s colleague. I came to her class just now and found her head on the table. She couldn’t speak clearly but she’s complaining of something. Could you come around?”

I knew what the problem was. She usually experienced this sharp headache that renders her incapacitated for days. She had had it twice ever since I met her and each time was terrible for her. I told her, “Kindly let her lie upright on a bench or on a mattress and put a wet towel on her forehead. I should be there in the next twenty minutes.”

I left the rest of my lunch, asked permission and hurried out of the office.

Less than twenty minutes later, I was at the school compound. I asked one of the madams, “I’m here for Madam Ruth, where can I find her.” She answered, “Walk past the two classroom block on your left, the next one in front of you is KG2, that’s where she is.”

Immediately I entered the class, all the kids screamed, “Yaaaaay!!” I was confused. I looked at the table in front of me and there was a big cake and drinks. Two kids were standing next to the cake holding red balloons. I’d still not gotten it until I saw my wife entering the class from the other side with this wide grin. Two other colleagues of hers joined. She said, “I thought we should celebrate the valentine with these kids.”

I felt so lost and found at the same time. I started laughing sheepishly. When I got closer to her I said, “You’ll pay for this.”

We cut the cake and shared it to the kids. Immediately the champaign popped, the kids started singing, “Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you…” One of the teachers screamed, “It’s not a birthday. It’s a valentine. They screamed, “Happy ‘vantain’ to you, happy ‘vantain’ to you, happy ‘vantain’ to youuuu, Happy vantain to youuuu”

All of us there couldn’t stop laughing. Nothing could stop them from singing and they were right. If there’s a song for a birthday, then there should be a song for Valentine too. They were so excited in their ignorance it was lovely to watch them.

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I understood why my wife wanted to have six kids with only a year interval between their birth. She had been charmed by these little ones and wanted to have the same in her house.

That day when we went home, the lovemaking was different. It was like the two of us were possessed. We really had the time of our lives in bed. In November last year, we welcomed our first kid, a boy. You don’t need magic to tell when that kid was made. He was made that night. The night after the ‘vantain’ song was sung.

Jeff, Ghana

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