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A year and some months had gone by since Martin had walked out on his wife of seven years and their five-year-old daughter.
A broken-hearted Amelia spent her days drowning in alcohol. She had loved Martin and sacrificed her relationship with her family for him, now she had no one to turn to.
Her family had disowned her when she had decided to marry Martin against their wishes. Separated by the vast oceans, she had not heard from them in all the seven years she was married to him.
Alone and broken-hearted, she had taken to the bottle and smoked excessively. Mr. Andrews and his wife tried to help around the house, which was in disarray.
Zaria had to fend for herself on the days that Mr. Andrews was off duty.
Martin had given up on life.
Every day Zaria would sit at the window and wait for her father to return, but he never did.
The day she received the court summons, Amelia yelled out curses at Martin, his new family, and the generations past.
”Never! Never am I ever going to give you a divorce,” she vowed as she sat on the veranda a bottle of vodka in hand as she watched the bonfire she had created.
She had burnt all the clothes that he had left behind.
On the girl’s seventh birthday, Amelia dressed an excited Zaria in a pink princess dress.” Mommy, is dad coming back to us?”
“Of course sweety,” she replied as she combed the girl’s hair and put ribbons in it.
They were seated in front of the dressing mirror in the girl’s room. A dreamily smile brightened Amelia’s face. She had been smiling since the day before when she had received the call from Martin.
As soon as she had put the phone down, she got to work and cleaned every corner of the huge mansion, filled the fridge with his favorite foods, and chose the best outfit for herself.
“Of course, he is, he must already be tired of that woman and her child. Your dad is ours alone. And you are his only child.”
“Really mommy? Am I dad’s only child?”
”As long as that child did not come from my womb, they are no sibling of yours. Always remember that. Any child of your fathers with any other woman is our enemy.”
Amelia was in the kitchen when the doorbell rang. She took out the cake that she had personally baked from the fridge and walked into the lounge just as Zaria ran down the stairs to open the door.
“Daddy!” she shrieked as Martin scooped her up.
“How is my little princess?”
Romazaria hugged her father tightly and buried her face in his neck.”I missed you.”
” I missed you too sweetheart.”
Martin walked in followed by two men. The two men who had come with Marrin stopped in their tracks and exchanged curious gazes as they took in the decor of the house.
Martin on the on the other hand sighed and cursed internally.
Amelia, looking lovely as ever, stood with a cake in her hands.
But it was the banner behind her that had him pausing mid-stride and cursing out in the head.
WELCOME BACK HONEY, it read.
Dread washed over him. What had he been thinking? He just should have let his people handle this.
She smiled at him in anticipation.”Hai Martin. Welcome back. I’m sorry I couldn’t do much, your call came late.”
”Mommy and I stayed up all night making the banner. This is the best birthday present ever daddy. I’m glad you came back to us.”
Martin turned and cast a wary look at the men behind him.
”Daddy, sing the birthday song for me”
Martin smiled at his daughter.“Sure honey. But first I need to talk to your mom. Go to the car, I got you something big for your birthday.”
The excited girl ran out.
Amelia put the cake down.“Martin, who are those people? Are they your associates? You should have told me that you were coming over with visitors. Oh well, it’s okay. I prepared enough food for an army, I can always set extra places at the table.”
“Amelia, enough. You know why am here. Didn’t your lawyer tell you?”
She headed to the dining table .“Let us have dinner first, it is your daughter’s day. Let’s not spoil it with silly adult talks.”
“I thought I should give you time to say goodbye to her. When the custody ruling went to me. I guess you haven’t told her anything yet.” He cast her a hopeless look.
He should have anticipated that. She had never attended any of the court hearings. It was always her lawyer who showed up.
Amelia’s hand shook as she reached for the Champaign bottle in the ice bucket on the dining table.
“Why don’t you go ahead and open the bottle. I will go get us some more glasses.”
She offered the bottle to him calmly.
“No.”
“Honey…”
“No Amelia. I came for Zaria and nothing else. I knew you wouldn’t hand her over easily; that is why I brought the officer from child welfare and the lawyer.”
Amelia eyes darted to the smartly dressed men who stared at her with grim faces.
“Are you going to do this to her today of all days? That is cruel.”
Marrin wanted to yell but took a deep breath instead. “You are the one who suggested I come today. You are the one who tried to put off the inevitable.”
“If you do this, she will hate you. She will never forgive you,” she told him in a matter-of-fact tone. She had planted enough hatred in the child’s mind over the year he was away.
Martin shook his head at her. “ Where are her bags?”
Amelia crossed her arms over her chest, a smirk on her face.
Maryin let out a frustrated chuckle.”Fine then. I will just get her new clothes.” He turned to head out.
“I will not let you steal my daughter to be raised by that whore,” she yelled, her voice filled with unbridled rage.
He turned back. “Mind your language. That is my wife you are talking about.”
He turned back and the officers followed him.
Just as his hand touched the brass doorknob, Amelia’s hand slid under the cushion. She opened her mouth and spoke in a cold, hard voice.”Step away from the door.”
The click of the gun made them all turn back.
In her hands, she held a gun and it was aimed straight at him.
Martin stared at the gun in fear. It was a dangerous weapon in the hands of a crazy woman. The officer pulled out his gun.
“Ma’am, put the gun on the ground.”
“Why her Martini? She stole you away from me. From us. And now she wants my daughter too?” she asked tears rolling. “I loved you first, you were mine first before that whore stole you from us. You are mine and Zaria’s only!!”
She waved the gun at them. The officer, a bulky man moved stealthy pushing Martin and the lawyer behind him.
“Ms. Deboius,” the officer, gun aimed at her said slowly, “Put the gun down. This is not good for you…”
”Laurent! Mrs. Laurent! Mrs. Laurent!! I’m Mrs. Laurent,” she yelled waving the gun crazily. “I am Martin’s only legal wife. Me, me alone and not some home wrecking slut.”
“Amelia, put the gun away before you hurt someone,” Martin urged her over the officer’s shoulder.
“I loved you, Martin. I love you even now. What did I do wrong for you to stop loving me? Tell me I will fix my mistakes…”
“Amelia…”
“Tell me what I did wrong and I will correct it. Did I not raise our daughter well? Was I not a good wife? Tell me! I love you Martin and I know you still do too,” she cried out,“I just want our family to be whole. You just want to test the waters. It will pass, right? It’s a meaningless affair right?”
“Amelia put the gun down. Officer please, put the gun away. My daughter is outside,” he begged.
The officer reluctantly put his gun away his eyes locked on Amelia. He figured if his gun was posing as a treat to her, it was best to ease the tense situation in an amicable manner.
“Amelia put the gun away. Our daughter, the most precious thing to both of us is right outside, please. She could get hurt if that thing is fired accidentally.’
“Tell me you love me. Tell me you won’t leave us. Tell me am the woman you love.”
“Amelia, we are over, I love Olivia…”
“No, no, no, no don’t tell me that. I don’t want to hear that!” she cried out waving the gun at him.
“Amelia, you are just making things hard for yourself. Stop this,” he tried to reason.
Amelia wiped her tears as she aimed the gun at him. “Fine. If you won’t be ours then either can you be theirs…”
She pulled on the trigger just as the door opened and a laughing Zaria entered.
“Noooooo…” Martin cried out as he pushed the door back on the startled child.
” Shit!” The officer cursed and whipped out his weapon.
The bullet pierced his flesh, sending agonizing pain through his body. He fell against the wall as the officer, squatting down while shielding his charges shot Amelia in her leg.
She yelped out in pain and stumbled to the floor, dropping the gun. He rushed over and cuffed her.
The lawyer, Mr. Miles, crawled over to Martin and pressed his tie on the bleeding shoulder.
“Martin are you okay man? There is so much blood”
Martin winced in pain nodding his head. Sweat dripped from his forehead.
“Daddy?” A fearful whisper came to him from behind.
Martin lifted his head to look at the scared girl standing in the doorway.
He lifted his hand and touched her face gently. He opened his mouth to say something but words never came as he blacked out.
The lawyer felt his pulse and let out a sigh of relief when he detected his heartbeat, though weak.
“Martin? Martin? What’s happening?” Amelia asked anguishedly. She desperately tried to crawl to him despite her wounds and the pain she was feeling but the officer restrained her.
The lawyer glared at her.“Don’t you dare come near him!”
Amelia cried out his name. She had just wanted to make the family whole and not kill him.
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