Secrets

She fell in love for the first time 
immediately after her high school 
education 
She was an army brat 
Her father was in the Airforce and 
as a result, they got to move a lot 
They never stayed in a place for 
more than four years 
Unlike other soldiers who would settle 
their family in a location and move 
alone to provide stability for the children 
especially in terms of education and 
their wife's employment, her mother 
never agreed to stay away from her 
husband 
She knew what soldiers were capable 
of without their wife and family members 
in their lives to be of support to them as 
they carry out their duties 
People who are often living on the edge 
get to live as if there is no tomorrow 
They know they could be gone at any 
time 
So they usually take whatever they 
could out of life while they were still breathing 
They were exposed to so much
death and horror that psychologically, 
they needed an outlet to purge themselves 
of the negative effects of both their 
actions and the actions of others 
(Comrades and foes) in the line of duty 
The mind can only take so much before 
it begins to respond to the realities it 
had been exposed to 
Many soldiers take the edge off through 
drinking, smoking, and sex 
The consequence of that was having 
many children outside wedlock or 
marrying many wives 
Her mother didn't want her husband 
to have either 
She wanted to be her husband's one 
true love and support him as much as 
she could to achieve that, so the family 
got to move around with him 
Fortunately, her father was a very 
disciplined Christian 
He neither drank nor smoked nor had
a love for women outside his wife 
He was often in the line of duty 
especially during the years of ECOMOG 
wars and UN Peace Keeping Tours 
but remained firm and disciplined through 
it all 
Her father was eleven years older than 
her mother and usually gave her mother 
whatever she wanted, no matter how 
unreasonable, especially if her mother 
was moved to tears on such a demand 
Her mother once wanted to attend a 
show where a popular juju musician was 
singing with her friends 
She demanded that her father give her 
dollars to spray on the musician at the 
party and also give them a military plane 
and pilot to fly them to the state the 
show was held that day and back to 
Lagos the following day 
Her father obliged her 
Her mother was like a spoilt brat whom 
her father indulged just to have his 
peace of mind 
When she was fourteen, her mother 
decided she must move to America 
to study in a boarding school 
Everybody told her mother she was too 
young to travel abroad alone but her 
mother refused to listen 
Her mother's friend within the military 
community were all doing the same 
The argument was hinged on "stability 
It is either the mother and the children 
stayed in one location so that the 
children can have some academic 
stability or the children got placed in 
a boarding school, where they can 
get some form of stability in their lives 
Her mother opted for the latter and 
decided for good measure that either 
the school was at home or abroad, 
was of no consequence, stability is 
stability 
Her father always did what her mother 
wanted and saw no reason
to convince her mother otherwise 
That was how she and her three siblings 
found themselves in boarding schools 
in the USA! 
She left at the age of 14 
Her siblings left as soon as they completed 
their primary school education in Nigeria 
Suddenly it was a status symbol for her 
mother a bragging right 
Her mother was in America at the end of 
every school term to bring them home 
for the holidays and prepare them for 
the next academic session 
Their absence gave their mother the room 
to be with her husband and live a life 
devoid of children "palaver" and other
family dramas 
For her, the lack of inclusion in the family 
was a huge problem 
She was their child and they cared for her 
but she couldn't see or feel the loving 
intimacy that was supposed to be between 
parents and children 
It was as if her parents were lost in their 
own world and couldn't be bothered about 
the emotional fulfillment of their children 
She knew her mother and by extension, 
her parents were not being deliberately 
wicked or uncaring towards their children 
but her mother was always playing the 
"child" and as a result, the children 
couldn't be children! 
She couldn't remember ever asking her 
father anything directly 
Her mother wouldn't allow it 
Her mother decided what was best for 
the children and kept all the affection 
and attention of their father to herself 
She grew up hoping to find her own 
man and get loved by him
Her mother had three girls and a boy
 All the girls grew up feeling like 
outsiders in the family 
They had fancy clothes and went to 
fancy schools but there was a strong 
sense of detachment and a feeling of 
inadequacy 
She couldn't quite explain it but it was 
there and it was obvious
She slept with the first boy that was 
bold enough to ask her for sex 
It took her some time to adapt to the 
American system and be accepted 
by the other students as one of them 
She found their English strange for the 
first few months and had to adapt to 
their spellings and style of writing 
She was often called "Nigerian girl"
by the boys because they couldn't
pronounce her name but she adapted 
eventually
She joined the volleyball team and 
found herself to be quite good at the 
sport 
She also graduated top of her class 
She never had a boyfriend or any 
admirer until he came along 
He was also a Nigerian like her
She didn't know so much about sex 
and its consequences 
She got pregnant after a month of 
sleeping with him at every opportunity 
She got pregnant 
He told his parents 
She told her parents 
His parents felt she should have the 
child and go on to college to complete 
her education 
Her mother said "Over her dead body" 
"My own daughter will delay her education 
by a year while your son would proceed 
to college now after putting my daughter 
in the family way!"
Her mother insisted she must get an 
abortion 
As usual it was decided for her, her 
opinion didn't count 
She wrote a passionate letter to her 
father urging him to let her keep the baby 
if indeed he was a God-fearing man 
Her father agreed 
It was the first time her father had gone 
against her mother's wish that she knew of 
She also told her father she loved the 
boy and would like to keep relating
with and perhaps marry him 
Her father asked the boy's parents to come 
and see him in Nigeria so that they can 
know his people (While it was not a 
wedding introduction, her father 
felt having a child for each other meant 
the two families shouldn't be strangers)
His parents went to see her parents 
His father was an Olusho (A shepherd 
in the Celestial Church) and he came 
to their house wearing his Sutana 
(Celestial church worship uniform). 
Apart from this, they conducted themselves 
very well and they were rich! 
As soon as they left her mother said NO! 
Her mother said God had told her from 
childhood not to have anything to do 
with "white garment" people 
Her mother forbade her from seeing 
the boy again
She tried to appeal to her father
the second time
But he had been sent to England on
a training course and couldn't be
bothered with her petulance
According to him, she got pregnant
out of wedlock and was trying to
force her will down their throat
The next thing she knew, her
mother surfaced in Atlanta and
told her they were relocating to
Chicago where they had some 
relatives
She was 17 and couldn't protest
Even if she did, she had no means
of sustenance by herself
Her father provided all the children
with a monthly allowance and didn't
allow them to work
That was how her mother separated
her and her guy
Her guy's family tried very hard to
at least play a role in the baby's
life but her mother shut down every
gesture of kindness from them
She delivered the baby, a boy
Only her mother, her father and
her siblings were present during the
naming ceremony
The baby was given her surname
She wrote her exams and gained
admission to college
Her mother took over the care
of the baby
She went off to school
Her father completed his training
in the UK and visited the family
in America
Suddenly they invited her over from
school and told her their plan
Her mother was just 39 years old
She would return to Nigeria and
present the baby as her own
This would be done so that she
would have the opportunity to
meet another man and settle down
without answering clumsy
questions or losing out on love
"It is difficult for singles to find
suitable partners nowadays and
being a single parent is a big
disadvantage in the marriage
market" said her mother
She had no option but to go 
along with the plan
They didn't ask for her opinion
They just told her what to do!
Three years later, she got pregnant
again
This time it was deliberate and
she couldn't even tell who was
responsible
She was so broken by the way 
they were running her life that
she started towing a path of
self-destruction
Drinking, partying and having sex
with whoever wanted to get
down with her
She had a series of one night
stands
Faces blurred and even the
act got muddled in her brain
She was determined to have a 
baby and keep her baby
Somehow her mother knew about
it
(She suspected the doctor or
her roommate told her mother but
she was not sure)
The pregnancy was seven weeks 
old when she got picked up by
some strange men sent by her
mother
By 7 pm that day, the pregnancy
was gone
Her mother's goons drugged her
and somehow conducted a D&C
procedure on her without her
consent 
Her mother supervised the whole
thing
When she woke up in her room,
she felt numb all over
As she opened her eyes, she saw
her mother starring down at her
while talking to someone over the 
phone. 
 "This one felt it was her
duty to destroy my testimony, she
wanted to prove the naysayers right,
do you know what my Mother-In-Law
said when I sent the children to
school in America? She said i threw
my children to the universe to raise
for me and i will regret it!
Her words are true now
I regret sending this one to America
but I will not allow that woman to
have the last laugh by witnessing
the disgrace this one was determined
to bring to my family"
The words pierced her heart
She realized she cannot be free of 
her mother until she got into a white
wedding gown and walk down the
aisle with a man!
She dusted herself after the incidence
and faced her studies
There was no use fighting the will of
her parents
She graduated and got a job with
an insurance firm
She kept as far away from her parents
as possible
She had grown to hate them despite
her prayers and determination not
to
She just couldn't bear her mother's
attitude in any way
Her immediate younger sisters opted
for lesbianism
They had started while they were in
the boarding school and stopped for
a while but seeing all their parent's
drama made them opt for it as a way
of life
They both moved to New York with their
partners and convinced their mother
their partners were their roommates and
they were waiting for Mr. Right
Their mother gullibly believed
Her mother would send prayer points
from men of God on their marital 
settlement to them thinking the delay
was spiritual
Their mother didn't know that neither
of them wanted to get married because
of her
Eventually, she met a guy, a medical doctor
They met and started talking about 
the future
She wanted to tell him the truth but
she knew her parents wouldn't corroborate
her story so she kept quiet about it all
They got married
Her parents got to throw the party they
wanted and all
The marriage started very well but 
somehow she couldn't conceive
She insisted that he must go for tests
He refused, saying he believed the
baby will come when God wills it
She had always wanted a family of
her own
it was her heart cry from her days as
a teenager
After four years of waiting, she forced
the issue
She told him she had a son and had 
gone through D&C in the past
She said she was sure the problem 
wasn't with her
He followed her to the Hospital
They did their tests
Alas, the problem was with her
She had untreated pelvic inflammatory 
disease after the abortion
She had all the symptoms of the
disease but assumed it was normal
to have such after an abortion
It was a heavy blow
Her husband didn't mind at all
but she did
She had always wanted a family of
her own
Children, she would raise and
grow up with
She couldn't even bear the thought
of making her husband pay for her
parent's decision
But she didn't want to lose her home
too
Her husband was a good man and
she wanted to see them grow old
together
They decided to adopt at the right
time and trust God for a miracle
In 2017, they came to Nigeria for 
her father's 70th birthday
A book was written in honour of her
father by her father's younger brother
who was resident in Chicago
The book had details of how her 
father adopted her son as a "sacrifice"
for his family and to keep the family 
name from being sullied!
Her husband read the book and 
realized he had been deceived
Her mother's last child was actually
her child
Her husband confronted her about
it and she told him the truth
She explained how her parents were
and why she couldn't open up
Her husband wouldn't even pay
enough attention to listen
He kept saying "I told you the whole
truth about me and you told me the
whole truth too! How come your truth
conveniently forgot a whole child,
a fifteen-year-old child!
You are a liar!"
She thought he would get over it
He didn't
He filed for divorce and they parted
ways 
It felt like seeing sun gradually sink
into the sea
She just went dark within
She fell into the depths of depression
It got so bad that they had to fly her
to Nigeria from the USA hoping
she would fare better if she was
surrounded by friends and family
members
Her mother reached out to the 
Brother in Jeans and T-shirt
She explained the circumstances of
her daughter's dilemma
The brother in Jeans and T-shirt
met with the daughter and prayed
with her
They began to talk
They talked for several days
After 21 days of reading the Bible
together for one hour, praying in
the spirit together for one hour and
talking about the past with the aim
or knitting together the fractured
pieces of her mind
The sun began to rise again
She recovered fully within a month
She announced on the social media
that she had a son and wrote the
story surrounding the birth of
her son and why it was assumed her
son belonged to her mother
Her son learned the truth and adapted
In June 2019, She returned to the USA
with her son
She had exposed darkness to light
and found freedom in the truth
In January 2020, her father died
She returned home with her son
for the burial
Mother and Son were bonding fast
They were a delight to see!

PS: This was quite long, despite
the fact that i tried to cut out
several aspects to shorten it
But it was a story that spanned
three generations and the effect
of dark and hidden secrets on 
several lives and destinies

GSW's notes: There is no entity
that can manipulate falsehood and
dark secrets like the devil
Such secrets are a foothold for
the enemy in your life
Try as much as possible to live a
simple life and be transparent in
your dealings
Deceiving people is always unwise
it is best to present all the facts and
allow people to make their decisions
based on such facts