Chapter 25: Chapter 25

My love, my life, my everything

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Elena's pov

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I've had it up to my neck with Ava's whining and complaining. The new girl had rattled her up so bad, nothing seems to satisfy her any longer, all she does now is trying to outdo the new girl.

I have shouted, cajoled, and even threatened to withdraw her pocket money but she has become worse. I only pray it's just a passing phase, sometimes I wish her father was around to talk to her, maybe he would have done a better job than me.

I will be filing for a divorce tomorrow at my lawyer's office. I'm hoping that this would give me the closure I need to move on with my life.

I doubt that I am capable of falling in love again but at least I could date again but this time I won't make the mistakes I made with Anthony. These past ten years had made me see things clearly, I ruined my marriage by myself. I won't blame my mother or anyone else, it was my marriage and I was supposed to protect and nurture it.

I hated it when I remembered the past. It left me sore, sad, and disorganized. And more than anything, I hated feeling sorry for myself.

Pushing myself out of my bed, I walked into the bathroom barefoot to relieve myself and also brush my teeth. I usually felt uneasy talking to anyone without brushing especially in the morning, and now Ava has taken up the habit too.

As if reading my mind Ava strolled into my room, she was quite a chatterbox and started talking as soon as she entered.

"Mum, can we go to the beach." She looked so cute in her striped pajamas with her slides. I couldn't resist smiling as I watched her slump into my bed causing a dent where she lay. As my heart swelled with love so did the accompanying pain of not having Emma here too. They would have been best of friends if they had had the chance to grow together.

"Oh! Anthony." My heart bled as I yearned for my child.

"Are you okay mum?" I was taken aback by the question. The look Ava gave me made me realize that I must have been looking like a lost sheep as I stood barefooted with my curls flying all over my face.

"I'm fine."

"You looked sad a while ago, are you thinking about dad."

My heart gripped with fear, I didn't talk much about him to Ava. Mostly because of Emma, how do I begin to explain to her that she had a twin sister somewhere in the world.

"Where is dad, mum? is he dead or something."

I didn't know what to say, I knew someday this question would come up but I wasn't ready. To buy time to think before replying I walked towards the open window and shifted the curtains to enable the sunlight to stream into the room.

When I turned again to face my daughter, she was already in the game she was playing on her Ipad. I knew she had forgotten all about her father, but one thing was for sure she would want to know more about him sooner than later. I just have to prepare myself and be ready to give her a satisfactory reply. I was also ready to tell her about her twin.

"Go and get dressed Ava, we are going shopping."

Screaming out her lungs, she ran towards me and gave me a warm hug before disappearing into her room.

The day was fun-filled and well spent and we returned home before dawn, Ava was telling her grandmother about where we went and what we did. She didn't miss any detail in her description of the day's events.

My father was home as he was just recovering from malaria and my mother decided to stay home with him. We were all settled in watching our favorite soap opera when the doorbell rang.

"Madam! Madam! Come." The maid came calling.

"What's the problem," I said irritated.

"Oga and baby. They are at the door."

I tried to process what she was saying when it became clear I ran to the door which she had shut close out of excitement.

Taking a deep breath I opened the door and he stood there a smile on his face, the face imprinted in my heart and my memory was in flesh again. My eyes followed him and stopped on the face replica of Ava's and with tears flowing down my eyes I picked up my child and cried.