I arrived the Murtala Mohammed International
airport in Lagos about three hours before my flight to London so I could do my
boarding and check in on time.
Later, as I sat waiting for my flight to be
called, I became more excited with each passing minute.
This was it.
Finally I would be reunited with my
husband Henry after four years apart. It had been four long years of loneliness
and sometimes despair and uncertainty, whether we will ever be together. He had
left for the United Kingdom shortly after our wedding and we had been apart
since then.
Though we had kept in touch throughout the
period by phone, emails and other means, it was not the same thing. I missed
him terribly.
Besides all that, there had been all sorts of
talk from my family, friends and even colleagues on my long wait for Henry.
"Abby, it's not very wise to wait for
all these guys who travel abroad. Are you sure he hasn't married someone else,
like an oyibo (white) lady?"
"What if after waiting all these years and
at the end of the day, he doesn't return for you? What will you do then? Time
is going and you are not getting any younger! Do you want to end up an old maid
and childless?"
"I will advise you to forget about him and
marry one of these guys who have been proposing to you. What's so special about
this Henry that you can't forget him. Girl, wise up..." were some of the
comments they made.
All these remarks and pressures put a great
strain on me and it was tough coping during the time of waiting for Henry. If it
had not been for friends like Tari and a few others who kept encouraging me to
persevere, I doubt if I would have been able to endure for so long.
Now, finally the long wait was over. In some
hours time, Henry and I would be together, never to be separated.
Just then, our flight was called and taking my
hand luggage, I joined the line queuing up to board the plane to London.
***
We arrived Heathrow airport on a bitterly cold,
winter evening. Henry met me at the airport and took me to his house which was
quite far away. I was so happy to see him that I could barely sit still in the
car which was heated because of the cold.
It seemed the cold had also driven most people
off the streets which looked deserted as we drove along.
"Where's everybody?" I enquired as we
went along the streets. The few pedestrians I saw were all bundled up in thick
jackets and walked very fast as if in great haste to get home.
"Mostly indoors, I guess. It's too cold to
be hanging around on the streets," he explained.
We got to his home some time later and he
showed me round the place. It was a two bedroom apartment with two bedrooms
upstairs and a small sitting room below and a kitchen.
"Welcome home, darling," Henry said as
he put my bags in what turned out to be the spare room.
Later, after we had eaten the meal he had
prepared, we sat talking till very late at night. I gave him news about home,
especially concerning his family.
"Your dad and nearly the whole family,
including my parents and some of my friends, were at the airport. It was like
the whole town came to see me off," I stated, smiling slightly at the
memory.
We were sitting on the couch and though
the heater was on, I was wrapped up in a jacket, with stockings and slippers on
my feet as I was feeling so cold.
"It's so cold! How do you cope in such
weather?" I asked.
He laughed.
"I'm used to it now. I felt the same way
the first time I arrived here. I missed home so much especially our weather. You
don't value what you have until you lose it," he stated.
"So, it's only the weather you
missed?" I asked him, petulantly.
"Of course not, Abby dear! I missed
you too! Very much," he said as he drew me to him and hugged me tight.
"I've been dreaming about this day
for years. It still feels like a dream, that any moment, I will wake up and I
will be back home in Nigeria," I said, my head on his shoulder, inhaling
his nice masculine scent.
"It's no dream sweetheart. You are
here with me now. To stay," he noted, as he kissed me.
Then he got up and taking my hand, led me
upstairs to bed...
To be continued...
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