My husband told me to ignore him. He could see that the man was not in his right mind, so his words shouldn’t be taken seriously.
We left him there, but he kept shouting behind us:
“Time will tell! That pregnancy belongs to me! I am the father and no one else! I will claim what is mine!”
Three days later, we went to the hospital to take a NIPP test, a type of DNA test done during pregnancy. When the results came out—guess what? My husband was the father of the baby!
I breathed a huge sigh of relief because I knew I had never been with another man. I could never betray my husband. But then why would that madman accuse me like that?
“Darling, I told you not to worry. He’s not in his right mind,” my husband said, gently holding my hand in the hospital chair.
“I just needed to remove any doubt, my dear husband. People were staring at us on the street. I don’t want anyone thinking I’m a loose woman,” I replied.
But that night, I couldn’t sleep.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the pale, dirty man with tangled hair. His eyes weren’t empty like the other madmen I had seen before. His gaze was intense… as if it meant something.
“Hezekiah,” I whispered, waking him. “Are you awake?”
He groaned and turned toward me. “Gift, it’s two in the morning. What is it now?”
“That man,” I said, sitting up. “How did he know I struggled for five years to get pregnant? How did he know where we would be?”
Hezekiah sat up and rubbed his eyes.
“Gift, listen to me. This is a small town. People gossip. Maybe he heard it from neighbors. Or maybe he’s just a crazy man who says that to every pregnant woman he sees.”
“But he didn’t point at the woman selling roasted corn. She’s pregnant too. He came straight to me. He looked me in the eyes, Hezekiah. It felt… personal.”
“You’re just overthinking because of the stress your mother-in-law has put on you,” he said gently. “The DNA test results are clear. Signed by the doctor. I am the father. End of discussion. Now go to sleep for the sake of the baby.”
As I closed my eyes, only one question kept circling in my mind:
Did he know me before?
Was he truly insane, or did he know exactly what he was saying?
If the results clearly showed that my husband was the father, why did he keep claiming my pregnancy?
I didn’t sleep at all that night.
