Alfredo was promoted to Deputy Manager in charge of purchasing and statistics almost two years after his divorce. It was evidence of the hard work he believed in. He was now happy and enjoyed a good salary with a large bungalow in the luxurious estate of Nyali in the port city of Mombasa.
Moreover, he bought himself a Volvo after having been granted a car loan by his company. He had everything he wanted. He could afford whatever his mind imagined.
Alfredo had all the symbols of status. His young and beautiful wife kept him happy in his flamboyant house. His little son was playful and could be amusing at times.
Esau was a happy boy who knew Lucinda as his own mother. This was due to Lucinda's affectionate feelings and attitude towards the little boy. Esau never knew it was her discovery about herself and the painful truth the doctors told her that made her embrace him as her own son.
Lucinda had become pregnant a year after getting married to Alfredo. But, she developed complications that required her to be operated when the pregnancy was about three months.
After the operation, the doctors told her it was an ectopic pregnancy; an incurable condition in the uterus that would permanently render her incapable of giving birth. That was the first major problem that put its ugly head in her marriage early in life.
The revelation made her a very sad woman. She had hoped to have children who would play with Esau and keep him company. Lucinda's plight, as would happen to any barren woman, made her switch her love to Esau, whom she began viewing as her real son. She genuinely loved Alfredo and felt it was her duty to love his son also.
Alfredo, who was quite satisfied with both his wife and the little boy, tried to comfort Lucinda when he saw the doctors' report had disillusioned her.
"Do not worry, sweetheart. We have Esau to take care of, and I can never think of marrying anyone else. Esau is just enough for us; you'd better be fond of our only child," Alfredo reassured her.
She was relieved. He had given her the assurance that he had no intentions of taking another woman who would bear him children. Her husband knew she had another problem or weakness; she always reached climax easily whenever they made love and felt no desire to continue after that.
But this did not seem to matter much to Alfredo, who knew where to get his sexual satisfaction if it could not come from his own backyard. Lust was still his main problem even after his divorce from Angela. How could he get rid of the lust for beautiful women?
His ex-wife, Angela, had once complained about his roving cock that was never at ease until it penetrated the beautiful women he saw and admired. He knew it was wrong to cheat on his present wife, but what could he do?
He really wanted to be good and loyal to his wife, but the beauty he saw in other women always made him desire to take them to the pillow. But after he had made love to them, he always felt guilty, ashamed of himself, and quite wasted.
What is wrong with me? He often wondered as he asked himself. Is it a problem I inherited from my parents? He tried to recall but could not finger where it came from.
He had tried to pray over it and hoped his lustful nature would disappear, but it always came back to haunt him the moment he set eyes on any attractive woman. Later, he gave up trying to pray over it when he suddenly began to believe it was probably his nature to desire beautiful women.
With the passage of time, Lucinda had come to understand and learn to live with him the way he was. You could not change a man from what he was or destined to be, she thought, if his stars made him move in such a direction.
In appreciation of Alfredo's tolerance of her own weaknesses, Lucinda bought Esau very expensive clothes, shoes, and vests. Her love for the little boy grew day by day as he was her only companion in the house whenever Alfredo was busy at work.
She felt her twin goals of being a career professional secretary and a happily married woman had been realised. To be sure, Lucinda was the one who usually gave him useful advice about Esau's education.
And so it was that at the age of five, Esau was taken to an affluent school in the neighbourhood. Alfredo usually rode with his little boy in his posh car on the way to school. During such morning rides to school, Alfredo would always wear his bowler; Esau as usual, being seated beside him on the front seat to enjoy the ride.
Oh, what a beautiful world it was to live under the care of rich and loving parents!
* * *