My Sweet Revenge on Richmond Howell

Octavia sat in front of her vanity, combing her lustrous, wavy blonde locks. She stopped for a while and stared at her reflection in the mirror, the blue eyes staring back at her harboring a mix of sadness and determination.

She had to do it today or she feared she might fall ill with the mental illness of chronic depression.

She looked at her expression again and the blue eyes, once filled with the light of love and happiness, now bore the weight of five years of turmoil in this thing she called marriage.

Octavia gently placed her hands on her stomach, where a new life was growing, lovingly rubbed her stomach and said, “No one has to know about you till I leave this prison, little one, that’s my way of protecting you. I will birth you into a world filled with joy and love, not the hellhole I am about to say goodbye to.”

She had been pregnant for weeks but kept the secret to herself. Richmond or his family did not deserve this good news because it was a lack of it for years, that made life unbearable for her in her husband’s house.

Octavia remembered the early days of her marriage to Richmond, it was pure bliss. Richmond had been her best friend, lover, and confidant. They had been madly in love with each other and couldn’t bear to be away from each other for hours.

But as the years flew by and Octavia was unable to conceive and give Richmond and his family the child they desperately wanted, he changed.

The once sweet man had changed into a demon who had exchanged his tongue for a sword as he said so many cruel and hurtful words to her about her inability to conceive that they cut deep within her.

Over the years, she had had many lonely, tearful nights and even days because his cold, cruel and bitter mother, Dame Betty, had not made things easier.

She always reminded Octavia of her failures as a woman and as a wife. Dame Betty always thought Octavia beneath her and always looked at her with disdain. It was soul-crushing.

Octavia had found out about the bundle of joy growing in her stomach about a month ago. She had been feeling feverish and nauseous so she went for a medical checkup to catch the flu before it became serious.

Pregnancy never crossed her mind for the short time she sat waiting for the result, she remembered the conversation.

“Hello, Mrs. Howell. The doctor will see you now.” The nurse at the receptionist stand explained.

“Thank you, Theresa,” Octavia responded after reading her name from her tag.

Octavia moved slowly into the office, still feeling funny.

The doctor looked at her, smiled and said, “Truly, you are a walking miracle, Mrs. Howell.”

She laughed nervously, wondering what her doctor was going on about until he gave her an envelope and said, “Congratulations, Mrs. Howell.”

Octavia’s hand shook vigorously when she accepted the envelope from the doctor. She opened it and, while checking the content, looked up sharply with immense surprise at her doctor, who was smiling and said, “Yes, you’re two weeks pregnant, ma’am.”

“What?! How?!” she tried to remember because Richmond had not touched her in a very long time, and even when he did once in a blue moon, it was just quick, rough, and meaningless sex, and then he was off till the next blue moon.

That once-in-a-blue-moon sex happened last month.

Octavia didn’t know whether to laugh, cry or scream, but the only response that came was, “Can you do me a favor, Doctor?”

“Sure, Ma’am.”

“This news must not get out of this room. My husband is going through a lot now with work and all, so I will wait for my own good time to tell him,” she lied.

“Oh, ma’am. Of course, you know that one of the reasons why our clients loyally patronize us is our commitment to confidentiality. We don’t mingle in anybody’s business unless they ask us to,” the doctor assured her.

“Good, thank you, Dr. Michael.” she shook his hand and left.

Octavia didn’t want to go home for a while, so she booked a hotel room and when she got in, she cried for a long time.

She cried with ache in her heart for all that she had endured with her husband and his family, then she cried with joy for the new life within her, and that was the day she resolved to leave the miserable toxic life she was in, which was sucking life out of her.

She wanted to start life on a fresh slate with her unborn child, who she didn’t want anywhere near the Howell family.

While still in the hotel room, she had called her friend, Marietta, who lived in Mexico, as she had not heard from her best friend, Sophia.