Rewards- Part one

"Wicked woman, witch, Jezebel"

"I told you she was evil, I saw it in her eyes from day one"

"Mama Ayo calm down, remember your hypertension o"

My mother-in-law's shrill voice feels like sandpaper in my ears, I want to stand up and knock her teeth out. Anything to shut her up, maybe I should pull her straggly hair. The thought almost makes me smile, I bite my cheek in response. There's no point in feeding this flame any oxygen. I'm sitting on the floor with my hands tied behind my back. I'm powerless to even fulfill my fantasy, I can't even slap my mother-in-law even though my palms burn with desire. I'm in a family meeting cum court session and I am the accused.

I met my husband fifteen years ago and I'll use the very annoying cliché, love at first sight. He was ridiculously handsome, with the kind of eyes that always snagged my attention. He checked all the boxes on my dream man list and he acted like I was Nefertiti the ancient Egyptian queen. 

  Less than a year after we met, we were married and settled into domestic bliss and happily ever after. He was a good husband and I was the extra perfect wife. I knelt down to serve him his meals, if we had a misunderstanding I'd move the earth to bring peace to our home. I never complained about his little excesses or anything, instead I exaggerated my shortcomings in my mind. I had three older sisters who were unmarried at the time, I was so glad to be married, to be Mrs Somebody. I'd escaped the travails that plagued the lives of my sisters as spinsters of a certain age. The scorn and contempt of society, the resignation of our parents and the cloying pity of their friends.

We had three children, a son who was the light of my life and two daughter that were the pillars of my life. I had a business which had grown to become extremely profitable while my husband literally flew up the coporate ladder, we looked perfect but I didn't know our beauty was only skin deep.