When Cassandra's mother is diagnosed of a brain injury with no relative to turn to and no help forthcoming, Cassandra is forced to do the unthinkable which gets her tangled in a web of three men. And the result? Unwanted pregnancy. Amsey has never had a fatherly love and on finding Cassandra stranded and alone, he takes her in, offering to be the father of her child. But things aren't always as they seem as betrayal sets in, secrets get revealed, mysteries; unravelled, or if you'd like, puzzles; solved. Who will the father of the child be? The hypocritical Reverend, The deceitful John or the grumpy Employer? Oh! And not to forget; the foster father who is back after his betrayal? "The Child's Father" is a beautiful Nigerian tale which will keep you at the edge of your seats.
Author's note.
One night, three men; one child....
When Cassandra's mother is diagnosed of a brain injury with no relative to turn to and no help forthcoming, Cassandra is forced to do the unthinkable which gets her tangled in a web of three men. And the result? Unwanted pregnancy.
Amsey has never had a fatherly love and on finding Cassandra stranded and alone, he takes her in, offering to be the father of her child.
But things aren't always as they seem as betrayal sets in, secrets get revealed, mysteries; unravelled, or if you'd like, puzzles; solved.
Who will the father of the child be? The hypocritical Reverend, The deceitful John or the grumpy Employer? Oh! And not to forget; the foster father who is back after his betrayal?
"The Child's Father" is a beautiful Nigerian tale which will keep you at the edge of your seats.
Prologue (The very beginning)
The news was so heartbreaking.
My mother had been rushed to the hospital after falling down the stairs in the house where she worked as a cleaner.
She had worked as a cleaner in the same house ever since I was very little and she had walked on the same stairs almost everyday so what really made today different?
I was with my boyfriend, John, we were lying on the bed and cuddling when a call came in through my small Nokia phone.
I had wondered who was calling. The only people who ever called me were my mother and John. Sometimes, my boss called me on the phone, but that was rare, very rare; akin to once in a blue moon.
I picked up my phone and glanced at the screen to see who could actually be calling me when I was busy with something important. Yeah, John and I cuddling was very important because he was working and I was too. This was the only day I had off and coincidentally, this was his only day off as well; and even though we never had sex, we spent the day together and made it really worthwhile.
I couldn't check who was calling because John stopped me from picking the call but the call came in again and AGAIN!
I slipped from John's tight hold on me, pleading with him to understand that I had to take the call since the phone had rung for the third time and it may actually be something important the caller had to say or perhaps, the caller was someone important.
I stood up and walked over to the drawer where my phone lay, vibrating and ringing. The phone was cracked and had a rough appearance, it had seen many days.
I picked up the phone and saw it was an unknown number. I felt curious but later answered the call.
"Hello," I said, after receiving the call.
"Good day. Are you Miss Cassandra Peters?" A male voice asked from the other end.
Only my mum called me by my full name, Cassandra which made me all the more curious. Was someone trying to play a prank on me? I didn't even have any friend that could try to play a prank on me, I was a loner and the only people I was close with were John and my mum; my mum, especially.
"Miss Cassandra Peters?" The voice came again.
"Yes, yes. I'm Miss Cassandra Peters," I quickly said. I had been so lost in my thoughts that I'd forgotten to respond to the caller's question.
"I believe your mother is Cassandra Helen Msheila Peters," The male voice said.
My heart started pounding with fear. The man sounded suspicious and I was feeling jittery already.
"Yes, that's my mother," I said.
John sat up on the bed and stared at me inquisitively. I could only ignore him and focus on what the caller had to say.
"You have to be calm, Miss Cassandra," The caller said.
"Why? What's wrong?" I asked, getting really scared.
I had seen people receiving this kind of call in movies and trust me, it never went well.
"Your mother is presently at New Gate Hospital," The caller finally dropped the bombshell.
"New Gate Hospital? Wh...Why?" I was visibly shaken.
I knew New Gate Hospital, everyone knew there because it was really popular in our area, but what the hell could my mother possibly be doing in the hospital?
"You will be informed in person. Please, we need you to come as quickly as you can."
I was scared....sooo scared.
"But..."
He hung up.
I grabbed my purse. "I have to go, John."
"Why? What's the problem?" He asked, getting up from the bed.
"My mother...my mother is at the hospital and she needs me. Bye," I said, without pausing for breath and hastily left the room before he could utter another word.
On getting to the hospital, the doctor had informed me of what had happened and said that my mother had suffered an internal injury in the brain.
Tears rolled down my cheeks immediately I heard the entire news. I had never been the strong type. I was weak and I couldn't stop myself from crying. I wasn't just crying because my mother was in pain, I was crying too because I did not even have a dime on me to pay for her treatment.
"Miss Cassandra, this isn't a time to weep. You will need to deposit a sum of #300,000 for us to commence treatment on her as soon as possible. This is an issue of the brain and we both know the brain is delicate so delaying her treatment would be very dangerous," The doctor told me.
I knew I was done for. Where would I see that amount of money from? This was bad...sooo bad.
Emma Cole, a nerd in high school and untouched all throughout her life at a community college, was abandoned by her birth parents and grew up in foster care homes all around New York. Whenever her name was mentioned, the people who knew her laughed and called her foul names, since she looked like the female version of Steve Urkel and was easy to pick on and belittle. She had no sense of style. All she wore were big dresses that hid her tiny figure underneath and glasses which didn"t do her eyes any justice. She owned one bag-- a beat-up leather she received as a gift from a spelling bee contest her freshman year in high school. Though she went to school, she had no friends, no family, and no one to teach her about becoming a lady. Emma had done everything by herself since she was one year old-- the age she was dumped by her parents into the foster system. At age twenty three, she lived in a very small apartment by herself. She wasn"t able to land a high-paying job to afford a good house, as of yet. Every time she applied to a vacant position she may have seen in a newspaper in the cafe, they would turn her down when she went to the interviews and the interviewers took one look at her. Appearance was more than her qualifications if she wanted to land a job as a receptionist or personal assistant at one of the big firms in New York City. Emma decided to stop hoping for a better job and stuck with being a waitress at Carl"s Cafe. Her hell on earth. Carl was the manager and owner of the cafe. A grown man, forty-five years old, who had experienced all the things he had chosen to chase in his pathetic life. He was a terrible boss and treated his employees as his personal slaves with low wages. One of his nasty habits was hitting on his female employees while on the job, but he never hit on Emma. Although she was a female, she just wasn"t his type and was too unattractive to even be bothered with.
The ancients said: Happiness can't be bought with money! But ancient things aside, by the 23rd century, everything in the world has become private property, and people without money can't even breathe. This is an era when even oxygen has to be sold in supermarkets! "That's right, that is to say-money is omnipotent! Although money may not buy happiness, it can buy magic! As long as you use the latest mobile phone developed by our Miracle Group, it will..." Walking in the spacious street, Su Yue glanced at the advertisement played on the huge display screen of the skyscraper. She didn't know how many times she had listened to this line these days, and her ears were going to cocoon. "Really, Xiaoyueyue, wait for me." Behind the sound almost to let her get goose bumps of affectionate cry, Su Yue helplessly back, see is a drag two huge suitcase difficult in the crowd through the woman. "Qin Hailan, I repeat, don't call me with that strange scale." Very not easy to drag two huge suitcases to the front of Su Yue, then the woman was able to catch her breath, but I don't know why Su Yue always feel she is installed. "Who told Xiaoyueyue that you are so cruel to let people take two suitcases? This is very heavy..."
Prequel Because of a woman, the magic wolf clan suffered the disaster of genocide, and finally there were only three people left: the king, the heaven sacrifice, and the ghost pity-inscription Eight dwarf long-haired white horses, carrying a flaming soft sedan chair, marched at a very slow speed on the white Yuan Ye under the escort of thousands of white knights. The sedan chair is covered with furry snow mink, and there are several soft couches. There are ink, paper and inkstones and various books on the cases, which are like a study. The four corners of the soft sedan chair are equipped with heaters, which are as warm as spring, and seem to be in another world on the cold snow field. Xiao Bingjun knelt on the soft pear mat and was painting at his desk. The bright red skirt is scattered around the body, and the long black hair is draped on it, which makes her as delicate and charming as the hibiscus blossoms in bud. Compared with her twin sister, she always seems to be happy when she turns sixteen. Even if she knew that she was going to marry a man who didn't even know his appearance and temperament, she didn't think it was a serious matter. Since she married the king of Moram two years ago, she woke up lonely every night. But love son said not to let others know that she will wake up at night, she had to go to love son's pear garden every time, and love son's favorite pear tree chat. "Young master, who are you drawing?" Qingyin, one of the little maids kneeling beside her, asked curiously. The other three ladies-in-waiting gathered together, saw the completed portrait of the teenager, and chirped about it. "Silver hair." "Where in the world can there be such a beautiful person?" "It seems... where have you heard of such a person... hey, even your eyes are silver?" The teenager in the picture is wearing an elegant white robe, with long silver hair that grows to the waist hanging on his back. His handsome face is not like a mortal with a gentle smile, which makes the looking figure warm by the warm spring day. Xiao Bingjun bent his eyebrow eye, and two beautiful smiling vortices appeared on his lips. "I don't know, it's a dream person." Since falling into a lethargy at the age of eight, she has often seen things she had never seen before. Beautiful prairie, endless sea and forest, prosperous city than ice city, and people of all colors... When she was ten years old, she saw him, and from then on, "she" always followed him, so long as she looked at him, she would feel extremely happy. She did not know what was wrong with her, but she knew very well that everything she had seen in her dream was true, and so was the young man. After her son left, she even often went to visit her in Moran. It's just that love is always unhappy, which makes her unable to be happy. Now she finally wants to live the same life as Lian Er, and finally wants to know why Lian Er is unhappy. The maid almost lost her manners and opened her mouth. Fortunately, she was well trained on weekdays and controlled it in time, but no one questioned the silver-haired boy again. Ever since young master awoke suddenly in the spring when the pears blossomed, her strange lethargy for nearly eight years has become a taboo topic in the palace and the whole ice city, and no one dares to express any opinion on this issue at this time. Xiao Bingjun didn't feel anything about the sudden silence of the maids. He looked at the teenager in the painting gently and murmured, "I really hope I can really meet him..." I'm just afraid I won't have a chance in the future. Since she awoke, she could no longer go wherever she wanted, and could only stay in the palace every day, let alone look at him or his son again. I heard that the rules of Heiyu Temple are strict. Maybe I can only live there all my life, and I can't go anywhere. Thinking of Heiyu Temple, she can't help but think of the Lord of Heiyu Temple, whom she is about to entrust for life. I don't know what kind of person he will be. When she was in the palace, she overheard the old ladies-in-waiting talking, as if to say that he was very old and had heard of him when they were young. So how big is it? Will it be a white-haired grandfather? But it's amazing. It can make Heiyu Hall stand tall at the border between the Central Plains and the desert without being influenced by various forces. Any race and country should be afraid of him. There is nothing wrong with marrying such a person. Why should Mammy sigh and the attendants look at her with pity? Xiao Bing Jun puzzled and tilted his head, still laughing innocently. The teenager in the portrait in front of her seems to be responding to her thoughts, and her smile looks more dazzling than the sun. The maids looked at the girl's innocent expression, and they couldn't help sighing quietly in their hearts. Clearly, it is exactly the same face. Why is young master, the ice king, not as intelligent and governor as young master without love? It is really worrying. Go back?
It had been heard that Gu Qingrong, a handsome short track speed skater in University A, was a cold man of bad temper. It turned out that he was witnessed helping a cute girl to carry belongings on the day of freshman registration. People laughed and asked him to introduce that cute girl. He said in an aloof tone, "Zeng Ranran, my girlfriend." Born a family full of doctors, Zeng Ranran accidentally knew the secret of Gu Qingrong, a prince of University A. So she wanted to help him achieve his dream to be a member of the national team and take part in the Olympic Winter Games. One day, he stood in front of her, face aloof and voice hoarse, "Zeng Ranran, I don't want my secret revealed again. So there is a solution to it now.""What?""How about being my girlfriend?"
Shu Ya had never doubted Zhuo Hao's love to her until she found a hickey on his shirt.
"Sir, I am sorry to say, I have not the slightest of affection towards you , BTW, the dinner is on me, and never see you again." I am proud with myself for the perfect ending dialogue for the annoying appointment , turn around and dart towards the entrance, when the weird man suddenly grabs my arm ferociously and throw me into his arm, ..... "Ouch", I close my eyes tightly and await the unwilling embrace of the man with a painful look. "Miss, are you alright."A masculine magnetic voice penetrates into my ear. Instead of falling the man's arm, I unexpectedly drop into the bosom of a strikingly dignified guy,whose face is planted with a dimple grin. My body is releasing the bonding hormone that creates the physical addiction I have to this man.
On the day of their wedding anniversary, Joshua's mistress drugged Alicia, and she ended up in a stranger's bed. In one night, Alicia lost her innocence, while Joshua's mistress carried his child in her womb. Heartbroken and humiliated, Alicia demanded a divorce, but Joshua saw it as yet another tantrum. When they finally parted ways, she went on to become a renowned artist, sought out and admired by everyone. Consumed by regret, Joshua darkened her doorstep in hopes of reconciliation, only to find her in the arms of a powerful tycoon. "Say hello to your sister-in-law."
Her fiance and her best friend worked together and set her up. She lost everything and died in the street. However, she was reborn. The moment she opened her eyes, her husband was trying to strangle her. Luckily, she survived that. She signed the divorce agreement without hesitation and was ready for her miserable life. To her surprise, her mother in this life left her a great deal of money. She turned the tables and avenged herself. Everything went well in her career and love when her ex-husband came to her.
Rumors claimed that Fernanda, newly back with her family, was nothing more than a violent country bumpkin. Fernanda just flashed a casual, dismissive grin in response. Another rumor suggested that the usually rational Cristian had lost all sense, madly in love with Fernanda. This frustrated her. She could tolerate gossip about herself, but slander against her beloved crossed the line! Gradually, as Fernanda's multiple identities as a celebrated designer, a savvy gamer, an acclaimed painter, and a successful business magnate came to light, everyone realized they were the ones who had been fooled.
On her wedding day, Khloe’s sister connived with her groom, framing her for a crime she didn’t commit. She was sentenced to three years in prison, where she endured much suffering. When Khloe was finally released, her evil sister used their mother to coerce Khloe into an indecent liaison with an elderly man. As fate would have it, Khloe crossed paths with Henrik, the dashing yet ruthless mobster who sought to alter the course of her life. Despite Henrik’s cold exterior, he cherished Khloe like no other. He helped her take retribution from her tormentors and kept her from being bullied again.
Rose looked at the reports in her hand and was in shock... The reports said that she was one month pregnant, however, how can she get pregnant when she didn't have any man in her life... "Was it because of that dream? Could I get pregnant because I have sex in my dream?" She thought... She didn't have any mental problems, however, except for this she can't able to think about anything... However, she still didn't get out of her surprise when she met the man in her dream... Kevin Davis looked at the reports in her hand and asked, "Is this child mine?" However, Rose didn't answer but asked... "Was that night not a dream?" Kevin was angry because it was his first time and she thinks it was a dream... Kevin forced her to marry him however, Rose didn't want it... She wanted to abort the child but he didn't let her... In the end... Rose agreed to marry him... She looked at Kevin's blue eyes and said, "I will marry you, however, I had two conditions..." "First, after marriage, you can't control my freedom, I still had the right to do whatever I want. Don't worry I won't harm the child." "Second, if I ever found out that you had cheated behind my back then I will leave with my child and you can't stop me..." Both of them got married... However, after she falls in love with him... She found there are hidden secrets in his past...
For three years, Shane and Yvonne were wed, sharing heated nights, while his devotion clung to his ex. Yvonne strove to be a dutiful wife, yet their marriage felt hollow, built on desire rather than real warmth. All changed when she became pregnant, only for Shane to thrust her onto the operating table, warning, “Either you or the baby survives!” Broken by his cruelty, she vanished in grief and later returned, radiantly accomplished, leaving everyone awestruck. Haunted by remorse, Shane begged for another chance, but Yvonne only smiled and replied, “I’m sorry, men no longer interest me.”