From Grass to Grace

CHAPTER 3

Jake sat on the floor perplexed like he was in a trance. He could feel pains shooting into every fiber of his body from his legs. 

He still couldn't believe that his mother-in-law had commanded her boys to lift him from his wheelchair and leave him midair to drop on the floor like a piece of rag, just to confirm her daughter's accusations. 

The scene replayed over and over again in his memory how the two men walked up to him, each person holding his arms and lifting him from his wheelchair.

"Make him stand and leave him to walk" she had ordered and they did just that. 

The issue was that instead of his legs standing or walking they gave way and he had landed in a heap of helplessness on his already broken legs. 

Tears threatened their downpour as his face went down in shame and red with embarrassment. He had never been so humiliated in his entire life, not even when his debtors had to chase him on the road one time.

"Oh, he's crippled" Dorin exclaimed in mockery and Jake felt a slight pain in his heart.

"Are you sure of what you saw, Dorin because I'll report this issue to your father when he is back from Germany this evening? It is a disgrace to the family's name that the son-in-law should cheat. After all, we've done for you. What if the press finds out about it? Such a useless man" she said before hissing and walking out with her guards.

Immediately, Samara ran to Jake and made to help him up. 

"Let me help you up, sir. I'm so sorry" He could hear the genuine concern in her voice but instead of consoling him it suddenly irritated him. Before he could respond to her he heard Dorin begin to fake those cries again.

"Mom! Mom! She's even helping him up. Someone should call my lawyer to get the divorce papers ready. I'm done with this sham of a marriage" she began to scream in a singsong voice as she ran out of his room. 

"Get out! " Jake said to Samara not looking in her direction. 

"I'm sorry sir but what if the twins come in and see you sitting like this? Let me help you please!" she insisted and she was right so Jake let her lift him back to his wheelchair before she ran off only to return with a brush and parker to clean up the broken plates.

He watched her through his eyelashes as he couldn't fathom what was going on in her mind. 

"After being accused, you still come back here to sweep? " He asked her curiously. 

"We didn't do anything sir, so I have nothing to be afraid of. I'll just do what I have to do and wait for the Master to be back and give his judgment on all these. The worst that could happen is getting sacked. By the way, I'll call the doctor and ask him to come examine you. "

"What for? I'm fine" He said ignoring the slight aches he now felt around his waist and legs. 

"Yes you are but Doctor Holland has to check and confirm that. She said and walked out of the room. 

Jake loved her confidence. It was communicable and he felt confident too as he awaited the result of this evening's proceedings from the man of the house who would come back and not have a good evening's rest because of the crazy women he had in his household.

He had always dreaded a divorce but after today's episode of drama, Jake realized he would love his freedom from the chains that held him captive in this household but not tonight.

****

It was evening already and the man of the house was seated at the dining table of the main house after dinner when all the requests and complaints were laid out before him. 

It was a rule that whenever he was around or back from a business trip which he was always away for, everyone including the maids would be at the dining table either serving, waiting, or eating.

"Send the kids to bed" he ordered and the nanny took my twins out of the room to tuck them in. When she was back he began speaking. 

"What did I miss? " He was looking at his wife when everywhere was silent. She was always the first to speak as the second head of the household. 

"You are welcome home again, my dear. Serious occurrences happened during your absence. First, your son-in-law here got himself involved in an accident when he was sent to get delivery and now most of the items are missing and some cannot be put to use again. I have already told him to get ready because he will pay for all of that" she ranted and waited for him to speak. 

"I see, what items were those?" he asked, looking directly at Jake and he knew it was his turn to speak.

"They were jewelry items and shoes, uncle" He responded meekly. 

"What caused the accident? "

"I was being rushed while carrying all of those boxes and bags on my own. My phone was ringing and I was trying to cross the road so I got distracted and was hit." He tried to explain. 

"And?... "

"And I passed out, I woke up in the hospital where I spent one month treating my legs before I got in this wheelchair. No one came to visit me during my stay there except for Samara the maid". 

"And that's why you decided to sleep with her? " His mother-in-law snapped and received a glare from the head of the house as he continued with Jake. 

"Who paid the bills? "

"The man who hit me". 

"And how about the money that was withdrawn for his treatment?" he asked his wife this time. 

Oh… so she took money meant for his treatment, Jake smiled inwardly. So much for being a wonderful mother-in-law.

"Something came up, so we… " she stammered. 

"Take that money as the debt he was to pay you for your broken jewelry, so he owes you nothing anymore. Okay? " he concluded that case and she nodded with an angry nonchalant face.

"What's with this cheating episode, who cheated?" He was talking to me again in an angry voice and a glare in his eyes. 

"Uncle, as I came home from the hospital, I wheeled myself to Dorin's room after visiting my kids to inform her I was back since she had not come out to see me but when I opened the door I saw her naked in bed with Brent Hobson of Hobsons Enterprises, when I got angry at her, Brent ordered me out of the room and banged the door in my face. I took my embarrassed self to my room to sulk but she came in later to accuse me and the maid Samara who was serving me food of sleeping together when all she had done was be good to me. Aunt here even asked the guards to lift me from my wheelchair so she could confirm if my legs were working and they did, leaving me to fall and hurt my legs more". He concluded almost in tears. 

"Lies!" His mother-in-law snapped at him as Dorin began crying. 

"Dorin?? " Father was asking for her view of the story. 

"Dad, he is lying. How will he see me cheating and not shouting bringing the whole house down? I was the one who caught him and Samara in an awkward position and immediately I screamed for Mom to come, she was my witness, she saw them, and that was when I decided to divorce him. I'm not interested in this marriage any longer. It's not like he has wealth to divide for me when we get divorced" She wept bitterly with all manner of seriousness and Jake watched in utter shock as the woman he married acted drama with crocodile tears running down her face. 

"Samara, is this true?" Father asked the maid and she humbly replied no to him as tears were running down her eyes already. Jake felt hurt and angry that someone who had good intentions for him was tangled up in his mess.

"She's telling the truth, honey, I saw them with my own eyes. I was there" his mother-in-law spat angrily. 

"You all know how much I hate that word 'cheating'. You know that if a piece of this goes out to the media then this family name will be doomed" Father barked. 

"Jake, you should not let yourself be caught in a position that will raise suspicions and make my daughter cry. I don't think you are wanted anymore in this house, pack up and leave. Stay in a place where the media won't recognize you and keep your mouth shut". He concluded. 

Jake was dumbfounded, he couldn't believe his ears. Just like that? That was all it took for crippled him to be thrown out?

"But uncle, I don't have anywhere to go, I don't know anyone, I don't have anything. Where will I start from? How about my kids? I promise it won't happen again. Please forgive me this once I beg you. " He opted to kneel and beg for forgiveness in the presence of the maids, nanny, and guards of the household forgetting that his legs had a mind of their own. 

The combination of pain, embarrassment, and betrayal surged through him as he landed with his broken legs on the floor in a sitting position, hot tears ran down his face as he ignored the pain and crawled to his father-in-law begging.

"Samara, you are no longer needed here as well. You can leave. I'll send your salary to you at this moment" Father said finally and stood up crossing over a crippled him on the floor and walking out without listening to his pleas. 

It was almost midnight, what can a crippled helpless young man do when he is thrown out of the only home he knew. 

His, now ex-wife was gracious enough to drag him back to his wheelchair and wheel him out of the compound while humming a song of excitement. 

Bags and belongings later followed. Talking about belongings that excluded all the things he had gotten from the house as a son-in-law. The only thing he had thrown out with him was the one box of old clothes he had come to the house with. 

He didn't even have a chance to say goodbye to his kids which made him regret the promise he made to them earlier on, that Daddy was not leaving them anymore. He begged his wife one more time when she came out to give him his luggage but she just mimicked what he was saying and screamed something about sending the divorce papers to him later on as she left him there in the dark.

In one night, Jake had become a homeless man, with no legs, no money, and no destination in mind. He sat there in his wheelchair across the street from the place he once called home and fresh tears ran down his face. He came here poor and was left penniless. He wished he never made that one mistake of meeting Dorin. 

A few minutes later someone tapped him and whispered "Hey" as he jerked in fright.