Learning the hard way.

It was a few days to the end of the year, and this time of the year always brings back pleasant memories for my friend Gabby. It was during this period of the year that she met Edward her husband.

The days of courtship and the first three years of their marriage was pure bliss. It's been six years now, and those memories were still fresh in her head. She really missed those moments. They virtually did everything together and they never slept over grudges.

As Gabby and I stood in front of her verandah enjoying the cool evening air, she wondered how they (she and her husband) had managed to drift apart.

Although he provided all the financial and material needs of the family, he hardly talked with her or the children, he didn't even know what went on under his roof. She became worried and tried to do something about the situation, she tried talking to him but he didn't seem to see anything wrong with their relationship. She technically became a "single parent ", and Edward gradually became a stranger to her. Source.

One fateful day, Edward came back late in the night. He found it strange that nobody was home, but concluded that everyone probably had gone to the mid-week service. He soon lost himself in his electronic toys and didn't know when he dozed off. When he suddenly woke up at 2a.m, it dawned on him that his family hadn't return from wherever they had gone to. He tried calling Gabby's phone, but it rang in the kitchen. Then he became really disturbed. Gabby never forgot her phone at home whenever she went out. That night, he couldn't sleep. He didn't know what to think. Could his family have been kidnapped, he thought to himself and then shook his head vigorously as if to shake off the fearful thoughts going through his mind.

source.

As early as 5a.m, he started calling friends and extended family members to find out the whereabouts of his immediate family. Three days went by and no news of Gabby and his two daughters. He began to think the worst. He reported the incidence to the police. The officer in charge of the case asked him some personal questions about his wife and children, to the officers dismay, he couldn't answer some of the questions.

After a week of their disappearance, Gabby and her two daughters eventually returned home. Edward was in the living room having a discussion with the police officer in charge of the case when his family walked in followed by Uncle Fyne. He was shocked, relieved and enraged at the same time. Without allowing them to sit down, he demanded to know what was going on. Gabby was unruffled by his outburst, she sat down quietly and calmly, infuriating Edward the more.

At that moment, Uncle Fyne intervened.
"Edward, I have firmly rebuked your wife for disappearing on you. According to her, she left home to teach you a lesson".
Do you know what your kids think of you? They think you don't want to have anything to do with them because they are girls.

Guilt etched all over Edward's face, he realized he was a wreck. Gabby took a big risk but she succeeded in getting her man back.