"Wakey wakey sleeping beauty. Good morning my love" Alex said while tapping me softly on my arm and then he kissed me on my lips.
I am a light sleeper so it didn't take me long to stir awake upon hearing his sweet manly voice and feeling his lips on mine.
After rubbing my eyes to erase the remaining sleep in my eyes, I turned to look at the clock on the table by the bedside. The time on the clock showed it was 9:11am in the morning.
I took my eyes away from the clock and was now looking at my husband skeptically. I suppose you are wondering why....?
Well, Alex and I are currently lodged in a hotel in Iceland and it is a Saturday morning.
Normally, the Alex that I have been married to for four years now, usually allows me to sleep all I want and wake up whenever I feel like.
Yes you heard me right! It has been four years since I have been officially married to Alex.
Do you know what's more....?
The small Kasarachi of yesterday is now a mother to two beautiful twin children; a three year old boy and girl. I'm sure you are wondering what their names are....?
They are twins and since we wanted them to have the same name initials, we named the boy Stanley while the girl is named Sharon after my second mother Mrs Sharon.
I am four months pregnant right now so we are expecting a baby number three on the way, of which the scan showed it is going to be a girl.
Alex is super excited to be a father for the second time and is always telling me how he cannot wait to meet his second princess.
Ever since the first month Alex discovered I was pregnant again, he intensified his care for me and has been pampering me immensely.
My husband's sweetness towards me both in his words and actions usually gets me smiling on a daily basis, and I am consistently thankful to my Father in heaven for the gift of him.
Tell me, what would I have done without the presence of Alexander Ikechuckwu in my life....?
My four years of marriage to him is what I will best described as milk, honey, and sugar.
My God! This man is so sweet a husband to me. Alex has loved, cared, and spoiled me so much that I have completely forgotten my poor background and how I suffered in the past.
I love him very much too and I cannot imagine a life without him or my children in it. This makes me thank God everyday for bringing me back to Nigeria five years ago, because that is where I was divinely connected to meet Alex.
Alex is more like God-sent to my life.
He is my husband, my earthly king, adviser, motivator, bestfriend, confidant, my peace of mind, support system, defender, an amazing father to our children, and the love of my life.
The qualities that Alex has is what I have always desired for in a husband and God blessed me with all of them embodied in one man.
Oh, I don't know where or how to start telling you about Alex's qualities and attributes. My husband is calm, God-fearing, fun to be with, accommodating, kind, understanding, loving, patient, gentle, romantic, attentive, generous, peaceful, selfless, intelligent, warm, forgiving, compassionate, thoughtful, and handsome.
Alex seizes every small opportunity to surprise me with thoughtful presents. He keeps giving me princess treatment as an adult but of course, I am uniquely his princess anyways.
Where do I even start in listing all of the things this man has done for me, as well as how he restructured my life and that of my family....?
Is it how he gifted me a well-stocked boutique on the day of our engagement when we weren't even together as man and wife yet.
Or is it when he had flown Mrs Sharon and her husband over to Dubai to surprise me during our honeymoon, that is after he was informed that I direly wanted to meet with her again.
Is it the numerous material presents ranging from body wears, phones, cash gifts, the vacations, the surprise birthday/anniversary parties, the 14th car gifts so far, the landed properties, and the well-built houses that are all documented in my name.
Is it how he had defended me severally against his sister's verbal abuses and even temporarily stopped them from coming to the house until they were willing to accept me as his wife.
Or is it when he paid for my therapy sessions after I told him the story of my life journey and how the traumatic experiences I had were negatively influencing most of my behaviors.
Is it how he made pregnancy and motherhood experience so easy for me. Chai! despite his busy schedules, Alex was present in all of my antenatal sessions and shortly after I gave birth, he employed two nannies to relieve me of my workload in caring for our two kids.
Or is it the way he pampers me, affirms me with words in my downtimes, and consistently speaks my love languages leaving no room for me to get bored in our marriage.
Is it how he is always attentive to my needs and that of our children such that before we even demand for anything, he provides. Alex is an amazing father and not even his work interferes in how he cares for the children.
Or is it when he made me the next of kin to his bank accounts and all his properties so that I and the children will not be stranded incase of any emergencies. Sincerely speaking, it is the degree of his thoughtfulness towards the children and I that usually gets me teary.
Let me not even talk of how Alex had immediately taken up a legal case against uncle Okafor after I told him I was defrauded of a house I built with my sweat while in Canada.
Ah! The whole lawsuit and court process was facilitated with Alex's connections and financial influence. My husband won the legal case against uncle Okafor, retrieved my house, and also made uncle Okafor sign a refraining order never to come close to me in his life.
Is it how he opened a big provision business outlet for mama and established my siblings in expensive schools that is befitting of our current status of affluence. My sister Osinachi is going to be a graduate in two years time and it is all thanks to the sweet man that I married.
Is the fact that I am a counselor today because he registered me in a two year counseling school, after I had told him of my dream to use my story and past ordeals to inspire others.
And do you know what my husband did a day after I completed my counseling training...?
I woke up one morning to a surprise by Alex and it shook me to my marrow. This man gifted me a magnificent edifice that he had been secretly setting up, specially for me.
Not just that; he further added a cheque with a huge amount written on it and told me that it is for whatever I will need to purchase, so I can fully get established in the counseling niche.
God! Throughout that day I was so emotional that I cried a lot because I was beyond wowed at my husband's kindheart and thoughtfulness.
What hasn't he done for me....? Absolutely nothing!
Today, I am a renowned counselor and author that is celebrated in Nigeria and other parts of the world because God sent me an earthly man to anchor my life and give me wings to fly.
Who would believe that after my ordeals in life as a young girl, the name Kasarachi Arinze will later be celebrated to the point of currently being listed and publicly acknowledged in Nigeria as one of the richest women.....?
Me that was once a nobody, now has different streams of income because Alex made sure that aside my counseling career; I am investing in company stocks, agricultural ventures, and employing people to manage my other businesses for me including my boutique.
I am also a young landlady with many houses and business structures in my name; both the ones I financially acquired by myself and the ones that are gifted to me by my husband.
There are just a whole lot of things that Alex has done for me and my family which might likely take a year to exhaustively list them all.
The best part about all of his generosity is that Alex never uses what he has done for me or my family to belittle me. He treats me so well and has never looked down on me in either words or actions no matter the circumstances.
Alex gently tapped me on my arm again and that brought my mind back to the present.
Like I said earlier, It is very unusual for him to wake me up on a Saturday morning except it is for urgent work matters which I doubt there is.
I'm doubting because we had agreed two years back that except it is related to our children or family, there will be no attending to work issues no matter the urgency on weekends when we are on our usual customary vacation.
Are you surprised to hear me say a customary vacation....?
Well, two years ago, Alex and I invented a custom in our marriage to have a weekend vacation, staycation, or getaway as couples.
This is specifically for the two of us to bond well without the kids interference and it has been helping us not to emotionally drift away.
There is nothing to worry about pertaining to our children because they are in safe hands with their nannies and caretakers at home. Plus, mama and our siblings do come to spend the weekend with them most times when we travel.
Oh yes, a lot has changed! It is no longer 'my siblings' alone but 'our siblings' because Alex's sisters and I are on good terms now.
You see, Belinda and Ogbodiya had no choice but to accept me as their brother's wife when they saw how much their brother loved me.
All these happened a year after my marriage to their brother Alex, and when I was about seven months pregnant with my twin children.
It was Belinda who tendered an apology to me first and then Ogbodiya tendered hers two days later, in the company of madam Ify.
I was really surprised but then I forgave them wholeheartedly for the ill names they had called me in the past. To be honest, I actually thought it was going to end at that but it didn't.
A few days after the day they apologized, they made it a norm to always visit our house on weekends to help me out since I was heavily pregnant and also to keep me company.
The interesting part of their visits is that they were individually bringing with them gifts of different kinds and showed via their actions that they were trying to warm up to me.
The whole show of care and love gestures from the two of them actually made me suspicious because I didn't trust their intentions if it was pure or with bad motives to hurt me later. So no matter what they did for me, I kept them at bay and was responding to their deeds coldly.
After Alex pleaded with me on their behalf to give them a chance to fix things, I no longer saw the need to act coldly towards them.
With time, I discovered that they were genuinely sorry and truly wanted to repair our ruptured sister in-law relationship. I suppose it is because they saw for themselves that I wasn't a golddigger as they initially thought I was, and maybe they were also scared of losing their brother's love in a baseless fight.
It was then I relaxed, quit the suspicions I had, and I began warming up to them as well.
To be honest, getting to relate and become comfortable with each other took quite a while but gradually, we developed a strong bond.
In the last three years, we've become so free with each other and till date, we are relating just fine except that I am still trying to get used to Ogbodiya's sassy and overbearing nature.
Thank God that when my children came into the picture, they started to bond so well with them from the beginning, since their infancy.
Right now, my children love their aunties very much. The only thing is that the children seem to love their aunties uniquely; I have observed that my daughter Sharon is more attached to Ogbodiya because she is a fashionista, while my son Stanley is more attached to Belinda.
So back to our customary vacation trip and how it came into existence in our marriage.
Alex is actually the one who first brought the idea and I hastily concurred to it. This was after he bitterly complained that I was losing myself and no longer paying attention to his needs which was actually true to an extent.
Let me be sincere, being a first time mother wasn't an easy task for me in the beginning, added with the fact that I was handling a fast-growing counseling career and also had other businesses under my supervision.
At a certain point, if I wasn't working then I was channeling all of my time, attention, and affection on the twins while neglecting the physical and emotional needs of my husband.
My once fun and adventurous marriage became very boring such that even making love as couples was more of a routine.
The spark, fun, and passion we had when we were newly married couples became absent, because we were no longer putting in the efforts to communicate well or please each other.
Actually if I am to be truthful, Alex was always trying his best by still showering me with love but I wasn't reciprocating his efforts as I used to do before I gave birth to our two kids.
It was not intentional though, I was just overwhelmed with having children and felt like that was the best way to be a good mother.
I didn't even know I was doing something wrong and deviating from being the sweet wife that my husband Alex married, until he called my attention to the new negative development.
After he did that, I had to reevaluate some things. Also, I eventually learnt how to balance the love between my husband and children.
I even had to ask Alex for ideas on the better ways he thinks we could work towards bonding more and reviving the fun side of our marriage.
My husband suggested many fun activities we could do as a couple of which vacations, staycation, and getaways were amongst them.
According to Alex, it will equally serve as a relaxation exercise for us to ease the weekdays working stress. I realized that his suggestions were wonderful and so I agreed to the ideas.
That is how we made it a customary thing in our home to travel every Friday evening in our private jet to any country of our choice.
In the last two years since we began this as a married couple, I haven't regretted a thing. Infact, agreeing to do this with Alex is one of the best decisions I made because I do enjoy myself to the fullest in all of our trips.
It is normally filled with fun and lots of pampering throughout; as I get to sleep all I want, have my breakfast brought to me in bed most mornings, explore new activities, and create beautiful memories with my husband.
It is amazing how every of our trips and weekend plans is usually done with intentionality and attention to details.
Alex and I do take turns every weekday to interchangeably choose the countries we will travel to by the weekend and then boom!
My husband will make sure that the accommodation alongside all that we need to make our getaway comfortable and adventurous in the chosen country is taken care of, before Friday comes.
In every country we travel to, Alex and I always make sure to tour several fun places, engage in lots of stimulating activities, visit different restaurants of our choice, go on shopping sprees and explore wherever we desire.
The most exciting part of all is that when we get back to our suite, Alex and I will make love at different places in our lodge without fear of the children hearing our moans or coming in.
Chai! There are times I even forget that I am an adult because of my current soft life and the baby girl treatment I receive almost everyday.
This week we had chosen Iceland for our vacation and we are currently lodged in a hotel. Already, we've already mapped out the exciting places we are going to be visiting which will make our stay memorable.
Just then, I remembered something which made me sit up on the bed immediately.
Oh my Goodness!
I have always been a lover of nature and arts so last night before we went to bed, Alex and I agreed to go sightseeing today by 10am.
We had made a decision to go for a place of nature that has landscapes, waterfalls, a lawn field, an ocean, and other natural components.
After which, we would move to an art studio here in Iceland to view and possibly purchase art paintings. We had also planned to have our faces painted by the best artist there.
I suppose that is the reason Alex woke me up before 10am so we could get ready on time.
Hmmmm. I turned to look at the table clock again and saw the time to be 9:43am.
Ah my God oh! We are so going to be so late and it is thanks to my lazy self.
Without wasting much time again, I hastily rushed out of bed and ran towards the bathroom like I was being pursued.
Midway walking into the bathroom, I told Alex to join me in bathing so we will not be too late.
It seems Alex got a clue that I needed early morning touching because he started laughing out loud before romantically asking me.
"Naughty girl, are you sure you are asking me to join because you don't want us to be late or there's something else you have in mind...?" Alex asked me while smirking naughtily.
"Well hunnie, why don't you come in here and find out for yourself...?" I said teasingly as I completely disappeared into the bathroom.
From the bathroom, I could hear the sound of Alex pulling off his clothes. Then a few seconds later, he walked into the bedroom and joined me to bathe inside the bathtub.
At about 11am, Alex and I were done preparing. Afterwards, we took our breakfast and then we went out for our planned outings.
At the art studio while we were being painted individually, I was busy looking at my husband.
In my mind, I am wondering what would have happened if God hadn't orchestrated my deportation and brought me back to Nigeria.
I suppose I wouldn't have met Alex, achieved so much, or enjoy the amazing life I have now.
Maybe I would probably still be a working class girl still trying to smoothen her life in Canada, but today my story is different.
In the pace of four years when I am still in my mid twenties, I have achieved so much and I have also become greater than I ever in my wildest dreams imagined I could be.
Today, I can confidently say to anybody who cares to listen that I am a fulfilled young woman who has been helped by God.
My name changed from Kasarachi Arinze to the celebrated name 'Kasarachi Ikechuckwu'.
I got married to a husband who loves me like crazy and through him, I now have two wonderful children with another one on the way, a thriving career, and a life of affluence.
I will never forget how God used people like Mrs Sharon and Alex to restructure my life and to bring me out from penury to abundance.
This is the reason, my husband and I plan to give our third child an igbo name after she is born. We've both agreed to name her Chiamaka which means "My God is good to me"
I am the one who suggested the name because its meaning resonates with my story and has a direct reflection of God's goodness in my life.
I want the name of my second daughter to serve as a constant reminder to me that if not for the hand of God during my life journey, I wouldn't have been where I am today.
God perfected his will for my life and made his promises over my life a reality.
That's why, I want my story to serve as a hallmark and an inspiration to others who are going through similar ordeals I went through.
I want to implore them never to give up on their dreams. To advise them to always trust and have faith in God because He is the ULTIMATE.
The End.
(Do not take credit or Plagiarize AMAH'S HEART stories)
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