Moment of Truth -a Novella-

Abstract

Annie the protagonist is celebrating the birthday of her first child, Jesse together with family and friends. She is too happy for she did not think this day would come. Immediately she was done with her studies, her plan was to get married and have children. She gets married to Mike whom she met through social media. They held a lavish wedding at the coast. Her marriage on the other hand turns out to be a bit different from what she expected. Immediately after marriage, she and the husband decided not to have children immediately but to focus on building an empire first. Surprisingly, when they are ready to finally have their first child, their plan fails. Annie discovers that she has fertility issues. Luckily, Mike is an understanding husband and does not pressure her in any way. Annie is really affected and becomes a very bitter woman. She shuts out from the society. This is after family and friends start asking her when she is planning to have children completely unaware of her predicament. She even faces discrimination for being a „childless‟ woman. She loses her faith in religion too. The only hope she gets is from her two best friends Kate and Essie. Annie gives up on her quest to conceive deciding that motherhood was not meant for her. After three years since she decided to have children she discovers that she is pregnant. She receives the news with so much joy and hope. She prepares for child birth. Upon giving birth, her whole perspective of motherhood changes. She discovers that all along she had underestimated the responsibilities that accompanied motherhood and only looked at the joys. She is a bit disappointed and she is very jealous that Mike‟s husband continues as usual while hers stopped and now she has to take care of Jesse. vii When her maternity leave is finally over, she is happy that she is going back to work. At the workplace she is even more stressed when she remembers that she has left under the care of a stranger. She is in a dilemma. Her friend Essie loses her husband after a heart attack. She has to offer Essie the emotional support she needed in those trying times. At Jesse‟s third birthday, the three women gather at a table and discuss their motherhood experiences. Essie‟s first born son has passed his examination very well and is about to join a good secondary school but Essie is worried that her son might be harmed in a boarding school. Kate is about to get married to a white man after staying single raising her daughter on her own for a couple of years. Annie is happy that Jesse is finally three. The women conclude that motherhood is really not as easy as it seems and that mothers are always worrying about the well being of their children no matter their ages