IMPORTANT NOTICE

Our relationship with the landlord had blossomed to that between father, son and daughter-in-law. However, my mother thought the dalliance could compromise my marriage if I didn't tell the landlord off or leave the house. I ignored her, but she must have seen it coming, because my supposedly first child bore a striking resemblance to my landlord when he was born. My wife denied having any affair with the landlord and the man also admitted that his feelings for me and my wife were just fatherly. The old man suggested that I ordered a paternity test; he even volunteered to provide his DNA fingerprinting. The paternity test implicated the landlord, but before I could confront him with the evidence, my mother said she had a confession to make...

Mr Ajala the landlord, my mother explained, was her former boyfriend back in the university before one of her lecturers offered to marry her. They were really involved and had planned to get married, but her parents had pressured her into accepting the young lecturer's offer. She was the first child of her parents and they wanted her to grab her opportunity and forget about Mr Ajala. Her lecturer also thought she should be realistic, as she wasn't getting any younger and Mr Ajala won't be ready to marry her in a few years.  Mr Ajala was heartbroken by the news but he refused to let go of the relationship, my mother explained. They were still seeing each other until the day she finally moved to her husband's home. However, a few weeks into her marriage, my mother discovered she was pregnant. She suspected her lecturer husband wasn't the father of the child, but she decided to be discreet about the matter. When she decided to inform him later, he took the news with much joy.   However, problems started when he began to suspect that his wife still kept Mr Ajala close to her heart. He had found out Mr Ajala still wrote her, and even made reference to “his” baby in one of his letters. The die was cast and her husband never believed he was the father of the child. She said she never could forgive Mr Ajala for that intrusion into her matrimonial happiness. When she finished her tale, I couldn't hold back my own tears.

The landlord was still available but had kept his distance since he offered to sell me his house for a pittance. My mother agreed that we meet with him and talk thing over. She was still devastated by how things have turned out and I had to monitor her from time to time so she wouldn't hurt herself. She refused to eat any food and became withdrawn. I invited Mr Ajala over to view the results of the paternity test. I have had time to open the second envelope since my mother's revelation. The results were equally confounding; matching my genes with those of the baby. When I informed the landlord the object of what my mother had brought to light but he didn't seem surprised. He regretted it could have been avoidable if my mother had taken his advice and not gone ahead with the union to her husband. He apologised for keeping me in the dark, but added that he knew things would eventually unravel. As a way forward, he wanted me to bring back my wife and the baby home without delay. He must have done some research on how the baby turned out to resemble him, the alleged grandfather, and not me the biological father.

According to him, the tendency for a child's phenotype to revert to ancestral type is known as Atavism. What happened in my case was an evolutionary throwback, such that his trait which was recessed in me had reappeared in the baby. I was impressed by his explanation.

I quickly reached out to Tinu and our baby. I had a lengthy discussion with her parents and explained what had happened since our separation. I apologised to Tinu for all the pain I had caused her and the child. A few days later, she returned to the apartment amidst a low-key reunion.  The baby was healthy and doing well. We decided to have a little celebration in the house to welcome the baby into the family. A few days later, I paid a paltry sum to take ownership of the house we lived in. My father and former landlord handed over the house documents to me before moving his things out. He intends to retire to his country home with his wife. My mother decides to tell her husband the affair with the baby and Mr Ajala. It would be painful and scandalous, she admitted, but it would help her offload something that had bothered her for some years.  Tinu and I are doing fine, and are looking forward to living happily ever after in our brand new house. [Concluded]