" Could anyone's dilemma be greater than mine?"

On a couch sat Angus walked with a lot of thinkings running through his head. A few years ago, he was happy with nothing to worry about but these days, it was as if his days had been carefully designed with worries and dilemma ' What am I going to do?' asked Angus to himself, and he had a flashback of how everything started seven years ago.

He was happily married to his wife, Anita, and two kids, Jack and Monica, and his family were so happy and peaceful and each day was filled with laughter until the sudden death of Anita.

She was on her way home from the convenience store and was in a bus that collided with another bus a few minutes after speaking with his husband, a lot of people died and many were injured.

Mr. Walker was contacted to identify the body of his wife and no one looked like Anita so they assumed she must have been part of the corpse that had been burnt without recognition and two days after, they had a mass burial for all the burnt corpses.

Mr. Angus became devastated ever since the death of his wife, he felt his world had crashed and his children had a hard time accepting that their mother was gone, especially Jack who fought with his mother before she went out and was unable to reconcile so he felt guilty and somehow responsible for her death.

After two years of persuasion from Mr walker's family to get over Anita's death by remarrying, he finally agreed and married Jane, his colleague.

A year after his remarriage, the presence of Jane as a new wife in the family was not significant and Mr. Walker was unable to get over his wife as he had shared a lot of memories with her.

Monica and Jack could not bring themselves to accept their stepmom too, they were still grieving and were not ready to get over their mom's death so Jane was not referred to a stepmom in the Walkers family no matter how hard she tried.

This continued for five years and no one knew her worth especially Monica who found her the most annoying. No one had any idea what Jane had been doing in the family until the day she became ill and it was so worst that she was hospitalized for two months.

During those months, they all began to miss and feel Jane's absence. No one to welcome Angus back from work, no one to cook midnight snacks for Jack, and no one to decorate and arrange Monica's room. They all began to feel her absence and feel bad for how they had treated her so before they knew it, they had began missing and caring about Jane and Monica began to pay Jane some surprise visits and by the time Jane came back home, they had all changed and she was shocked to see them welcoming her when she was not expecting it.

They all apologized for how they have treated her and she forgave them because of her love for Angus.

The next morning, before Jane woke up, Monica had cooked and she was surprised to see how they all got over Anita's death in just her two months and absence and she was genuinely happy. Angus had also began to behave like a husband to her and they all began to live their lives like before and everyone was happy again.

After a year of living happily and getting over Anita's death. They all received the shock of their lives when Anita who they thought had died seven years ago was actually alive and well.

They were all dining happily that morning and Jane hurried to her workplace after an urgent phone conversation and not long after Jane had left, they heard a knock on their door, Jack stood up and opened it and saw a stoutly built man first then his Mom and he was so shocked that he fell and almost hurt himself. Others became alarmed and was rushing to his aid when they saw Anita helping her son up and they were all shocked as well.

The stout man explained to them that his wife was part of the victim and he went to see the accident scenes himself, that was when he saw Anita breathing faintly and he rescued her by taking her home and taking care of her until she was okay after few years. He tried contacting her family but Anita's memory was faded and two years ago, she remembered where she used to live with her husband and kids, and when they got there, the house was empty. Angus told him they had to leave that house because Anita's memories were overwhelming and her face was everywhere and that was also why they could not get over her death easily.

They thanked the man and he left but things were still awkward. The Anita they had longed for was finally here but Jane had already replaced her. Angus told Anita about Jane and all what she had done for them all this while. Anita was speechless so she left the house that day and they were silent throughout that day especially Angus, what was he going to do?.

After two weeks, Anita came back again and Jane was not home and without hesitation, she spoke ' Since I'm alive and well, I see no reason why I should not resume my duties and take my place back, send that woman away'.

Angus, Jane, and Monica were gobsmacked and shocked at the same time, After what Jane had done for him and his family, how can he drive her away?. Jack and Monica had also grown to love to accept their new mother but their real mother is here now, what should they do?.

Anita left and promised to come back the next day with all her belongings and she also told Angus to tell Jane the truth when she comes home and have her vacate her place. The sadness and dilemma in the house was more overwhelming than when they found out that Anita was dead.

Everyone was quiet that evening until Jane rushed in feeling happy, she saw her family sitting outside and she hurriedly showed them her test result and told them that she was six weeks pregnant, Angus and his children received more shock and Monica who could not control her tears cried out and Jane quickly apologized for telling them at the crucial moment and told them her pregnancy made her feel like more part of them and more like a family. She was somehow hurt that they were not happy to hear the news so she told them and they all apologized and Jane became happy again so she went in first, took her bath and went to sleep early. Jack asked his Dad what he was going to do and when he was going to tell Jane about their Mom but the over confused Angus did not know what to do so he did not reply and he went in. Jack and Monica also went to their rooms but could not sleep, what were they going to do?.

When Angus got to the room, he saw the beautiful Jane sleeping and was scared and ashamed to sleep next to her so he came out and sat on the couch with a lot of thought going through his head, Anita was going to come back the next morning and he cannot send her away because it was once her place, he also cannot bring himself to tell Jane so that he would not cause her any panic because of her pregnancy, He loves Jane and cannot bring himself to send her away especially now that she was pregnant for him and he also cannot stop Anita from coming back, what should he do?

# Fiction by: Stella Olakristi.