Darlene has been counting the hours to the day she will be graduating out of the university from the the day she got her acceptance letter for a degree course in journalism, because the age at which she joined the university, was already old enough to have been out of school for a degree two years back, courtesy of her unstable health from childhood. She always came close to quitting her persuit for a degree, but her adoptive grandfather who is a medical doctor has been daily loading her, with reasons why not-quitting is such a good and important cause, he believed that, keeping the zeal to obtaining a degree is a very honourable persuit, because, getting a degree qualifies you for noble purposes here on Earth.
"When you get a degree honey, you will realize that being twenty five and jobless but in school is nothing to be embarrassed about" he would say that to Darlene every time she used her age as a reason to consider quitting school, but rather get a job and settle down on her own till she figures out what to do with life.
"Honey, your life will unfold right before your eyes, long after you have learnt that getting a job, buying a car and a house, plus getting married is not the standard-correct order of life. The lessons will be magical, as if the cloud that has been making your sun cold has been finally removed out of the way, and that honey! Will be the start of a feeling that can only described as imense freedom and complete satisfaction with life....You will be very fine, you'll see" he once said, when Darlene had started to count to him the things that people her age should be having already.
Darlene finally quit all thoughts leaving the university one year prior to her graduation, because her grandfather who was her strongest pillar, got a mini stroke that weakened him, and to Darlene, she felt like she owed him a degree to her name, given that education seemed to be a very important thing to him.
Darlene called jemmy on her phone even though she was just a few stair cases away in the living room, to come to the bedroom in which she is fighting her anxiety. Even though they have been girlfriends for quite a while now, they have always given each other alot space and a free will to keep their private lives to themselves. Jemmy is a doctor at Darlene's grandfather's hospital and that's how they met. Darlene always felt like their meeting wasn't as she had imagined meeting your soulmate would feel like, because they met at a charity event her grandfather had organized, and for some reason she doesn't understand, she ended up getting a lift home in jemmy's mustang were jemmy seemed nervous and she kept silent for most of the time. She had come to the function accompanying her grandfather in a well guarded SUV, she couldn't help but wonder how a mute woman managed to convince her grandfather to break his most followed rule, because he would never let Darlene go back home from a function in a car that she didn't come in. Sometimes she wonders if jemmy's willingness to tend to her needs wasn't abit 'over-the-top' to be sweet and romantic, but she always pushed that thought away because she prefers to be grateful for what she has rather than to find fault in whatever it is that she has, and in this case, it's jemmy.
"Baby, are you ready?" Jemmy said over the phone to a Darlene who was torn between attending her graduation or staying by her grandfather's bed side whose health has detoriated from the last time he showed any sign of improvement from the stroke.
"I need help with my make up, I just can't seem to get it right" Darlene said, while trying to fight her tears at the same time, and it seems like half of her days are spent in a combination of fighting tears and crying when the image of her grandfather who is bedridden becomes unbearable to make peace with.
"Oh baby" jemmy said and held Darlene in a tight and comforting embrace, something that she has gotten perfect in doing, since her girlfriend has turned into a broken mess from the time Dr.Benard Richardson stopped showing any signs of improvement, she infact put a reminder on her phone that tells her to check on Darlene after every two hours if they are not together, which is rare because Darlene spends all her non-school time in the hospital with her grandfather, and jemmy works in the same hospital which is owned by a bedridden Mr.Richardson.
After one last break-down session by Darlene, jemmy Gwensmith drove the duo to Darlene's graduation ceremony by a route that allows them to pass by the hospital to get Mr.Richardsons' blessings as Darlene loves to call it. And Mr. Richardson gave another dose of 'reasons to not quit school' to Darlene, except this time, it more of 'reasons to attend your graduation ceremony'.
"You are going to give me a kiss, and you are going to march out of this room straight to the exit of this hospital, and you are going to get into your girlfriend's mustang who will drive you safely right through the university gates like the first class degree holder you are, And when the vice Chancellor says, DARLENE RICHARDSON, you are going to stand up with arms Akimbo and walk down the isle upto the podium, and you will give him a firm handshake that he will never forget, you will then give him a big smile when receiving your certificate from him, because honestly honey, I have never seen any one tear right through life like you did. When you get down from the podium, everyone will know that, you being a Richardson didn't make anything easier for you. You earned it, all of it" Mr.Richardson said with the strongest feeling of pride he might have ever gotten a chance to experience. And his voice kept playing in Darlene's mind through out the whole time she was away from the hospital.
After the ceremony was done, Darlene raced straight to jemmy's car were jemmy was waiting for Darlene patiently with Darlene's uncle, who for a reason unknown to Darlene, he never seemed to get along with jemmy.
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"Papa, do you think I will die soon?" Darlene had asked her grandfather sometime back when she was little and had just been operated for second time because of a brain tumor.
"No honey, you are going to be very healthy and you will make your papa very proud" Mr.Richardson had said this to his little girl, probably to ease the tension from her little mind, but mostly because he believed every word of that phrase. And today, he looked like the most happy version of a sick man, because when he woke up, there was a well framed degree having the name, DARLENE RICHARDSON, among the so many flowers the same name has been bringing over the months from the time he had been admitted in his own hospital.
"If I had known my degree would make you this Happy, I wouldn't have needed any coaxing to complete the course" Darlene told her grandfather.
"If you weren't so stubborn, you would have heard when I told you that, it would make me very happy" her grandfather shot back at her playfully.
"I brought a high-fiber cake so we can celebrate your victory in making me not quit, and now that it's over, I feel like graduating at 25 isn't horrible at all and for umpteenth time, you were right, you are always right" Darlene said.
"That's what I have been telling you since you were 23" Mr. Richardson said, proud of himself.
They cut the cake and Darlene took pictures of herself and her grandfather making silly faces on camera. In between all their banters, they kept on reminding themselves about the funny things that have happened in their lives, they talked about the time when Mr. Richardson had to conceal his identity just so he can go on a merry go round with Darlene, they talked about all the time Darlene hid sweet things in her drawers because she had been banned from them because she was prone to type two diabetes, they talked about all the weird and funny times until the doctors came and asked Darlene to leave and let Mr. Richardson rest for a bit.
Darlene went out of the hospital just to get some air, and she went back in without wasting any moment of catching up with Grandpa.
When she got in, her grandfather's face lit up as though he had been waiting for her to walk into the room. And he said "I wish you were happy with Jemmy, but that would be asking too much"
"Why do you say that Grandpa?"she asked with fear that, it would break his heart if he found out that, she is in a relationship were the most she feels for her partner is deep gratitude and appreciation for how she is so committed to making sure she Darlene, is comfortably settled in her own skin.
"Because it's clear that jemmy is not your soulmate, I know you are a smart girl, you will figure it out, I don't want to crowd your judgement with an old man's opinions." He said and patted the empty spot next to him for Darlene to come and lie down.
Darlene did as she has been instructed to, then her grandfather said something that might forever change her life. "You know, when my son and his wife told me that they were bringing a baby whose biological parents had abandoned because she had a brain tumor to my hospital because I they have a adopted her, I never imagined that I would be meeting my best friend, what people don't know is that, I should have been on that plane that crashed 25 years ago, but I cancelled my trip to Atlanta last minute, so that i could be there when you arrive. And when my son and his wife didn't survive the accident that almost denied me the chance of seeing you, I knew you were a gift from the heavens. You saved my life twice in one day, because when I looked at your innocent face, all the pain that would have knocked me to the grave disappeared instantly. And I lived the best days of my life in the last twenty five years, all thanks to you"
Darlene who was doing all that is humanly possible to fight her tears, scooted closer to her grandfather and said "I love you grandpa"
"I love you too baby" he said "it's gonna be okay i promise, you will see" and they both got into a deep sleep from which, only Darlene got to wake up. She woke up from a dream were she was crying her eyes out to her grandfather who was gesturing for her to look behind, and when she did, she came face to face with jemmy who was holding a knife to her own throat and that might have been the most broken state Darlene has ever seen her girlfriend in.
She opened her eyes, and realized that, her grandfather's hand onto which she was holding, had gone cold and had no pulse at all. She got out of the bed like she would on any other day, she packed up all the flowers and photo frames she has been hanging in his hospital room, she then kissed his forehead and pulled the sheets right up to his face, she then texted Jemmy the two words that might cause her grief for the rest of her life;
"He's gone" and then she down next Mr. Richardson's corpse with no emotions at all, because she decided not to be selfish and weep over this peaceful rest that she believes her grandfather very much deserves, even if it literally breaks her heart into shredded pieces. Over the past one year, she watched how helpless her grandfather became each day and she cried everyday, today she has chosen to believe the mysteries talked about by authors of death related books, were death is painted to look like a beautiful thing and not a thing of mourning.
"Oh my baby am so sorry" Jemmy said when she burged into the room and held Darlene in a tight embrace, because even if Darlene is not crying, it's very evident that she will need all the support she can get to accept that her grandfather is gone. "It's gonna be nerve wrecking, but it's gonna be okay I promise, you will see" , and Darlene just nodded in jemmy's embrace, while the nurses were doing whatever it is, that they were taught to do to dead people.
Mr. Richardson died at the age of eighty four and got burried in his hometown cemetry among the noble and historical people the town has ever known. Darlene worked her nerves out make sure her grandfather got the honourable burial he deserves and she never shed a tear, not even when pain of watching his casket disappear into the grave shot sharply through her heart, not even when the men Manning the grave started loading heaping sand onto his casket until he was permanently out of reach. through out all these terrible times that relented not, even for a second, Jemmy stayed by her side all through the horrors of her nights and the glooms of her days, and will forever owe Jemmy a whole lot.
Two months after the life shattering experience Darlene went through, she and Jemmy Gwensmith got married and they moved out of her grandfather's Mansion even if Jemmy thought it was a bad idea, but Darlene wanted to move out of the mansion so she can leave behind the good memories that are now serving as a source of her tears, and that's the same reason she gave for not wanting to decide what to do with her inheritance, which Jemmy still didn't agree to it being a good idea.
Darlene's good grades got her a job that she didn't like, so she chose to do freelance writing for a magazine.
With her "for-the-moment" job while she figures out how to live without her grandfather, and a busy but loving doctor wife, she got tempted to think that, she had finally settled.Whether this is the beginning of a blissful life or the beginning of her nightmares, she doesn't care, because tonight after she and Jemmy had a heated sex session, Jemmy held her in her arms and said "I love you Darlene" and that was enough strength to help her hold on, till she finds out, which of her above temptations are true.