"Stephen, congratulations on your wedding,"Mark was genuinely happy for his friend's marriage."Thank you Mark,I knew that your very tired, sitting on the plane overnight isn't a joke, your should take some rest now,"Stephen was really concerned about his friend.
Mark had to fly the whole night to Kenya so that he would attend his wedding,he was a true friend,"don't worry about me, Stephen am ok,I will rest after the wedding is over,"Mark couldn't just leave his best friend's wedding was still going on, rest would have to wait.
"Don't try to convince me to leave,if you really want me to go,you should carry me on your back,"Mark said to Stephen,"carry you on my back my a*s,"Stephen replied,he didn't want to continue talking to his friend anymore,he didn't want to ruin his day.
Stephen walked to where his mother was sitted, when Pauline saw this son , the smile on her face widened, his son has already gotten over his dead wife after seventeen years of torturing himself.
Pauline has constantly prayed for this day to come, finally the heavens have heard her prayers and have answered her."Son, come hear,say hi to your auntie,"Pauline called her son to greet her sister, Stephen immediately and greeted her daughter, it has been many years since he last saw her.
Elizabeth was his father's twin sister,she lives in the countryside and rarely visits them, she is busy with farm work and taking care of her paralyzed husband,her face was full of wrinkles, compared to her twin brother, she looked very old, stress and alot of farm work hard made her out grow her years.
Patrick show his son greeting his twin sister,he was also very happy for her son, he could clearly remember seventeen years ago when his lost his wife.
Patrick was in his office when he received a call from his wife, informing him that their daughter-in-law has met with an accident and has been rushed to the hospital and was in a critical condition.
Patrick panicked,his daughter-in-law was in her last stage of pregnancy, she was a few days from giving birth,he called his secretary and asked her to inform the driver to prepare the car,he immediately walked out of the office and the driver drove him to the hospital.
He found his wife and son hugging,he could clearly hear sobs coming from his son,he walked to where they were standing and separated them then made them sit down."Don't worry yourselves so much Marion is a strong woman I know she will be alright,"he tried to comfort and give them hope.
His son wanted to say something to him , when the ICU door was opened and the doctor come out,"who is her family?"the doctor asked the moment he opened the door. They all strode to the door"we are her family, doctor,"Patrick said.
"We have tried our best but..."the doctor said and posed,"but what doctor?"Pauline asked the doctor."The baby made it but the mother didn't survive,"the doctor informed them, Patrick could tell that the doctor has said the exact words to many people.
"No no no, doctor, please save my wife,I beg you please, she can't leave, she promised to spend her life with me, you are lying,my wife is save and sound, let me in I will go see her,"Stephen wailed loudly, his parents were lost, they didn't know how to comfort him especially Patrick who a while ago had assured Stephen that his wife will be ok.
Stephen opened the ICU door and went in, no one tried to stop him,he met with the nurse who was carrying his daughter but didn't spare her a glance, Marion's body was covered by a white sheet , Stephen removed the sheet,he tried to wake her but to no avail. He hugged her until the morgue attendants come to take Marion's body.
Patrick and Pauline were devastated, they both pitied their son so much,they knew how much Stephen loved Marion,but she has left never to come back. A nurse called Pauline and asked her to take her granddaughter, the baby was a just a few days from being born, there was no need to keep her at the hospital.
Pauline left after instructing her husband who seemed to be in a daze to take Stephen to the car at the hospital's car garage. The doctor allowed Pauline to take the baby after giving her instructions on how to feed and take care of the baby.
Pauline carried the baby ,got out of the hospital and walked to the parking garage, her husband and her son were already there. Her son was still sobbing, she had thought of asking him to carry his daughter on his arms but she decided against it,she was afraid that he will rejected and blame the child.
Patrick's assistant was the one driving,he had heard that his boss has gone to the hospital after his daughter-in-law met an accident,he immediately rushed to the hospital and released the driver,he was a great help to Patrick because he has helped him take his son to the car.
Stephen didn't want to leave the hospital,he had wanted to go to the morgue and stay with Marion, Patrick and his assistant has been forced to drag him out of the hospital forcibly, everyone had been staring at them but they didn't have time to pay attention to them.
The journey home was silent expect for sobs coming from Stephen, they didn't try to stop him, they knew that crying was good for him, when they arrived home Stephen went and locked himself in his room , refusing to eat nor sleep.
Patrick and Pauline tried to talk sense to him to no avail, they called Mark his friend over to help them persuade Stephen not to neglect himself.