Kelvin
"Dad is dying right now ?" Delilah repeated.
"Yes. Mom just called me that he has been coughing blood for a while now and he can barely breathe." Sonya revealed. "He's on his sick bed right now and there's not much time left for him to live."
"Then let's get there before he dies." Delilah panicked. "We need to get there fast."
We all rushed out of the apartment and got downstairs quickly. We entered the car and took off immediately. Delilah was worried sick and she hugged me tightly as we sat in the car. Minutes later, we got to the house and all of us rushed upstairs. We moved to Mr and Mrs Hanson's room and got inside. Mrs Hanson got up from the bed and rushed over to Delilah.
"My baby girl." she said as she hugged her. "I thought I had lost you. I was very worried."
"I'm sorry for disappearing like that mom." Delilah apologized. "It won't happen again."
"I'm just glad you are here safe and sound." Mrs Hanson smiled.
Sonya had moved to the bed in which her father laid down and she sat by him. Mr Hanson coughed and blood came out from his mouth. Sonya took the towel and wiped his mouth from the blood. Delilah and her mom broke apart and we all went forward and stood before Mr Hanson. He opened his eyes and when he saw us standing before him, he smiled weakly.
"It looks like my time has finally come." he said.
Sad looks was evident on everyone's face and the entire atmosphere was gloomy.
"I wish there was something we could do about your condition." Sonya teared up.
"I tried my best to live longer," Mr Hanson slowly uttered. "But death finally caught up to me. It's my time to go."
Sonya laid her head on Mr Hanson's stomach and was crying silently. Delilah sat on the other side of Mr Hanson and started crying as well.
"You two should stop crying.....already." Mr Hanson chuckled. "I have a few words to say to both of you before I go."
Sonya raised her head up from Mr Hanson's stomach and he coughed out blood again. Sonya wiped it off and Mr Hanson had a hard time breathing. He tried his best to maintain his breathing before finally talking again.
"Sonya," Mr Hanson faced her. "You've always been...my pride and strength. We've had our good times and bad times together.....And I'm glad to finally see you take over my businesses. As I leave this earth....do what you think is right and always remember I'm with you. I have no regrets having you as my daughter.....and I'm happy to see the woman you've become."
"Delilah," Mr Hanson turned over to her direction. "You have always been my treasure and gem. We may have not...spent a lot of time together.....but I will always cherish the ones I had with you. You are very different from your sister and I'm proud of what you can do. Promise me that when I leave, you two will stop fighting...promise me..."
"I promise dad." Delilah responded with tears.
"That's good." he smiled weakly. Mr Hanson looked at me. "Kelvin, come over to Delilah's side. I want to bless you two."
I obliged and went to kneel next to Delilah. "I'm very happy you two have finally reunited and have dealt with.....your issues. I bless this relationship and I pray it leads to marriage. May the two of you get married and have children to...call your own. And may you two live together till death do you two apart. That is my..... blessing for.....you two."
"Thank you very much." I bowed my head down before Mr Hanson. "I will protect Delilah and I'll never hurt her. May your blessings come to pass."
"That's what....I wanted to hear." Mr Hanson smiled. "I've already spoken to my wife, so I guess that all I have for you guys...."
Mr Hanson coughed again and it was more violent than the previous ones. Sonya tried to wipe it off but Mr Hanson held her back.
"Don't bother. I'm almost there." he refused. "I have one last wish I want you all to fulfill for me..."
"What is it dad ?" Sonya asked.
"When I die today.... please bury me immediately. I don't want my body to be.....kept in a morgue. Let my funeral be today...." dad revealed.
"Alright. We will do that....." Delilah cried.
Mr Hanson started coughing violently now and the blood just kept coming out. He was having short breaths and had trouble breathing.
"Dad! Dad!!" Sonya and Delilah exclaimed.
"Dad don't leave us." Sonya shouted on top of her voice. "Dad!!!"
After a few seconds, Mr Hanson was out cold.
.
Delilah
When dad went stiff, a huge wail broke out as mom and Sonya started crying. Kelvin too shedded some tears and I couldn't help but join him. Sena who followed us, cried a little bit not as much as we were crying. Kelvin held me as we mourned and honestly, I fell at peace.
After some minutes of mourning, mom spoke up and broke the silence.
"Let's fulfill your father's last wish and organize his funeral immediately." mom declared.
"Alright. Let's get moving then, babe." Kelvin said to me as he wiped my tears.
"Okay dear."
We followed mom's instruction and got moving. The funeral preparations was finally set into motion. Specialised men came in to take dad's body and he was sent elsewhere to be washed and dressed in clean clothes. We planned a funeral at dad's hometown which was at Agona Swedru and we invited many people as we could.
The funeral was set to be held late in the afternoon and we all got prepared for it. It came as a shock to the whole nation when they heard of the death of dad. What was more shocking was how fast his funeral were and many people planned to attend. Hours later, Kelvin came to the house with his mom and Hannah and they were all dressed in black.
"I'm sorry to hear of the death of your father." Kelvin's mom sympathised. "My sincere condolences to you and your family."
"Thank you very much." I smiled.
"I'm sorry as well." Hannah said as we embraced each other. "I hope you are faring with this situation well ?"
"I'm doing my best, Hannah." I nodded.
"Good to know." Hannah smiled.
"It's time to leave for the funeral. Let's go." I declared. "My mom and Sonya are already on their way there."
We got into the car and took off. Mom was traveling with Sonya cause she wanted to apologize to her for her previous behaviour. After driving for more than 2 hours, we finally got to Swedru. By the time we got there, mom had already set up the funeral and everything was ready.
The funeral kicked off few minutes later and we wanted to make everything short and quick. After going through the necessary rites and giving our short words to the crowd, the coffin arrived and we concluded the funeral with the closing prayer. As people started eating and drinking, we sent the coffin to the cemetery and watched as dad was lowered in the ground with the coffin. I shed some tears as they finally filled the hole with the final shovel of sand. When the burial was over, we made our way back to the funeral.
Kelvin and his family sat with us on our table and everyone was silent. We were served drinks but no one would take a sip.
"Delilah, can I talk to you for a minute." Sonya called out as she got up.
"Okay." I said as I followed her.We walked to a quiet and desolate place. "What's the issue ?"
"I want to apologize for how I acted towards you over the years." Sonya began. "I have been such a bad sister and I take all the blame for what I did. I can't say much but I hope you find it in your heart to forgive me."
"I already have...." I smiled. "I've forgiven you and moved on. There's no need for an apology. I also have to apologize for ignoring you when you tried to reach out to me. I'm deeply sorry for that as well."
"I understand why you did that, sis." Sonya replied. "I'm not angry about that at all."
"Good to know." I smiled.
"Thanks Delilah. Does this mean we are back to being 'close sisters' ?"
"I guess so....." I muttered.
We moved forward to each other and hugged for a while. Making peace with Sonya felt like a huge burden taken off my shoulders and I was very glad about it. We went back to the party and the family seemed to be active. Kelvin's mom and my mom were in a causal conversation and Kelvin was busy arguing with Sena and Hannah.
I sat next to Kelvin and smiled widely. "Seems you are having fun...."
"Yeah." he laughed. "It seems you have finally buried the hatchet with Sonya. I'm proud of you. Well done."
"Thanks babe. So where's my reward ?" I smirked.
"It's right here." Kelvin said as he pulled me close and gave me a deep kiss.
"Ewww you guys! Get a room!" Hannah and Sena laughed as we locked lips. There was cheers from our mothers and Sonya applauded us as we broke apart.
As night approached, Kelvin and I walked through the streets of Swedru. We wanted to take a short stroll before we joined the family back at the funeral.
"Things must really be hard for you." Kelvin said. "It's almost like when my dad died."
"You are right." I quipped. "When your dad died, Hannah was there to comfort you. The same way as my dad has died, you are here to comfort me and I feel very safe and happy. Thank you very much."
"Don't thank me at all." Kelvin smiled. "I will always be there for you. No matter what."
"I still stand by my word." I chuckled. "I don't know how I would have been if I hadn't met you. I don't even want to think about it cause I'm glad it never happened."
"I'm also glad I met you and it was in the most funniest way ever imaginable." Kelvin laughed.
"We were almost kidnapped...." I laughed. "Sometimes I'm happy I was almost kidnapped cause if it never happened, you know already..."
"I know what you mean already. Come here you" Kelvin pulled me in for a kiss.
We held each other as we shared a kiss on the streets. It lasted for some seconds but it felt like an hour.
"Let's get back to the funeral. They might be searching for us you know." Kelvin suggested.
"Okay. Let's go then."
We made our way back to the funeral and reunited with the others.
Even though, the day went bad, I'm happy to appreciate the good times I'm spending with the people I love. Finally, almost everything I ever wanted has been fulfilled and most importantly, there has been a change in my life and I never wanted more.
.
Sonya
Dad's funeral turned out to be less emotional than I expected. It was good, everyone had their moment and lastly, we all said our goodbyes to dad. He would be greatly missed. The next funeral was more emotional and I totally broke down when I saw Olivia in her coffin. It was so heartbreaking.
Olivia's funeral was a month after dad's funeral and during this month, some important things have happened. For starters, the remaining armed men who were sent to kidnap me were found. The police found their dead bodies in a refuge dump and they were already rotting. They also found the traitor, Irene and she was washed ashore on one of the riverbanks of the Volta river. It was sad seeing their dead bodies though.
Secondly, Raymond and his father were placed on trial due to the strong evidence and charges pressed against them. When the trial was over, Raymond was sentenced to 28 years in prison whiles his father was sentenced to 22 years. I was very happy with the turn of events but I wished they were given more years in jail. I even wanted life improvement but unfortunately, I didn't get that.
Another thing is the relationship between Delilah and Kelvin. Ever since dad's funeral, they've been closer than ever and they hardly argue with each other. Kelvin continued to work at the electronic company by choice and he seemed really happy there. Just last week, the couple took a vacation outside of the country to be reunited with Gabriel and Giovanna in Italy. Mom also went back to France, so I'm sure the five of them would be meeting each other frequently.
Kelvin's mom and sister are also enjoying themselves. Kelvin bought them a huge house from the money he saved and he was able to land his sister a job. Life has been good for them and I feel happy for them.
Life for me has been okay..... Being the owner of four businesses wasn't hard as I thought. I worked relentlessly and made sure everything was on track. I made sure the catering services business continued and it was doing a good job. The catering services was a reminder of Olivia and I loved everything about it. Everything was going well till Olivia's funeral finally arrived.
I cried a lot at her funeral but I had to console Olivia's mother as well, cause she was crying a lot as well. After Olivia got buried, I went back to the party and sat at an empty table. I was wiping my tears when I heard someone's voice behind me.
"I hate to see you cry."
I turned to meet Dennis.
"Oh it's you." I quipped.
"Yes of course." he smiled. "Did you expect someone else ?"
"No not really." I chuckled. "What are you doing here ? Aren't you supposed to be with your mother ?"
"She's okay." Dennis said as he took my handkerchief and wiped my tears. "There we go. Now you look more beautiful than ever."
"Thanks." I smiled.
"How are you feeling ? I hope you are coping well with all this ?"
"Honestly, it doesn't feel real to me." I spoke up. "Olivia of all people, dead ? I feel like some part of me is missing. She was a part of me."
"I understand what you mean." Dennis nodded. "Olivia can be an annoying big sister sometimes but she was always there for me. No matter what we went through. I'm still broke that she's gone."
"Me as well." I sighed. "Prince himself is as traumatized as everyone. He planned on proposing to Olivia this month but he was struck with shock when he heard the news abroad."
"Poor guy...." Dennis shook his head. "I can only imagine what is going on in his head right now. May her soul rest in perfect peace."
"May her soul rest in perfect peace indeed." I sighed deeply. "I will never forget you, Olivia."
I bowed my head and almost went into another episode of crying if Dennis didn't hold me.
"Come on, get up." Dennis said as he rosed me up to my feet. "Let's go have a dance to sober the mood. Okay ?"
I looked at Dennis and contemplated. After a brief moment of thinking, I followed Dennis as we walked towards the dance floor where the music was being played at.
This one is for Olivia...
THE END