A Mended Heart: A tragic Love Story

Chapter 4: Enter In: part 1

Ezeekiel finally mustered up the courage to step inside his once dream home. Now feeling like a nightmare, with only memories. He thought removing the decorations from the lawn would have been the hard part but this was.

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Back at New York Presbyterian Hospital, Dr. Elkanah had just finished her last twelve hour shift, for the week. She did not like the long four day shifts, Sunday to Wednesday 5:00 am til 5: 00 pm. However, she did look forward to her well deserved three day weekends.

Maria was a true professional first, well respected and revered by her peers. She had a rough upbringing, being emancipated from her parents at the age of sixteen. She put herself through college and collected a healthy amount of scholarships and grants to pay for Medical School. She was a first year surgeon at 32 years old but did not look a day over twenty-five.

During her shift in her overalls, she hid more than her outgoing, spontaneous personality. She was also hiding her body. Her overalls did not do her body justice, she was about 5 ft 8 inches average built and curvy. After wearing her dread locks up in a bun all day, she loved to let them hang low to her neck.

Maria forgot that she had made plans with a friend to get a drink after work, she called to push it back later. She figured she would spend a couple hours helping Ezeekiel and could hit the lounge by 9:00 pm. Looking into her locker, the only clean clothes she had left was the red dress she brought to change into.

She took a quick shower, the hot water after a nice long shift felt amazing but she didn't want to keep Ezeekiel waiting. She put on the essentials, lotion, deodorant, perfume a little blush, eyeliner and lip gloss. She figured when she was ready to leave from Ezeekiel she could touch up her make up.

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Back at Zeek's he had finished covering all the sharp edges of tables and counters with plastic soft curves. He installed the swinging gates by the staircase and down the hall. He cleared out a space for the crib in the master bedroom and most importantly double locked all his army gear. Guns, knives were all secured, wires even his gym equipment was stored away safely.

Finally succumbing to exhaustion, Zeek took a seat on the first couch him and Marsha bought together. Their tattered and torn, brown dorm room couch from when they first shared a student apartment back at NYU. He gave the old lever a smack and a couple tugs on the right side of the couch where he always sat. The right section leaned back a little and he propped his feet up.

The only thing that was missing was the familiar scent of Marsha's hair as she laid over him when they "studied" or watched Netflix. He closed his eyes and drifted away...

January 20th, 2008. The weekend of Martin Luther King Jr. day. It was his graduation from the Military Training Academy. He finished top five in his class and even got top honors in marksmanship and endurance. He was set to deploy with the rangers to continue his training since he did so well. Marsha was extremely happy and proud of him.

She even rescheduled her finals to fly to Washington where the ceremony was held. Marsha was top in her class as well, so the professor made accommodations for her but that was not the real problem. This was the first time she was going to introduce Zeek to her mom and dad. The six months he was away training their bond grew immensely. They spoke every day and wrote letters every week.

What better time to introduce your father to your boyfriend than when he was being honored by the first African American President of the United States of America. How could he hate on him, she thought.