Heavy Hearts

   HEAVY
               HEARTS

     

       VIVIAN UDEMBA

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organisation, places, events, and incidents are products of my imagination or are used fictiously. Any resemblance to actual person, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

I can’t remember the very first romance I ever picked up or attempt a guess at how many I have read since, but this is dedicated to all the authors whose books I enjoyed over the years.
Thank you.

ONE

In a small room at GREGORY hospital in Surulere Lagos. Veronica Simeon sat nervously on a chair, her heart thumping. She had waited three days for the result of her test, but it had felt like three years. And now the waiting was over.
Dr. Gregory Dike, a friend of Veronica for many years, entered the room. He looked haggard, and for a long moment the two of them sat looking at one another in complete silence.
Veronica was the first to speak, “what’s wrong with me Greg?”
There was another brief silence.
“Greg... am I okay?”Veronica asked sombrely with fear coating her voice.
With real despair creeping into his voice, Dr. Gregory informed her of her new nightmare. She had LEUKAEMIA ….a very rare one.
Just few months ago, she’d noticed a creeping fatigue, followed by few minor aches and later on had gone to Dr. Gregory for medical check up. Now it has been confirmed she was going to die soon. Terrified, Veronica stood up abruptly and headed for the door before Dr. Gregory could react.
Veronica was angry, she was…terrified. She, a successful lawyer at thirty has always envisioned a marriage and children, even though she had no permanent boyfriend at the moment. Now there was nothing. She was going to…die. She took a taxi home and on getting home, she moaned silently and then began to laugh and then to cry. For a long time, she just stood there, leaning against the door, laughing and crying …

Few miles away, Desmond Eze’s hand shook as he reached for his third glass of brandy. He was in the living room of his just-sold duplex in Lagos, facing up to a bleak, uncertain future. Desmond hiccoughed, and took another swallow of his brandy. Moaning quietly, he reached across his desk to pick up a photograph, for a long moment he gazed down at the beautiful faces it portrayed, he bowed his head over the picture and sighed deeply.
Desmond Eze was happily married to Grace Eze. They had two beautiful daughters; Deborah and Christabel. Grace was pregnant with their third child. Everything was going perfectly well in their lives.
But then one day, their almost perfect life began to crumble. It started on the day Grace was due to give birth. Desmond paced in the hospital corridor impatiently, as he wondered why it was taking so long. Neither the Doctor nor even a nurse has come out of the labour room to tell him about his wife and child’s condition. He hoped everything was going well.
“Mr Eze.” Came the Doctor's voice intruding his thoughts. He had just stepped out of the labour room.
“Doctor, how is my wife and child?” Desmond asked hastily.
The gloom look on the Doctor's face got Desmond worried. “Doctor? How is Grace and my child doing?” he asked again with his voice trembling.
“There was a complication.” The Doctor said softly, as gently as he could.
Desmond's eyes grew round and haunted. “Complication?”
The Doctor looked at him gravely and nodded slowly, suppressing a deep sigh he said, “We lost them.”
Desmond stared numb at the Doctor as a creeping horror began climbing over him, clinging and choking him. Grace was dead? She was gone? He shook his head, “No...No...No! It can't be.”He said his voice without strength.
“I'm sorry Mr Eze, I’m truly sorry for your loss.” The Doctor condoned.
“No!!!” He yelled so loud the windows around threatened to break. And then he passed out almost immediately.

Grace had come into Desmond’s life when he had lost hope of anything good happening in his life. Being an only child and orphaned at age 19, life wasn't easy for Desmond.
But after meeting Grace, things began to turn around for good for Desmond. She supported him financially, spiritually, and even emotionally. He soon acquired a job with an awesome pay. And as time went by, he was able to buy a house of his own. Eventually of course, he got married to Grace.
To him Grace was his everything.  She was his life. But now she was gone... he still found it hard to wrap his head around it. One thing was sure; life will definitely never remain the same for him and his two daughters.
But the worse was still to come.

As he and his daughters were on their way home after the burial of his wife, their mother. Desmond was in a sombre mood as he drove. The pain was too much. He had just watched the woman he loved dearly lowered six feet in the ground. Grief-stricken, Desmond didn’t notice a truck coming towards him on time and before he could dodge the truck and avert to the other side of the road a collision has already happened. This later resulted to the death of his two daughters.

Desmond wanted nothing more than to die….fully believing he had nothing else to live for. Why did he survive? He should have just died along with his daughters. Now he would live with the guilt that he killed his own daughters. Everyone around him kept saying it was an accident, but that didn’t change the way he felt. What life had in store for him, he couldn’t tell. He was clueless and felt so useless. He packed his few belongings and vacated the house for its new owner. Having no place to go , he checks into a hotel and decides to stay put till he figures what to do with his USELESS LIFE.

To be continued...

This is my first story here, I would really appreciate intelligent reviews and critics, and I promise to upload new parts weekly.....thank you for reading.