Heavy Hearts

TEN

As Veronica Simeon’s eyes fluttered open she was surprised to see him. He was here? How come?
He smiled down at her. “How are you doing darling?”
“Greg?” she said quietly.
“Yes dear. It’s me.”
“How are you here?” she asked
“Your mother called me and I took a flight immediately. I arrived last night but you were asleep then.” He told her.
She smiled. “Thanks.”
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
“Stronger than yesterday.”
“That’s good.”
“Greg,” she called softly, “have you met the Doctor?” She asked.
He nodded gently.
“How bad is it?” she asked hoarsely.
He looked at her softly, “I can’t say. The result of your test will be out today.”
She nodded slightly.
There was an uneasy silence.
“Have you met Desmond?” she asked breaking the silence.
“Who is Desmond?” he asked.
“My fiancé.” She said mustering a smile.
He arched his eyebrows in surprise. “No I haven’t.”
She sighed. “I haven’t seen him since yesterday. And even this morning when my mother and others came around he wasn’t with them.” She said wearily.
“I’m sure he will show up.”
“Maybe he is scared and worried about everything.” She said sombrely and began to cry.
“Veronica…” Greg called softly before pulling her gently in his arms, “don’t cry please.”
The sound of someone clearing his throat brought them to alert.
“Desmond.” Veronica exclaimed happily.
Desmond looked at the man standing close to Veronica distastefully, “Who are you?” he asked.
Veronica sensed his jealousy and quickly spoke up, “Desmond, this is Greg, my Doctor in Lagos.” She introduced.
“It’s nice finally meeting you Desmond.” Gregory said and move forward with his right hand stretched out for a handshake.
So the Greg he was jealous of was Veronica’s Doctor, he thought smiling foolishly at himself, “Nice meeting you too.” He said taking Greg hand in his. “Have you met with the Doctor here? Is she going to be alright?” he asked hastily, forgetting all about his earlier feeling of jealousy.
Gregory smiled at his concern for Veronica. “Yes I have met him and given him details about Veronica’s illness. What we are waiting for now are the results of the test that were taken.” He said.
“Thanks.” Desmond said shaking his hands again.
Gregory nodded. “Let me go check if the results are out.” He said and excused himself.
Once they were alone, Veronica spoke. “Where have you been?”
“I went to church.” Desmond answered simply, as he moved closer to her.
“Church? Since when did you go to church?” she asked with disbelief.
“Since yesterday.” He said.
“And you went there to do what?”
“What else do they do in church? I went there to pray.”
She chuckled. “Pray? Come on Desmond, tell me what’s really going on?”
“I went to church to pray for you. I went to ask God to give you more time.” He said gently holding her gaze, “I’m not ready to lose you yet.” He added hoarsely.
“Oh Desmond…” she said as tears trickled down from her eyes.
He brushed it off with his fingers. “Don’t cry my love. I know God will answer my prayers.”
She looked up at him and smiled.
“You’ll get out of here in no time, we’ll get married and move into our new apartment.” He said and brought out keys from his pocket. “The keys to our new two bedroom apartment.” He said as he showed it to her.
“Two bedroom?” she chuckled.
“Two bedroom.” He affirms smiling. And then he leaned forward and kissed her lightly on the lips. “You never can tell what we’ll need the other room for.” He whispered and she smiled.

As Doctor John scanned the test results of Veronica to get an overall view, there was something odd about it. He had run the test twice now, and still got the same result. Suddenly there was a knock on his door.
“Come in.” he said sharply.
Dr. Gregory walked in and was instantly worried of the grim look on Dr. John’s face “What’s wrong? Are the results out?”
“Yes. Please take a look at them.” He replied and handed the results to Gregory.
“This is not possible. Are these her test results?” Gregory asked after he read the results.
“Yes. I even ran the test twice.” The doctor said.
“But this is impossible.”
“The same thing I thought when I saw them.”
“Please can we run the test again?” Dr. Gregory asked, “Just to be certain.”
“Okay.” He agreed.

Desmond and Veronica couldn’t hide their chagrin as they saw both Doctors walk into her room.
“So, what’s the bad news?” she asked.
The two Doctors looked at each other as if deciding who will break the news.
Dr. John glanced at both of them nervously, but his expression lightened. “Your test results are out.” He announced.
“How is my condition?” she asked, her voice shaking.
“I can’t explain it, but we ran the test three times to be certain and still got the same result.” Doctor John said solemnly and for the next few minutes he let rip with medical jargon that left both Veronica and Desmond in the dark. Only the growing smile on Dr. Gregory’s face as Dr. John explained what they had discovered in the results told Desmond that the miracle he has been praying for has been granted him.
“She’s going to be alright?” Desmond asked, his quiet choked voice cutting across the doctors.
Dr. Gregory nodded. “It’s more like a miracle Veronica, you’re leukaemia-free.” He said happily.
Veronica quickly turned to Desmond, her face almost glowing with happiness.
“Yes, Veronica is leukaemia free,” Doctor John agreed, “The test we ran showed no signs of…” suddenly he stopped, and looked at them looking at each other, doubting there were still listening. Then he looked at Dr.Gregory who was smiling at them. “Let’s leave them.” He said and Gregory nodded in agreement as they quietly excused themselves closing the door as they left.
Suddenly Veronica and Desmond were alone.
“You’re going to live,” Desmond said, carefully pronouncing each word, just to make sure he absolutely understood what the Doctors had just said.
Veronica looked at him, too full, too happy to do anything but nod. It was as if they couldn’t believe it. It was just too much to be hoped for. Then shakily she said “You still want to marry me, Desmond? Till death do us part? In say, about fifty years time?”
Desmond began to laugh. And cry. Wordlessly he held open his arms and then she came down from the bed and walked into them, and they were kissing and laughing and crying and then kissing again.
“Just try and stop me from marrying you.” Desmond said huskily.
“I wouldn’t dare.” She whispered.
“On our way home, I will want us to stop at the church first.” He said.
“To get married?” she asked musingly.
Desmond laughed and shook his head “I want us to go to church first so we could thank God for giving me our life back.” He explained.
“Yes,” she agreed, her eyes brimming with happiness, “for giving us our life back.” She stressed echoing his words gratefully.
Then he kissed her.

If you enjoyed reading this story please be nice enough to vote for it.
Other stories to look out for by Vivian Udemba:

Wives and girlfriends
Edge of deception
Scarred heart
Taming the playboy
Baby at his convenience
Perfect Pretender.