Episode 14
Grace walked in the house and the silence that surrounded it made her heart skip a little bit as she went round the house calling for her father and mother.
âMommy! Am home! Mother where are you!â she yelled as she walked outside seeing there was no one responding from inside.
âwhere is everyone?â she was asking herself when her mother`s vehicle pulled over she quickly turned to watch the it park, she rushed to the vehicle before her parents could come out.
âGrace what are you doing here? Are you not supposed to be at school?â Diana asked as she got off the car.
âMom, I missed youâ Grace hugged her mother instead and smiled in her face.
âI knew calling you to seek your permission would get me a no answer, so I decided to come see dad myself. I donât like the way he sounded yesterday. By the way where is he?â she asked looking inside the car.
âHm.â Diana murmured sadly avoiding to look at her daughter who looked worried.
âWhat is going on mother? Where is dad?â Grace held her mother`s hand
âAm just coming from the hospital he was just admitted again. He insisted I donât call you immediately so that you are not disturbed at school. Your father is not so well Grace am sorryâ Diana shed a tear as she explained the predicament to her daughter.
âMy God, I felt it in my heart yesterday, dad sounded so weak even though he was insisting he was okey. Am going to see him right away mom.â She looked at her mother.
âI need to wash up. I have not rested since morning and am so tired Grace. Let me just freshen up and eat something then I will take you thereâ she told her
âNo mom, you rest I will let one of the workers take me to the hospital. Donât worry yourself do what you got to doâ Grace responded and before her mother could say a thing went inside to get her fathers car keys and ran towards the workers` quarters to get one of the workers who drove the farm trucks to take her to the hospital.
Upon arrival she rushed to the ward and found her father just waking up from his sleep and struggling to grab a bottle of water.
âHere, let me help you dadâ she rushed to the cup and Mr. Mwape looked up at her surprised.
âGrace, what happened to you? When did you come?â he asked one question after the other.
âCalm down dad. I arrived an hour ago. Came to see you, tell me how you are feeling right nowâ she asked him sitting next to his bed and leaning her hands on him.
âbeen feeling very weak of late my dear, donât worry yourself though, am not that badâ he chuckled trying to smile at his daughter but his weak smile sold him out Grace could see he was in pain.
âyou have done well to come Grace, somehow I wished to see you like this, alone without your mother around cause I know she wouldnât approve of what am about to tell you even though it is the right thing to doâ he started trying to sit up, Graced helped him up putting the pillows on his back to support him.
âWhat is it dad?â she asked sitting back on the chair.
âAm going to tell you a story that happened a long time ago. I want you to understand something very important.
âOkey am listening father, go onâŠâ she encouraged him and he leaned back comfortably as he told his story.
âA long time ago, there was a girl from Chilanga. She was a good child and very hard working. Something happened along the way and the girl got pregnant. Well, according her, she had fallen in love with this young man and got pregnant. I donât want to tell you the rest of the story because I really donât know it all, the only thing am sure of is that, this girl got pregnant and concealed it from everyone including the people she was staying with.â He paused looking at Grace who was listening attentively without moving an inch.
âWhat Happened to her?â Grace asked impatiently.
âwell, this girl gave birth alone in the bushes and gave away her baby to a family that according to her, was the best to raise her baby and she was right, this family loved the baby and raised her as their own, till one day she went back and pleaded to get her child back saying her boyfriend was back from where he had gone to study and they wanted the child backâ Kent coughed stopping for a moment.
âAre you okey?â Grace stood to help him handing him some water.
âYeah am okey just my throat feels dry.
âBut dad that is not fair, how can someone just damp their baby like that no matter what the person was going through? Why didnât she just keep the child to herself and face the consequences of having an early pregnancy?â Grace spoke up as her father rested his head on the pillow.
âTo make the matters worse my child, she went back to claim the same child she had thrown away. No that is just insaneâ she added shaking her head.
âWait a minuteâ she looked at her father seeing him looking at her serious without a word.
âWhat is this story supposed to mean dad? Am I that child?â she felt her heart race seeing her father look down
âGrace listen to me, whatever I will tell you today should never at any point make you feel I and your mother never loved you, you are our baby girl and we have loved you since the first day you came into our livesâ Kent sighed sadly
âWhat? So itâs true? Am the child in your story, did mom throw me away when I was a baby? Please tell me she didnât dad, tell me you guys are not the once who went to get me back after throwing me away to another family, please tell me the truth now this is making my head go crazyâ Grace stood up shaking and crying as her father tried to calm her down.
âitâs not like that Grace, itsâŠâ he almost finished his clarification and Mrs. Mwape walked in her face wet with tears as she realized her husband had told the truth to Grace.
âno my child, we are the family that took you in, we could not let you go my baby, you belonged to us and you should know that I for one would do anything to make sure you are okey and happyâ Diane sobbed as she spoke making Grace stand up and look at both her parents shocked her hands and lips were shaking as she could not believe she was raised by the people who never gave birth to her.
âI, I , I canât believe this, you mean to tell me am not your biological daughter? And all these years you hid that truth from me?â she looked at her parents.
âAm sorry Grace, I know this is hard for you to take in but I wanted you to know the entire truth before itâs too late. Please forgive me for hiding the truth Grace, there is no day that passed without me feeling love for you my child, to us you are our daughter despite the fact that we never gave birth to youâ Kent spoke gently
âI only want to know one truth dad, how you got me back. Did my parents throw me away again or what?â Grace sniffed in still standing as her mother shook her head at her father to stop him from telling the rest of the story.
âThat is enough Grace, your farther needs rest now, and this can be talked over some other timeâ Diana cut in.
âNo, my dear wife, let me finish the story and rest easy⊠I , Iâ he stammered as he felt his heart race faster than before.
âCalm down honey, please look at how you are stressing yourself upâ Diana held her husband and the next moment he was panting for his breath she screamed out for Grace to call the doctor.
âGo get the doctor Grace, your father is not wellâ she cried out and without hesitation Grace run out as fast as she could.
âTell her the whole truth my wife, it is the right thing to do pleaseâ Mr. Mwape whispered his last words and the moment the doctor got in he pulled himself last and was gone.
âHoney, wake up pleaseâ Diana cried out as the doctor came closer taking his heart beat and looked at her shaking his head.
âAm sorry mam, he is goneâ he breathed out sadly Diana went down her feet wailing in tears. Grace who was standing by the door seeing everything was shattered seeing her father being covered and declared dead in her eyes. The hot tears coming out of her eyes touched her skin and she felt herself go down the floor powerless.
âAm sorry young lady, stay strongâ the doctor whispered to her and left the room leaving the mother and daughter in tears and sorrow. It was the sad moment for the family and the lost was so much. Grace felt like it was all a dream and she would wake up to see her father and that the story he just told her was not true either. There is no way she was born from someone else, she thought to herself. Since the first memory of her life, she could not remember any other mother and father but them.
She had no idea what Diana had to do to get her back and make her know only them as her parents. As she cried, she looked at her devastated mother and even though she wanted to ask more about her past, she knew what they both where going through was the most hurting moment.
Grace walked to her mother and the two hugged each other crying out as the nurses came in to take the body away to the mortuary.
Story continuesâŠ
Choose Episodes Below;
Note: episodes already read are highlighted in red!
Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 Episode 4 Episode 5 Episode 6 Episode 7 Episode 8 Episode 9 Episode 10 Episode 11 Episode 12 Episode 13 Episode 14 Episode 15 Episode 16 Episode 17 Episode 18 Episode 19 Episode 20 Episode 21 Episode 22 Episode 23 Episode 24 Episode 25 Episode 26 Episode 27 Episode 28 Episode 29 Episode 30 Episode 31 Episode 32 Episode 33 Episode 34 Episode 35 Episode 36 Episode 37 Episode 38 Episode 39 Episode 40 Episode 41 Episode 42 Episode 43 Episode 44 Episode 45 Episode 46 Episode 47 Episode 48 Episode 49 Episode 50
Leave a Reply