Chapter 11

 

Chapter 11

 

The time for the birth of my first child was looming. Laura was getting so frantic and distressed that her gynaecologist had given her prescription, to calm her down. I had just over four years left at medical school and it was going so well, I greatly looked forward to everyday. The great thing about studying to be a doctor is that every new day presents me with a new challenge.

     After a very long time of thinking things over, I decided that after the baby was born, I would propose to Laura. I reached this decision because, now we were starting a family, it was probably a good idea to get married. I believed that it would be better for the baby if it grew up in a stable environment and getting married would certainly improve the family environment. But also I had reached this decision because I loved her more than anything in this world and marriage would announce to the world officially that I loved her with every beat of my heart.

     Three days before Laura went into labour, I told my Mother about my intentions and she was overwhelmed and encouraging about the whole thing. I wanted my Mother’s blessing and was very happy to receive it.

     Then the long, tiring but amazing day fell upon us. It was a Tuesday morning, I was driving to med school when my mobile rang. I pulled over and answered it, it was my Mother. She said that herself and Laura were on the way to the hospital. I could hear Laura screeching in the background, my Mother was calm and was trying to keep Laura in a reasonable state as well as trying to talk to me. I said I would be there as soon as I could, then I hung up. I turned the car around and made the journey to reach Laura’s side.

     Nine hours later, after I had received that call, Laura gave birth to a girl. I felt an uncontrollable rush of joy. I could not get my head around the fact that I was now a parent. My Mother had called my superior at med school and explained that my girlfriend was giving birth and I was excused for not coming in. After the birth, my Mother left us two to be alone. I was sitting in the comfy armchair next to Laura’s bed. My daughter in the next room being tested to make sure she was healthy. Laura was lying there, exhausted, sweat shining brightly on her forehead.

“We still haven’t named her.” Laura said croakily.

“What?” I asked, I was sitting there with my thoughts when she spoke so I genuinely didn’t catch what she said.

“I said, we haven’t named our daughter yet.” She said, slightly impatiently which was understandable after the experience she had just went through. I thought about a perfect name for my daughter.

“How about ‘Emma’?” I suggested. Laura gave a faint smile.

“Yeah, yeah that’s a nice name.” She said. And that was that. My daughter, Emma, had come into the world.

     The few months were tough, I had to get used to getting up in the middle of the night to feed Emma and change her nappy. Me and Laura often took it in turns and my Mother contributed much of the work put into it. Obviously, she had been through this before and helped me and Laura out when we were struggling.

     Nikki came round frequently and I had asked her to be the godmother, she had been delighted and had not hesitated when she accepted my proposal.

     Med school was booming and my colleagues had said that I would make a brilliant doctor, I was so happy that people where noticing all the hard work I had been doing to get my medical diploma. It is always nice to be appreciated.

     Laura had finished her paramedic training and she was enjoying her job very much. Her job was similar to mine, each day we were presented with a new challenge and we both liked a challenge.

     I took Laura out to dinner on a special Friday evening. My Mother stayed home and looked after Emma. This particular restaurant was very expensive and we were seated on a balcony with a view of the Houses of Parliament. When we finished dinner and we were sipping champagne, I slid a small box across the table. I opened it in front of Laura and when I did, the box revealed a small diamond ring sitting on the floor of the velvet box. I took her hand in mine and caressed it.

“Laura. Will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?” I asked quietly. She sat there for a moment, a very shocked look on my face. We had drew the attention of the people sitting on the tables around us. Laura still remained silent, I was starting to get worried that she would reject me. Tears now fell from her eyes.

“Yes! Yes, of course I will!” She screamed and darted forward to hug and kiss me across the table, knocking the empty champagne bottle off the table, but we ignored it. The place broke out in applause, then I left some money on the table and we both left, hand-in-hand.

     We set a date. After I finished getting my medical diploma, we would get married. We would have to wait about four years but I couldn’t really get married while I was studying for the diploma.

     A terrible day fell upon the family. My Mother, myself and Laura were sitting at the dinner table, eating pork and drinking red wine.

“I’ve got some bad news.” My Mother said shakily. I looked up at her.

“How bad?” I asked, slightly worried. Laura remained silent.

“Very bad.” My Mother replied, starting to gently cry. Laura took my hand in a comforting fashion. I was seriously concerned now, I couldn’t take the tension.

“Well, come on. Tell me!” I said, slightly harshly but I couldn’t help it, not with the terrible worry.

“I went to see the doctor yesterday..” She began, I started to cry silently, deep down, I knew what she was going to say.

“..and he gave me some devastating news.” She continued, slowly, stopping occasionally to wipe a tear from her face. Then she did not speak for some moments, these moments seemed long and painful.

“Look, please tell me. I can’t take it anymore.” I begged.

“I’ve got cancer, Nick.” She said, through a wave of tears. I felt devastated, like my soul had crawled into a ball and quietly died inside me. I felt Laura trembling, I was unable to look at her at the moment. I didn’t believe what I had heard. It was utter nonsense. She was lying, the doctor had made a mistake!

     It took me several weeks to come to terms with that life altering, devastating news. I tried my very best to find if there was a way to help my Mother’s condition. Because I was training to be a doctor, my Mother’s GP had let me look at her medical prognosis. My Mother was suffering from liver cancer and it was predicted that she had been suffering from it for about two years. It was so advanced that, in the end, I knew there was no hope. Her GP said that she had about three to six months to go before she would die. My Mother wanted to see me get married before she died, that was her dying wish. And that was what we did, we organised the wedding swiftly. Nikki was the first person to be put on the guest list, I hadn’t really seen her for quite awhile. She phoned me every now and again but that was the closest thing I had got to seeing her.

     We organised the wedding for the following month, we did not want to risk what little time my Mother had left. So, I took the risk of fitting the wedding in between my medical diploma. She paid for three quarters of the wedding and me and Laura paid for the other quarter. Everything was arranged very quickly, the guest list, the photographer, the church, the clothes and the cake. The three of us decided to wait until my Mother had passed to go on a honeymoon, so we all could spend as much time together as possible. When a conversation came up about how much time Mum had got left, I felt very awkward and upset. I often struggled to hold my emotions in. I believe that my Mother was not too keen on discussing such matters either, she did not want to leave her family behind yet, especially since her grandchild had just been born three months ago.

     My Mother started to deteriorate about a week before the wedding. Her skin was now constantly ghostly white, her eyes were always bloodshot and her face was slightly sunken and melancholy. Her GP had been prescribing some very strong medication to keep the pain at bay but that did not stop her from physically fading.

     The wedding day fell upon us. Luckily, the day was rather nice. The sun was shining the birds were chirping away happily and if there was a cloud in the sky, I didn’t see it.

     We booked a church that was about half an hour away from my home. My Mum had hired a car for me and Laura and she was going in Nikki’s car (a dark blue, 1987 Ford). We had to be at the church for 3pm, I checked my watch nervously as Nikki was fixing my collar. I had asked Steve to be my best man, but, rest assured, if Nikki was a man I would have most definitely asked her.

      Laura looked very beautiful and we had a fantastic time at the wedding, surrounded by all the people I love. I tried not to think about my Mum’s condition. She had not told any other family members that she was dying, so I blocked it out of my head, just for the time being. I noticed that Nikki often disappeared to the ‘toilet’ a few times and when she came back she seemed a little…off.

      About a week before my Mother finally passed, I had discovered that Nikki was a drug addict. Her crack head boyfriend, ‘Josh’ (whether it was his real name or not, I never found out) was a dealer and had dragged Nikki into the situation. If the police caught him in possession, he called Nikki to come and bail him out. I had received this information through Laura who had seen Nikki and Josh together a few times. The last time she saw them, was in a nightclub when she was out with a few friends. Laura had walked into the toilet and saw Nikki sniffing cocaine at the sink, luckily Nikki did not see her because Laura made a sharp exit and came straight to me with this information. I was so infuriated that I jumped in my car and sped away to Nikki’s place. Once I got there, I slammed on the breaks causing them to screech. I leapt out of my car and hammered on Nikki’s door so hard my fist could have went through it. Josh answered the door, which was a big mistake. As soon as I saw his face, I punched him right in the nose. He fell backwards. I stormed in a banged the door shut behind me.

“Get up, you junkie s**t.” I shouted at him. Nikki came running out from the kitchen.

“What the hell are you doing?!” She squealed. I ignored her, then I booted Josh in the stomach multiple times. I just could not stop beating him but eventually Nikki (with difficulty) pulled me off of him. She slapped me.

“What the hell is wrong with you?!” She screamed. I was astonished. I was trying to protect her from Josh.

“What? This waste of space is got you hooked on coke. He is not worth your trouble.” I replied, still shocked. Her face was blank, she had been crying but now she showed no emotion.

“Get out.” She said coldly.

“What?” I asked.

“I said, get out!” She replied. I shook my head in disbelief and turned to leave. Josh was still recovering from the beating. I stopped in my tracks and spat on him, then walked out.