Chapter 71: Chapter 71

Chapter 71.

He picks the gadget and sets it on the speaker. ‘’We need to talk, Harry. Where are you?’’ a voice comes through and it seems urgent.

‘’I am very busy, Henry. Let’s do this tomorrow or any other time.’’

‘’No! It is very important and you need to come right now!’’ Henry says and it seems really urgent that he speaks to his brother.

‘’Where are you?’’

‘’I am at home and whatever I want to tell you cannot wait.’’

‘’Then tell me. Aren’t we talking right now? I cannot leave whatever I am doing to come to you. Don’t you get it?’’

‘’No! And just so you know, I cannot speak about important matters over the phone! You got to come here now!’’

‘’Are you commanding me? I said I am busy and we can only do this tomorrow. If you don’t wanna hear me, screw yourself!’’

‘’Really Harry?’’

‘’Yeah, really, Henry.’’

‘’You ...’’ he cuts him off before he says what he was about to say.

The phone rings again and he picks it without checking who exactly is on the line.

‘’I have told you that I am not gonna come over right now, Henry. Get someone else to talk to because I am very busy.’’ He is about to hang up when a different voice comes through.

‘’I have good and bad news for you, Harry. Which one do I tell you first?’’ Harry’s eyes widen when a dissimilar voice speaks. ‘’Hi Harry, I hope I didn’t call at a bad time.’’

‘’Ooh hi, Sorry, Erick. My brother is getting on my nerves but hey, you tell me. What’s the news? You can start with the good one.’’ He says meekly.

‘’I knew you would say that.’’

‘’You did?’’

‘’Yeah, anyway, the good news is, the judge has granted you the divorce,’’ I swear I have never felt happy in a long time. I have never felt like something has finally fallen on my side. ‘’He said that Diana is mentally ill and unfit to be a wife because of her violence. He also said that she is dangerous to the society hence should be locked up in an asylum.’’ Harrison literally sighs.

‘’That’s good news for sure. Mh! The bad news?’’

‘’We are talking about the late Diana. She is dead.’’ Erick, Harry’s lawyer says almost sadly.

‘’Really? How did you know?’’

‘’It is all over the news. I swear you must be smitten if you haven’t been to the internet already.’’ He sighs audibly. ‘’All the TV stations are talking about her death. Some are even quoting it as suicide because of a failed marriage. I have seen a photo of Clara and you and that specific media house was blaming you for cheating in the marriage hence causing her to die of stress.’’

‘’That’s gross.’’

‘’Tell me about it. Anyway, I have gotten a court order to stop the media house from maligning your name and I will sue them accordingly.’’

‘’Thanks, man. Anyway, what’s bad about the news?’’ he asks casually like he couldn’t care less if she died. That’s just not good at all.

Personally, I wouldn’t want to wish anyone death, not even the person who took away the love of my life forcefully. I say not even Diana or whatever she called her horny self. I walk towards the kitchen. I hope I get something to cook, I want to make some tea for him.

May she rest in eternal peace.

‘’Well, it is not good for anyone to die, Harry. You shouldn’t be inhuman enough to celebrate one’s death.’’ Luckily enough, Harry follows me and I can keep tabs on the ongoing conversation.

‘’I am not celebrating. I am just saying that either way, this woman has done enough harm. Killed several people and trust me, I was gonna die in her hands but I got lucky.’’

‘’Has it occurred to you that Diana was just a victim of circumstance? Don’t you see your mum and her mum made her do those things?’’

‘’I know, but did they also ask her to kill those men? Did they ask her to shoot me in the process? We should speak up to avoid some of these messes. If only Diana had told me what was going on, we would have helped her. We should have joined forces together and fought against those two related devils. She wouldn’t be dead.’’

‘’Man! I feel bad for that girl. She got herself into a shitty mess and I hope no one ever finds themselves into such a mess. Ever!’’

‘’That’s what I am talking about. I suffered so much into the hands of that girl. I missed my baby’s birth and I feel so bad that everyone was there for my sweet Clara, but me. I didn’t hold the baby on the first day and that makes me a bad dad. All thanks to her.’’ He pulls me to him when he says that and our lips lock automatically. He pulls back so soon and I suddenly feel like biting him on his cheeks for leaving me yearning for more.

‘’You are a free man, Harry. Do whatever you wanna do with your life, okay?’’ he nods. ‘’Something that you could have done if your impetuous and spontaneous mother didn’t force you into this mess. See you soon man.’’

‘’Bye, Erick I was really busy here. I’ll see you soon.’’ I don’t know if the phone falls accidentally or if he drops it intentionally.

I am aware of him hugging me painfully and his warm breath on my unembellished neck. He opens his lips a little bit and sucks my neck briefly. I feel butterflies doing their thing inside my stomach and I warn them internally to relax.

His palms land on both sides of my cheeks, he turns my head until I am facing him directly. His brown eyes are verbatim Lotharios. They hypnotize automatically.

‘’I want you to marry me.’’ He says and I shake my head, he is a joker. He hasn’t healed from the other marriage but is already asking me to marry him.

‘’What did you say, Harrison?’’

‘’You heard me, beautiful. I have heard a complicated life. My mum, a control freak in my life. My drug addict self. Diana and her evil mum. Then you showed up, baby. At the right time, God’s time. You came to save my life, gave me a whole new turn of events making sure that I will be the best that I can. I am proud of every single thing that you have given me. I cannot forget to thank you for giving me a little angel. The most adorable thing on earth. I learned to deal with people the moment I met you. I love you, beautiful.’’

‘’That doesn’t answer my question.’’

‘’I want you to marry me. I don’t deserve you because of whatever I have done in the past. If you say no, I will understand. I will respect your decision because you call the shots. And you make The Final Decision. It all depends on you.’’

What am I supposed to say?

‘’Simple, I don’t wanna marry you. Yes, I love you and I would be happy if I could spend the rest of my life with you. No! Yes! The decision lies with you.’’

He is on his knees looking up at me. It is obvious that he wasn’t prepared because he doesn’t have a ring or something.

‘’I have wanted to do this ever since I first saw you at the bus station. I swear, to me you were never a stranger at any point. When I set my eyes on you, I knew what I wanted and this, Clarita is what I really wanted. To marry you and have a family with you. I never bothered about you being a village girl I loved you, I still do with every grit of my being.’’

I want to tell Harry to shut up. I want to feel guilty at this point but my conscience is telling me to say yes. My heart is happy too and I think I wanna please my heart.

What is bigger? Or rather what could be worse?

I already have a baby, a sweet chubby little Ian is already here sired by Harrison and I. I cannot prevent this at all. Besides, he just asked me to decide but guess what? I already decided about this. I made my final decision already. No matter what we share, Harrison Ian and I will be a family soon.

‘’I …’’

It’s fine, baby. I will give you all the time that you may need. I will let you think and I will wait. I want you to remember one thing though.’’ I eye him suspiciously when he says that.

‘’What?’’ I ask casually

‘’That I will never start the journey without you. I will wait until you are ready before both of us start the journey unruffled. We are destined to go together. In unison.’’ He says patiently. ‘’I have sat, thought, called myself for a meeting and guess what?’’

‘’What?’’ I raise an eyebrow.

‘’it is you. I have no single doubt in my heart. You are the one that I love. And I will love you forever.’’

I hold his hand and help him up.

‘’I love you too, Harrison. I will never tire loving you. I will always love you and that’s the road I am takin. As you have said, we will travel this journey together up to the end. I am ready … and … I … I … am gonna marry you, love.’’

He holds me and twirls me round in the process I hold him tight because I don’t want him to slip letting me go.

When he finally sets me down. He pulls me closer to him. Lifts me effortlessly and I wunderkind at how strong my beloved Harrison is.

‘’You are the best woman that has ever been in my life.’’ He starts the moment I am lying on his chest. It is warm and comfortable. Very accommodative. I have missed it so much. I hope to rest here for the rest of my life.

‘’And I have never met a man before, well, I have never had boyfriends or lovers apart from you but trust me you are the best man that has ever happened to me. I wish to be beside you until death does us part.’’

‘’Your wish is my command, beautiful. I love you.’’

*****

I don’t know for how long I have been sleeping but I am woken up with a cold breeze. I swear I will clout Harrison. He knows how much I don’t like ACs but he still goes ahead and put it on.

I feel my stomach rumbling and that’s when it hits my mind that I haven’t had any decent food to eat in the past hours. To be honest, I don’t remember having eaten anything and what at the time I did that.

I sit up lazily. I feel like going to the bathroom but then I remember that I don’t have anything to change into. I am hungry and my Harrison isn’t here. I turn slightly and I don’t believe my eyes. There is a note saying;

Beautiful, Please go ahead and have a shower.

How did he know that I wanted to shower? I stand on my feet and strip my clads off. I walk towards the direction of the bathroom. I know it because the last time we were here he showed me the bathroom.

There are slippers at the door. Super new. I gaffe my tiny feet in them and I smile when I feel like they are too huge for my feet. I walk in anyway and the bathtub is set.

I deep myself into the warm soapy water and whiz at how therapeutic and tonic the water is. I don’t even know what time it is. A few weeks or days ago. I was very single and Alvin was busy kissing me as I kissed him back, right now I am about to be Harrison’s wife because I just said yes to him.

I am soon becoming a wife.

Harry and I will end up together soon.

Thirty minutes later, I am done bathing and when I walk back to the bedroom, a nice royal blue skater dress has been laid on the bed nicely. White matching lingerie also placed beside the dress.

I shy but I see a note beside them.

To the queen of my life, wear the dress. I hope I got the size right. Thank you for making The Final Decision. And for not leaving me out of it.

Thank you for sticking around too long even though it almost seemed impossible for the two of us to do something.

I love you.

I love you too Harrison. I say mentally

I smile brightly. My Harry is happy. That makes me happy too.

Just as I am stepping out of the bedroom in the oversized slippers. I see nice sandals not so high heeled. He got my size and everything is fitting nicely.

I walk back to the dressing mirror and let my hair fall to my shoulder carelessly. Harrison loves them that way.

Harry is on his knee with the most beautiful ring I have ever seen. It has a glistering diamond mounting and it looks just perfect for me.

‘’I love you, Clarita. Please give me a chance to put a ring into your finger and to be able to prove my love for you forever and ever.’’

I don’t move, I just let out my left fingers and he decides to go the traditional way.

Traditionally, women wore engagement rings on the third finger of their left hand next to the pinky because in a world before medical science, people believed that there was a vein that traveled right to the heart from that finger. An engagement ring worn on this finger is therefore symbolic of romantic love.

I smile when he stands on his feet and smiles before he holds me in his arms. I rest my head on his chest listening to our heartbeats do their things in unison.

I don’t know where everyone comes from.

By everyone I mean Aliana and Alvin are here, Anita and Henry, Emmy, Luke, and his beloved Tabby. Janet is here too.

‘’Thank you, baby. I love you.’’

‘’I love you too,’’ I say as tears fill my eyes.

I never knew in my wildest dream that I would have gotten to this day. I am glad that it has finally happened.

Someone comes around with a tray holding wine glasses and everyone picks a glass.

‘’Cheers to the most beautiful couple on earth. Congrats uncle.’’ Alvin shouts from somewhere and everyone bursts out a hearty laughter.

‘’Cheers.’’ Everyone says loudly at the same time that a loud bang is heard outside.

I tense beside Harrison but he holds me steadily and reassuringly.