House of Thorns – Episode 52

HOUSE OF THORNS

Episode 52

Tales by Eve

 

A few days later, Vivian was sitting with her mother and Pascal, discussing the plans for their travels. Daisy and Samantha were playing with their toys as usual, while the adults were making major decisions about their future.

Pascal has been besides himself with joy since Vivian woke up in the hospital. He kept wondering how his life would have been if he had had to experience disaster a second time.

She told them about how she saw herself walking a lonely and dark path, with no one to help. The further she walked, the darker and eerier it got, but somehow, at some point, she started hearing voices, loud and mocking voices.

They were people who scorned her.non.stop for throwing away the gold she had in her hands and picking up the garbage she had swallowed, making her so sick and unwell in the stomach. Her stomach was hurting, and she could see them pointing at her in sheer.mockery.

Then she saw Jeremy, taunting and sneering at her. Showing her a replay of how she had abandoned everything that was working for her and walked sheepishly into aby.ss. Jeremy was pulling her with him into greater darkness, and seeing how she had lost everything, seeing how everything that should have mattered to her were already out of her reach, she followed him into the darkness without resistance.

After a while, she could hear Leonard and Pascal calling her to cross the rift, urging her to come be with them. She turned around to look at them, but she didn’t see a reason to come back to them. The only thing she had gained from her misery these past year, her daughter, was gone!

She told her mum and Pascal how, even though she really wished she could come back to stand besides Pascal, she didn’t see the strength to cross over to where they stood because she had somehow drifted so far away from them.

Then all of a sudden, her daughter whom she hadn’t been seen since she got into the dark alley, started yelping all of a sudden. She was looking around for her but couldn’t see her, but her daughter’s tiny hands out of nowhere, had started making frantic efforts to touch her hands.

She had struggled to make her hand touch her daughter’s, and after a little trial, their hands met, and she found her feet moving her closer to where Leonard and Pascal were waiting to carry her away from Jeremy who was still battling to pull her back. And the rest was history.

Right there in the hospital, before Vivian was finally discharged to go home, Pascal had asked her to be his wife. He didn’t want to wait a second later.

“We have moved through so many paths, seen many troubles and experienced so much pains before our paths crossed each other’s. We have both made mistakes, the kinds that almost made us impossible, but Vivian, I’m certain the reason we were allowed to stay on till now is to avail me the chance to tell you that I love you. And if you let me my dear, I’ll spend the rest of my days loving you, and eternity being the father Daisy never had. Please marry me Viviann. Say yes and make my heart come alive again!” he had asked on bent knees

And even though Vivian had been wallowing in self pity, even though she had been looking at herself as not deserving of a man as cool as Pascal, she had no choice but to say yes to Pascal.

She couldn’t have had the heart to process a ‘no’, neither could her mouth have been able to pronounce it. No! Not with her mother already cupping her mouth with her hands and tears of joy streaming down her face!

Of course, not when the nurses all stood gushing and cheering. A’no’ would certainly not come out of her mouth when Pascal had got Leonard and Valerie behind him, cheering and urging her to say yes.

They all made her feel so important, so wanted and most importantly, totally forgiven. She gave a sound yes, and then she could sw.ear the entire town heard the screams of jubilation that erupted in the hospital ward.

So that morning, having agreed with Pascal to return to his base with the two children, they were discussing the plans with her mother.

“That’s a good idea my darling. That way, the two children will grow together as siblings, neither having to be told about who had a de.spicable father before and who had a mother too angelic to remain on earth for long. They’ll grow knowing you two as their parents, and that will be all that should matter” she agreed with them haplily.

“Yes mummy, I do not want Vivian hanging around anywhere that can either give her memories of the cruelest times of her life, or Daisy having to run into a careless or garrulous being that may damp her positive energy with stories about Jeremy” Pascal told Mrs Bradford.

“I afree with you. But I still think Samantha deserves to know about her mother’s lineage. She needs to know she is privileged to have two loving mothers, one the biological, who loved her so much and is watching her from above, and the second one, who loves her as much, and is here on.earth, collaborating with the one in heaven, to care for her. I’m sure her maternal grandmother would be deserving to see her as well” Mrs Bradford opined.

“That’s true mum, but for the sake of our family, for the peace of our immediate family, I’ve spoken to her grandmother, and she absolutely understands why I don’t wish to let Samantha know a thing about her biological mother, until she’s of age. She understands that I’m tryjng to rid my family of the complexities that may arise from placing demarcations in our home” Pascal explained.

The old.woman was so happy that eventually, her daughter.ended up in the right hand. Not everyone would get as lucky as Vivian had gotten, after goofing so bãdly, so she praised God non.stop for having mercy on what He’ll have mercy on.

They talked some more about the plans to have them traditionally married before they left the country. The old woman had already contacted her husband’s family, to inform that of the new development. She even went as far as calling the uncle’s that were against allowing Vivian step a foot into the family compound again, after the shame she brought them. She needed to calm all the frayed nerves before the big day.

Pascal had to fully open up to the mother and daughter about the nature of his job, and how he was able to rid them of Jeremy. And since he recorded a great success in the 5 years under cover OP that brought him to Nigeria, the agency was taking him off the field, so he could return to base, and assume his new position as one of the tactical teams, incharge of planning and analysis of OPs.

That way, he was off the risky jobs, and now free to live his family life without disruptive assignments. But before they leave, they had a wedding to attend, so he had to get fully prepared to make Vivian dazzle and sizzle again. He needed to make people have a good memory of her before she left the country.

Vivian got dressed in the beautiful silver coloured gown he’d got her, and she lay on the bed too shy to look up as he helped her get on the matching sandals he had helped her choose for the wedding.

Pascal was all shades of joy as he held her leg, teasing her non stop about how he wished it was their wedding night already, and he was taking off the shoes in their honeymoon location, and not helping her get on it.

“Stop already! You’re making me shy” Vivian said, covering her eyes with the glasses he dropped on the bed. “Oh yeah, I’ll just stop now, and reserve my plans and thoughts till then. It’s just a few days time after all” he told her, leering sed.uctively.

To be continued