The bridegroom episode 29 & 30

EPISODE 29 – THE BRIDEGLOOM

Ambrose went back to Lagos and informed Madam Nkechi what had happened to Chioma. She insisted on going with him to Abuja to stay with her.
All his efforts to st©p her was ab-ortive, so they both c@m£ back to the hospital.
When Madam Nkechi saw her daughter, she cried her heart out but the doctors told her she would be s£nt out of the ward if she continued to cry.
She st©pped the noise, but couldn’t st©p the tears….

MR AMBROSE: mama what are you trying to do?

MADAM NKECHI: I want to give her a str!p wash?

MR AMBROSE: don’t worry mama, I’ll do that but only after the doctors have have done their morning routine with her.

MADAM NKECHI: hmmmm! My strong girl is now being washed like a kid???
God!!!! The God of widows plea-se come to my aid. Resto-re my daughter. I don’t want any other result??

MR AMBROSE: it’s okay mama, she’ll be fine.

JUDITH: Good morning, mama

MADAM NKECHI: good morning o! I can’t thank you enough for all you did and still doing for my dauhter. May God bless you ??

JUDITH: the only blessing I nee-d from God is to see my friend back on her feet. I don’t want anything else?

MADAM NKECHI: he has no option o! Hmmmm. Chioma you looked forward to this child, now he is here and you can’t even hold him!???

JUDITH: mama, I’ve come to pick you up let’s go to my house so you freshen up, eat and get some sleep then we come back

MADAM NKECHI: hehehe! Me eat??? Joke! I have no appetite my dear. With my little girl like this? No, nne. Thank you. I will be here looking into her face until God does something.?

MR AMBROSE: Mama, plea-se go with her. The doctors will be here soon and they will s£nd all of us out anyways, So they can do whatever they nee-d to do with her and it takes about thirty minutes daily.

DOCTOR: (walks in) good morning, everyone.

MR AMBROSE: good morning, doctor

DOCTOR: ummm! Lots of sad and teary faces here! Not sure I’ve met you ?(referring to Madam Nkechi)

MR AMBROSE: she is my mother in law. She c@m£ with me on Saturday

MADAM NKECHI: (kneels in front of the doctor and held his legs) plea-se my son, save my daughter. Her father died when she was only five and since then, she has been my only friend, daughter and the ess£nce of my existence.
We went throu-gh a lot together.
She hawked with Me, cried with me when her uncles persecuted us so much. She lived on the streets of Lagos with me for six months before we could pay for a place.
I managed to s£nd her abroad to study because her father always said he would s£nd her abroad because she was very brilliant. She c@m£ back with a first clas-s and has since then brou-ght me nothing but Joy and fulfilment.
She gave me two beautiful grand daughters and now a grand son.
Tell me what life would be without her???
plea-se my son, don’t let it happen???
Don’t let my world crumble?

DOCTOR: phewwwwww! This is the p@rt of this job I hate! Mama, I wish I can make you any promises than to as-sure you that I and my colleagues will do everything we can to help her. But the decision on what the outcome would be, lies in the hands of fate.

Erm, Mr Ambrose, the nurses will come around soon and get her re-ady for the surgery. Unfortunately, the fluids have not drained from the report I re-ad from the doctors who worked last night. A br@in surgery has become mandatory.
Just to remind you that this is a six hour surgery. So you may want to go home and get some rest and come back.
There’s no nee-d hanging around. The baby has been washed and fed. But we will bring him to his mum and place him on her che-st for at least 10 minutes before we take her to the operating theatre. This we do daily so they can be bonding. Very ess£ntial.
Yeah! So, the nurses will be here soon!

MR AMBROSE: doctor, when are you going to give me the letter she wrote then?

DOCTOR: ermmm, the thing is This, she left an instruction on what must happen before we give you the letter. She also left one for her mum and Judith.
There are two conditions to that. She said if any of those conditions are met, then we can hand you the letters. So far, none of those has happened. Sorry I didn’t re-ad that before now. A colleague of mine who locked it away that day we couldn’t find It, told me of the conditions.

MR AMBROSE: what are the conditions?

DOCTOR: I’m afraid, I can’t tell you that. I nee-d to go now. plea-se do whatever you have to do quic-kly. The nurses will be here Soon ?‍️

MR AMBROSE: mama, we nee-d to leave now. Both of you can go, I’ll hang around.

JUDITH: let’s say a quic-k prayer?

You are the Lord, the God
Of all flesh and there is
Nothing too ha-rd for you
I know you are able to
Do exceeding, abundantly
Above all we can think
Or imagine
Lord I pres£nt my friend
Before you. I ask for nothing
But your grace to pu-ll throu-gh
You have answered me in the
Past. Come and do your
Miracle once again
Use the doctors, Lord!
Hold their hands as they
Operate on her
Chioma, I immerse
You in the precious blood
Of Jesus! I declare you
Shall not die but live
To declare the goodness
Of God. We shall see you
Again soon. We shall speak
With you.
We nullify every plans of the
Enemy we bring into subjection
Anything that raises its head above
The knowledge of God!
Jesus! Be glorified in her life
Jesus! Take over from this moment!
In Jesus name I pray!

MR AMBROSE/MADAM NKECHI: Amen!

MADAM NKECHI: Amen!!!!???
(tou-ching her face) my beautiful, you must come out alive for mama, alright? You remember all out plans, right? We will go on our holiday in December. Don’t make mummy Sad, o nwam? Remember, mummy will be left alone in this whole wi-de world if anything happens to you.
Kick death on the bu-tt and come back to mama. Same way you used to beat up other kids when you were a kid. Remember your kids eh? Tatiana will ask questions and I can’t answer them. You must….

NURSES: hello! Sorry we nee-d to get her re-ady for surgery

MR AMBROSE: (bends over her and k!$$£d her) I love you, baby. You got This, yeah. I’ll be outside the theatre waiting to have you back. I love you.?

JUDITH: (k!sses her forehead) Chy, don’t keep me waiting for too long. Love you.?

MADAM NKECHI: (hvgs her) ????? take me in there with her!!!????

NURSES: sorry, ma’am but you all have to leave now.

(Ambrose held her by her arm and they all Walked to the car park)

MR AMBROSE: drive carefully, Judith and do get some rest yourself

JUDITH: plea-se come with us. You can come back after you’ve had coffee

MR AMBROSE: nah! I’ll be alright?

JUDITH: and you nee-d to be strong. The more mama sees you like This, the more she cries!

MR AMBROSE: I’m strong..??
Bye!?‍️

EPISODE 30 – THE BRIDEGLOOM

When Judith and Madam Nkechi left, Mr Ambrose sat by the door of the theatre. After a while, he decided to ring Kate to find out how the kids were doing but he didn’t have enough airtime on his phone to make the call, so he decided to walk down the road to get some

On return, he saw one of the six doctors that went into the theatre for the operation by the gate smoking.
He didnt make much of it since it was just one person out of six. He thought maybe he nee-ded a break.
Also, it wasn’t the doctor they had been dealing with so he didn’t bother asking him the situation of things.
But as he walked towards the hallway to the theatre, he saw the doctor they had been dealing with. He had no gloves on and was not wearing his coat….

MR AMBROSE: doctor! How is she? Are you done? How was it? Successful, right?

DOCTOR: ermmm, plea-se come with me to my office

MR AMBROSE: I’ll come of course but tell me the situation of things? Why are you all out? It’s not six hours yet? I only went down the road to get some credit to check up on my kids in Abuja. How is my wife?

DOCTOR: ermmm, she is resting. plea-se come to my office.

MR AMBROSE: she is resting….oh! That sounds great! Meaning the surgery was successful and she is resting. Phewww! Now I can have a glas-s of water. I knew she would pu-ll throu-gh! Never seen a woman so strong yet so soft! Can I see her?

DOCTOR: you will, in a moment but plea-se can I have a word with you in my office, first?

MR AMBROSE: sure! (Follows him to his office)

DOCTOR: plea-se take a seat.

MR AMBROSE: (sits down) thank You, doctor! I must say you guys are the next most powerful set after God!…

DOCTOR: you see Mr Ambrose, since the day your wife was brou-ght in, I noticed what a wonderful family you have, and when you told me your story, I felt quite bad because I know the trauma and guilt you must be pas-sing throu-gh

MR AMBROSE: doctor, I’m happy it’s all coming to an end now. As soon as she wakes up, I’ll ask for her forgiveness and when she is discharged, we will go somewhere nice to renew our wedding vows?

DOCTOR: phewww! This is gonna be ha-rd !

MR AMBROSE: what’s gonna be ha-rd ?

DOCTOR: ermm, Mr Ambrose, I’ve been in this profession for 39 years now and believe me, I’ve seen so much deaths and given so much death news, but right now, it feels like the very first time I am doing it

MR AMBROSE: sorry? I…I didn’t un-derstand the last thing you said. Death? News? How?

DOCTOR: phewww! Mr Ambrose, your wife gave up in the middle of the operation. Her heart just st©pped. We did CPR for over 30 minutes to no avail. She sle-pt peacefully

MR AMBROSE: heheheh. She sle-pt peacefully? She….she….her heart….she sle-pt peacefully?…..she is resting…none of these make any s-en-se to Ambrose. Now, let’s get serious, shall we! Where is my wife!!!???

DOCTOR: I’m afraid she didn’t make it. Calm down plea-se

MR AMBROSE: Chioma!!! Didn’t make what? I’m not even gonna believe this nons-en-se you are talking about!
Do you know that she has two other little girls at home aged five and one???
Do you know that she has an aged mother?
Do you know that she has a baby boy who is ba-rely two weeks??
And a husband who did not believe her when she said she was innocent?
Do you know that she tried severely to make peace with me before she c@m£ here???
Do you know that I arrested her when our kid went missing?
Do you know that…..
where is my wife?????? Chioma!!! Chioma!! Chioma!!!!!!!! Chioma!!!!!!
No!!!!!! Doctor, No!!!!!!! Jesus No!!!!!!!! Someb©dy help me!!!! No!!!!!!!!
Tatiana, No!!!!!!!! Shasha!!!!!!????????(lies flat on the floor being rather inconsolable)

DOCTOR: oh dear! You nee-d to take this easy, sir. She tried. plea-se get up

MR AMBROSE: bring her back!!!!!!?????doctor, bring her back, plea-se!!! We can’t cope without her. We have kids together!!!! Chioma, plea-se!!!!!

DOCTOR: sir, you must put yourself together. Very soon your aged mother in law will be here. I’m not even sure I can give her the news seeing how she alre-ady was before the surgery. plea-se you don’t want her to have a heart attack, plea-se sir.

MR AMBROSE: what did you say happened to Chioma? The wife of my youth! My friend, the sister I never had, the mother of my kids! How do I explain this to my children??? Nah! Doctor, I want to speak with her!

DOCTOR : You mean you want to speak to the b©dy?

MR AMBROSE: she is not a b©dy! She is my wife! Don’t you dare! St©p it!

MR AMBROSE: phewww! Okay, I’ll take you there

(They both went into the theatre where Chioma’s b©dy was lying covered in a white sheet. Mr Ambrose quic-kly re-moved the sheet over her face)

MR AMBROSE: doctor?

DOCTOR: yes…I’m sorry but we tried

MR AMBROSE: plea-se, leave us now.

DOCTOR: you..you mean you want to spend some time with her?

MR AMBROSE: get out and shut the door behind You!!!

DOCTOR: alright. But plea-se don’t hurt yourself. I’ll be right at the door. (Leaves and shuts the door, but stood right by the door.)

(The doctor could hear Ambrose apologising to Chioma’s b©dy and pleading with her to come back. As he stood there waiting, he saw Judith and Madam Nkechi coming towards the theatre so he quic-kly walked to them to prevent them from hearing Mr Ambrose’s voice as he was crying quite loudly)

MR AMBROSE: hello, ladies

MADAM NKECHI: ah! Alre-ady??? Jesus thank sir! Where is she?

JUDITH: doctor is everything Okay? How was the surgery?

DOCTOR: she is resting. plea-se come with me to my office.

MADAM NKECHI: thank You, Jesus. My son, well done! plea-se we brou-ght her food. Can she eat now?

DOCTOR: ermm, No mama.

JUDITH: where is Mr Ambrose?

DOCTOR: he must be somewhere around the compound, but I’ve spoken to him

JUDITH: oh great! Because he has been very worried. Oh! Thank you Jesus!

(They followed the doctor into his office and he asked them to give him a moment to get something. Having no intentions of being the one to break the news to them, he went to another of his colleague who was p@rt of the team to ask if he could do it)

DOCTOR: Peter! I nee-d You, man! St©p smoking too much cigarette!

DR PETER: what do you nee-d me for?

DOCTOR: her mother is here and honestly, I cannot deal with that woman. Could you plea-se come and break the news to them?

DR PETER: So na me you want make the woman die for him hand abi? She was your patient. Do your job. Come on! Since when did you become a weakling? You’ve seen thousands of deaths! St©p acting like one of those annoying student doctors we get

DOCTOR: this is different. I don’t know how I got myself emotionally attached to them. I can’t remember the last time I cried but I have been unable to st©p the tears since it happened. They are seated in my office alre-ady thanking God! Phewww! plea-se help me out!

DR PETER: Okay. I’ll come with you(follows him into his office)

MADAM NKECHI: ewo! This doctor is also one of you, right? Very handsome and intelligent young men!
Thank you my sons for saving my daughter o! I will come back and cook for all of You!we thank God!?‍️

DR PETER: ermm, it’s probably not the news you were expecting, but she actually pas-sed away in the process of the surgery. I’m so sorry

JUDITH: excuse You???????

MADAM NKECHI: **slumps!**

To be continued