Chapter 1

ENDING 1

FIVE MONTHS LATER

Not feeling well, a pregnant Shanna took an early leave and drove home to Koner’s house. It had been two months since her divorce with Rick has been finalized and one month since she became Mrs. Shanna Stone. The divorce was not bitter and Rick was fair in the separation of assets. She moved in with Koner the day she left Rick.

She parked on the street as Koner’s car was in the middle of the driveway. She frowned as her husband did not inform her that he would be at home. As soon as she walked into the house, she could hear some strange noise coming from the second floor. As she was walking up the stairs, the noise became clearer. Her heart started to beat furiously, she felt her belly weighing hundreds of pounds, her head started aching, something nauseating was building up in her stomach. She quietly walked to the bedroom and like a storm, she opened the door. Koner was in between the legs of a young woman. Shanna puked. A startled and panicked Koner tried to look for his clothes while the woman pulled the bedsheet to cover her body.

“Please Shanna, let me explain.” Koner was having hard time pulling up his pants.

“Go to hell, asshole.” Shanna slammed the door and rushed away. She ran down the stairs while holding her belly and left the house crying.

Koner ran after her, but it was too late. She had already climbed into her car and sped away.

“Why? Why?” Shanna kept telling herself with tears running down her face. She didn’t notice the red light.

A confused Shanna opened her eyes slowly and tried to look around. She was in a hospital bed with wires and tubes all around her, with some machines behind her. She could not move her right foot. She could feel pain throughout her body.

“You are awake!” She heard a familiar voice. She turned around to see her best two friends Tamara and Naty sitting beside the bed.

“Tam, Nat, what happened?” asked a dizzy Shanna. “My car, the lorry...”

“Calm down,” Naty said in a soothing voice, while holding her hand. “You will be ok.”

Slowly, Shanna rubbed her chest till her belly. “My baby?” She cried.

“Where is my baby?” The heart monitor behind her started to flicker rapidly. She tried to remove all the wires and tubes.

“Please Shanna, don’t do this. You need to rest. You need to heal.” Tamara held her firm.

A nurse and a doctor rushed into the room and the latter injected a sedative into her arm.

“She became agitated when she discovered that she lost the baby,” Naty told the doctor.

“It’s better you leave her alone. She’ll sleep for some time and we will take it from here.” The doctor addressed to the two friends.

“There should be someone here with her!” Naty objected. “If when she wakes up...”

“You don’t need to worry,” the doctor cut her in. “We know what to do. It’s our job.”

Defeated, Naty and Tamara walked out of the room.

Shanna opened her eyes. She could hear her heart beat from the monitor. A nurse, who was sitting by her bed, approached her and calmly said “Mrs. Stone, you were in a serious car accident and thanks to the air bags, you came out alive.”

Shanna looked at her belly and cried. “But I lost my baby.”

“Be courageous Mrs. Stone. The firefighters had to cut out the door to remove you from your car. You are lucky. The loss of someone is a tragedy that brings sufferings and distress. But you are alive and take it as a good sign. Your time has not come yet. Maybe you still have things to do, to accomplish. Maybe there are people who you need to meet and to forgive or ask for forgiveness. Redemption and salvation, you know. Maybe there are people who you need to help and without you, their lives would be doomed. Think about all those who love you and those you love. Your two friends have been here by your sides the whole time.”

“Did Koner come? My husband.”

The nurse frowned and then smiled. “When you were brought in two weeks ago...”

“Two weeks?” Shanna almost jumped in her bed.

“Yes Mrs. Stone, two weeks. The doctors had to put you in a medically induced coma to treat you. You were in a semi-conscious state and you said two things in front of the personnel, doctors and nurses who were looking after you, before falling unconscious. Do not let your husband come near you. Or something like that.”

Shanna turned her head to look at the wall. “He’s a cheater.”

“I’m sorry,”

“And what was the second thing?”

The nurse seemed a bit hesitant. Shanna turned and looked at her in the eyes.

“To call Dr Kenney.” The nurse replied.

“Rick? Is he here?”

“Dr Kenney was on duty that day and came immediately when he was called. He assisted the surgical team and stayed to look after you. He has been checking on you the whole time and spent the nights here sitting on this chair.”

“Is he still here?”

“No, he will be here tomorrow morning.”

“What time is it now?”

“Almost nine p.m.” The nurse glanced at her watch.

“I am thirsty and hungry.”

“I can imagine. I will give you some water which you need to take in slowly and then some liquid medication which the doctor has prescribed.”

“And food?”

“No, not now. Tomorrow you will get soup. Your interior is still sore and you can’t take solid food.”

“My husband didn’t try to see me or ask about me?”

“Oh God! He is a real jerk. When Dr Kenney was told that you didn’t want to see your husband, he made sure that he was kept far away from you. He became irritated and even wanted to fight. The security had to throw him out of the building.”

“I always thought that he was a gentleman.”

“Yesterday he came with the police and threatened to sue the hospital if he didn’t see you.”

“What happened next?” Shanna was shocked.

“The Administrator met them at the entrance and informed the police that you told a group of personnel that you didn’t want to meet your husband. Since you are a patient in this hospital, our primary duty is to look after your health and state of mind. Once you are on your feet and fully conscious, you will meet whoever you want.”

“Then?”

“The police turned around and took him away. By the way your personal things are in the second drawer.” The nurse pointed to a small cabinet.

“Is my phone there?”

The nurse opened the drawer and removed the phone. “It needs to be charged.” She inspected it. “I will look for a charger.”

“Thank you.”

“I think I woke up and talked to my two friends.” Shanna tried to look around.

“Oh, that was yesterday.” The nurse replied. “You were too agitated when you found out about the baby. The doctor had to sedate you.”

Shanna stoked her belly. “My baby was innocent.”

“Ok, now it’s time to sleep a little bit. Try to have a good rest. Tomorrow will be another day. And if you need anything, just press the little button on your right.”

The nurse left the room. Shanna could not sleep. She thought about the eight years she spent with Rick, two years of dating and six years of marriage; her encounter with Koner, his lovely words and kind gesture, his betrayal. She cried.

Naty and Tamara were excited when they entered the room. The three friends cried when they hugged.

“How did you know about the accident?” Shanna asked her friends.

“Rick called me right after your accident.” Naty replied. “I immediately contacted Tam and we came here and stayed for a while. He also called the school and informed them about the accident.”

“Did you meet him?”

“Who? Rick?” Tam asked.

“Yes.”

“He was always in this room when we came to see you. He was holding your hand or stroking your face or whispering to you.”

Tears rolled down Shanna’s cheeks.

“Whatever you did or decisions you took are all in the past, Shanna. You can’t undo anything. Now it’s time to look forward in the future. Rick told us that you didn’t want to see Koner. We were shocked by your decision. We decided to go and meet him at your place. He told us that he made a mistake, he let himself seduced by a young woman and brought her home. You came early and found them naked in bed. You fled and had the accident.” Naty said.

“I never thought that he was such an asshole.” Tamara was angry.

“Now it’s the time to make a decision and build your life. Either you forgive and forget or you take him out of your existence.” Naty added.

“Get me my phone, please.” Shanna pointed to her cell on top of the cabinet.

Naty removed the phone from the charger and handed it to Shanna. She went to her contact list and made a call.

“Good morning, Mrs. Weston. It’s Shanna Stone and six months ago you look after my divorce with my former husband Richard Kenney.” Shanna listened. “I married again one month ago and two weeks ago I caught my new husband, Koner Stone, cheating on me. I want to hire you to prepare the divorce papers and have him served.”

Naty and Tamara looked at each other. Naty shrugged.

“I know which documents you need. My last divorce is still in my mind. I have your email address, later during the day I’ll email you all the information.” She listened. “No problem, I will make a bank transfer for that sum. Thank you.” Shanna hung up.

“Now both of you listen to me. Take a pen and a piece of paper and write these down.” Shanna said with a serious face.

“My bag should be in the second drawer of this cabinet. Inside you will find my house key. You will have to go there when Koner is at work. Write down all these things that you will need to take and bring them to your place.”

One hour later as the two friends were leaving, they came face to face with Rick at the door. They nodded at him and left.

“Hi. I read your medical report and all seem to be on the right path. You just need to rest, take your medication and let your body heal.”

“Thank you, Rick.” Shanna sighed.

“Why do you thank me? I am a doctor and I just did my job.”

“Besides your job, you protected me.”

“This forms part of my job.”

“No, you went beyond.”

“Let’s talk business, sorry I mean health.”

Shanna laughed, then writhed in pain. “My ribs hurt.”

“This is what we need to talk about. You have two cracked ribs. A broken tibia. Your right foot is in plaster. You have a minor concussion. You are lucky.”