205 Ultimatum

What have you done? Leon lamented in an agonizing voice.

Ella’s resolve slowly shattered as she watched Leon sink his clasped finger into his hair as though he wanted to pull out his brain.

She wanted to walk over to him and hug him. She wanted to tell him that it was okay to feel this amount of rage. She wanted to cuddle him in her arms and soothe him for the loss of his dad and Nana.

However, for some reason Ella couldn’t explain, her legs remained glued to the floor. Her brain was acting in contrast to her mind. The only part of her body which decided to cooperate with her brain was her mouth.

She slowly bit down on her lips and said:

“My love, I’m sorry! I never meant to hurt you!”

Leon slowly looked up into her watery eyes and stared at her for almost three minutes. His contemptuous expression held only one word; ‘betrayal’. All he saw was a guilty crying beautiful princess that had shot countless arrows into his heart.

Inwardly, he now understood the connection between his father’s demands for Ella and Nana Esther’s lavish pampering. They had all been celebrating Ella behind his back.

“Are you sorry because you deceived and lied to me for two solid months? Or you are sorry because you told my dying father and Nana that you are pregnant for me? You gave the dead hope when there wasn’t supposed to be any.”

.....

“Leon, please, we can work this out if you give it a chance.” Ella wiped the tears with the back of her hands while sniffing and coughing.

“Yes, we can work this out. Prepare your mind for a pregnancy termination when we return to Amzone city.”

Leon’s icy words fell like a crashing airplane on Ella’s heart as he stormed out of the room, slamming the door in her face.

Ella stood transfixed on the same spot staring hopelessly at the door, wishing Leon hadn’t coughed out those hurting words.

Feeling her legs trembling under her weight due to excessive standing and hunger, she slowly walked over to a nearby seat and sat down.

She was in the process of deciding what to do next when her roving eyes caught sight of the pink envelope on the floor, with the white sheet of paper beside it.

She stood up, quickly grabbed the letter, and sat down, while slowly reading the letter out loud.

[My dear, Pumpkin,

If you are reading this letter as I instructed you to do, that means I am dead.

historical

Although my weak body ceases to exist, my spirit and soul will linger on, in and around you, forever.

Writing this letter had been the most difficult task for me because I hate to see you cry. I never meant to say goodbye like this, but I believe it’s for the best.

You have endured so much heartache over the years due to loss. However, all those losses have accumulated to make you the stronger and better version of yourself today.

I believe you, I love you and I’m courageous that you will triumph over every obstacle that life will throw at you from henceforth.

Live your life with strength, boldness, and love. Never accept defeat. Stand strong for your children and never give up on your husband.

At the bottom of this letter is a lullaby that I would want you to always sing to your babies when they are born.

Until we see again in the afterlife, this is goodbye from me.

With so much love in my heart,

Miatisa.]

Ella read the letter over and over again as tears fell down her eyes. Each time she read the letter, her heart became stronger and her mind was enveloped with an unusual peace.

At long last, she folded the letter and put it back into the pink envelope. Then she kept this envelope in her handbag, before going to the bathroom for a warm shower.

———

Back in the sitting room, Marissa and Yvonne sat by themselves, quietly mourning the departure of Rex and Nana Esther.

Earlier, some workers at the crematorium and the funeral director came down with an ambulance to pick up the dead.

Afterward, Maxwell left the house to make the necessary funeral arrangements for Rex and Nana Esther to the cremated the following day.

Before Maxwell left the house, he begged Marissa and Yvonne to stay away from Leon and Ella’s conflict. He told them that it was okay for couples to fight and settle their difference all by themselves.

He also informed them that Nana Esther has written a letter to all of them and the letter would be read during a family gathering later that evening.

Unfortunately, the whole advice fell on deaf ears.

Marissa and Yvonne were far from settling their quarrel with Ella. Especially after eavesdropping on the loud confrontation between Leon and Ella.

Marissa saw Ella as a conniving backstabber, who used her pregnancy as a weapon to steal her precious husband’s heart and that of Nana Esther before their death.

She blamed Ella for her husband’s death and for not getting the opportunity to say goodbye to him before he died.

While Yvonne on the other hand was looking for a medium to retaliate on the slap Ella gave her the previous night.

Hearing Leon and Ella quarrel, with Leon giving an ultimatum before angrily storming out of the house was like a dream come true for the scheming mother and daughter.

They had been looking for a weak link between Leon and Ella ever since they decided to become a couple some months back.

Seeing such a rear opportunity to finally throw mud, debris, and even knives at the young marriage was too sweet a satisfaction for Marissa and Yvonne.

Didn’t they say opportunity comes but once?

In Marissa’s case, this opportunity came at the right time when she had no husband to lean on except her son. She knew that her son would never abandon her, especially now that she had become a widow.

Marissa and Yvonne were still lazing around in the sitting room, in the name of grieving when the sweet-smelling aroma of a special delicacy that only Nana Esther knew how to prepare whiffed through the air.

“Who is in the kitchen?” Yvonne asked her mum, wearing a puzzled expression.

“It smells like Nana Esther,” Marissa whispered in horror.

“No mum, it can’t be her! Nana is dead. I’ll check and get back to you.”

Yvonne stood up and walked towards the kitchen.

When she got to the kitchen, she was amazed and disgusted to see Ella cooking with Ivory by her side.

“What is the meaning of this?” Yvonne’s eyes flared in annoyance. “Does this place look like your house or your kitchen, tramp?”