Nathan
“Stop calling me. If she got a death sentence a long time ago, we would not be here. Amari would not be in a comma and little Precious Pearl would still be swimming in the tummy,” Mrs Gail says defensively. 
“Yes, but that is not going change what has happened,” Nancy tells her, but my bestie is not deterred. 
“It will. It will make me feel better. Amari  told me that something was wrong and I kept her in the house. I should have brought her to the hospital.”
Her voice trembles. It’s clear that this is eating her. 
“Mrs Gail,” I call to her and tears roll down her cheeks. 
“How could I keep there?” she asks and shakes her head. 
I walk to her and embrace her while her shoulders shake as she cries. 
“You did not know. No one knew. I don’t blame you and I am certain that Amari would not either.”
“She is crazy about you, yet I thought she wanted to leave you. How could I think that? I was a stupid old lady and now she’s…” she chokes on her tears, breaking my heart. 
“You were not. You had my back as always. I thought she was going to leave me too. You are not stupid. No one could have predicted this.”
She blows her nose and nods. I hope she believes me because I mean this. 
“So, I am still Precious’s godmother?”
I look at her and notice all eyes on me. 
“Are you manipulating me right now?”
She pouts while I shake my head. “Yes. You will always be. Just don’t spoil her too much.”
“No, wait…” sister White tries to object, but I cut her off. 
“You are all godmothers. End of discussion.”
A few days later, all our friends are discharged in good health. I remain in the intensive care unit with Amari still on a ventilator and Pearl on the incubator. They are both doing well according to the medical team. 
“The terrorist, Pauline has escaped police custody.”
I read the news on my phone with my chest getting tight. I have failed to protect my wife again. Mrs was right. I should have pulled all stops to get her to the countries with death penalty. I call for all my guards to keep watch and beef the security in the estate and the hospital. She blames me for losing her father and wants to take away what I love. She is clearly unstable and murderous. I can’t afford her gaining access to Amari or Pearl. 
The police minister is also on the news, urging the public not to approach her but to inform the police when they see her. 
I am still on that when Janet is shown leaving the hospital under police custody. Just seeing her makes me gag. She is granted bail the following day and barely a day later, she is reported to have committed suicide. 
“Are you okay?” I ask Paul when he comes to visit. 
He just shrugs. 
“It’s okay to be sad about her death. You loved her.”
I can only imagine how he feels. 
“I don’t know, Nathan. I still have her stuff in my house. I play everything in my head and I can’t believe that I was such an idiot. I have so many questions and now she is dead.”
“I am sorry, man.”
He flashes me a weak smile and turns his attention to Pearl. 
“One kilogram in a week. You are going to be bigger than me soon. You are such a strong big girl,” he says while tenderly stroking my angel’s cheeks. 
“You must get stronger now, Princess, so that when Mommy wakes up, you can come home too,” he advises my ball of cuteness before turning to me. 
“How is Amari?”
“The doctors are hopeful that she will wake up soon. They are trying to wean her off the ventilator, but there are no guarantees,” I relate what the doctor told me this morning. 
“This was the one Christmas I was looking forward to. I never had family for a long time. Amari wanted to make it supper special for me. I was going to learn to make trifle. All I want now is for her to wake up.”
Paul is teary. I don’t know how to respond to his statement. Amari really goes all out on Christmas. It’s the tree, decoration and all. She already had her menu planned out in advance. It’s tomorrow and I just feel numb. This is the time to be with family and mine is in the intensive care unit. 
The clock has ticked past midnight when I stroke my fast asleep princess. “Merry Christmas, Precious Pearl. I swear to you that the next Christmas will be better than this.”
I am returning from the bathroom when I find the curtains around Amari drawn. My heart sinks, sweat drips from my brow. “Lord, I can’t lose my wife.”
I feel stuck on the floor but drag myself forward. All sorts of alarms are going off. I can hear many voices, and different instructions. It is clear that something is very wrong. 
My hands tremble as I grab the curtains and open them. I am expecting the worst when I find medical personnel all around my very alive wife. 
“Amari,” I manage to murmur before my legs let go. 
“Mr Lord!” the nurse closes to me, grabs me before I hit the ground. I am irritated with myself as two nurses help me to a chair. 
“Thank you,” I manage to say before  I everything in. 
The doctor had a musk on Amari’s nose when I walked in, now it’s attached with a string. She is awake! She is off the ventilator!
“Amari, My love,” I murmur. She is alive! My wife is alive!
She nods her head and extends her hand towards me. I extend mine and hold it as tears of joy roll down my cheeks. 
“Mrs Lord is stable. We will watch her closely. Merry Christmas!” the Doctor beams and all cheers fill the ICU. 
“Thank you. Thank you.”
I can only hope that my trembling voice is audible. 
She squeezes my hand, bringing a flood of tears down my cheeks.