Geraldine told Robert and Sarah everything Philip did. They couldn’t believe their ears. “That is why Philip was the first to tell Samuel about the abortion, he knew how much Samuel was excited about the baby.” Robert said. “Did you say Philip was in love with Lisa? I thought he introduced Lisa to Samuel, I remember Samuel calling to tell me about Lisa one night. He was so happy.” Sarah said. “You know, the moment I saw the little girl, I knew it was Samuel’s baby, she looks so much like Melissa you should see her dad” Sarah said excitedly. The mention of Melissa made Robert Ankrah a little sad. “My sweet girl Melissa, if she were here she will be all over the place, she was so full of life” he said sadly. The women sighed and Geraldine held her husband’s hand. “She is in a better place now, let’s focus on our son and hope and pray he gets better.” Geraldine said. There was a slight knock on the door and Sarah got up to check, it was Lisa and Serena. “Hello Lisa, come on in.” Lisa walked in with her daughter. Robert was surprised, it was as if his little Melissa has reincarnated. “Good evening sir, I wanted to come and check on you and also officially introduce you to your granddaughter, Serena Vanessa. “I love your name little angel.” Robert said and carried her. Sarah and Geraldine planned a play date. Lisa agreed to bring Serena every other weekend to the Ankrah house. It was getting late so Greg came to get his wife. “I will be back here tomorrow, I hope by then there would be some good news about Samuel.” Lisa said and left with her husband home. Geraldine followed her out and apologised again for hitting her. “I accept your apology, I am not angry.” Lisa said. Geraldine nodded and hugged her again.
Weeks passed and Samuel hasn’t recovered. Greg and Lisa visited everyday but there was no improvement. Sarah was losing weight and that was really bothering Geraldine. She didn’t know what to do to make her feel better. “All I want is for Samuel to get better mum” she said to Geraldine one morning as they drove to the hospital to see Samuel. “He won’t be happy to see you like this when he wakes up my dear.” “Okay, I will try to do better for Samuel” Sarah said with a smile. They got to the hospital to see Lisa and Gloria. Geraldine was surprised to see Gloria, she hasn’t seen her after her husband was arrested. She looked a mess. “What is wrong with you Gloria?” Geraldine asked. “I have left Philip, it turns out he has another family in Takoradi a wife and two children. He used to travel a lot to Takoradi, he always told me it was for business. I went to see him last week at the police station, and there was a woman there with two kids a boy and a girl. The kids were calling him daddy and he told me the truth himself. I left the station and went home to pack my bags, I am now living with my sister till I find my own place.” They were all surprised. “That Philip is really an animal” Sarah said. “Don’t worry Gloria we have a three bedroom house no one is occupying at the moment, if you are interested I can work something out for you. You can’t suffer because you married a good for nothing man” Geraldine said. Gloria was very grateful and hugged Geraldine. They were still hugging when the doctor came to them with some good news. The news they have been waiting weeks to hear. “Samuel has woken up, he seems fine, we are yet to run some tests on him but you can go in to see him.” They all rushed to his room to see him. He smiled when he saw the three most important women in his life. “Am I in heaven?” he said. Sarah rushed to kiss him, he was still in pain from the bullet wound so couldn’t really hug her. Lisa was little jealous when Sarah kissed Samuel. Geraldine kissed his forehand. “I missed you son”. Lisa and Gloria just stared at him. “I am happy to see you Lisa and Gloria.” he said with a smile.
Samuel was discharged from the hospital two weeks after his recovery. At home, his mother took extra care of him she didn’t want him to do anything, Samuel was getting very used to all the pampering especially the breakfast in bed and the massages every night before he goes to bed. Sarah felt left out because she wasn’t getting a chance to pamper her boyfriend so she decided to plan a surprise welcome home party for him, she contacted Lisa the following day for her opinion. “I think it will be nice to have all his friends and family around him. It is a nice idea Sarah.” Lisa said. Vanessa didn’t understand why Lisa for the past month has gotten so close to Sarah, she wondered if Lisa still loved Samuel because she has never seen rivals ever being best of friends. She watched her as she spoke to Sarah on the phone. She got up to the kitchen to get some water, when she got back Lisa was done speaking to Sarah. “Lisa what do you think you are doing? When did you and Sarah start planning parties together? It is very silly if you ask me.” “Vanessa trust me, I really want to hate her but I can’t. Let’s face it, I am now a married woman and Sarah really loves Serena. I think it’s time I accept the fact that I have lost Samuel forever.” “He is the love of your life. The man you have loved for years. I can’t believe you will let him go easily.” “Technically, it was Samuel who let me go. For months I didn’t hear from him, and I really love Greg now, see how he supported me even though I lied to him. I am happy” Vanessa nodded and drank her water.
Samuel had no idea about the party, he went to play golf with his dad early Saturday morning. It was very nice to be able to swing his arm again, his father was very happy to see his son fit and strong. They spoke about everything and anything, Samuel was surprised his father asked about Lisa. He knew his parents didn’t like her very much. “Do you remember the first time you saw Lisa, son? Samuel laughed. “Yes I do. Level 100, she was watching soccer with us in the TV room and she kept making noise saying “off side” and “Penalty” when it wasn’t even the case. It was really pissing me off because it was obvious she knew nothing about soccer. After the game, I found out she was making noise because she wanted to piss Philip off for forcing her to watch football instead of her favourite TV series Grey’s Anatomy. Philip introduced us, we became good friends. I found out amazing things about her, she made me laugh a lot it was easy to fall in love with her. I hope she is still as fun as she used to be.” Samuel was still talking when Robert got a call from Sarah. “We are all set dad, you guys need to start heading home” she said excitedly. Robert ended the call and turned to look at Samuel with a worried look “Samuel, mummy just called me. She said Sarah is not feeling too well so we have to come home immediately.” “Oh no! I hope it’s nothing serious dad.” “I hope so too.” Mr. Ankrah said. They were back home in an hours’ time. Samuel quickly opened the door because he was very worried about Sarah only to hear people shout Surprise!!! He was startled and turned to look at his father who was laughing at him. All his friends and family came around to welcome him back home, he saw some pretty old friends. He was very happy to see everyone especially Lisa. He smiled when he saw her with Serena in her arms, he walked up to her and carried Serena. He didn’t understand why she was there at the party because his parents didn’t like her. “Greg couldn’t make it?” “Yes, he has an important meeting” “What of Vanessa and Abeiku?” he asked. Lisa laughed. “You have missed out on a lot. Vanessa and Abeiku are married now they are on their honeymoon. They were supposed to be back last week but I guess they are really enjoying each other.” Samuel just stared at her as she spoke, he always did love to watch her talk with her pretty lips and perfect set of teeth. “We need to talk Lisa, about Serena” Samuel whispered into Lisa’s ears. “I know she is my daughter” he added. Lisa smiled. “Why are you whispering?” she asked. Samuel was surprised. “It is because I don’t want Sarah and my family to know it will create a lot of problems for us.” Samuel said. “But I thought they were the ones who told you.” “No! Wait do you mean they know? Sarah too?” Lisa smiled and held Samuel’s arm. “Samuel, Sarah adores Serena. Your parents are so in love with her.” “I can’t believe this. When did all this happen?” Lisa laughed. “We were all waiting for you to get better so we tell you. So how did you find out?” Lisa asked. Still carrying Serena, Samuel led Lisa to the garden so they can be alone to talk. “I was meeting up with Greg once every week in my office so we design the dream house you both wanted. We were a little bored so we started about marriage and I asked him how he met you. All this while, I thought you cheated on me with him when we were in school and aborted our baby to be able to carry his. He told me when he met you on the plane, you had already given birth to Serena and you showed him pictures of her which meant that Greg isn’t Serena’s biological father.” Tears filled Lisa’s eyes as Samuel spoke. “Lisa, why did you lie to me when I asked you severally if you aborted our baby? Why didn’t you want me to know?” Lisa wiped her tears and shook her head. “Samuel you came to my room that night furious with your mind made up, I didn’t mean to hide her from you. I was scared Philip will harm me and our baby if he found out I gave birth. Since he was your best friend if you knew about it he would have also found out and try to harm me again” “Philip? What do you mean by try to harm you again?” “Samuel whatever Philip told you was a lie because if he had told you the truth, you guys would not be friends. You kept deceiving me with his son making me think he was yours, so I know you guys were very close.” Lisa said with a smile. “Oh! Lisa about that I am very sorry. I didn’t mean to take it too far I was jealous you had a family and I didn’t want to look like a failure in your eyes so I just played along and it got out of hand.” Lisa smiled. “I understand, but Philip was never a friend to you, he had always been in love with me. He told me to break up with you constantly when we started dating in school, we argued a lot. He knew I was a virgin so when I found out I was pregnant, I decided to hide it from him but I started to show. He paid me a surprise visit one day in my hostel because I have been avoiding him for months. When he saw me I could tell from his face that he was very disappointed and angry but Vanessa was in the room so he didn’t show it. I went to escort him when he was leaving and that’s when we had a big argument, I was standing close to the stairs in my hostel and he angrily pushed me down the stairs and said if he can’t have me no one will. He saw that I was bleeding and hurt and he left me on the stairs to die. The next thing I see, I am lying in a hospital with my baby removed from my womb I was in so much pain.” Samuel couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Why didn’t you tell me all this Ewurakua, I would have taken the next available flight to be by your side.” “I didn’t want to give you any bad news. I wanted you to be done with your studies and pass with flying colours.” Samuel shook his head in disbelief “You mean Philip tried to kill my daughter when I have been such a good friend to his son. I could kill him now. I haven’t seen him since I recovered I saw just Gloria.” Lisa sighed “He has been arrested Samuel. Greg got him arrested when he found out what he did to me and Serena. Talking about Gloria, she has left him. Philip has a wife and two kids in Takoradi.” Samuel laughed “A wife and two kids? That is why he kept travelling to Takoradi anytime Gloria travels out of the country.” “That reminds me what does Gloria do? She is never around. Vanessa and I have been babysitting Jason a lot.” Oh Gloria, she is a Flight attendant. She doesn’t like telling people what she does for some reason. But I am wondering Lisa, why you didn’t press charges when Philip pushed you? You made him go scot free.” “I know I should have, I was young and naïve, I didn’t have him arrested mainly because Gloria was also pregnant and I didn’t want her to suffer. Vanessa was so furious I did that.” Samuel sighed and looked at Serena and kissed her forehead. “My angel, my princess I love you so much.” He looked at Lisa, he wanted so badly to kiss her. He hugged her tightly and told her how much he really loved her.