by Mia Henry
She found solace in the close bond she had with Tammy, Troy and Amy.
Her son, Richard, had always been somewhat of a recluse, a closed book. His secretive and enigmatic nature made it difficult to get too close to him. But she loved him with all her heart and was distraught that there wasn’t a close connection. Although she loved her grand children unconditionally, she missed forming a close bond with his children. With them living far away she rarely saw her grandchildren and this saddened her immensely.
Her youngest daughter, Linda, married a man a lot older. Both Eduardo and Nancy vehemently opposed this marriage, but Linda, without their blessing, went ahead. They were deeply concerned that Linda by taking on the instant role of mother to two boys, aged eight and nine, was assuming a huge responsibility at the tender age of twenty-three. The boys had lost their mother, tragically, in a suicide. So besides the normal challenges involved in the raising of children, she would also need to cope with their need to emotionally adjust to having witnessed such a tragedy. Linda tried very hard to provide some stability but there is no denying that it was a challenge. Linda grew to love the boys as her own. Entering a marriage with an instant family, fuelled her resolve to not have children of her own.
It took a while for Eduardo and Nancy to accept this. It was months of turmoil and heartache but eventually they came to terms with it. The more time they spent with Linda’s husband, Ken, the more they started to love him. They also accepted Ken’s boys into the fold as their grandsons.
Thirteen years later, on the birthday, of her first late grandchild Tara-Lee, Nancy was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
Rob, her son-in-law, made the sad discovery. He could not believe that their very dear grandmother, the one who took them so often to the beach, who baked with them and so much more, was to be taken from his children. It seemed like another body blow.
Four and half months later surrounded by all her children and grandchildren she died peacefully at Ella and Rob’s home. Every child and grandchild was with her on her deathbed. The youngest grandchild Gina was only six weeks old.
Nancy was now at peace and spared from a lot more heartache, had she lived. Just how deeply she was affected by her family’s many misfortunes we now do not know. But no more could she agonize over a mother’s sin.
CHAPTER 10
TUMULTOUS TIMES
Ella’s phone rang.
Her brother Richard was on the line. Sounding emotional and frantic, he lamented, ‘Amber has left me! She has taken the children and gone to Hillcrest. I got to the house yesterday afternoon and they were all gone! Every time I try and call her, she picks up and says, ‘Fuck off’, and then slams the phone down.
Please call her and see if she will speak to you,’ begged Richard.
Ella tried calling Amber but she didn’t answer. She relentlessly persevered and so a few days later Amber finally picked up the phone.
‘Hey Amber, what’s wrong? Richard is so distraught that you and the girls just left without even saying a word!’ Ella appealed, her tone begging for help.
‘Well, he can go jump in the lake! I’m not interested. I’ve moved on and I don’t need him and my children don’t need him either!’ responded Amber, sounding vengeful and grossly irritated.
‘But he clearly loves you madly because he desperately wants you and the girls back. Can you not give it one more chance?’ Ella pleaded.
‘No, I will not. But you, be a darling and piss off, won’t you? I would rather ram a kayak through my asshole than continue with this conversation’, responded a very rude and aggressive Amber.
Ella was not going to join Amber’s drama club and allow her to be provoked by her rudeness, so she politely ended off the conversation stating, ‘Maybe once you’ve calmed down you will feel differently’.
‘Dream on!’ was Amber’s quick sarcastic response before proceeding to slam the phone down.
Amber was so explosive and raging mad that it was impossible to reason with her. She was immensely bitter. Ella sighed and didn’t know the best way to convey the bad news to Richard.
She called Richard. ‘Amber is so angry and bitter right now, that best you just let her cool off before making any attempts to try and contact her,’ suggested Ella.
‘I need to go to Hillcrest next week. I will try find out where she is staying so I can at least see the children’, was Richard’s response.
‘Do that. Tell her you just needing to see the children’, said Ella.
Richard found out where Amber was living. She had moved into a cottage with Chad, on the outskirts of Hillcrest. Without warning, he called at the cottage to visit the girls. Amber refused to let him in. He stood behind the gate, pleading with her. Her response was short and abrupt, ‘Fuck off’, and immediately proceeded to slam the door.
In desperation a very emotional Richard called Monica, his sister in law. She was married to Amber’s brother, William.
Monica would call to visit Amber periodically so she suggested to Richard that he call her during one of her visits to Amber. She would then hand the phone over to the girls, so he could at least get to talk to them. He had not seen them or spoken to them for weeks. Monica refused to be party to Amber’s callous refusal to permit the children contact with their father. Amber had done that to her oldest son Pedro. He had become a dysfunctional child, with low self-esteem. He did not complete his schooling and was already meddling in drugs.
A few days later, Monica popped in to visit Amber. Richard called as arranged.
‘Here Stella and Gina, daddy on the phone,’ said Monica handing the phone over to the girls.
Amber exploded in a fit of rage.
Monica eventually diffused the outburst and in the end even managed to persuade Amber to allow the children to see their father.
Richard had not seen or spoken to his girls in over two months, despite numerous attempts to do so. Richard arranged that he would go down the following weekend. He would overnight with William and Monica, then take the girls out for the day. He was very grateful to Monica for having had arranged that.
It was an early Saturday morning. The sun was filtering through the clouds, but the early morning rain had left the atmosphere sultry and stifling without even a gentle breeze. Richard arrived at Amber’s cottage just on nine. Amber was not there but had left the girls with their nanny, Beth. She had given Beth strict instructions to tell Richard that he was not to have the girls back later than five in the afternoon. Beth knocked off work at five, so it was obvious Amber did not want to see Richard.
The girls were beaming with excitement when their father arrived. They hadn’t seen him for two months. A fun day was spent together. Early afternoon they went to movies and straight after movies popped back at Monica and William’s house for coffee. They left just on five. It was a short distance from their house to Amber’s cottage and knowing how volatile Amber could be, Monica suggested going with Richard to drop the girls off.
When they arrived at the cottage, Amber was in a fit of rage. She was spitting mad because they were ten minutes late.
Richard, standing at the gate with Gina in his arms, was dumbfounded. Without uttering a word he merely shook his head in disbelief.
Amber, still out of control, began cursing and gesticulating wildly and then hurled a knife at Richard holding Gina in his arms. That kind of behavior in front of his children mortified him. Richard was grateful Monica was there, who tried to take control of the situation.
Richard was forced to start holding back from giving her money. The only time she would allow him to have any contact with the children was when she became desperate for money and in exchange she would allow him a telephone call with the girls.
During this tumultuous time in his life he decided to get involved in mountain biking. He needed to do something to help him overcome the feeling of loneliness, by being separated from his
family. Work kept him very occupied during the week but he needed something to keep him busy over the weekends and the extra endorphins from riding his bike would also lift his spirits.
He entered to compete in the Trans Rocky Mountain bike race in Canada and so he started training in earnest, especially over the weekends. Every weekend he would return to his smallholding in River Bank and spend hours training on his bike, riding great distances in the beautiful wonderland of the surrounding mountain passes and forests. With only days away from the race, he took leave to finalize his training in River Bank.
It was Monday, 7th April 2003. He had set off on his bike in the early hours of the morning. He needed to ride at least one hundred and twenty miles that day. He would ride the beautiful panoramic route. The area is famous for its stunning natural beauty offering some of the most spectacular and scenic roads and passes with tight corners, sharp climbs and breathless descents. He rode through forests, mountains and hillocks. Although strikingly picturesque, it was a long hard morning ride on difficult passes.
On the home stretch, with about two miles to go on his last fairly steep descent, going at nearly sixty miles per hour, a van unexpectedly veered in front of him.
Powerless to take evasive action, Richard ploughed straight into the van.
CHAPTER 11
A WIDOWER
Nancy’s death affected Eduardo immensely. He felt disoriented, confused and overwhelmed. His companion of forty years was now gone and he could not bear the loneliness. How life had changed since that heady day on the beach and in that bungalow.
He moved in with Ella and her family.
Although he would find some solace being surrounded by family and grandchildren, there were many times that nothing could stop the grief attacks that consumed him.
He had retired only weeks prior to Nancy’s death so not having work to keep him busy all day also contributed to further frustration despite his perpetual feelings of fatigue that is commonly associated with grief.
Eduardo’s friend, Tony, the son of his long time friend Zeca, who had introduced Eduardo to the construction group that built the Carlton Centre, was now running his own multi-million dollar construction company in Johannesburg and needed a new project manager. His father Zeca had passed away a few years back. Tony knew that although Eduardo had already retired, he would be perfect for the job and at the same time it would keep him busy in the aftermath of his loss.
Eduardo accepted the offer. This meant that he would have to leave the Bay and move to Johannesburg.
Although Ella missed him terribly, the change was good for him. He settled well and was enjoying being back in the building trade. He bought his own apartment and Ella flew to Johannesburg to help him furnish it and set up his new home. He once again embraced the start of a new chapter in his life. Resilience and adaptiveness were hardwired into his frame.
‘When can we go visit grandpa?’ asked Troy at the dinner table one evening.
The children loved having grandpa live with them and were very upset when he moved to Johannesburg. Rob had agonized over the loss of their second grandparent. Although Eduardo had already been gone eighteen months, they still missed him a lot and spoke about him often.
‘Maybe we should go and spend a week with grandpa during the short school holiday break in April’, Ella suggested.
‘Yes, please mom’, said Tammy.
‘I miss grandpa so much’, added Amy.
Just over a month later, with great excitement, Ella, and the children, Tammy, Troy and Amy boarded the plane. They were on their way to spend a week in Johannesburg. They arrived early Sunday evening, 6th of April. Eduardo was thrilled to have the family stay. He still battled with loneliness but acknowledged that the move had been the best thing for him.
Next day, Ella had prepared some lunch for the children and Eduardo had popped in from work for a quick lunch too. As Eduardo was getting ready to go back to site, the phone rang.
It was Amber. Sounding terrified and panicky she blurted, ‘Richard has been in a terrible accident. I don’t know much about the details but apparently he is in a bad way. He’s in intensive care and we’ve been told that he’s very critical.’
After establishing what hospital Richard was at, Ella immediately called Rob and asked him to call the hospital and get more details. It was always easier for a doctor to derive more accurate and better information.
Rob then called Ella back.
‘It doesn’t sound too good. Best you and dad try get to him as soon as you can. He has broken his neck and at this stage all the doctors are saying, is that he’s critical,’ informed Rob.
The concern that emanated from Rob’s voice frightened Ella.
Eduardo immediately called his boss.
‘Don’t you worry about a thing, just get in the car and go’, insisted Tony.
They were soon on their way, Eduardo, Ella and the three children. It normally took three hours on the road to get to River Bank, but after two and a half hours they arrived at the hospital.
Tony generously arranged and paid for a flight to also get Rob to River Bank.
It was extremely distressing for Eduardo and Ella to walk into the ICU and to see Richard lying there, comatosed, and looking very bloated. He was on a ventilator and connected to monitors, plus a gamut of tubes and drips. He was too critical to be taken to the operating room so they turned the ICU into a makeshift theatre in order to operate on his face. The doctors were not saying much except for, ‘the next twelve hours are critical’, which left Eduardo and Ella feeling desperate and helpless.
Ella did not allow the children to go into ICU that night. It was a long night of waiting. They had friends in River Bank where they would be staying. It was late into the evening when they took the children to them so they could go to bed. Eduardo and Ella then returned to the hospital during the middle hours of the night.
As soon as they got back to the ICU, the sister in charge, whom they had met when they first arrived and who had been exceptionally kind and accommodating, approached them and said, ‘Mr. Gelo’s wife was here just after you left. She very persistently said that she is the next of kin, so any decisions that need to be made would have to come from her and not Mr. Gelo’s father, Eduardo or his sister, Ella’.
They both looked at each other and were appalled upon hearing that!
‘We not here to make any decisions on his behalf, or of our own accord, but WOW! That is a bit rich coming from her considering she left him four months ago and wanted nothing to do with him’, responded Ella.
It was quite obvious that the nursing sister had not been impressed by Amber’s demeanor and arrogance.
Nonetheless Eduardo and Ella both hoped that something good might come from the accident.
Maybe there would be a change of heart
CHAPTER 12
BATTLES REACH A CLIMAX
Amber had moved in with Chad when she deserted her home in River Bank. Richard had seen the children once between late December when she left and April when he had the accident. Amber had on the rare occasion allowed him to talk to the children but only as a trade off for more money. However she insisted on travelling to River Bank with her brother William and sister-in-law, Monica, on the day of the accident.
William despised what his sister had done to Richard. It was not just because it was his brother-in-law but he was also a good friend. William had refused any contact with her since she had deserted Richard.
‘You don’t have to say a word to her, just let her ride with us,’ Monica urged William.
He did concede in the end but only if Amber promised that she would never again use the children against Richard and that she would not allow the girls to suffer by not having contact with their father.
After a lot of persuasion from Monica, and a promise from Amber, they began their trip to River Bank. It was a long t
ense four-hour drive. The atmosphere remained strained between brother and sister.
The three of them headed straight to the hospital on their arrival. It was late in the evening. As soon as they arrived in the ICU Amber quickly made it known to the staff that she was the wife.
‘Any decisions or medical consultations need to come through me’, stressed a very defiant Amber, to the registered sister on duty. ‘I would also like to make it quite clear that his father or sister have no authority to make any decisions whatsoever,’ she persisted.
They did not stay long. Amber had been in contact with Richard’s domestic helper, Mavis, informing her that they would be staying in the house. Mavis left the keys for them under the doormat.
Monica got up early the next morning and prepared breakfast with the few groceries they had bought the night before. Amber refused breakfast and said to Monica, ‘you and William go to the hospital so long. I will come down a little later in Richard’s Mercedes.’
Later that morning, Ella fetched Rob from the airport. As they arrived at the hospital just after lunch, they bumped into Amber who had also just got there to visit Richard. A tearful Ella hugged Amber. The tension between them is broken but emotions were high seeing Richard lying there unresponsive and on a ventilator.
Everyone was very grateful for Rob’s involvement and input and especially the reassurance that Richard was critical but stable. It was a long day of plentiful tears and prayers.
The next day, Eduardo, Rob and Ella arrived at the hospital early in the morning, so that Rob could talk to and get some feedback from the specialists caring for Richard. It was now Wednesday, two days after the accident and Richard was doing relatively well. They were keeping him in an induced coma until they weaned him off the ventilator. Rob called a family meeting in order to report what the specialist had said.
Arrangements were made for all to meet in the small waiting room outside the ICU at 11.00 am. Ella had sent messages to everyone concerned.
