Cape Town, South Africa
25th March 1998
‘Hi, Mr Brits,’ Josha said politely to the man who had just walked into Tara’s private suite at the neurological unit in the Newlands Hospital, where she was recovering from the surgery. But his voice chose that time to remember he was a racing bag of hormones and it came out squeaking. He coughed. Mr Brits smiled.
‘I’ll be outside,’ Wayne said as he stood up from the chair next to Tara’s bed.
‘No. Please stay,’ said Tara. ‘Emile, this is Wayne, Josha’s father.’
Wayne and Emile shook hands.
Emile turned his attention back to his patient. He looked over at the heart monitor and scribbled on her chart. ‘I have results, would you rather I come back?’
She shook her head slightly. ‘No, you can tell us all at the same time. Just Gabe is missing, but we can fill him in.’
‘Yes.’
Wayne noticed Josha grab hold of his mum’s hand and squeeze it tightly. If the neurosurgeon was hesitating, it couldn’t be good news.
‘You were lucky. We got the whole tumour out. It was benign. There’s no cancer. You are going to be just fine—’
Josha threw himself into a huge hug of his mum. ‘Oh Mum, I thought you were going to die.’
Wayne’s legs crumpled beneath him and he sat down heavily on the chair.
Emile was speaking in slow motion as all the blood rushed to Wayne’s head. He felt hot and cold at the same time.
Tara wasn’t going to die from her brain tumour.
He could hear Emile talking further to Tara but no coherent words reached his brain.
She was going to be okay.
She was not going to die.
Wayne’s tuned in again to Emile Brits’s voice. ‘… so your pituitary gland is producing the appropriate levels of hormones again and we won’t need to do any drug replacement on that side. I have scheduled you for an MRI in the morning.’
‘Another one?’ Tara asked.
‘Get used to them, they are about to become part of your life. Initially I’ll order another in six months’ time, to ensure that there is no regrowth, then depending on how that goes, once a year, to ensure that you have no recurrence. It’s all precautionary from here on.’
‘Thank you so much!’ Tara said.
‘I’ll check back in with you tomorrow after the MRI. I want to keep you in for another day or two, have a look when those bandages come off, just to be certain everything is perfect. We can’t rush it, healing a body takes time.’
‘Thank you, Emile,’ Tara said.
‘Pleasure. It’s cases like yours that make my job worthwhile. Now I’m glad to see you talking, and having company. Make sure you eat dinner. See you on my rounds tomorrow, Tara,’ he said.
‘Wayne,’ Emile said, and shook his hand. He turned and waved at Josha. ‘You did well over the last two days, Josha. Wish more teenagers were like you, being so supportive of their mums.’ He walked out the door.
An eerie silence descended on the room. Then suddenly the three of them were talking at once.
‘Wow, Wayne. Hear that? I’m in the clear!’
‘Yippee,’ Josha was chanting.
‘Oh thank God!’ Wayne said.
They were laughing and hugging each other, all together.
‘I need to call Gabe!’ Tara said. ‘We need to tell Gabe!’
Josha picked up her private telephone that sat on the locker next to her bed. He pushed the buttons for the number, and waited.
‘Hey Lucretia, it’s Josha,’ he said then there was silence while he listened to her on the other side. ‘No, it’s good news, Lucretia. But can I speak with Uncle Gabe?’
Again silence.
‘No, I haven’t.’
Silence.
‘Awww Lucretia, no I don’t.’
A much longer silence.
‘Okay, I will. Thanks. Bye.’
‘Mum, Uncle Gabe is already on his way here, and Lucretia told me that when he goes home I have to go home too for a shower tonight because she can smell me from there.’
Tara and Wayne both laughed.
‘That’s a sound that I haven’t heard for too long,’ Gabe said as he walked through the door.
‘Gabriel!’ Tara said.
Wayne watched as Gabe strode into the room, and drew Tara into a huge hug. He didn’t seem worried about the bandages, or the IV drips, or that she had just had an operation two days before, and he felt nothing but joy that Gabe was such a good friend to her. That he had been able to help her when he couldn’t, that he was her friend, and her cousin. Even if it was just second cousins once removed or whatever the connection was that Tara had tried to make him understand.
‘Gabe,’ Tara said, ‘I can’t breathe.’
He immediately let Tara go, and although he still held her he no longer held onto her as tight. ‘Better,’ she said.
‘I saw your Mr Emile Brits in the foyer, and he was happy to share your good news with me. Amazing. So totally amazing!’ he said. Then he hugged her tight again for a second time, before releasing her.
‘Great news, hey, Josha!’ Gabe stretched across the bed with his hand up for a high five.
Josha slapped his palm to Gabe’s. ‘The best, Uncle Gabe!’ They did a little hand slapping combination thing after the high five, and Wayne hadn’t seen that series of slides and waves before.
Wayne laughed. A few short weeks ago, he might have been jealous of their relationship, but not now.
‘Right, I have an article to finish writing, so I need to go home, but I had to see you tonight.’ He bent and kissed Tara on the forehead above the bandages. ‘You keep out of trouble, you hear. I’ll see you tomorrow.’
He shook Wayne’s hand. ‘You look after her tonight, she is after all your responsibility again.’
Wayne grinned.
‘Come on, Josha, say bye, you need a decent night’s sleep tonight, your dad is on duty,’ Gabe said.
‘Bye, Mum,’ Josha said as he kissed her softly.
Then he walked up to Wayne. ‘Bye, Dad,’ he said and lifted his fist just like he had seen Jamison and Wayne do countless times. Wayne touched his fist to Josha’s, and Josha breezed out the room.
Wayne stared after him, grinning.
‘Alone at last,’ Tara said.
‘Yes, but I don’t think you are up to any monkey business in your state,’ Wayne said and grinned, but he sat on the bed next to her, holding her hand.
‘Guess what, I’m not dead, and I’m not going to die in a hurry,’ she said and giggled.
‘It’s a good day,’ Wayne said and he lifted her hand and kissed it.
‘So, can I answer a question you told me not to answer a week ago?’
‘No, Tara you don’t have to. I said when you were ready—’
‘I was ready then and I meant it then, and I mean it again today. Yes, Wayne, I will marry you. I’ll wear a white dress and I want the together forever after with you.’
‘You have remembered that there still might be a man hunting you?’ Wayne said.
‘I know and I don’t want to wait for him to strike or not strike, to live my life in limbo. This was bad enough. My wake-up call to re-prioritise my life. I want you in it. Permanently. I don’t want to wait for a better time, for another opportunity, or anything else. I want to be with you. Forever. I love you, Wayne Simon Botha, and yes, I will marry you.’
‘This time I’m accepting,’ he said, and he dug in his pocket, ‘this time you are putting this ring on and not taking it off ever again!’
He pulled the box from the zip pocket in his jacket, and opened it. Then he took the ring out and slipped it on her finger. ‘I love you, Tara. I will love you forever and always.’
He bent down and he sealed their pledge with a kiss.