Vows – Short Story Love
Photo credit: Penywise from morguefile.com
Restlessly as Rita lies on the bed, the phone rang and her heart beats faster than ever. She picked the line and said, Hello!
On the other hand it was a very familiar voice, her to be father in law, as he greets her, he asks her to come home, Rita asked where is Raj? He says can you please come home, I will tell you. His voice was sounding worried. What happened to Raj? Her sister, who was by her side, pulls the phone and begins to speak, can you please tell me what happened? He says Raj is in the hospital.
Her cousin Riya, slowly told her to be calm and explained she needs to handle the situation in a calm way. They ran downstairs to inform Rita’s parents, her parents refused to take Rita to the hospital to see Raj.
” Brother, please take me to see Raj,” sobbed Rita.
Ranjan her brother told her will take Rita, if she promises never to cry in front of Raj until he recovers completely.
The tension was building up, as there was less than 48 hours for the wedding and relatives will be there in another few hours and some had already landed. As Rita stepped into the hospital with her parents and brother, her heart started beating faster. She held Ranjan’s hand tightly, with water dripping through her palms and wetting his hand. They entered the lift and reached the 11th floor, where the orthopaedic ward was.
Rita controlling her tears, as promised to Ranjan, didn’t speak a word. Raj couldn’t face Rita nor her parents, no one spoke about the wedding. It was his folly, had he listened to his parents the previous night and stayed at home, the wedding excitement would have continued, but now unable even to sit on his own. He was only fortunate that he is still alive.
The silence was broken, as the nurse of the ward came and said, only one person can stay with the patient and visiting hours are from 5pm to 7 pm. As we decided to go, Raj held Rita’s hand and said,
“please don’t leave me,” with tears in his eyes.
Rita said, “only one person could stay”, so Raj requested her to stay with him.
Raj and Rita got introduced through the online matchmaking sites and Raj had instantly decided going by his intuitions that she is the one! Rita a well educated girl, bubbly, smart and intelligent always got what she wanted in life with her parents’ permission. She and Raj liked one another, although they are poles apart in most aspects, yet they gel well. Raj had been working overseas and could not make frequent trips, hence they had decided on a quick wedding.
Raj with the wedding excitement, wanted to spend time with his friends as there was only a few hours that he would be able to spend as a bachelor. His time out with his friends had led to the increase of being a bachelor for 3 more months in bed.
Raj had met with a major accident, with crushed left hip and leg. The Doctor, called Rita and said, we will try our best and fix it, however the hip looks to be in a bad shape. His family did not know what to speak at this time. Rita’s family opposed the entire wedding, Rita boldly decided that she will stand by Raj, she had the faith the lord will cure him.
With emotional support from Rita’s family, Raj was able to stand. His first surgery was a failure, however they decided to get married and on the 10th day of the wedding Raj had his second surgery, which was also a failure, because of the doctor’s mistake.
Rita wanted to sue the doctor; however Raj calmly made her understand that he is not going to gain anything out of it.
The agony Rita was going through the last three months, none other than her parents knew. She would bottle up things inside her. Raj managed to walk using crutches, tall, dark and heavy built, had become half his size after the accident.
Raj decided to undergo the third surgery, in Rita’s home town.
“Raj, dad managed to get an appointment with the doctor, we can see him tomorrow morning,” Rita shouted out in joy.
Praying each day, that Raj’s pain should reduce and he should be able to stand on his feet. Raj was the sole bread winner of his family.
Rita made every sacrifice possible, which she hadn’t made through her life. Finally Rita saw Raj walk through after the third surgery. Rita had almost lost Raj during the surgery. She kept praying for his recovery.
He still required support for a while. Raj decided to take Rita along with him. Rita fervently prayed for Raj’s recovery. With loads of debts and pain, they began their journey as man and wife. God sent a rainbow to show that he loved them more, by blessing them with a beautiful baby on their first wedding anniversary.
Rita took the vow even before they officially made the vow, that she would stand with him in health and in sickness, in good and bad times, in life and death. Until death do us apart!
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