Chapter 11
Life with Violet in it was suddenly a beautiful thing.
For Jeremy his personality seemed to have undergone a drastic change; even his mother remarked to him that he seemed more cheerful and happy.
He lived for the days and hours when he got to see her, when he got to spend time with her and Tanya.
As much as he loved his intimate dates with Violet where they talked, laughed and had a lot of sex, sometimes in very unsuitable places, he also made sure they spent a lot of time with Tanya going to the movies, picnics and even a trip to the zoo.
People would see them walking down the street, a picture perfect family with the handsome doctor and a beautiful curvy woman and their angelic child.
The more they did things together, the more they felt like a family.
And Jeremy was shocked to discover how much he loved the notion of being a family.
Maybe settling down wasn’t such a bad idea.
Maybe his mother had a point after all, he thought to himself as time went on.
The idea of waking up next to Violet every morning and sharing his life with her and Tanya sounded like a wonderful dream.
He imagined them going on family trips, swimming with dolphins or going on a safari.
He imagined having children with Violet, little boys or girls running around a big front yard playing tag or kicking around a soccer ball.
These were all pleasant visions and for the first time in his life, Jeremy began to appreciate the smaller things in life, he began to find pleasure in watching the sun rise or appreciate the smell in the air after a heavy rainfall.
Even all his material possessions began to hold more meaning because they were things he could share with Violet and Tanya.
Although he longed to buy them everything he could, Violet refused to accept anything from him and was very strict about him spending money on them.
After multiple arguments, he stopped trying to buy them gifts out of respect to her because he knew Violet worried constantly about the differences in their social status.
It was a discussion they had gone over many times and no matter how much Jeremy tried to explain none of it mattered to him, he knew it mattered to her.
But they were blissfully happy nonetheless and things were starting to get serious between them when something earth shattering happened that popped Jeremy’s bubble of happiness.
One of his patients who he thought was recovering well suddenly passed away due to a fatal reaction to the medication he was taking, and his distraught wife paid him a visit at his office the day after, angry and upset.
“It’s your fault he died!” she shrieked, lifting a finger she pointed at him accusingly, “Your fault! You gave him the wrong medication, he died because he trusted you. May you rot forever in hell!”
Jeremy tried to find the right words to calm her but his tongue felt heavy and his mouth dry.
He had nothing to say. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw security heading their way.
The few patients who had been sitting in the waiting room were openly staring at them, fascinated by the screaming woman and her accusations.
Security made a move to grab the woman but Jeremy shook his head, the last thing he wanted to do was humiliate the poor woman by having her escorted out.
Heedless of the guards hovering nearby, the woman marched up to him and jabbed him furiously in the chest, “You're a killer!” she screamed. “You’re no doctor, you’re a killer and you’ll pay for this, mark my words but you’ll pay for this. I’m going to sue you for this!”
Ignoring Jeremy’s wishes, the guards made a move towards her, at once she whirled around and snapped at them, “Don’t you dare touch me with your filthy hands, I’m leaving.”
Spitting at Jeremy’s feet, she marched out with security in hot pursuit to ensure she didn’t inflict any more damage on her way out.
Anna rushed over to Jeremy to see if he was alright but he walked past her unseeing and went into his office consumed with guilt.
How could he have made such a mistake? How could he have been so careless as to prescribe a medicine which he should have known was life threatening to his patient?
And the worst part was he couldn’t even remember prescribing that particular medicine and dosage for the patient.
He combed his fingers through his hair, trying to remember what he had done and why.
Was he losing it? Jeremy had always prided himself on being a meticulous doctor, he had yet to lose a patient and although he knew it was inevitable and the day would come when he would lose one, he couldn’t believe it was over such a careless mistake!
Mrs. Karim was right, he was no better than a killer.
The persistent buzz of his vibrating cell phone broke through his clouded mind and for the first time since they had met, Jeremy felt no joy at seeing Violet’s name flashing on the caller ID.
He picked up because he couldn’t willfully ignore her phone calls, but the call was brief, hearing her voice failed to cheer him up and when he hung up, he did it with a heavy heart.
All his life he had sacrificed things to achieve his goals and be good at his job and now he would have to sacrifice love but he didn’t know how he would be able to.