The words the doctor had said kept ringing replaying in his mind. "I'm sorry, she didn't make it through yesterday."
"What does that mean?" Nelson asked, even though he knew what it meant, he refused to accept it.
"I'm sorry for your loss, son. I know how much she meant to you," the doctor said, sadly.
"NO YOU DON'T!" Nelson screamed. "You don't know how much she meant to me. You don't!"
"Where is my mother?" He asked. "Take me to my mother!" He tried to stand but fell instead. "I want to see my mum," he sobbed. "Take me to her."
"Can we see her body, doctor?" The old man asked.
"I'll ask a nurse to lead you to the morgue," the doctor replied.
Nelson was helped back on the wheelchair by the younger man and wheeled as a nurse appeared to lead them to the morgue.
They soon arrived at the morgue and Nelson was helped up by the nurse to where his mother was laid. Seeing the lifeless body of his mother was all it took for Nelson to lose it all.
"Mum, mum, please open your eyes," he pleaded. "Mum, it's me, Nelson. I'm here now. I'm so sorry, mum, I failed you." He could see his tears fall on his mother's body and he threw himself over her.
"Mum, please. Talk to me!" He began to shake her body violently. "MUM! GET UP CAN'T YOU HEAR ME? YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE I HAVE, HOW AM I SUPPOSE TO GO ON WITHOUT YOU?!"
Nelson's legs could no longer support his weight and so they gave way. He fell to the floor and in that moment, he felt everything's leave him as well. He no longer had a will to live. His greatest treasure, the only one good thing he had left in his life had been taken away from him. He felt a pair of arms around him, and the perfume of the person enveloped him as well. It felt comforting.
"I'm sorry, my boy." He recognized the voice as belonging to the old man he had spoken with earlier. "I'm very sorry I wasn't there for either of you. I'm sorry I didn't try to find you earlier but most of all, I'm sorry for you. I know Victoria must have been an excellent mother to you and I can't begin to even understand how you're currently feeling but I promise, I'm here for you, now. You'll never have to be alone anymore."
His mother's funeral was a very quiet one the next day. He had come to know that the old man he had spoken with on a phone call, the one who came to look for him and his mother at the hospital and had comforted in his grief, was none other than James Baristan, the business mogul with an empire worth trillions of dollars and also the richest man in the country.
His grandfather had made him to understand that when his mother was only 6 years old, his grandmother had died and stricken with grief, his grandfather raised his mother on his own, refusing to remarry and that when mother his was only eighteen, she had gotten pregnant with him from a one-night-stand with a total stranger at a club. His insistence on her aborting it had made her run away from home. His grandfather wept as he shared the story and said he blamed himself for everything that had happened.
After the funeral ceremony, his grandfather had picked him up from his old house and taken him to the estate where he lived. He promised to give Nelson a better life. The Baristan estate was the biggest in New York and nothing like Nelson had ever seen before. Walking through its gates felt like walking through a fantasy land only made real in books. The estate grounds were so vast, one would need a cart and a map to cover it.
Nelson was shown to his room in the grand house and only his room was bigger than the house he used to live in with his mother. The thought of his mother, now dead and buried brought a pang of pain to him and soon, his eyes welled up with unshed tears. He brought out a picture frame of her that he had brought along with him and hugged it tightly as he laid on the big king sized bed and slept.
A week later, Nelson was starting to feel better and ready to go back to school. When he told his grandfather about it, he was elated.
'' My dear boy, I am glad to see you in good spirits and better health. I agree that a return to school would be very good for you."
"Thank you, grandfather," Nelson replied. Although the word 'grandfather' still felt strange to him, he was getting used to it.
"I know we haven't known each other for long there has been a lot of wasted years between us, I would like to be very much a part of your life from now on," his grandfather said.
'' You are now my heir and everything that can you see and touch and even more, now belongs to you."
Nelson could barely believe it. He was like a real life male versioned Cinderella.
All his life, Nelson had a lived in a state of penury with his mother. He had always lacked the things other kids enjoyed but he knew that his mother had always done her best for him.
Hearing his grandfather now, tell him that his days of struggle were over seemed unreal to him.
His grandfather, noticing his face of shock smiled warmly at him then took his hand in his. "Come," he said, and Nelson followed.
His grandfather took him to his study which also served as his office. His grandfather's study had a large desk of finely polished mahogany and beside the shelf of stacked files, was a large picture frame of his mother and grandmother. His mother looked about six in the picture and was smiling widely at the camera as his grandmother tickled her sides. He could see a resemblance between them and he smiled.
His grandfather, noticing his stare explained the picture to him.
"This picture was taken just a week before my wife's demise. She has just finished dressing your mother up for an event and was tickling her. Your mother loved being tickled. I was the one who took the picture of them."
Walking further into his study, his grandfather brought out a box from underneath the large desk. He handed it over to Nelson who took the box gingerly from him. His grandfather nodded at him to open the box and when he did, he found a black metal card in it.
"That is a premium card for you, my dear boy and it is unlimited. Only our family, in the entire country, has that type of card. It belonged to your mother before she left and now, I'm giving it to you. Use it as you please."
Words failed Nelson to express how he truly felt.
"Take this card to Glamour Bank and it will be re-activated there."
Glamour Bank was one of the top banks in the country and their customers consisted of only the elite class so Nelson wasn't entirely surprised when his grandfather told him to go there to activate the black card.
Then his grandfather called his head manager and in Nelson's presence, instructed him to make everything that would enable Nelson to have a smooth and easy life till he is ready for the family business. Then he told Nelson that if he needed anything, to simply contact the head manager or talk to him directly.
"Thank you, grandfather," Nelson said.
"There's more, I'm not yet done. Follow me," his grandfather instructed.
His grandfather led him to a big garage and showed him an array of different exotic looking cars.
"All of these you see here, are now yours. You can pick whichever one you want. Or two," his grandfather said.
Nelson thought for a while, then said, "I'm sorry, but I can't take this."
"What do you mean?" His grandfather asked.
Nelson turned to look at his grandfather. "I know you want me to be your heir and you I know you want to give me the life of luxury you think I deserve but I can't accept it. Not now, not with everything that has happened to me in the past few weeks."
His grandfather was surprised. He had thought Nelson would immediately jump on the offer and accept the new life he was giving him but instead, Nelson was turning down what had been offered to him on a silver platter.
"Nelson," his grandfather began but was cut off.
"Grandfather, I really am grateful for all you've done for me so far, and I do not wish to take it for granted but it just doesn't feel right. Growing up, my biggest wish was for my mother and I have to have a better life, the best life. To get that now when she's not alive, it feels unfair to her."
"Nelson, none of all that happens is your vault. Don't beat yourself up over the past, " his grandfather said.
"It's hard not to," Nelson replied. "How do you expect me to suddenly fit into this new life when it came at the cost of my dear mother's life?"
"I know it seems that way but it really didn't. Your mother didn't want you to feel alone and that was why she left that note for you," his grandmother countered. "She wanted the very best for you and even in death, she made sure you got it. You should be grateful to her instead because I know that although Victoria may not have lived a long life in luxury, I'm very certain she lived a happy life with you."
Nelson knew his grandfather was right about his mother. She was the best human he had ever known and despite the hardships they faced, she never allowed them to affect her good and happy nature.
"Then you, grandfather. However, I still can't take any of these cars. I'll just keep the card because I want to continue living the humble life my mother taught me."