For Better And For Worse
Chapter 5

Stella returns to school, she has enrolled in the final year of literature. It’s after class that she joins Isabelle in the living room. Today is Saturday, she finishes classes at 10 a.m. and joins Isabelle. Customers arrive and they braid them. After finishing, Isabelle leaves the living room to get some fresh air. A taxi carrying a pregnant woman to the hospital stopped because the woman was almost in labor. Isabelle comes out to help them bring the woman into her living room. She took her first aid kit and helped the woman give birth normally and without any risk.

Isabelle: you have a pretty boy, Madam.

Leila: oh, my baby, come here! Oh, thank you ma’am, thank you very much!

Isabelle: Please.

Sébastien: really thank you ma’am.

Isabelle: that’s okay. You must take him to the hospital immediately to register the birth.

Sébastien: yes ma’am. Excuse me, are you a midwife?

Isabelle: yes I was.

Sébastien: why do you no longer practice this profession?

Isabelle: because God didn’t want it.

Sébastien: no, listen, my brother has a clinic but there is a lack of qualified midwives like you, so if you still want to practice this profession, know that you will be welcome, I will talk to him about you.

Isabelle: really!

Sébastien: but yes, you must put your gift at the service of people and not be there simply weaving. It’s actually to my brother’s clinic that I’m taking my wife like this, I’ll talk to her and I’ll contact you. Leave me your contact.

Isabelle: okay, hold on and thank you in advance.

Sébastien: no, it’s me who thanks you. Honey, let’s go.

Leila: thank you again ma’am.

Isabelle: Please.

Sébastien and his wife therefore went to the hospital to register the birth of their child and he spoke to his brother about what happened.

Doctor Charles: ok, tell this woman to come see me Monday morning with her files.

Sébastien: ok, I’ll call him right away.

Sébastien calls Isabelle and tells her to come to his brother’s clinic Monday morning with his files. He also gives her the address of the clinic. Isabelle smiled, joy filled her heart, she has the hope that this time, she will find work.

Stella: I believe God has thought of you now Isabelle, I am sure you will have this job.

Isabelle: I really hope so, Stella. It will really help me a lot. You will manage the salon, I will work at the hospital and I will come here during my free hours.

Stella: at the same time, the lounge will be completely closed when I’m in class.

Isabelle: it doesn’t matter, even in the afternoon, we can make a lot of recipes.

Stella: you’re right. Hey, here’s a customer arriving.

Isabelle: take care of her.

The customer arrives and Stella takes care of her. On the other side at the 5★ restaurant, Krist has to return his shift for the day. His boss invites him to serve very special clients, favorite clients, with a lot of money. Felix comes to chat with them for a while and takes their orders which he gives to Krist and asks him to bring them their dishes. Krist arrives with the dishes.

Krist: good evening gentlemen, here are your orders.

He places everyone’s dish in front of him.

Krist: you are served so enjoy your meal.

They thank him. When he wanted to leave, the boss held him back.

Gauthier: wait young man, what is your name?

Krist: Call me Krist sir.

Gauthier: ok, Krist, I have a job offer for you, an offer that could bring you a lot of money.

Krist: What work is this?

Gauthier: to find out more, accept.

Krist: no sorry, I can’t accept something without knowing about it.

Gauthier: ok, no worries. But here’s my card, if you ever need a better paying job, ring the bell.

Krist: ok.

Krist takes the card and joins his boss to say goodbye before going home. Isabelle had come home a little earlier to prepare dinner. Krist comes home and takes a nice shower before he can eat with his wife. Isabelle told him what had happened.

Krist: I’m sure you’ll get this job because God wanted to give it to you now. Because he saw your efforts.

Isabelle: I hope so.

On Sunday, Krist didn’t go to work so he spent a little more time with his wife. So on Monday morning, Isabelle puts together her files and goes to Charles’ clinic. She finds him in his office.

Isabelle: hello sir.

Charles: hello ma’am, take a seat.

Isabelle: thank you. My name is Isabelle.

Charles: ah Isabelle, is that you?

Isabelle: yes doctor.

Charles: ok, do you have your files?

Isabelle: yes doctor, here they are.

He takes his files and observes carefully.

Charles: wow, you worked at the Renaissance hospital?

Isabelle: yes doctor.

Charles: why did you leave?

Isabelle: is it necessary for you to know?

Charles: of course yes, if it was because of a mistake, I need to know so that it doesn’t happen again.

Isabelle: no it’s not because of an error.

Charles: so, what was it because of?

Isabelle: it bothers me to talk about it, doctor.

Charles: in that case you don’t belong here. This proves that you can hide certain things from me in my hospital and I don’t like that. You can take the door.

Isabelle: no, excuse me doctor, I will tell you. In fact, I had lost my job at this hospital because Doctor Roger had made advances towards me and I had refused. He even arranged for me to not find work anywhere but as a singer said, ”money can be stolen from me today, but what produces the money is in me” so no one can steal it. This is how I had to open a hair salon which I manage until now.

Charles: wow, you are a talented and hardworking woman ma’am.

Isabelle: thank you doctor.

Charles: please know that my hospital is really lacking in competent midwives like you and I really need your skills but unfortunately, I do not have enough resources to be able to pay you to match your skills.

Charles tells her this in order to test her love for money and work.

Isabelle: how much do you have to offer me?

Charles: 70% of your previous salary.

Isabelle: ok, that suits me.

Charles: really, do you agree to work for me?

Isabelle: yes of course, with joy and thank you very much doctor, I thought there was no more hope.

Charles: no, thank you and welcome to my clinic. You can start work tomorrow.

Isabelle: thank you doctor.

Charles: one last thing, can you work on your days off if you are called for an emergency?

Isabelle: of course, if the life of a human being is at stake and I can help, I will not hesitate.

Charles: thank you very much Doctor Isabelle, have a good day.

Isabelle: have a good day, doctor.

They shake hands and Isabelle leaves happily.

Charles: hum, very beautiful woman!

Isabelle takes her motorbike to leave and a pregnant woman is also brought right after her. A nurse informs Doctor Charles. The elders took care of the woman but she was unable to give birth normally. A midwife finds the doctor.

Charles: so she was able to give birth?

Midwife: no doctor, I think she needs a cesarean section.

Charles: no, wait a moment.

He takes his phone and calls Isabelle who has decided to come. She gets dressed and joins the other midwives and greets them. The jealous ones say to themselves, what miraculous thing can you do that we haven’t done yet? But Isabelle begins her work.

Isabelle: hello madam, how are you feeling?

Carine: I’m exhausted.

Isabelle: yes I understand. After such hard work, it’s normal. Hello sir, are you her husband?

Cyril: yes ma’am, help my wife.

Carine: I don’t want to have surgery.

Isabelle: don’t worry, I will try to give you a natural birth. Otherwise, we would have to use a cesarean section.

Carine: I hope so, ma’am.

Cyril: courage my darling.

Isabelle begins her labor and succeeds in giving the woman a natural birth. The husband and wife were very happy and thank her very much. She joins Doctor Sébastien.

Isabelle: I’m done, the woman gave birth so now I’m going to leave.

Charles: you have just shown me how competent you are Ms. Isabelle, please know that this service will be counted as overtime.

Isabelle: thank you doctor.

She leaves with the joy of having done a good job. Midwives chat among themselves.

Rachel: we must not leave her like that, she will worry too much. We have to do everything to get her out of here.

Carole: yes, we shouldn’t let her ridicule us.

Christelle: you’re sick, aren’t you? Instead of being jealous, we should instead seek to learn from her in order to improve ourselves. It’s clear that she has more experience than us.

Alice: I agree with Christelle.

Tomorrow morning, Isabelle is coming to start her work. After giving birth to a woman, Christelle and Alice ask her.

Christelle:

Alice: yes we would like to know.

Isabelle: in fact, the baby was just not very well positioned for delivery. And in such cases, you should insert your hand into the v****a to properly position the baby to facilitate delivery.

Christelle: okay, thank you very much.

A month later, Isabelle receives her first salary which is equivalent to her previous salary even though the doctor had told her that he would pay her 70%. Doctor Charles makes him understand his reasons. Isabelle was very happy and shared the news with her husband. A few months later the holidays arrive. Félix’s daughter is returning to school after her degree. Today, she decides to visit her father at the restaurant. This is where another ordeal for Krist began when she laid eyes on him and was attracted.