CHARACTER SKETCH 11: VANESSA EDWARDS

I am still working on my Zena character. As a perfectionist, I keep chopping and changing bits of her character. When she's ready, it will be worth it. It's a promise. In the meantime, I present the next character in my first unwritten novel, 'Redemption - Ideal Life'. Vanessa is Larry's estranged wife.

Vanessa was extremely content with her life. From humble belongings, she had completed university, got a good job, married her long term partner and had two lovely kids. She was happy with the way things were going.

She did not think the disagreements she was beginning to have with Larry with increasing frequency was anything serious. She attributed this to the ups and downs of marriage live. She was therefore, devastated when Larry announced he was leaving the marital home.

For the first time in her life she was not in control of a situation and that drove her crazy. She refused to believe that she was partially to blame for Larry’s decision to leave. She was convinced Larry was just making excuses when he told close family that he was fed up with her aggressive, abusive and vengeful behaviour. She believed the real reason for Larry’s behaviour was because Zena had used charms on him and he was not in control of his actions. She felt she needed to save her husband from losing the plot.

Vanessa draws admiration from her friends as she always seem in control and organised. Her word is her bond. Even Larry praises her for never looking at a man since they were together.

As Vanessa tries to save her marriage, she draws great pity from Pastor Sokoya who resolves to help her win Larry back. In her distress, she failed to effectively protect her kids from what was going on. Her daughter occasionally burst into tears when she overhears Vanessa discussing her marriage woes over the phone. She would use her daughter to ask her daddy to come back home.

The separation hit her hard. She developed an unhealthy eating habit that threatened her already slightly overweight figure.
Vanessa's suspicious and irritable nature means she was always arguing. She always liked to have the last word which was a problem in her marriage.

As she spent more time at church her smile began to return and she started to make an effort to dress smartly to complement her curvy figure and pretty round shaped face and narrow set eyes. She also began to gradually accept that her paranoid and aggressive nature drives people away from her.

She was elated Frank decided to think about returning home after a trial separation and resolved to be a supportive wife although this was easier said than done.