The consequences of Assumption

Catherine;

The news reporter advised people not to travel as this would be the worst storm seen in these parts in over fifty years. But there was something in his mother’s voice that told him he needed to get to her as soon as possible. She sounded panicked when she said it was an emergency and she needed to see him right away.

The rumble of thunder echoing in the distance, along with the fierce wind rattling the storm windows, accentuated the feeling of dread that filled the room. Shaking the rain water from his clothes he slowly moved forward.

Removing his jacket while walking towards her, he asked, “What’s wrong mom? Why am I here?”

“You cannot marry Tina.”

Her words stopped him in his tracks and shocked him into silence for a few seconds before she spoke again,

“I won’t allow it, Gerald. In fact I forbid it. You cannot marry this girl and she must never bear your children, no matter how much you think you love her– it would be the worst mistake of your life.”

“What? How can you speak of Tina in that way, mom? You know she is everything to me and you must know that she feels the same way. How many times have you spoken highly of her over the last six months and even encouraged me in this relationship? I don’t understand why your opinion of her has suddenly changed and at the worst possible time.”

Catherine knew that her son was speaking the truth, but how could she tell him her reason without revealing a truth she had kept hidden for over twenty-five years. She knew, without a doubt, that dark secret would fracture his heart.

Her husband, god rest his soul, had advised her so many times over his last year to tell Gerald the truth. But, no matter how hard she tried she could never find the right moment or right words to tell him how he was conceived.

How could she tell her son that he was a child born from rape– a rape that couldn’t be proved in court? She had been a young girl of seventeen, on a school trip to New Zealand, when it happened. The memories of that night, on that beach, were etched into her soul and lived on in her dreams for the last twenty-five years.

John Lewis was his name and she could see his face in her mind as clearly today as she did on that night so many years ago.

She didn’t tell anybody about that night until a couple of months later, when she was safely back home, in Canada, and felt sure that she was pregnant. The first and last person, she told was her best friend, Gerard Lane, who surprised her by telling her his truth. He professed his love – a love he had felt for years and offered to marry her, which would save her from the wrath of her blue-blood family. Gerard knew as well as she did that all her family cared about was how they looked to the outside world.

Up until a week ago Catherine had known her son’s lover as Tina Fowler and loved everything about her. She thought that Tina was a perfect match for her son– until she learned the sad history of her childhood.

Catherine had always understood that Tina had been raised in Australia before moving to Canada two years ago, not knowing that she had actually spent the first five years of her life in New Zealand.

This fact and others, that shook Catherine to her core, were revealed as the two women spent a sunny afternoon together, planning the wedding. Catherine had asked her about her earliest memories and was surprised when Tina started to cry before speaking.

She said that her mother had been in a very violent relationship with the man she was married to– a man Tina refused to call her father. After five years of constant abuse her mother, under the cover of night, packed Tina into their beat up old car and escaped to Australia, where she changed their family name to Fowler and started a new life. Catherine’s heart broke for Tina until she asked what had become of her father and she replied,

“Please don’t call him my father, he was never a father to me in life and now that he is dead I hope to never hear his name again.”

Catherine asked, “Do you know what happened to him? Are you sure he’s dead.”

Tina reached into her purse, saying, “He got what he deserved,” before handing a New Zealand, small town, newspaper article to Catherine.

Her heart felt like it would stop as she looked at the picture of a man that had been killed in his sleep by his abused wife of many years.

It read, “Town bully and abusive husband, John Lewis, killed in his sleep by his wife. If ever there was a case for self defence this is it, as this whole town knows the hell this woman has endured.”

Her hands shook as she read the name, John Lewis, and stared at the picture of the man she knew to be Gerald’s father.

She had to stop this wedding at any cost but had no idea how to tell Gerald that the love of his life was actually his sister.

******

Gerald;

Shaking with anger and confusion, his mind spinning like a roulette wheel, Gerald could not find a reason for his mother’s sudden dislike for Tina.

It had been less than two weeks since Tina and Gerald had taken his mother to dinner, at her favourite restaurant, and informed her of the happy news of their engagement. The look of joy on his mother’s face that night had warmed his soul. She couldn’t have been happier for them.

But now, as she spoke, her eyes welled with tears and a look of what could only be described as fear crossed her face.

“Gerald, I need you to sit down, please, and listen to me. What I need to tell you is going to be very difficult to hear and very difficult for me to say.”

As he tentatively sat beside her, memories of the last year of his father’s life filled the room. His mother had been the glue that held them all together during that time. The unwavering strength that she had shown over those months was nothing short of inspiring to everyone around her.

That strength seemed to evaporate from the room as she moved closer and reached out. He had never seen his mother like this and it frightened him. Time seemed to stop as he felt the roulette wheel in his mind slow, ready to drop the ball into the worst possible slot.

Her hands felt cold in his and a look of immense pain filled her eyes as she asked, “How much do you know about Tina’s early childhood?”

Gerald told her that he knew everything about Tina’s life as they held no secrets from each other. He said he knew that she was born in New Zealand and that her and her mother moved to Australia and changed their family name when she was five, to escape her abusive father. He even knew her father’s name was John Lewis and he was recently killed by his wife.

They stared into each other’s eyes for several seconds before Gerald asked,

“What does any of this have to do with how you feel about Tina? I don’t understand how something that happened to her as a child, something she had no control over, has any bearing on what she means to me. None of this makes any sense, mom.”

His mother paused for some time, seeming to gather strength, before speaking again.

Tears streamed down her face as she spoke, “I need to tell you the truth about your birth and your biological father– a truth I should have told you many years ago. I am so sorry, now, that I could never find the strength to tell you this before.”

“My biological father? What the hell are you talking about, mom? Are you saying I was adopted?”

“No, Gerald, you were not adopted. It’s a long story and I will explain it all to you now. But the most important detail is your father’s name and where you were conceived.”

Gerald could feel his whole world come crashing down when she said, “His name was, John Lewis, and it happened when I was on a school trip to New Zealand.”

For the next several minutes Gerald felt like he was being sucked into a black hole as his mother explained, in great detail, the events that started twenty-five years ago and led to this moment.

His mind, a whirlwind of memories and confusion, refused to accept this truth. This could not be true– there had to be a mistake.

He had loved Tina since the first moment he laid eyes on her and that love had grown stronger with each passing day. They were soul mates. He knew this as sure as he knew he was sitting here with his mother receiving the worst news of his life. His mother’s words started to fade to white noise as his mind latched onto three words– the only words that mattered.

Rape, sister and Tina– the only words he heard.

These words filled his mind as he jumped up yelling, “Mom, stop. Enough, I’m going to see Tina,” before running out the front door into the blinding rain.

With the car wipers unable to clear the rain and the tears in his eyes, he couldn’t see much more than a few car lengths ahead. The winding road from his mother’s house to the highway slowed him down. Finally, after much too long, he could see the last turn before the on-ramp and gunned the engine.

It was the worst thing he could have done. He stomped on the gas while going into the turn but because of the amount of water on the road, the car spun sideways sliding around the bend and into the path of an oncoming tractor trailer.

The last words he said before the headlights of the truck entered his driver side door were,

“I love you, Tina.”

*****

Tina;

It had been three months since, what Tina assumed would be, the worst day of her life. The day that Gerald was laid to rest and Catherine spoke the words that had broken her in every way.

At first, in her unimaginable grief, she blamed Catherine for Gerald’s death. How could Catherine’s words be true? She’d felt, from the first day she met Gerald, a connection like no other she had ever felt. It was not a connection of brother and sister but a connection of true love– a connection of soul mates.

For almost three months she struggled with reality, sleeping for long stretches, forgetting to eat or bathe and very rarely leaving the apartment. She’d spoken with her mother on several occasions but couldn’t bring herself to tell her what Catherine had said.

Finally, less than a week ago, she decided to travel to Australia and tell her mother, face to face, the truth about what, she believed to be, the cause of Gerald’s death– Catherine’s words.

She was in her mother’s home for less than an hour before, what was left of her heart was destroyed. Her mother sat staring into her eyes as Tina recounted everything that Catherine had told her.

She told her how Gerald was conceived while Catherine, at just seventeen years old, was on a school trip to New Zealand. Tina paused while trying to gather the strength to say the word Sister until her mother asked, “What does this have to do with Gerald’s death?”

She tried with everything in her to say the words, but couldn’t, so she reached into her purse and passed the newspaper clipping across the table. Tina watched as her mother read the article, with tears in her eyes, before reaching across the table and taking Tina’s hands in hers.

She could feel her mother’s hands trembling before she spoke,

“I’m so sorry, Tina, but Catherine has made an assumption that couldn’t be more wrong.”

Tina felt anger rising as she tapped her fingers on the picture of John Lewis, and said,

“She is not wrong mom. Catherine has seen this picture and knows, without a doubt, that this is Gerald’s father. How could she forget the man that raped her?”

“Tina calm down and listen carefully to what I have to say. I have no doubt that Catherine was telling the truth about the rape because, god knows, I know what that man was capable of. I also believe that John Lewis is Gerald’s father but what I’m telling you now is that he is, most definitely, not your father.”

Tina’s mind spun with confusion and disbelief as she searched for words,

“I don’t understand, mom. Are you saying I was adopted?”

“Yes, honey, sort of.”

“What the hell does sort of mean, mom. You’re confusing me.”

“Tina, you remember I had an older sister, Clara, don’t you?”

“Yes of course I remember. Aunt Clara died before I was born and her picture is hanging on the wall behind you. But what does she have to do with this?”

“I should have told you this a long time ago but Clara was destined to be a single mom and didn’t die before you were born, she actually died, giving birth, on the day you were born.”

Darkness overtook her soul as the trembling that started in her feet worked its way up her legs, through her abdomen and wrapped around her heart before she screamed, at the top of her lungs,

“No! Please God, no.”

******

Catherine;

In all her years of nursing, Susan had never seen a person decline so suddenly– it made no sense. She had been charged with Catherine’s care since the day she was transferred from the hospital to Flower hill care home. As Susan’s son had also died in a tragic car accident, she had become attached to Catherine on day one. She understood deeply what the loss of a child could do to a person.

She’d had many conversations with Catherine over the last month and knew she had a long road ahead but could see that she was slowly making progress towards healing. So this sudden change came as a surprise to her. Catherine had been in an almost catatonic state for almost two days now and Susan couldn’t figure out why.

As she removed the blanket from Catherine, preparing to give her a sponge bath, she thought about their last conversation. It was at the end of her shift two days ago and she had stopped in to visit her before going home for the night. She remembered that while they were talking a letter was delivered for Catherine and she could see her hands shaking as she looked at the return address.

It felt out of character to Susan, when Catherine asked to be left alone to read the letter but she agreed, bid her goodnight, and left for the evening. When Susan came back, the next morning, Catherine was in the state she was in now.

Susan could see the empty envelope on the bedside table as she prepared to bathe Catherine and wondered where the letter was. She stopped what she was doing and started searching the bed for the letter. She searched everywhere but couldn’t find it until she noticed that Catherine’s right hand was clenched into a tight fist. She pried her hand open to reveal a crumpled up, single, sheet of paper. She unwrapped the paper and started to read before saying, “Oh, my god,” and sitting beside the bed, in tears, as she stared at the broken woman lying in front of her.

**

From: Tina Fowler,

304 Collette rd, Brisbane

Australia.

**

Catherine,

I pray that this letter somehow finds its way to you. I need you to understand what you have done and what the consequences of your assumptions have cost. I sit here in this hotel room staring at an empty pill bottle as I write this letter. I will have to make this short as I am starting to feel sleepy now and will be leaving soon to join Gerald. I have no wish or reason to be in this world without him. He was everything to me– my heart, my soul, my life and you took that away.

You see, Catherine, Gerald was not my brother as John Lewis was not my father. I was actually adopted by my mother and truly the daughter of my aunt Clara who died in childbirth.

Goodbye………………..