KNOWING THE TRUTH 2

     Ethan watched Faith as she leaned back on the seat and placed the ice bag on her head. Ms Rose had given her an ice bag because she felt her head hurt. Ethan had been introduced properly and they had left. 

     But it wasn't her head that was hurting, she was just so astonished. She couldn't believe her father could be that heartless. She had not known the kind of monster he was. "He is a cruel monster," she kept muttering to herself even as they sat in the car. 

       Ethan let her be. He knew she had a lot going on in her head at that moment and she wasn't thinking straight, not after all she had heard about her parents. She had narrated it the best way she could and he understood her. 

       "Let's go please," she said after a while. 

       "Chicago?" 

       "No, to the church. I want to talk to the Reverend." 

       "Are you sure about that? I mean you could take..." 

       "I want to go there now!" Faith snapped and blinked twice. "I'm... I'm sorry, oh, shit!" 

        "It's fine, I will take you there." 

          "Ethan, I'm sorry... I didn't mean to snap at you." 

     Ethan glanced at her and started the car. "You don't need to be, I totally understood." 

       "I just want to right the wrong done to my mom. I should read these letters first right?" 

        "I think you should." 

Wrote

        "I want to end it all today. Can you put off the engine first let's read these letters and know what they say."

       Faith opened the letters one after the other and they read them together. Faith was stunned at what she saw in the letters. They spent an hour reading those letters. 

     "I'm really glad we came here before going to the local parish." 

   Ethan huffed. "This is really something. This is more than domestic violence, this is real cruelty."

      "He was the devil and to think he practiced the religion of peace. Oh, my God! I wish he didn't die so peacefully." 

      "It's a good thing that he is dead. At least, you don't have to be trapped anymore, you can be free now." 

       "But he didn't face justice. He should have died a slow painful death. Let's go and see that Reverend he deceived so much." 

      Ethan kicked the car and it coughed and whined for a moment before it started. "I hope this car doesn't break down on us," he said as he drove forward. 

       "I'm really glad we came to Chicago first before going to Oak Park, I wouldn't have had any evidence to show that priest. But, in all these, I kind of feel I am fighting a lost battle. Maybe, if I have searched for my mom a bit earlier, I would have vindicated her."

     "Hey, Faith, I don't want you to think of it that way, okay. I want you to think of it like this. Think of your mom being proud of you for trying to speak out, something she wasn't strong enough to do."

    Faith smiled and kept her eyes on the road ahead. "You know, one of those days, Joshua told me to make sure I grow up to become a strong woman. I never really understand him then, but I think I did as he said and I understand why he said that now. Mom had no job she was nothing without my dad and that was why he was able to use her that way. She was strong but not strong enough to let her voice be heard."

        "I know you are strong enough to do that." 

  She reached for his other hand that was not steering the car and intertwined her fingers with his. He took their hands to his mouth and kissed them. 

         It was 4:30 p.m. when they got to the church. A man approached them after a few minutes of sitting there.  

       "There is no one with the Reverend now, you can go for your confession now," the man said. 

     Faith and Ethan looked at themselves. "We are not here for confession though," Ethan said. 

       The man's forehead crumpled in a frown. "Oh, I'm sorry, is there anything I can help you with?" 

       "Ye...s...er…we are here to see Father Bernard." 

       The man stared at them suspiciously for a while. "Well, he is retired." 

         "We know, can you please give us an address, this is urgent please," Faith pleaded. 

      The man still stared at them suspiciously and he took out his cell phone. "Can you give me a minute, please?" 

      "Sure, take your time," Faith said. 

     The man started walking away, while his shoes hit the 

wooden floor of the church. Faith placed her head on Ethan's shoulder and let out a deep breath. The man returned a few minutes later and handed them a sheet with a scribbled down address. 

        "Here’s his address, good luck," he said with a smile. 

       Faith and Ethan thanked him and left. 

        Father Bernard's residential house was not far away from the church, so it took them a few minutes to get to the house. The house sat in a serene environment characterised by green trees. The environment suited Faith. They saw a sign by the road which pointed inside a tree grove, which they later found out was a driveway. The house sat, amidst flowers, gleaming white. They parked in front of it and went out. 

     As they stepped up towards the front door, a middle-aged slim and prim lady in a flowery dress opened the door and smiled at them. "Welcome," she said. 

      "Thank you," the duo chorused. 

       "This way please." 

      She led them into a vast living room which was gleaming and Faith marvelled at how polished the floor was. The floor shined like oil had been used to clean it and it suddenly reminded her of the time she lived alone with her father. She had mopped floors and polished floors until her knuckles turned white. She tried to imagine the woman polishing the floors. 

      "The priest would join you shortly," the woman said softly and smiled kindly. "Meanwhile, I'll get you coffee." 

      She brought them coffee. The finest coffee they have tasted. 

    Faith looked at Ethan after taking a sip from her mug. "It's this a thing with priests? Making good coffee?" When Ethan looked at her blankly, she said. "I am talking about the monastery guest house." 

      "Oh, oh, that's not a monastery though," he replied. 

      "I know, but it looks like one and I can never get over calling it a monastery." 

      They laughed. 

     It was five forty-five p.m. When the Reverend was led out to the living room by the woman, she helped him to sit and covered a blanket on his legs. 

       "Thank you," the clergy said to the woman with a smile. 

      The woman returned the smile and went away. The clergy turned to face them. Faith stared at the priest 

 He has aged from when Faith remembered him and his hair was completely white with age, he still looked like the man she knew except that his face was wrinkled. 

       "Do I know you?" he asked. 

       "Er...yes. I'm Faith Prescott, Alfred Prescott's daughter. I believe you remember me." 

    The old man's eyes sparkled. "Oh, I see. I thought you looked familiar." He looked at Ethan. 

     Faith looked at Ethan and locked her fingers with his. "This is Ethan Floyd, my boyfriend." 

       The man appeared expressionless. "Does your father know about him?" he asked. 

       "No," Faith said with a smile. 

       "Oh, did you come to get my blessings then?" 

      I don't need your freaking blessings to choose whom to love. Faith wanted to say but she said instead. "I came because of my parents. I am going to keep it short and simple." 

       "What do you mean about your parents?" 

        "I am looking for my mother and I believe you know what went wrong between them." 

       "I am in no position to tell you that, child. If you have been a good daughter to your father." 

     Faith chuckled and Ethan squeezed her hand not to say something rude. She looked at him and looked back at the priest. "No one was ever good to my father. Anyway, I came to hear his own side of the story, I want to know why he did that to my mom." 

      "What are you talking about child? I thought your father raised you better than this?" 

        "I am glad I didn't follow in his footsteps. He was a monster." 

        "What?" 

       "Yes, he manipulated you all. I want to hear everything that happened." 

        The priest stared at her in confusion. "You should go back to your dad and apologize to him. Why did you his children choose to walk in the ways of your mother?" 

      "Well, I would have been glad if he was alive to face his punishment because I would have given him a slow and very painful death after finding out what I did today." 

      "What did you find out?" 

  Faith stood and kept the bundle of letters on his blanket. "These are the letters my mom wrote to her friend about what was happening in our home and everything in these letters speaks the truth about what went on in our home." The Reverend stared at the letters. "My father was a monster, unless you knew about it and covered up for him, you will find everything in those letters shocking and they were all true. He hit mom and he hit us too. I don't know what he told the church but my mom was never the bad egg. 

      "He hit her and she lost that child. That particular incident made her lose her mind and wanted to kill him for good. It was never her fault and because he had the upper hand, he manipulated everything to his favour and sent my mom far away from us," Faith said in a teary voice. "I believe if you are a good person, you would detect the pain in those letters, the anguish, the tears, the fear in them. She can't just make up words that I will come here to confirm. Joshua too would tell you the same thing if you ever get to see him. 

       "My dad messed us all up. He did. I was messed up until I met him." She pointed at Ethan as tears ran down her cheeks. "I had a good job, money, best friend and even a love life going on for me then but deep down, I was crawling on my hands and knees. The same goes for Joshua. He ruined our relationship, Joshua thinks I was the reason he left home..." 

       "Have you seen Joshua?" 

       "Oh, yes! We live in the same city, Los Angeles but as freaking strangers. Dad told him I sold him out, just to ruin our relationship. I don't know how he got to know about his sexuality, but that ruined my relationship with my only brother." 

        "Your father, he...he overheard you guys talking about it. He followed Joshua that night. He thought it was something else, so he snuck up to your door and heard everything." 

      "Really?" Faith wiped her tears. "I will give you some time to read those letters to know who my father really was." Faith said and stood up. 

    Ethan stood and put his arms around her and they went outside and stood by the car while the priest went through the letters one after the other. Ethan went to the car and took out two plastic plates, he handed one to Faith. 

       When she stared at him in askance he said. "You have not eaten after the meal you had in the morning. I figured you would be hungry." 

       "Are you not a darling?" She took the plate from him and they sat on the trunk of the car to eat. "This place is so cool. I love its tranquil coolness." 

      "The country girl in you has not died." 

        "Of course, I'm a country girl." 

          They chuckled. 

        "This is quite shocking, I must say," the Reverend said after an hour when they came back. "He presented such a stainless image outside." The man removed his spectacles. "He said your mother was very stubborn and worldly, it makes sense now why she looked so forlorn and uninterested in anything at that time. I am sorry I had to judge her that way. About the pregnancy she lost, he said she fell down the stairs which was why she had those number of injuries on her body. I never really knew she was passing through all of that. She should have said something. "

      "She should have, but no one would ever believe her. My mom never for one day resorted to narcotics, she was mentally fine and he knew it and he had to send her there knowing it would make her worse, separating her from me, from us! I want to hear, I want to hear his side of the story."

         The clergy went ahead and told her the story again but from her father's perspective. Faith realised that her father was both a liar, a manipulator and a beast. That was when she knew why her mother was non-existent in her maiden years. He had put her name out of the records, just so he would own her. He was also a control freak. 

       She was in tears after the whole story, Ethan put his arms around her shoulders and consoled her. After crying, she wiped her tears and looked up at the man. 

        "For years, I blamed her for leaving us like that. That was what he wanted. He wanted us to hate our mother, he wanted us to feel she gave up on us, that was why he never said anything about her to me until he died. I'm just sad that I found out the truth so late. He is dead and couldn't receive the revenge I wanted to mate out on him, I would have reopened this case and made sure he rots in jail and I would have put a smile on my mom's face again. If I had just made a move earlier, maybe, she would still be alive. Now, she is dead."

       "Dead?" the priest asked. 

   Faith was a bit confused. "I...Joshua searched for her and found out she was dead." 

          "Well, that's not what my records say," the priest said and rang a tiny bell beside him. "I have something here." 

       The woman that had seen them in came in quickly. The priest looked at her. 

       "Could you help me get those files in my bedroom drawer the topmost one." The woman genuflected and left. 

      She reappeared a few seconds later and handed the clergy the files. "Thank you." He stretched out his hand with the file and Ethan stood and got it from him. "From what I have there, she changed her name to Marilyn Childress. When she left the asylum, she faked her death and changed her name to Marilyn Now she is at an orphanage home in Iowa. One of the clergymen who were here then saw her there and sent me these reports just last week. "

       "Oh, my God! She is alive!" Faith exclaimed.