THE GREAT PRETENDER (31 page)

Chapter 27

“Y
ou have to let Joe know about the situation, Valerie. He probably doesn’t have a clue that he has this disease, and he’ll just continue to spread it,” said Olivia.

They were sitting together in Valerie’s room, waiting for their father to get home from the office. Their mother had informed them that they were having an important family discussion, and they were both very curious, to say the least.

“Olivia, I can’t. I don’t wanna have anything to do with that scumbag. I don’t care if he doesn’t know…Serves him right.” Valerie lay back against her pillows and curled into a fetal position. It seemed she couldn’t get herself to stop crying. Ever since she’d awakened from sedation on that horrid morning….

The morning Olivia had taken her to see Dr. Gabriel had proven to be one she would
never
forget. After giving her a thorough examination, he diagnosed her with one of the many forms of the human papilloma viruses, a.k.a. genital warts. The warts were internal and had developed on her cervix. He explained that the douching had been a good thing, as it caused the bleeding, which may not have occurred otherwise. He also clarified that although outbreaks could be treated, this was indeed a virus for which there was no known cure, and flare-ups were unpredictable and irregular. He then mentioned a few drugs used to control such outbreaks, and stressed the importance of a healthy diet and regular exercise to help keep them to a minimum. Valerie had listened in a daze as he talked about methods for removal. From a great distance, she heard the words
burn
,
freeze
, and
preferred method of treatment
.

Since she had been in no position to make any decisions, when they got out to the front desk, Olivia set up an appointment for her to return the following day. The procedure took less than an hour, and Olivia had lingered nervously in the waiting room, thinking how easily it could’ve been
her
in there with that problem.

Going through this experience with Valerie sobered her to the fact that she could just as easily contract something awful from Sean. Then what would she do? After all, she had gotten pregnant, hadn’t she? And nothing had changed. He was still disappearing for days and feeding her bullshit stories about where he’d been and why he hadn’t returned her phone calls.

Yes, Olivia had definitely learned from the experience. And she, too, would never forget it. Almost overnight, Sean Johnson, and all of his trash officially became American history.

Now as Valerie refused to do what Olivia insisted was the right thing and contact this boy, Olivia reached over and shoved her sister’s hip. “You have to tell him. Do you want someone else to go through what you are? Valerie?
You must tell him
. You have a moral responsibility to tell him.”

Valerie rolled her eyes, heaving a submissive sigh. “Fine. I’ll tell him. I’ll call him tomorrow. You happy now? Geez.” She had no intention of doing any such thing. Deep down, she thought the experience would be too humiliating. If she could help it, Joseph Ellison would never hear her voice again.

“Good,” said Olivia, pacified. “The
last
thing he should be doing is to continue having sex and spreading that stuff.” Olivia softened when she saw fresh tears on Valerie’s face. “Oh, Val…I know this has been rough, but it’ll smooth out. Cry if you have to, but remember that if we don’t learn anything from this, then we’d
really
have something to cry about.”

Just then, there was a knock at the door, followed by Reginald’s voice announcing his arrival. Valerie ran into her bathroom and splashed water on her puffy face. The way she felt, the last thing she needed was questions from her parents. As it was, she wished like hell that she could somehow grow a new body. She was utterly disgusted with herself. Olivia gave her a few more words of encouragement before they slowly opened the bedroom door and descended the stairs.

“I wonder what
this is about,” Olivia said as they headed for the den. Valerie just shrugged. At this point, she didn’t much care.

When they sat down, Olivia said, “So what’s this all about? Daddy going back to Orlando?”

Valerie remained silent but sent a venomous look Olivia’s way.

“Olivia, this is serious—” Tracy began, a glance at Valerie causing her to break off. “Val, what’s wrong? Your eyes are red and swollen. Have you been crying or something?”

Feigning a yawn, Valerie said, “Crying? No, I was asleep.”

“Oh…well.” Returning her gaze to Olivia, Tracy said in a firm voice, “Your father’s not going anywhere, but there is something very serious that he needs to share with both of you.” Tracy looked at Reginald, as if to say,
They’re all yours.

Reginald cleared his throat, and then said quietly: “You have a baby sister.” He watched for their reactions.

At first, shock registered simultaneously on their faces. Then Olivia’s hardened, while Valerie’s filled with pain and disbelief.

“She’s six years old and her name is Denise,” he continued. “Your mother and I have disc—”

“
A baby sister?
” exclaimed Valerie, wide-eyed. “Daddy, you can’t be serious!” But from the looks on her parents’ faces, she seemed to know that he was very serious. “With who? How did that happen?” Her already saturated eyes suddenly filled with tears. “A little girl? Oh, my God…” Her hand flew to cover her mouth as she searched her parents’ faces.

Reggie opened his mouth to respond, but Olivia interjected. “Well, well. I can’t say that I’m even the
least
bit surprised.” She folded her arms across her chest and looked out the window. “So, do we happen to have
any more
siblings we should know about, or is the plan for you to spring them on us every six years or so?” Her tone was sharp as she looked back at her father.

Reginald raised his hand, face full of confusion. “Wait a minute…
what the hell is this?
You think moving out of the house earned you a ticket to be disrespectful? I
am
still
your father.” His face changed then; he became very matter-of-fact as he pointed a finger in Olivia’s direction. “No more—do you hear me? This stops
right now
. I’ve had all I’m going to take. Enough of this ridiculous father beseeching daughter for forgiveness. I—am—your—father, damn it! And I will not allow my own child—my firstborn child at that—to insult me like that in my own house! You may not live under this roof anymore, but whenever you come through that front door, you
will
have respect for your mother and me.” Reginald’s anger boiled. “Whether you like it or not,
You will always be my daughter.
” The more he’d coddled her, the more she’d pulled away.
But
no more.

They all watched mutely as his anger spilled over. “All these years I’ve been jumping through hoops to make you happy…Bending over backwards to make a good life for you, to make up for not being here. But obviously none of it’s ever been enough. Hell, maybe I deserve some of this resentment,” he said, spreading his arms wide and then letting them drop. “I don’t know, maybe so…But I do know this: You talk to me like that again, and I promise you, it’ll be the
last
time you do it under this roof!”

Her dad’s eyes bored into hers. For a moment, she was dumbstruck, and it was all over her face. Reggie was sure she couldn’t remember the last time he’d spoken to anyone—much less her—with such raw emotion, good or bad.

Tracy watched the pivotal scene. Fighting to control her own emotions, she said, “That brings us to the next reason for this meeting.” She kept her voice calm, ever the conciliator. “I want us—the four of us—to go see a family counselor. I think that…well, that we’ll really need it to help us get through everything that’s happening.”

A hush fell over the room then for what seemed like an eternity. They each tried to gather their thoughts. The creeping minute hand on the marble grandfather clock seemed to echo throughout the room like a freight train, hitting and dismantling the family with every tick.

Valerie’s eyes locked momentarily with her father’s. She couldn’t believe that he actually had another daughter, another child besides them. What did that mean for their family? What was going to happen to their lives now that this other kid existed? Why did this have to happen? Was it
really
even happening? Did her parents really call them downstairs for this? She thought she heard the telephone ringing off in the distance, but she couldn’t be sure…

Olivia stared unseeingly at the space in front of her. She wasn’t sure how she felt just then or how she wanted to react to all that had been said in the last five minutes. Her mind kept replaying her father’s rant. Obviously, he’d been suppressing those feelings…And Olivia was unsure how to react. What should she say?

Struggling with the urge to cave and lose control, right there in front of them, Tracy felt sick. She heard the invasive ringing of the telephone, but who cared? How did one handle such awful things? Especially when they were happening to your own family? How did one handle finding the love of your life at such a young age, creating two extraordinary new lives out of that love, only to have it all turn into a scene like this? She crossed her arms over her chest and squeezed herself.

Reginald shook his head slowly. He was responsible for all of this. His family needed to go see a shrink—what an accomplishment. At some level, he’d always known that someday he’d have to pay a price for the years of pretending he was single, free, and disengaged.

Beleaguered by remorse, Reginald sank into a nearby lounge chair.

Renee had been a warm body, nothing more, nothing less. Unfortunately, she had become pregnant. And what had he done? He’d allowed Franklin to convince him that he’d be best served by living in make-believe. He created an illusion, and grossly misled her.

Simultaneously, on the other end of his life, he had pretended he was a faithful, hardworking husband and father, a man who deserved the love and respect of his children. He had grossly misled them as well.

By the time the fog of false pretense had lifted, he’d come home to find that his wife had been left to seek solace in the arms of another man, and his little girls were now women that he knew next to nothing about.

In that very moment, the harsh reality of what he had done gripped Reginald. There were at least
six
lives changed because he’d lost himself in a crazy mist of pretension. And sadly, the mist hadn’t lifted for nearly seven years. This was the result.

Finally, Olivia broke the saturated silence. She was mindful to keep a respectful tone of voice. “I just want to say one thing before I get my purse and leave.” She rose and moved toward the entryway. “I’m
so
glad that I don’t live here anymore. I couldn’t bear living in such a scandalous mess. Good luck with the new kid…and the counseling.”

“You hold it right there, Olivia.” Tracy rose from her chair. “Just where do you think you’re going? You may not live here with us anymore, but you are
still
a part of this family and we have to see our way through this ‘scandalous mess,’ as you so
caringly
put it.”

“How? By going to see a shrink, like we’re all crazy? No, thank you. It would be so embarrassing. I can handle my own problems. I’m not going to some…some
psychiatrist,
like a nutcase.”

“And just how are you handling
this
particular problem? By walking out? Pretending that we all don’t matter? Well, I’ve got news for you, young lady,
we do matter
. We’re your family. I am your mother; I gave birth to you. He’s your father”—she motioned toward Reginald—“he was there. Neither one of you would be here, living and breathing to express yourselves this way, if it weren’t for the two of us.

“We’re not perfect—I’m not suggesting that we ever have been—but if we hadn’t done right by you, neither one of you would be as bright and intelligent as you are. Nor would you be able to think for yourselves as you do now.”

Tracy took a deep breath. “Now, you may be of age and you may live on your own and you may
think
you’re all grown up, but I’ll tell you
both
that you’ll
never
be old enough to have the right to turn your backs on us. We happen to be parents who don’t deserve that from our children. You were raised to be more sensible than that.

“Now, we all just found out that there is another child in the picture. Reggie and I decided that we could work through it. We’ve both made mistakes”—she looked pointedly at Valerie, who quickly looked away—“but we’ve loved each other for a long time, long before either of you came into our lives. But in order to have the best chance at keeping our family together, we need help. There’s nothing wrong with that, nothing to be ashamed of in seeing professional help.”