Truth be told

TRUTH BE TOLD

“I brought some fresh scones with clotted cream, so be a dear, put the kettle on and we can have a nice chinwag,” said Thea as she plopped herself onto the worn sofa in the breakroom, kicked off her work shoes and rubbed her swollen feet before placing them on a chair she had pulled from one of the tables in the staff dining area.

  Keisha smiled knowingly as she recognised her friend’s code for a juicy piece of gossip that she was dying to share and wondered what colourful story she had today.  She filled the electric jug, switched it on and retrieved two mugs from the cupboard to make tea for Thea and coffee for herself.

 “Did you bake them yourself?” Keisha asked as she handed her the steaming tea, strong and sweet with “quite a bit of milk”, just as Thea liked it.

Thea guffawed and replied, “Me, bake? Huh! As if!”

She took a noisy, appreciative sip of tea, and stuffed a whole scone into her mouth savouring the taste as she chewed and swallowed before launching into her news of the day.

“Mrs Dyson’s great-granddaughter sure is pretty! I met her and her mom yesterday when they came to visit her.” Thea began with an air of superiority.

As intended, Keisha’s interest was aroused, and she begged for more. Thea was never one to disappoint her audience, so she continued to tell her tale.

“She looks a lot like Dale, you know and there’s no doubt about her paternity, I can tell you that for nothing! Such a well-mannered child.” She picked up another scone and licked the cream with her eyes closed.

 Both Thea and Keisha were startled by the sound of a chair scraping loudly as someone stood up suddenly on the other side of the L-shaped room and they caught a glimpse of Stella, one of the other carers as she sped from the room without saying a word to them.

 “Unbelievable!” Stella muttered to herself as she strode purposefully down the corridor towards the room where her best friend was making the bed of a resident who had gone to sit in the lounge.

 “You’ll never believe what I heard Thea saying just now in the staff room!” she began.

“Tell me, then.” responded her friend Lynn.

“She said that Mrs Dyson’s daughter-in-law came here yesterday with a little girl who looks exactly like Dale!”

Lynn gasped in disbelief as she added up the maths and came up with a crazy answer. She was too stunned for words, but the wheels continued to spin in her head as she finished her task and moved on to the next room.

Incidentally, the next room on Lynn’s schedule was Mrs Dyson’s and as luck would have it, she was awake sitting on her recliner, watching TV.

 “Good morning, Margaret!” Lynn greeted her cheerfully.

“Oh, is it morning already?” Mrs Dyson replied, “I was just about to change into my nighty!”

“No, Margaret. It’s nearly 10am and you’ve just had your breakfast, remember?” she reminded her.

“What on earth are you talking about, child? I never said I was going out!”

Lynn pursed her lips to suppress a giggle as she noticed that the old lady was wearing a black leather sandal on one foot and a plush pink slipper on the other, each item of footwear was on the wrong foot giving the “banana” effect more common in little children below the age of six. Lynn knelt and started to remove the odd shoes, replacing the sandal with the slipper’s partner on the correct feet. Margaret hardly noticed and did not complain.

 “That’s better, isn’t it?” Lynn asked as she stood up, pointing to her feet,

“Oh, my! What lovely slippers! Whose are they?” Margaret looked genuinely surprised as she wiggled her feet in admiration.

“They’re yours. Your daughter-in-law brought them yesterday.”

“Oh, was Eleanor here yesterday? How sweet of her, such a lovely girl.” Margaret said with a wistful smile.

 “Is Eleanor Dale’s wife, then?” Lynn finally popped the question she had been dying to ask all the while.

“Dale…… yes, he is such a handsome devil, isn’t he? Eleanor dotes on him, and girls always go wild around him, but I warn him that he needs to finish high school first, and then get into university for his medical degree. He is going to be a doctor, you know.” She told Lynn with pride.

“Dale is a fine doctor, Margaret,” replied Lynn.

“I don’t need a doctor, girl! I’m perfectly healthy, you know!” the old woman told her.

“Yes, Margaret,” Lynn responded absently.

 “So, she is his wife! What a sneaky fox, that Dale is!” thought Lynn. She chose to disregard the disjointed ramblings from Margaret’s demented mind, winnowing out the pieces of information that appeared to confirm what she had been told.

“Poor Mary!” said Lynn as she began to make Margaret’s bed and tried to figure out the kindest way to break the news to her cousin who worked on the night shift.

Two weeks later…...

Mary had never been more relieved to finish her shift than on this sunny morning in late spring. Her feet were ballooned and her back ached horribly, but she dared not complain to the manager as she needed all the hours she could get. Besides, she wanted to hold off telling them about her condition for as long as possible. Thankfully, her work tunic was oversize and gave no indication of how her body was shaped beneath it.

She waddled slowly down the road which wound downwards and curved sharply to the left, dark green foliage on either side created a tunnel effect. Mary didn’t mind the walk home, she loved listening to the water in the stream that flowed downhill alongside her. Closing her eyes, she inhaled deeply and caught the aroma of wet earth, fresh water, and blooming flowers. She tilted her head to catch dewdrops on her eyelashes as the sun’s fingers caressed her face and she smiled.

 Her moment of indulgence was rudely interrupted by a loud honk from a large white Range Rover that had just rounded the bend behind her. It came to an abrupt stop just in front of Mary, catching her by surprise and she almost lost her balance.

 “Get in, I’ll drop you off.” commanded the driver curtly.

“No thanks, I’d rather walk. It’s not that far….” she answered, resuming her walk without looking at him.

 She only managed a few steps downwards before her hand was grasped from behind, forcing her to stop and look up at the tall man who now stood next to her with a face like thunder. Silently, she allowed him to lead her back to his car and climbed into the passenger seat as he held the door open for her.

 “What’s going on, Mary?” he asked her as soon as he was back in the driver’s seat, “You’ve been ignoring my calls and haven’t replied to any of my chats ever since I went to Italy.”

 Mary fumbled with the seatbelt endlessly until he placed a hand under her chin and forced her to face him. She finally met his blazing stare and would have looked away shyly had he not maintained his firm, but gentle hold forcing her to hold his gaze.

           Without warning, a sob escaped her lips, just as twin drops of tears slid from her eyes, and burned down her cheeks and within seconds she was fully crying and unable to stop. The perplexed man drew her into his arms and allowed her to soak his expensive shirt with hot tears and snot as he gently stroked her hair until she was spent.

 “You lied to me, Dale. I know all about your wife and daughter! How could you? You said you loved me and…….” Mary wailed at him as soon as she could muster the words.

“Who told you this?” he asked through clenched teeth.

“So, it is true!” she cried as fresh tears burst forth and cascaded once more.

Dale did not respond, instead, he started the car and began driving down towards Mary’s house, chin set, eyes fixed on the road ahead. This did nothing to ease her mind and she took it to mean that the rumours were true. She felt her chest tighten as her breath became shallow and the inside of the car began to spin until all went black.

When Mary awakened, she found herself lying on an enormous bed, between the silkiest black sheets she had ever seen. Her head felt as if it lay on a lush cloud. She was so comfortable that all she wanted was to stay in the extravagant giant bed forever. As she closed her eyes again to continue luxuriating, a now-familiar sensation forced her to leap from the bed and luckily, she spotted the toilet through an open door. She made it there just in time and for the next few minutes sat on the floor and vomited the entire contents of her stomach. The gagging continued even after there was nothing left to throw up, and this was the worst part, so painful. She continued to retch helplessly until at last, it stopped, and she collapsed onto the floor.

 She was lifted by a pair of tender arms, carried back to bed, and he laid down to cuddle her as a mother would her newborn baby. She felt physically miserable and emotionally, she was a wreck but the arms that embraced her were sturdy, gentle and reassuring lulling her back to sleep almost immediately.

 Mary’s eyes flew open as she remembered what had happened just before she fainted. Dale’s arms were still around her and he was snoring gently into her hair. She held her breath, dreading the inevitable confrontation then sighed deeply as she contemplated what she was going to say to him.

 She knew he was awake when the snoring stopped, and his hands began to wander. She gasped when he traced the outline of her lower abdomen and placed his hand over the soft swelling.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were married?” she asked him in a trembling voice.

She felt his hand stiffen before he replied, “Because I’m not.”

“Are you really going to keep lying to me when everyone at the home knows this? Thea met your wife Eleanor and your pretty daughter, now everyone knows all about it!”

Dale surprised Mary by bursting into laughter and she pulled away from his embrace, sat up and stared at him in disbelief. She was struck dumb and could not imagine why he would laugh at such a serious moment.

 “Mary, you really need to stop listening to gossip. Eleanor was my mother’s name and the “wife” your colleagues were so eager to tell you about is my niece who lives in Ireland and came to visit mom and introduce her to her great-granddaughter!”

 Mary’s face felt hot with shame as her hand flew to cover her gaping mouth. This was one possibility that she had not considered at all, and she felt so foolish now as she looked back. “I’m sorry, Dale. I should have verified the rumours, but Lynn spoke to your mom and….”

“Mary, you know my mother has dementia, right?” he asked her.

“Oh, of course!” Mary covered her head with the silken sheet in further embarrassment this time. Dale’s question however brought her out of hiding in a flash.

“Were you really going to have an abortion without telling me that you’re pregnant?” he asked, changing the topic unexpectedly.

“I was never going to have an abortion!” she shrieked in her defence.

“So, you do admit you’re pregnant?”

“Yes, I would have told you, but, well…... other things came up….”  Mary faltered, “But who on earth told you this?”

“I heard it through the grapevine!” he answered, and they both laughed.