CHAPTER 10

The rains had been unkind to the small town in the past couple of days; the skies still looked very dark and threatening. The small town had suffered four rainstorms in the past two days, and the rate of accidents was twice the regular amount. The authorities maintained that no one should be driving until the weather got better and the roads became less dangerous. Some trees had fallen during the last storm, blocking major routes and alternative pathways as well. Elisabeth walked in the blistering cold for four hours until she came upon an odd-looking tavern. She stopped in the distance and searched the pockets of her coat. Pulling out a note from a side pocket, she unfolded it and squinted in the dim light to be certain she had the correct location. She was surprised to see this kind of small, odd-looking tavern in the middle of nowhere. She was skeptical about going in but she zipped her coat completely and began to approach the tavern fearfully. She could smell cookies as she climbed the stairs that led to the door; there was a picture of an old lady hanging on the door. The corridor was filled with flower and plant pots but a good number of them were withered and the soil looked scorched. Elisabeth could not understand why they would look that way, considering that it had been raining quite frequently. The only light that lit up the dim corridor was a yellow bulb that hung weakly right above her head; fixed loosely to the ceiling. It seemed like an old place that could use a bit of renovation; she moved towards the window and bent to take a peek; taking her gloves off and wiping the glass with her hands to enhance her chances at having a good view, she looked intently through the glass. It looked so beautiful and warm in there and it wasn’t even Christmas yet. There were healthier-looking planted pots by the window, a beautiful fireplace, and a dining table at the far corner of the room. Elisabeth could see that the table was set. There were cookies, cream, and some teacups. She wondered if the cups were empty, but the room was empty. There was a bookshelf at the other corner of the room, a small rug, and a big stuffed teddy bear. The sofa at the center of the room looked their very best; it was nothing fancy but they sure looked beautiful and cozy. They had some knitted, fancy covers; it seemed intentional, to make the sofas warmer and more welcoming. The center table stood on a thick, furry center rug as well. There was a basket of Easter eggs on the table and a landline. Her eyes continued to peruse the entire length of the well-lit room. She wondered where the occupants had gone; there was no one in sight. She already began to bother that the dinner on the set table was about to run cold. In that moment, a cat jumped at the window, startling her. She retracted and gasped, then she smiled; peeking through the window to take one more look at the cat, it was gone. Her gaze was met with the questioning look of a fat, elderly woman. Elisabeth backed away from the window in a bout of fright; she stood still for a few seconds then backed away further, slowly; her eyes fixed on the window. She turned around to walk away and met the old, curious looking woman in her path just outside the door.

Elisabeth screamed in horror, her feet trembled and her glove dropped to the floor. The woman bent low with a lot of difficulty and reached for her glove.

“You must be Elisabeth.” The woman’s raspy voice rang in her head.

“I—” Elisabeth opened her mouth but the words could not come out; they were stuck in her throat.

“Come in, we have been expecting you. Dinner’s about to go cold.” She added, turning around slowly and limping forward into the house.

Elisabeth followed her slowly, unsure of her decision and the safety of the house in focus. She looked back outside for one moment, it was already getting darker; with trees swaying in the wind and a chill sweeping through the atmosphere, she shut the door with utmost care; afraid that it might fall of the hinges. She hoped the night would not end in a lot of regrets.

The dining table looked even more gloriously appealing up close. There were gingerbread man cookies, samosa, spring rolls and chicken pie, all in a foil tray. The teacups had appeared empty when she took a peek before, but there was steaming hot tea in the cups on the table. There were three cups on the table; she couldn’t help but wonder what was going on. The flowers in the center of the table were a masterpiece; the roses in the vases looked so real that she was tempted to sniff them. The dining area was even better lit than the sitting room was; the flowery embroidery that tapered down the edges of the chairs at the table requested desperately to be admired. The floor rug was made out of fiber, it felt so soft against the sole of her feet that it nearly tickled. She looked at the old woman who beckoned on her to sit at the table as she disappeared into the room slowly. Elisabeth pulled on of the seats out and sat on it with caution; her feeling of fear heightened, something was amiss. She was trying so hard to understand why Reuben would invite to this strange place; she didn’t even know such an abode existed at the end of their small town. She tried to calm her nerves and focus on the beauty of the interior of the space she occupied; clearing her throat, she drew out the paper she had seen in her mailbox that morning and unfolded it; she read through the address one last time to be certain that she was in the right place:

Dearest Elisabeth, Could we meet to talk over tea? It’s an emergency, you might not hear from me after this.

The little brown tavern, 12th pine street, Rosenberg plantation, Eden.

Yours forever, Reuben.

She folded the paper and slipped it into her pocket again, heaving, convinced that it was the right place and the right house. She was dying of curiosity because she needed to know what it was about. Reuben was a very wealthy man. He certainly didn’t need a miserable piece of paper to send her information; he could have called her, but she understood that the rainstorms had made placing calls and talking over lines almost impossible. The terrible weather made the network connections spotty. She still didn’t think a note was like him because he could have sent someone over to her with the message and with her favorite flowers too. Reuben was a romantic, sensual partner; he wouldn’t just leave notes in her mailbox and even if he did, he would have done it in the most breathtaking of ways.

The door to the inner room, where the old woman had walked into, creaked open and the frail looking woman limped out slowly smiling through the dreadful look in her eyes. Elisabeth thought she had taken forever already; she wanted her to cut to the chase and tell her why she was there in such a beautiful, homely, but odd-looking place.

“Where is Reuben?” she asked politely, clearing her throat.

“He will not be joining us here today.”

Elisabeth had heard that rich, deep tone before; she knew it sounded familiar. She was familiar with the coldness, intensity and the dark energy behind that voice; she followed in the direction of the voice and was astonished at what she discovered. She was certain that she was starting to steadily lose her mind; she looked away and closed her eyes tightly then opened it slowly and looked up again.

“Why am I here?” she asked gripped by so much fear and resentment.

“I thought you would like to talk since you had the cops all up in my ass, following me everywhere, watching my house, my job, and my kids' school. You definitely want to be here. Phone please.” The mean-looking woman stared at her in disgust as she stretched her arm out, indicating for Lisa to place her phone in her palm.

“What is this, Shane? Are you insane?” Elisabeth asked, chuckling with scorn in her eyes.

Shane smiled with resentment as she lowered her hand slowly and walked around the table towards Elisabeth; in a flash, she lifted her hand and struck Elisabeth across the cheek so hard that the bell in her head rung loudly.

“Phone?” Shane requested again quietly, her voice trembling out of anger and resentment as her hand stretched out again, anticipating the feel of Elisabeth’s phone on her palm.

Elisabeth placed her phone gently in her stretched-out palm. She would have given Shane a hard battle before letting go of her phone, but the pistol that was clenched tightly in Shane’s left hand made her think twice. Shane squeezed the cell phone tightly between her gloved fingers as she walked slowly and quietly towards the other side of the table. She placed the pistol on the table silently with the butt of the gun first hitting the table as she watched Elisabeth wipe her eyes clean as quickly as she could. Elisabeth lifted her head to see Shane taking off her leather gloves with such class; she looked around for the old woman that had spoken to her nicely earlier and found her at the far end of the sitting room, getting cozy in a rocking chair by the fireplace and knitting with some wools of different brightly colored material.

“I think we got off on the wrong foot; I would like to tender my sincere apologies. Could we redo this?” Shane asked staring blankly into Elisabeth’s face as she made herself comfortable on the chair pulling herself closer to the table.

“Can I leave now?” Elisabeth asked, almost in a whisper; her voice tapering into silence at the very end of the statement.

“Why, darling? Dinner is just getting started. Surely all this food should not go to waste.” Shane queried, mockery in her rich, deep voice.

“What do you want Shane?” Elisabeth asked, raising her voice as she stared intently at Shane, trying to keep her head high.

“No darling, that isn’t how conversations at dinner work. You say the grace first. Didn’t your mom teach you about it? Oh! You grew in one of the villages of Spain, didn’t you?” She drew out the table napkin and spread it neatly in front of her as she chuckled. “Dear God, give us clarity as we converse over dinner. Bless our hearts that we might be slow to anger, our lips that we might to slow to speech to avoid getting in trouble, and guide our tongues as we seek to speak the truth. Most importantly, bless our taste buds to savor completely the richness of this meal, ease the tension, and give us clarity at the end of this meeting. Let us have no reason to drag a dead body over this floor. Amen.” She raised her head slowly as she opened her eyes; she took the plastic lid of the big tray that laid in the center of the dining table.

“Dig in; these chicken wings are it” she encouraged Elisabeth who was clearly in distress and not having it.

“Can I know why I am sitting away from you, having a weird family dinner in the absence of Reuben?” she asked again politely, her voice exuding more confident and clarity.

“You will get all the answers that you seek the moment you begin to eat your dinner.” Shane mouthed as she munched on her food.

“I’m not hungry” Elisabeth replied although she had a tugging desire to fill her stomach; she had come ready to have dinner with Reuben over a conversation as he had suggested in the letter but that wasn’t what she was getting. She loved how the dining table was set and she wanted a bite out of everything on the dining table but she was afraid for so many reasons.

“I insist.” Shane dabbed the corners of her mouth lightly with a paper cloth and smiled.

Elisabeth heaved. She grabbed the cooking spoon on the tray and scooped some soup and chicken unto her plate. She scrutinized the sausage by her side for a little while then she took one between her fingers and bit into it, her taste buds went crazy and she wished she was comfortable enough to compliment the food and give the cook credit they deserve.

“You love it, don’t you?” Shane asked with certainty and a big smile on her face as her cutlery romanced the fleshy protein in her plate.

“Tastes absolutely amazing.” Elisabeth confessed.

“You see, you and I have a lot of things in common Lisa but you just don’t know it. We both came from small insignificant cities and fought hard to make it to the great, big world where you matter and you are celebrated. We used the same medium to make that happen too, we used love; whether it was the real feeling or we were infatuated and decided to make it a business deal, it didn’t matter as long as we stayed winning. We are both mothers, well you once were a mother and the experience never leaves you, it’s for a lifetime but every time, you try so hard to cross me.”; she poured some wine from the bottle slowly into the wine glass; quietly watching the red liquid flow into the cup; swishing, little bubbles forming at the bottom of the cup. She pulled a small bowl close and scooped some ice, dumping them lazily into the glass with a splash then she continued, “You see, you have failed to realize that your phase ended and this chapter is mine now. You have all it takes to move into an even better chapter but you want to stay stuck trying to destroy my chapter and write yours twice. You are making this really hard for me because I try hard not to hurt you and I let Reuben come see you when he has to; I respect your position as his ex-wife but you have refused to give me mutual respect as his current wife. You pressurize my marriage, engage in an illicit affair with my husband and have sexual relations with him.” She sipped from her cup and nodded gently at how good it tasted.

“We are not the same Shane. I genuinely love Reuben; I don’t consider our relationship at any point whether past or present as a business. I was with Reuben through the times that led up to him becoming a billionaire; I have always loved him, even when there were no beach condos, properties, companies or cars. We survived on nothing else but love and affection, we were just a regular couple, working on life and possessing a lot of potential. We blossomed after many years with Reuben advancing far in his career; then came the properties, cars and all the contracts, the paparazzi, the magazine coverage, entourage, Forbes listing and all the international and intercontinental awards.” Elisabeth voice sounded very strong and convictional. She poured some water out of the jug into her glass and gulped some down.

“If you loved him so much, why did you go ahead to serve him divorce papers, destroying that relationship with everything you both had worked on all through the years?” she asked, chuckling. There was mockery in her voice.

“Reuben started to focus on all the money, wealth and public attention; he forgot how we got there, our principles, what we stood for, our love and the vows we took on the altar to always be there for each other. He started to abandon his son without remorse, he failed to see how this was creating a rift between us; became emotionally and socially manipulative and left me no choice.” She replied, taking her attention back to her food and smacking her lips.

“The primary concern is that you divorced him. Why won’t you then let him lead another family as he should? His children need him, I need him and of all people Lisa, you should not have to be told how important it is for young kids to have very present, very participatory fathers.” She emphasized, pushing her empty plate back towards the center of the table and drawing the fruit bowl closer.

“Your children aren’t even his; why do you try so hard? He isn’t happy to be married to you; you took advantage of him at his weakest moment and roped him in an emotional mess. He doesn’t want none of this, neither does he want to be a part of this and you know it.” Elisabeth kept going, realizing how this might have hurt Shane, leveraging it with confidence in her voice.

“My second child is his, and I’m pregnant with another, also his.” She smiled with a conviction on her face as she took another sip of her drink, letting her tongue savor the sweet-sour taste. “I came into his life after you left him for dead. Reuben could not hold his life together after the divorce. We met at a bidding dinner; the popular Reuben Rich, good looking and actually rich but he was a mess. I mean it was just a dinner for an auction but he was drunk and his food was untouched. I had just left an abusive relationship with one of the famous pastors in New York and he was a divorcee. I was broken and in need of love and so was he, I simply offered up myself; I made sacrifices too. You are no saint and I am not one either; you can’t sit away from me and point accusing fingers; you are not allowed to do that Lisa, don’t forget that there is a pistol resting on this table. She pointed at the gun without taking her eyes off Lisa’s, wearing her cold, meaningless smile as she spoke on confidently.

“So you think it was alright to make another man raise your child; a child he didn’t father. You tied him to the pregnancy and guilt tripped him into getting married to you.” She shook her head and chuckled, “that’s quite low Shane, that’s beneath soil level type of low and that’s why we are not the same.” She dropped her fork. It made a sharp sound as it collided with the glass plate. She took the paper cloth and dabbed the corners of her mouth clean, folding it and dabbing again to ensure she was doing a good job. She exhaled and dropped the paper cloth to the table as well, “I have lost my appetite so we might as well just call it a night. I expected to see Reuben; he didn’t have to chicken out like that after leaving me a letter.” She added in exhaustion.

“Oh but the night is just getting started and I wrote that note. That’s the problem with you, you are dumb as it has been from the beginning. You decide to go through with a divorce because your man is trying to work so hard for you and your kid? You rather work that miserable typist job?” Shane mocked.

“I don’t expect you to understand. You’re the one digging for gold. I would have still honored your invitation if you had written that note in your name, Shane. You didn’t have to hide in the shadows, like you always do, just to get me here. I am flattered though.” Elisabeth nodded, gulping down more water and watching as Shane munched on the apple she had bitten into a moment ago.

“I only got a father for my baby. I don’t care if you think I went about it the wrong way because I lied about the child being his. It’s better than being the one who lost her baby on his birthday.” She rested her back and poured herself more wine. “You should try this wine; it is one of the finest Spanish reds; maybe you could tell me more about its source,” she concluded, adding ice to the glass.

“I did not lose Umber”; Elisabeth started slowly and confidently, “I held my shit down as a mother, Umber was only five and was at school when he went missing. It appears someone went there to kidnap my baby, someone psychopath clearly because what could a five-year-old have done to piss an adult off so much that they couldn’t let go?” she queried, remaining collected.

“Reuben always boasted about how much of a good mother you were; he would go on and on without shutting up about it. I would sometimes have to drug his food or liquor to put him to sleep and relieve myself of the mystery”; she grunted, putting the wine bottle to her lips and gulping down as fast as possible, “He always wanted to be around you and Umber, always putting that kid first before me or any of my kids. He was an impossible man; I tried to do everything just as he would like and to be everything he would love and appreciate but he just wouldn’t.” She opened another bottle of wine, lost in the embrace of her emotions and allowing the hurt caress her soul, she broke down sobbing, her face buried in her palms, “It was so hard” she whimpered.

“All we truly want is love. We want a person who would always be there for us, who would show us in their words and actions that they would never leave even when it got hard. You want love Shane, you need love; all that emptiness you try to fill up with money rightly belongs to love, you should fill it up.”

“Shut up bitch!” Shane spat at her, her makeover smeared all over her face, “You deserved to lose that little angel Umber, serves you right. I was going to keep him for a few days, just work your insides up a bit and see you disgruntled but he came down with a little fever and I thought I could manage it. It was just a fever, he was still the most cheerful child regardless of his burning temperature; he sang me all his nursery rhymes and kept asking me when you were coming to get him”; She stared at the realization in Lisa’s face and cackled, gulping down more alcohol, “I couldn’t take him over to the doctor, didn’t want anyone finding out what was happening. I hid him in the basement, got some medications and put him to sleep. When I returned in the morning, he was just blank; there was no pulse, no breath, not even a little baby laughter, he was gone.” She nodded, pouting as another stream of tears ran down her cheeks.

“You…murdered…my…”

“I did not murder nobody!” she shrieked and threw the empty bottle, shattering it against the wall. “It was a bloody mistake. I would never have thought to kill him. It was your fault. You would not leave my marriage alone. I wanted my husband and kids to myself; I was tired of sharing Reuben with you and getting the excuse that it was because of Umber. I wanted it to serve as a deterrent to you and it would have worked but” her tone tapered towards the end of her statement and unto silence as she gulped more wine out of the bottle.

“You kidnap and murdered my only child and you sit there and defend it? What kind of a mother are you?” Lisa leaned forward as if she were ready to attack her.

“The kind that wants her husband to be there for her and her kids; the kind that wants her kids to grow up knowing their father was participatory and caring; he loved their mother and never placed anything above them.” She responded nodding, her eyes swollen from crying and her face reddened.

“I see why you say we are alike; you have been lying to yourself. All that you have been desperately pursuing is love, you have been wasting your time thinking it was money. You want to feel the warmth of being loved, cared for and appreciated, just like me but I am not like you; I would never hurt any one of your kids just for this validation. You do not deserve to be a mother, and this is why Reuben has a hard time respecting you and accepting you. No matter how hard you try, you will never get it right. You belong in hell, you monster,” Elisabeth spoke emphatically, driving every word home whilst staring at her intently.

“Enough!” Shane screamed, jumping to her feet and slamming her fist against the table. She was tipsy, she struggled to stay focused and coordinated beneath her own weight, dragging the pistol on the table close to her slowly and humming as she did so. She lifted her eyes intermittently to watch Elisabeth closely; she gripped the gun as tightly as she could and disappeared into the room.

Elisabeth thought it was her moment of escape; she could get up and make a run for it. She could hear the raindrops dancing on the roof, it was another rainstorm outside. If she could get outside, she could run as fast as her legs could carry her to the gas station that stood about a mile from the tavern. She looked around her for something to defend herself with; Shane was smart, all the cutlery was made out of thermoset plastic, she hissed nervously as she continued to look around. The thunder rumbled outside; a flash of lightening travelled across the windowpane, causing the cat the shriek and jump away from the window. The old woman stood to her feet and walked out of the house slowly, Elisabeth watched keenly. The woman had gone to shut the windows but the door flung open in the wind; she decided to do a quick run and then see if she would survive it under the rainstorm.

“Dinner was amazing with you tonight but this is where it gets really interesting.” Shane’s voice crawled into Elisabeth’s head, bringing her back into the reality that existed in the dining room.

“What are you doing?” Elisabeth shouted as she saw Shane pushing wheelchair with Reuben strapped to it. She had used duct tape to tie his hands and legs as well as seal his mouth shut; his eyes were shut and his body still and lifeless, he seemed to be unconscious.

“Don’t worry, he's fine. Just sleeping. He could be somewhere more peaceful than here,” she hiccupped, struggling to keep her balance as she swayed from left to right while still standing on the same position.

“What is this, Shane? What is wrong with you?” Elisabeth was now shouting, slowly rising to her feet.

“No. Nuh-uh. Sit, sit down,” Shane sounded incoherent, threatening Lisa with the pistol cocked and pointed in her direction, ready to fire.

“What do you want? I thought you said you loved him?” Elisabeth was now utterly confused and completely afraid.

“I do but a lot has happened here tonight so we would need drastic changes; we can only make tough decisions now. You have two options; You either let go of Reuben so I can keep him or you tell me here and now that you want him so I can let go of him.” She stated still pointing the loaded pistol at her while struggling to stand still and keep the gun targeted at her.

“You have a loaded gun, cocked and pointed in my direction. I cannot even think!” she shouted frantically. It was a cry for help.

“Make your choice Elisabeth, I am losing patience.” Shane reiterated coldly, a smirk on her tired looking face.

“You can keep him, Shane. I swear I will never mess with your family ever again. I will leave this country as soon as I get out of here,” she promised, her fingers and voice trembling as her anxiety rose.

“Oh no! That’s not how it works, baby,” she started with a wicked chuckle. “You see, if you choose to let go of Reuben, I'll have to put a bullet in you. That’s the only way to be certain that you will do what you've promised. But you can choose to keep him. That way, I'll put a bullet in him so you can live with the memories of him forever. It’s your choice. You call the shots. There's only one bullet,” she concluded holding onto the gun firmly.

“This is insane, Shane. Don’t you see—”

“No! I hate side talks and distractions. Get your head in the game Lisa, there is no escaping this.” She shouted on the top of her voice, the pitch colliding with the patter of rain on the rooftop.

“Can I at least say something before you shoot me?” Lisa asked, putting her feet even harder against the ground.

“Always the martyr, trying to be self-righteous and whatnot. Finally found a cause to die for. Let me hear your last words," she said with scorn in her tired voice.

“You see, the best part of life is that the people you envy could be going through the worst literal shit and you would not even notice”; she adjusted herself in her chair and then continued, “early this year, I got diagnosed with anxiety disorder characterized by fainting spells and something that had to do with an inability to handle pressure and I had nobody; Reuben was just trying to be there for me through everything and I admit it was wrong because he was married to you and I should have respected that and I—” she buried her face in her palms and began to sob profusely, the rain had turned into a light drizzle. One could hear the gentle drizzle on the rooftop and the silence of the wind outside of the house. In the fireplace, Elisabeth listened as the fire spit and cackled, licking through the pile of woods to keep the room warm. She raised her head, slowly at first and then with a speed like lightening, she grabbed the wine bottle on the table and launched it as hard as she could at Shane.

It changed nothing, never in the history of life has ‘nearly’ been recorded to have killed a bird, the sound of the gunshot could be heard traveling through the trees as the wind carried It, wrapped up in her sleeves traveling for almost a mile. The sound reverberated through the corners and crevices within a mile of the small town and the town became completely still and quiet again as the night grew into complete darkness yearning for dawn.