The Confession (7 page)

Ok, I’ll be there in a few
minutes.

Lydia sat next to her father-in-law and
tried to maintain a modicum of control as she read Adam’s message.
Taking a deep breath, she turned to Colin and said, “Adam is in his
office. I am going up there for a few minutes. Call me if the
doctor has any news about Gail. I’ll be back in a few
minutes.”

Lydia walked into Adam’s
office feeling a sense of dread. The room was dark, and Adam sat
facing the window. He did not turn around to look at her when she
turned on the light. Taking a few steps closer to the desk, Adam
said, “What are we going to do Lydia? I just went through her
entire medical record. Based
on the information I have now,
Gail is not my daughter. We need a DNA test to confirm your
paternity.”

“You still don’t believe I was faithful
do you? Why else would you want a paternity test? You said the
blood type confirms that Gail is not our daughter. You don’t
believe me, do you?”

“I want to believe you, but
I find it impossible to comprehend that this hospital would make a
mistake and switch babies. It is not possible, so, that leaves only
one other conclusion. If you
don't tell
me the truth, then I
will have to discover it some other way.”

In all of their years of marriage, this
is the first time Adam truly hurt her. “Well, if you won’t believe
I am telling you the truth, I guess there’s nothing else I can say.
Run all the tests you feel necessary, but just remember Adam, I am
not lying to you.”

Lydia rose from her seat
and left Adam’s office. Once outside his door, she leaned against
the wall and cried. Adam heard her crying but remained behind his
desk. He wanted to believe his
wife;
he did, but being a
doctor, he knew the hospital could not have made this horrible
mistake. Adam picked up his phone and called his father.

“Dad, can you and Mom come up to my
office? I have a problem.”

“What’s wrong Adam? Is it
Gail?”

Choking
back the tears, he said, “I
can’t discuss it on the phone.
Please,
Dad, I need you and
Mom.”

Concerned, Colin turned to his wife.
“Something is wrong with Adam. He wants us in his office. I think
he was crying.”

Fear gripped Margaret. “Is it
Gail?”

“I don’t know. He won’t discuss it on
the phone.”

They found Lydia sitting on the floor
outside Adam’s office. Colin bent down and helped her to stand.
“Why are you crying?”

Lydia lowered her head and
stared at the floor. “We’ve just discovered
inconsistencies
in
Gail’s medical records. I don’t know how to say this. Her blood
type does not match ours. Gail’s blood type is AB Negative." Lydia
followed them into Adam’s office. Still seated behind his
desk, he
looked surprised when she followed his parents into the
room
.

Colin spoke first. “We
asked Lydia to come with us.
It’s obvious to us that something is terribly
wrong.
Is it Gail?”

Adam looked down at the folder in front
of him. “Indirectly, it is about Gail.” He focused his stare on
Lydia. “I gave you the opportunity to tell me the truth.” He held
the folder in his hand. “This folder contains Gail’s DNA test.
While it is a preliminary test, the markers do not lie. Gail is not
my biological daughter. I’m asking you again, Lydia, were you
unfaithful to me?”

Once again, Lydia told him the truth.
“I was never unfaithful to you. I don’t know how many times I have
to say it. There must be another explanation.”

“There isn’t Lydia!” Adam screamed as
he slammed his hand on the desk. “I have the fucking proof in my
hand! My brother is Gail’s father! The genetic markers already
found match his blood. Why would you lie to me?”

Lydia blinked several times as she
tried to absorb this information. Colin and Margaret looked at each
other, and at that moment, the pieces of the puzzle fit together
perfectly. “Oh my God Colin, it was Lydia.”

Colin sat
dumbfounded
. His mind raced with the implications of this discovery. Lost
in thought, he did not hear Adam. “Dad, what the hell is going
on?”

“Before I say anything, we want the two
of you to know we love you very much. What I am about to tell you
will affect the entire family, especially Gail. What you choose to
do with this information is up to you. Adam, do you remember the
events surrounding your twenty-eighth birthday?”

“How am I supposed to remember what
happened almost twenty years ago? What does this have to do with
Gail?”

Sighing, Colin continued.
“John wrote a letter to your mother and me, informing us that he
was entering the priesthood. Maggie was furious because
he
did
not discuss this with us
before
making such an important
decision. John was resolute in his decision and confessed in his
letter that he...he...drugged a young woman to make her an
unwilling sexual partner. He was in love with her, and when she
married someone else, he became obsessed with her.”

“He drugged her wine, and
when she was unable to defend herself, he had sex with her.”
Looking at Lydia, he said, “I am sorry Lydia. He never mentioned
the girls name in the letter. We went to the police and reported
the crime, but the detective told me he needed a name before he
could issue an arrest warrant. We gave the
cops
John’s picture,
and we never heard from them. We searched for him for several
weeks, and we could not find him. Eventually, we gave up the
search.”

Adam’s entire body
stiffened, as the anger crept up his back. He reached out to hold
Lydia’s hand and felt her shaking. A sob erupted from
her,
and she leaned against Adam. “How could he do this to me? We
were friends, and I thought he respected me. I told him I could not
return his feelings. I told him I loved
you,
Adam. How could he
rape me?”

“Oh God, please tell me this cannot be
happening. Adam, I have been reliving this in my dreams. It is
always the same dream. Someone is holding me down, forcing himself
on me, but I can never see his face. It was John. It was John.”
Covering her mouth with her hand, Lydia ran to the bathroom and
became violently ill.

Adam glared at his parents. “How could
you keep this a secret?”

Colin became frustrated. “We reported
the crime. What else were we supposed to do? I wasn’t about to
advertise that our son raped someone.”

“Did it ever occur to you that we, as a
family, had the right to know he committed a crime?”

“At the time, no, I did not want to
share this with anyone.”

“Do you still have the
letter?”

Colin hesitated before answering. “Yes,
I still have a copy of the letter.”

Adam shoved his
hands
into
his pockets
to
stop them from shaking. “I
want the letter in my hand before the end of the day.”

“Why do you want the
letter?”

“I don’t have to explain myself to you
or anyone else. I want the fucking letter!”

Margaret covered her face
with her hands and cried. “Give him the letter Colin. Adam, you
must understand that without a name, we had no proof. John
left home and we searched for
him for many weeks. He disappeared.
We
never knew until today that John is Gail’s father. How could we
have possibly known?”

Adam gritted his teeth.
“The fact that you kept this to yourself for nineteen goddam years
sickens me. How do you think my wife feels knowing my brother raped
her?
The truth
will scar her for the remainder of her life. You
should have told us the truth when it first happened. She may have
remembered, and we could have taken the information to the police.
Get out now before I lose my temper. I have to take care of my
wife.” Adam went into the bathroom and closed the door.

Lydia lay on the cold tile
floor sobbing. Her body shook uncontrollably. Adam knelt in front
of her and gathered her
into
his arms. “It’s ok honey. We will
get through this. Nothing changes how much I love you. I am sorry
this happened to you. I don’t know why they kept the letter a
secret.”

“They knew for nineteen
years that John raped someone, and never said anything.
Now that I am aware he touched
my body, I feel dirty.
How can you look at
me knowing he raped me? I cannot tell you how many times I have had
that nightmare. I had another one last night. What are we going to
do now?”

Adam knew what he was going to do. He
was going to confront his brother. He prayed for strength because
he wanted to beat the shit out of him. “We are going to take care
of our children. Gail is my daughter. She will never know the
circumstances surrounding her birth.”

Lydia clung to Adam. “I
love
you,
Adam.
Please
hold me. I need your
warmth.
I feel
cold.”

Adam lay down next to her and held her
until she stopped shaking.

Colin and Margaret returned
to the waiting room.
His
once happy family would never be the
same.

Colin sent a text to
Adam.
Is Lydia ok?

Adam responded
quickly.
No, she’s not ok.

I’m sorry Adam.

No, you’re not
sorry.
Please,
leave us alone. Where is Bobby?

He is sitting next to your
mother.

Send him up to my office. Go
home. I don’t want you near us.

Are you certain this is what
you want?

Yes.

Colin turned to face Bobby. “Hey buddy,
your mom’s a little sick, and your dad wants you to go up to his
office.”

“Is she ok?”

“She will be once your dad takes her
home. Go on up now. Gran and I are going home for a few hours. We
are tired.”

Bobby ran up to his
father’s
office
and found his parents still lying on the cold tile
floor. Bobby ran into the bathroom and knelt before them. Lydia was
still crying. Seeing the look of horror on his son’s face, Adam
said, “Mom is a little sick and upset about Gail. Help me get her
off the floor. I want to take her home.”

Adam carried her back into
his
office
and sat down with Lydia still in his arms. He
opened his desk drawer and pulled out a small medical bag. “Bobby,
get your mother a glass of water.” Adam placed a small white tablet
in her hand. Whispering to her, he said, “This will help
calm
you,
honey. When we get home, we’ll talk.”

“Don’t say anything to Bobby. I don’t
want him to know John raped me.”

Bobby heard his mother
speaking.
Uncle John
raped
my
mom
!