Veil of Silence (21 page)

‘
Dear Marsha, we stopped by, but you didn’t answer the door.  This is childish.  Call us at the Hilton Garden Inn for dinner.  Mom
,’ the letter read.

“Oh, God,” Marsha sighed.  She was tired.  The week of psychological conversation, intel extraction, and the repatriation process was supposed to help her decompress.  Instead, she was exhausted and she was sure a lot of it had to do with her pregnancy and not just the mental strain of her situation.  “Just what I need,” she sighed.  She could already feel herself tensing up, just knowing her mother was in the neighborhood.

Heather, struggling to carry Amir who was being a wiggle worm, looked at the note and sighed herself.  With MaryBeth in the vicinity, it would be like walking around landmines.  The slightest pressure and the woman would go off.  “Can we ignore it?” she asked hopefully.

Marsha laughed, a genuine laugh, and leaned her head against her wife’s shoulder.  “Let’s try.”

They weren’t allowed.  They had barely gotten in the door, gotten the children settled, fed, and washed, when the doorbell rang.  The sound of it had Marsha’s heart racing.  She didn’t know why it caused her to do that, but she filed away the reaction as something she might want to tell the psychologists.  The sweaty palms and the heart racing were definitely signs of PTSD and she didn’t understand why.  She was in the living room playing with the kids and waddled to the door to answer it.

“Who is it?” she asked through the door as she put her eye to the peephole.  She saw her mother looking at the door, exasperated, not liking the fact that she had been kept waiting.  It had been a good decision on Marsha and Heather’s part not to provide her parents with a key to their home.  She smiled as she saw her father looking patient and eager.

“Marsha?  You open this door this instant,” her mother commanded.  Through the peephole her distorted visage was even more intimidating.  Marsha wondered how she did that, but she was past being intimidated by her family, much less her mother.  She slowly unlocked the door to open it.  “Oh, you look terrible,” were the first words out of her mother’s mouth as she looked at Marsha.

Marsha, who had changed out of her uniform into sweats and a t-shirt, was not thrilled to see her mother.  Her father, standing behind the woman, just stood there with tears in his eyes.

“Well, aren’t you going to invite us in?” she asked with a strident voice as she attempted to slip past Marsha.

“Mom, I told you not to come,” Marsha tried to block her way, holding the door with her left shoulder as her mother tried to open it.

“Well, I knew that was nonsense as soon as I heard it,” she dismissed.  She tried to push on the door and seemed surprised that Marsha didn’t give way.

“Mom, I told you this was not a good time.  I’m still being debriefed by the army and–”

“Pish posh,” her mother said as she waved away Marsha’s words.  “I’m your mother and I’m here to help.”

“But, Mom, you don’t help, and I would appreciate it if you called and I actually invited you in the future.”

MaryBeth stood back, surprised at Marsha’s words.  For a second she was speechless.  “Is there a reason you don’t want to see us?  Is something wrong with Hayley?  Do you want to explain about that?”  She pointed at the belly sticking out prominently between them.

Marsha sighed, already exasperated by her mother.  Closing her eyes for a moment to gather herself so she wouldn’t go off on the woman, she tried to count to ten.

“What’s wrong?  Is the baby coming?  Are you all right?”

Marsha shook her head and Heather put her hand on her shoulder.  “It’s all right, babe.  I got this,” she said behind her.  Heather pulled the door wider just as MaryBeth pushed, causing her to stumble.  “Whoops, got you there,” she tried to help the woman who pulled back angrily.

“Are you
still
here?” MaryBeth asked nastily.

“Of course, Mrs. Gagliano.  Where else would I be?”

“Just let me…” she began as she pushed her way into the house, Lawrence following along behind apologetically.  She stopped as she saw the children in the living room.

“Grandma!” Hayley shouted delightedly and came running for hugs and kisses, which the woman bestowed on her willingly.

“Hayley, my girl!  My precious little girl,” she gushed nauseatingly.

Marsha started to grind her teeth as her mother’s tone set them on edge.

“Hey, cupcake,” Lawrence leaned in to give Marsha a sideways hug.

“Hey, Daddy,” she sighed as the one parent she did like touched her.

“And who is this?” he asked, his deep voice rumbling in pleasure as he hugged Hayley. 

MaryBeth would have taken all the hugs and kisses, but the little girl squirmed out of her embrace to hug her grandfather.  As MaryBeth straightened up, she saw two more children in the living room.  It was obvious they were somehow related as she saw Marsha in both of them.  Her startled glance took in the children and the mess they had created, then looked back accusingly first at Heather, and then at her own daughter.  “Who are they?  Have you taken in strays?  It’s not like you can afford to do that.  Are they the father’s children?  I really think you should rethink this before you adopt them.”

Marsha stiffened up even more from the bombardment.  “Mom, they are my children and not ‘the father’s,’” she made quotation marks with her fingers.  “Heather and I are going to raise them together.”

Heather smiled and put her arm around the proud and now stiff Marsha, showing unity.

“I really don’t understand why you didn’t call us sooner.  It’s obvious something needs to be done here.  I mean, look at this place…” she went on and on, gesturing with her hands, but both Heather and Marsha had stopped listening.  With three young children, the formerly clean living room was now a mess.  The two moms would clean it up again once the children were asleep, but until then it would be pointless.

“Dad,” Marsha started, turning away from her mother’s incessant prattling.  “You two can only stay this evening.  I don’t have the time for this and I am still being debriefed.”  She smiled as he nodded, his eyes still full of tears at seeing his precious daughter alive.

“When are you due?” he asked pointedly, looking at the bulge of her stomach and thinking how ghastly the clothes looked on her.

“Any day,” she smiled, her hand going automatically to the roundness and petting it for good luck.

“I think you have something to tell us?” his eyebrow raised at the two other children and he smiled.

“Not only that young lady, but you…” her mother interjected and prattled on.

“MaryBeth, if you would let someone get a word in edgewise, perhaps Marsha and Heather could explain about our latest grandchildren,” Lawrence grumbled forcefully.

“Don’t you take that tone with me!  I’ll have you know….”

“Mom,” Marsha tried, but was ignored.  “Mother...” she tried again.  When that didn’t work she finally shouted, “SHUT UP ALREADY!”

Shocked, MaryBeth was quiet for all of five seconds.  They could all see the steam rising as she prepared to lambaste her daughter.

“If you want to know about me, about our children, then you are going to have to remain quiet.  If you can’t, you can leave now,” Marsha threatened, grabbing the door and holding it.

MaryBeth was furious.  People who interrupted were rude.  She couldn’t understand that people didn’t want to hear her opinions.  After all, she knew….  She realized that her daughter was serious.  Without answering, she marched to the couch to sit down, removing some child’s toy.  She picked it up with her two fingers, eyeing it distastefully for germs.  Bahir and Amir stared at the intruder and looked up at Heather and Marsha.  Hayley, ignoring the nastiness, resumed playing and soon the other two joined her.

“Come on, Dad.  I have some people to introduce you to,” Marsha said cajolingly.

“You certainly do,” he said with a smile.  ‘The understatement of the year,’ he thought as he embraced her again, thrilled to see her alive and healthy.  The two children watching them looked a lot like her with her big brown eyes and he was smiling as he turned to walk with his daughter towards them.

“Bahir,” she indicated the little girl, “and Amir,” she indicated the little boy, “are my children that I had while in captivity.”

MaryBeth went to open her mouth, saw the warning look from both her daughter and husband, and closed it with an audible snap.

“They’re beautiful,” Lawrence said and continued to smile at them, not wishing to frighten them.  “Do they speak English?”

“Yes, Daddy, they do; however, they aren’t used to you yet, so I don’t know if they’ll come to you.”  She turned to the children that were still staring.  “This is my dad, my papa, and this,” she indicated MaryBeth who sat there with a disapproving stare, “is my mom, my moray,” she explained.  Both children looked from the big, bluff man who smiled at them, to the disapproving woman who sat on the couch staring at them.

“Anyway, Dad, sit down,” Marsha invited, her arm still around Heather who indicated that she should sit first.  Heather sat on the arm of the couch as the adults watched the children.  Bahir and Amir returned to play with Hayley.  They were playing with Legos and seemed very intent on building.  The children were fascinated with the little bricks.

“Why didn’t you answer my note,” MaryBeth finally found her voice to ask accusingly.

“Mom, I told you I’ve been busy.  I was being debriefed by the SERE and….”

“I’m sure the army can make time for your parents!” she assured Marsha with a knowledgeable tone.

“No, they can’t.  I have to give them information they desperately need.  It may be crucial to them over there, I don’t know, but my duty is first and foremost to the army.”

“I don’t know why.  They haven’t been very helpful to your father and I.  They didn’t even inform us you were alive.  Why, when I think of–”

“Mom, this is a very delicate situation.  I was held for five years.  You see three of the results of that,” she indicated the two children playing intently and then rubbed her stomach.  The baby was acting up again, sensing her unease and upset.  “They aren’t about to march over and inform you that I’m alive after the way you broadcast my disappearance all over TV.”

“When I think of how helpful those poor reporters were,” she began again, not deterred by Marsha’s interruption.

“Helpful?  You may have jeopardized my safety over there.  Fortunately, I was held by people who didn’t have televisions.”  She stopped herself from revealing too much.

“Held?  I’d say you had a very good time of it over there,” she indicated the children.  “I don’t see why it was all such a big secret…”

“Mom, don’t you get it?” Marsha was suddenly angry at her mother’s dismissive attitude.  “I was raped.  I was continually assaulted every time I tried to escape.  They took delight in hurting me.  Getting me pregnant was a bonus.”

Heather put her arm around Marsha and squeezed her shoulder in warning.  Getting upset wasn’t good for the baby or for Marsha.  She also knew that providing MaryBeth with too much information would be detrimental to anything that Marsha might accomplish.

Marsha realized what Heather was communicating with the squeeze and got hold of herself.  “I was not over there for pleasure.  My helicopter went down.  It was not by choice,” she assured her mother and looked at her father who looked shocked at what she had revealed. 

“I’ll have you know that nice reporter from Channel 9 News will be delighted to hear…” she began, thrilled to have some gossip to share on the news, certain she would be the center of attention once again.  She’d been delighted by the attention they had gotten over their daughter’s disappearance and relished the fame among their friends at all the interviews they gave.

“No, Mom, you can’t say a word until the army says it’s okay,” Marsha tried to explain, but she could see the glint in her mother’s eye and knew it was hopeless.  She’d be on the phone tomorrow, disregarding protocol.  She tried anyway.  “If word of my appearance makes it on the news and they hear it over there…” she began.

“You already said they didn’t have television, so how are they going to hear?” she pointed out reasonably.

“They have friends and I’m sure they are looking all over for me.”

“Pssht, those backwoods rednecks won’t be able to find you over here,” she dismissed.

“Those ‘backwoods rednecks’ as you call them,” she made the quotation marks to emphasize what she was about to say, “have been fighting Americans and Russians for decades and winning.”

“They can’t possibly win against our superior firepower.”

Marsha gave up.  She couldn’t argue with someone so set in their own ideals and way of life, one who couldn’t fathom that technology and modern warfare meant nothing to those people.  They would and they could win a war…and they had kept her hidden for five years.  They would and they could find her if they wanted.  She swallowed as she looked at her three children playing.

“Now, we should plan a family picnic so I can invite…” her mother started again, making plans.

“I can’t,” Marsha tried saying several times to no avail.  One of the many reasons she had joined the army was to escape this woman.  Having her close enough that she could hop in a car and drive to her house wasn’t something she relished.  She let the woman plan on.  After an hour, the children were getting restless and Heather squeezed her shoulder again to remind her that they needed to get to bed, not just the children, but the adults as well.