“Conroy is my nephew too.” she repeated. “I heard you the first time! What do you mean by that?” I asked her. Maud sat down in the chair across from me and started to cry. “I promised Great-Aunt Charlotte that I would never say anything to you.” she said between her sobs. “What! What the hell did you promise Great-Aunt Charlotte that you would never say to me?!" I exclaimed. “What did you promise not to say?" I asked again, much more quietly because I did not want Conroy to wake up. With tears streaming down her cheeks Maud told me that she was
my sister. “You are lying!” I said through clenched teeth. “You are making this up!” “I swear on my mother’s grave that I am not lying about this." she said. "I swore to Great-Aunt Charlotte that I would never say anything to you about this. I did not want to tell you.” Hanging down her head she said that she had a confession to make and it had to do with Cassie but she wanted to talk about us being sisters first. I rolled my eyes heavenwards. Dear God, I asked inwardly, why are all these things happening to me? The year has just started! Woe is me! What sin have I not repented of? Tell me Father God, Please! Please! I feel like I am about to lose my mind!
I looked at Maud. She was waiting expectantly for me to give her the go ahead to speak. I waved my hand at her and told her to go ahead and say what she had to say. Maud sighed and said that she didn’t really know her father, our father, very well. What she remembered most of all was a tall handsome gentleman who visited her every year on her birthday with gifts until she was twelve years old. (Ironically, Maud’s birthday was a day after mine, now I know why he always had important business to deal with immediately on the day after my birthday!) Maud said that shortly after her twelfth birthday her mother died and her father took her to live with his Aunt Charlotte. Great-Aunt Charlotte, who grew up in England, was Stanley Wharbucks’ niece and she was just a couple years older than Charmaine. In glancing through Charmaine’s new diary I saw where she was mentioned as being Charmaine’s only Bridesmaid. According to my father, Great-Aunt Charlotte had returned to Jamaica because she was ‘tired of the cold, dismal and gloomy weather’ of London. My father would say this in a precise British accent that would have me laughing all the time. Maud said she was instructed never to tell anyone about her relationship to my father. She could not call him ‘Papa’ anymore, she must only address him as Mr. Wellington. She said that whenever I visited Great-Aunt Charlotte she would watch us together and feel so sad because she could never be a part of our family. I also remembered those times. Every time I looked up I would see her staring at us with those big eyes of hers. I did not like what I was learning about my father! This was not the Stanley Vincent Wellington that I knew! I had always felt drawn to Maud but I thought it was just me having pity on her because I was told she was an orphan! I treated her like a sister not knowing she was my real sister! Maud spoke about her lonely she felt seeing her father but not being able to acknowledge him as her father anymore and how she would cry herself to sleep at nights, what was worse was that she could not call me sister! Years later, after our father died, she overheard Great-Aunt Charlotte talking to someone on the phone about our father. My father had told Great-Aunt Charlotte that, after giving birth to me, my mother was no longer interested in having sexual relations with him. My father had to practically beg my mother to have sex with him and when she did grant him access to her body he said she would just lie there and stare at the ceiling. He tried hard to remain faithful to my mother but it was very difficult. It was on one of his visits to his aunt that he got ‘friendly’ with her cook Sylvia. Maud smiled when she said that. So, Maud’s mother was Great-Aunt Charlotte’s cook! No wonder Maud was such a good cook! When Great-Aunt Charlotte found out about the relationship she fired Sylvia immediately. By this time she was already pregnant with Maud. Our father begged Great-Aunt Charlotte not to say anything to my mother and he promised that he would take care of the child. It was when Maud heard Great-Aunt Charlotte mention to the person on the line that our father had another child that her ears really perked up. My father had obviously confided in her about Esmie, but how did she know about Cassie seeing that not even my father knew about her? I asked Maud about that. Based on the conversation she overheard, Maud said that when Esmie was pregnant someone, one of our father’s close friends who lived in Montego Bay, came and told Great-Aunt Charlotte about it. She made him promise not to tell anyone else and she herself never told our father about it. She was telling the person on the phone that she regretted not doing so and she did not know if the child was a boy or a girl. Maud said from that day she was determined to find her little brother or sister. She did not have a clue as to how she would find her sibling. She began to discreetly go through Great-Aunt Charlotte’s papers, hoping to at least find something that could help her in her search. One day when Great-Aunt Charlotte was not in her room she found a letter that our father had written to Esmie but it was never sent to her. Obviously, Great-Aunt Charlotte had intercepted it! It had Esmie’s name and address on the envelope so Maud scribbled off the information on a piece of paper, which she hid in her room. When Great-Aunt Charlotte told Maud that she was thinking of returning to England and that I needed someone to come and assist me she quickly told her that she would be willing to do so, knowing that she could begin her quest for her long lost sibling. However, Great-Aunt Charlotte made her promise never to reveal to me that we were sisters. A promise she kept for fifteen years. I sat there listening to Maud, seeing a side to her that I never knew existed. Maud and I were sisters and never once did she think that she could have broken that promise and tell me that we were related! When I looked back on how well I treated her! Wow! I shook my head in disbelief. Funnily enough, I believed that we were indeed sisters. There was this bond that we had that we couldn't explain, well at least I couldn't explain. I remember the times when we went out together and persons would remark that we looked like sisters. Oh well, the chickens had definitely come home to roost! I asked her how she found Cassie? She said that when she came to stay with me she realised that I was not living too far from the address that she had for Esmie, so one day when I left for work she hired a taxi driver to take her there. When she reached there and asked for Esmie she was told that she had died but she had a daughter and her mother was still alive. Maud said that when she saw Cassie she fell in love with her immediately. She explained to the Grandmother that Cassie was her sister and that she would like to get to know her. Maud said that she would go and spend time with Cassie on her weekends off and whenever she took her vacation leave. All this time, when I thought she was going to St. James she was here in St. Catherine with Cassie! She was there for Cassie throughout all her pregnancies and she never said a word to me! “How could you be so cruel?” I asked her. "For fifteen years you knew about Cassie and you never said anything to me!" Maud looked me squarely in the eye and said that knowing the person that I was I would have made Cassie come and live with me the minute I knew she existed and I would have taken charge of her, all the while telling her that I was her big sister and that what I said goes. “She would probably not have gotten pregnant so young or had so many children!” I retorted. I know but I was selfish and I wanted my sister for myself, said Maud. “Ahem! She was my sister too! You deprived me of a relationship with my own flesh and blood! You also deprived me of a relationship with yourself! Fifteen years and you couldn’t trust me enough with this information!” I was mad! Maud, stuttering, started to call me ‘Miss Cecilia’ and I told her to stop. I said if we are really sisters you’ll call me CeeCee like everyone else! By the way, where is your birth certificate? I asked. “Oh I have one, Great-Aunt Charlotte gave it to me before she left for England. I can go for it and show it to you now!” said Maud getting up from the chair. I told her to sit down. "By the way, didn't Cassie ever want to meet me anytime at all in these fifteen years?" I asked. “I never told Cassie about you until three months ago.” said Maud.
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