I rolled my eyes, Reverend Julian had a nerve calling me at this time of the night! “Aren’t you going to answer your phone?” asked Maud with a puzzled look on her face. “You know I don’t answer my phone after certain hours!” I retorted. When the phone stopped ringing I turned off the ringer and put the phone in my pocket. I asked Maud if she had anything else to tell me? She said she had told me all she knew but if she
remembered anything else she would let me know. Yeah right! I said in my head. I told her I was going to bed and was about to tell her to check on the dogs for me and make sure that the gate was locked when I remembered that I could no longer treat her like an employee. She was my sister after all. Maud, realising what I was about to say, smiled. She said she had to pass the dogs to go to her quarters so she would check on them and refresh their water bowls. She assured me that the gate was padlocked so I had nothing to worry about. We said our goodnights to each other and she left. When I went back inside the house I felt an uneasiness in the pit of my stomach. I shrugged it off, putting it down to the fact that it was probably caused by all that I had heard today plus, I had not eaten anything substantial the entire day. I went into my bedroom, sat down on the edge of the bed and looked at Conroy who was sleeping so peacefully. I still could not believe that he was my nephew! Not to mention the fact that Maud was my sister! I was so overwhelmed by all that had happened that I started to cry. I cried silently, not wanting to wake up Conroy. I could not believe that the man that I had called father, the man that I looked up to and held as the standard for all my suitors had clay feet! No wonder my mother always looked so sad. She must have known about his shenanigans and had obviously kept quiet to preserve her ‘status’ in the neighbourhood. When I remembered the many lies my father told me about having to go away on business trips when he was going to look for Maud for her birthday, I cried. I cried for the pain my mother must have felt and I cried for the pain that Maud felt for being treated as an unwanted child. I cried for the pain that Cassie felt growing up in a household that didn’t want her. I cried for Conroy who will always remember what happened to his mother and siblings. I cried because there was the possibility that I had other siblings that I may never get to know. I cried until my tear glands refused to produce any more tears for me to shed. I dried my eyes and curled up beside Conroy and promptly fell asleep. Sometime afterwards I felt someone touching me, waking me out of my slumber. I opened my eyes and it was Reverend Julian. I opened my mouth to ask him how did he get inside the house when he put his fingers to his lips, whispering, “Shh, don’t wake the child.” He led me outside into the living room and told me to have a seat in the sofa. I did not take kindly to anyone giving me instructions in my own home but something about the way he was speaking made me comply with his request. I sat down at one end of the sofa and he sat at the other end. He said he wanted me to hear his side of the story and I was not to say anything until he had finished speaking. Reverend Julian said it was never his intention to deceive me, he just wanted to correct a situation that had gotten out of hand. He said my Grandmother Charmaine had sworn him to secrecy about Cassie, she begged him never to tell my father or me about Cassie’s whereabouts. Answering my question before I could voice it he said that one day he came by the house and was telling my Grandmother about his newest social case Cassie when she began asking him a lot of questions about Cassie. Surprised by her interest, he told her everything that he knew about Cassie and, putting two and two together, Grandma Charmaine came to the conclusion that Cassie was the child that Great-Aunt Charlotte had told her about. Cassie was her long-lost granddaughter! Reverend Julian said from then on he kept Grandma Charmaine up-to-date about Cassie and the children. When Grandma Charmaine died she actually left money in her will to take care of them. I was shocked but as usual I was the last to know anything. When Cassie found out who her father was she was adamant that she was coming to the house so he had to think quickly how to diffuse the situation. Reverend Julian said I was not to blame Maud because she did not want to be a part of the plan, knowing that she had already deceived me by not disclosing that she was my sister. After many days of him trying to persuade her she finally agreed to the plan on the condition that I would never be told that she and I were sisters. Reverend Julian reached over to me and took my hand in his and said he was truly sorry and he was asking me to forgive him. “Please forgive me, I will not be able to sleep tonight if you don’t forgive me.” he said. I sighed deeply and told him I forgave him. I was just about to ask him something else when I heard a loud banging on my front door. I jumped up and realised that I was still in the bed beside Conroy. I was not in the living room talking to Reverend Julian, it was all a dream! I rubbed my eyes and looked at the clock, it has a quarter after six in the morning. The banging on the door continued. It was Maud. I told her to give me five minutes as I needed to use the bathroom. I washed my face and looking in the mirror I really wished I had a filter for my eyes which were so puffy from my crying last night! After drying my face and my hands I went to see what Maud wanted. I opened the door and was about to say that I hope she had a good reason to be making so much noise on my door so early in the morning when I noticed that she was crying. Lord Jesus, what was it now I wondered. “Sister CeeCee, you’re not going to believe what happened last night! Reverend Julian’s wife has been trying to get you on the phone! She says she has been calling and calling and you were not answering so she found my number and called me instead!” I had forgotten to turn on back the ringer on the phone when I went inside last night, as a matter of fact the phone was still in my pocket. “Why was she calling me?” I asked. Maud started to cry again. “Reverend Julian had a massive heart attack last night and the Doctors don’t think he’ll live.” “What!” I said in shock. “Reverend Julian cannot die! We have unfinished business to discuss! He cannot die! I will not allow it!” I reiterated. Maud phone began to ring, it was Reverend Julian’s wife. Maud handed the phone to me, saying that it was me she wanted to talk to. I took the phone and said ‘hello’ only to hear her crying. She told me that Reverend Julian had died. “When? What time?” I asked incredulously. When she said that he had died around a quarter after six the phone fell from my hands. 
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