“Oh!, I’m sorry.”
The lady stands up from what she had been looking at and turns on her.
“You should be!”
“Mom?”
“Wren? What are you doing here?”
“If you were anyone else, I’d ask the same thing. But as it happens I’m looking for something nice, well actually naughty for my honeymoon.”
“Honeymoon?”
“Yea, you know man and woman get married, go on a trip together and consummate the marriage, a honeymoon.”
“I know what it is, do not get pert with me young lady.”
“I can get as pert as I like, I’m a full legal adult and you can’t do anything to me.”
“I am sorry, Wren. I guess I still have a lot of unresolved anger issues. You know there is a little place just down the block from here and I would like to buy you some lunch. Because, I would really like to talk to you, but if you do not want to, that is fine.”
“Part of me says no and part of me says yes. It’s been such a long time since I’ve had any contact with you.”
“Nine years, eleven months and thirteen days, if you want the exact count.”
“Have you counted every day?”
“Yes. For some time now I have kept count. I had thought a few times about sending you a letter but I only had Mom’s address. The restraining order against me kept me from corresponding with either of you though. How is Mom doing?”
“She passed away in January.”
The color immediately leaves Wren’s Mom’s face, her hands start to shake and tears start down her face.
“How...How did she go?”
“She went to bed and forgot to wake up. When I found her she had a very peaceful and satisfied look on her face. The coroner said she wouldn’t have felt a thing.
Come on, let's go get lunch. We do have a lot to talk about.”
They both leave in silence and head down the street.
“So tell me about him.”
“Excuse me?”
“Your fiancé, what is he like?”
“He’s a little taller than me, dark hair, thin but well muscled. Grew up on a dairy farm in Northwest Missouri. He is a lawyer with his own practice. He’s a lot of fun to be with, likes to surprise me and has stuck by me through the worst time in my life.”
“Worse than I was?”
They stop dead in their tracks Wren looking down into her mother’s eyes. She stares at her face a few seconds noticing the fine lines of crows feet at the corners of her eyes, a few streaks of gray starting to show through her red hair. The gaunt look of her face softened by the addition of a few pounds over the years. She studies her Mom before she finally answers.
“Yes. Worse than you.”
“What happened?”
“I was kidnapped and gang raped.”
“So you were victim eighteen.”
“How did you figure that out?”
“Kidnapped and gang raped, and only one person has lived through them. How did you keep the papers from finding you?”
“Norman, my fiancé, took care of that.”
They keep walking until they turn into a small cafe. They’re seated and order then return to their conversation.
“So Mom, what have you been up to?”
“Well, let me start where we left off. After the hearing I to be honest felt free and empty at the same time. I knew I alone was responsible for all I did to you. I went to a bar I frequented and was run out. You see, the contractor that built that room told my crowd about me. I was ostracized by all my friends and my side jobs stopped. The library put me in the back where I couldn’t come in contact with any children. My supervisor suggested counseling if I wanted to keep my job. I needed the job so I made some calls.
At first it was group therapy, then one on one. Eventually my therapist had me seeing a psychiatrist as well. It took quite some time to work through everything. About a year after I lost you I sold the house and moved. I rented an apartment in South County and went back to school. I got a new degree in computer science and found a job with a computer networking company setting up data management systems. They liked that I had a degree as a librarian and thought it could be beneficial.
I have been able to leave my former life behind me and move on. I have always wondered what happened to you though. I always regretted ruining your life and all because I did not want you to turn out like me. But I know you haven’t.”
“Mom, you used a contraction! I’ve never heard you do that before.”
“I do from time to time anymore. It is part of my illness that keeps me from using them.”
“How do you know I didn’t turn out like you?”
Margaret picks up her purse and starts digging through it and pulls out a large picture wallet.
“I’ll show you.”
Wren watches as her Mom flips through picture after picture of herself. Pictures Wren had no idea still existed from her childhood and even some from after the hearing. All seemingly in chronological order.
“Here we go.”
Margaret hands the album over to Wren and scoots closer to her. Wren looks at the image in her hand in silent wonderment.
“How did you get this?”
“December of two thousand two I was doing some work on the Wash. U servers and database when I found your name. I knew there could not be another person with your name so I checked you out while I had access to your info. Graduated in the top three percent of your high school, almost perfect ACT score, hobbies of gymnastics, ballet, and hunting. I saw that you were online to graduate that June with a major in Archeology so, I watched for the date and time of commencement and stayed as far back as I could bring myself to do. I took that picture and hoped it would turn out. I figured it would be the last one I would ever get of you. I found you in a few magazines modeling a couple of years before and a guy I work with bought me several issues of motorcycle news magazines where you were in them. Anything I could find made me feel that I hadn’t completely lost you. Would you like to see my crowning achievement in keeping track of you?”
“Do you have it with you?”
“No, it is back in my apartment. It's too big to carry around with me.”
“I’m supposed to pick up Norman from work. His truck is in the shop and we were going out before we head home.”
“You live together?”
“I know the premarital sex talk Mom and I never had sex before the rape. The way I look at it, we are just as good as married anyway.”
“Actually I was not going to say a word about it. I was just asking.”
“Really?”
“Really. I meant nothing about it at all. I am glad you are happy and I know you will be a better wife than I ever was to your father. How I wish I could do all that over. How I wish I could apologize to him for all I did to him. Norman is perfectly welcome to come if you want to come.”
“I’ll tell you what, give me a few minutes to call Norman and talk to him and we’ll see.”
“Okay”
Wren leaves the table and steps outside. She can plainly see her Mom through the large glass window, her nervousness clearly visible even at this distance. She pulls her phone out and calls Norman’s office.
“Hi Sheila, is Norman busy?”
“To everyone but you Wren. Hold on and I’ll get him for you.”
“What’s up Wren?”
“Norman while I was out shopping I ran into someone I haven’t seen in years and I was wondering if you would mind if we stopped by their place for just a little bit on the way home.”
“I don’t see it being a problem.”
“Oh!, good I’ll see you at four-thirty then?”
“Yea, tell you what let's make it three and I’ll just close up early.”
“All right see you then love.”
Wren puts away her phone and goes back in with her Mom.
“He said fine, and he is closing the office at three. So I’ve got an hour and a half until I need to leave to get him.”
“You know we could finish looking for you something nice and naughty during that time.”
“Don’t you need to be back at work soon?”
“No, not until Monday. They're replacing the carpets and repainting the office so we all got a four day weekend this week.
Which reminds me, what are you doing off in the middle of the day.”
“I’m working evenings at the moment. I’ve got my resume out looking for field work.”
“So what are you doing in the meantime?”
“Exotic dancer and cocktail waitress at uncle Mike’s.”
“Is Norman fine with you doing that?”
“Not really but what man wouldn’t want to brag that his fiancé is a stripper?”
“You are more like Mom than I ever would have guessed.”
“Come on, let's finish looking for something really naughty to surprise Norman with.”
They pay and leave walking back toward the shop they started out at.
“You know Mom, something's puzzling me. If you left your old life behind you, why were you in that shop earlier?”
“Just because I left that life behind me doesn’t mean I don’t have a boyfriend.”
“Fair enough. So, what’s he like?”
“Well he’s about six-four, brown and gray hair, a little over weight, likes old movies and sex. Doesn’t really want a long term relationship though we’ve been together now for two years. He owns a little red Lotus sports car that we take out on Friday nights and sometimes we don’t get back till late Sunday afternoon.”
“Sounds a little like Norman. He picked me up at work on a Friday of a four day weekend once and took me to the airport. From there we flew to Cozumel for the weekend. He paid for a deluxe two bedroom suite even. I was always surprised he didn’t pop the question there.”
“What did you do for clothes?”
“Oh he was sneaky, he got Grandma in on it and bought me enough new stuff to get me through the weekend and he even had her get hold of my passport!”
“And he did not purpose then?”
“Nope, You know what’s funny is the distance between him finally saying I love you and will you marry me was only a few weeks. But we have been dating since we were in college.”
They go back into the shop and leave with a few things sometime later. Wren leaves to get Norman with her Mom’s address and a laugh about Wren's license plates.
She pulls up in front of his office promptly at three and five minutes later finds him sitting in the passenger's seat next to her.
“So who are we going to see?”
“It's a surprise.”
“Is it someone I know?”
“Yes, and no. You know them only from me telling you about their past exploits. But, I doubt you would recognize them by that now.”
“Hmm, sounds intriguing. I’ll have to think about this and see if I can figure it out.”
“Well you’ll have to think fast because we don’t have far to go.”
Sure enough they arrive at a tall modern apartment building and pull up to the gate. Wren hands the guard a card from her Mom and he checks a ledger.
“Okay you can go in, visitor space number sixty-four. Have a nice evening.”
“You too.”
The gate opens and Wren pulls in and finds the space. They get out and head into the large front entrance.
“Which room are we going to?”
“Floor eighteen room eighteen hundred and ten.”
They enter an elevator and Norman pushes the floor button. When the doors open they head down the hall and find the room. Wren knocks and the door is promptly opened.
“I hoped you would not change your mind. And this must be Norman.”
“Norman, I would like you to meet my mother.”
"Your, your mother? Dear you said...”
“I ran into someone I hadn’t seen in years and they asked if I would come by their place. Mom is who I ran into.”
“I guess Wren has told you all about me.”
“Only some, and to be honest none of it good.”
“I can understand. I was not a good person then and I’m glad Mom took Wren from me to protect her. What I did to Wren was inexcusable and unforgivable and I fully understand if you wish to leave.”
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