the truth unearthed
“Another sister of mine is coming,” Elizabeth told Philippe early on Saturday morning. “Francheska… she’s coming.”
The news sounded like a lighting about to strike in Philippe’s ears. “Francheska?” He jumped out from the bed and rounded Elizabeth unmistakably, who had just smoothed his tuxedo for work. Then, disconnected memories came rushing back to both of them.
Their minds flashed back to the past, to the last few days when they had seen Francheska and Benjamin, the latter as Philippe’s long-time missing brother. Though the memories were from seventeen to eighteen years ago, they remained, undying, in the minds of everyone involved.
“Phil…” Elizabeth’s face flashed hot and cold. She seemed perturbed. “Before we left Forest Green, I… I saw a birthday card in Sophia’s bed room.”
“And…?”
“I read the card, and I’m very sure that the it was from…” Elizabeth paused and looked Philippe in the eye, assessing if he was ready for a blow.
“From who?” Philippe glared at her, too, looking very serious and nervous at the same time.
“I’m very sure that it was from… Benjamin.”
A bomb inside him exploding, Philippe could hardly believe it! Learning that his missing brother had been actually in Forest Green for Sophia, Philippe almost lost control of himself. Questions whirled bountifully around his head.
“What? Are you sure?” He clutched Elizabeth’s shoulders very tightly as he drilled his eyes to hers. “Are you really, really sure about it?”
“Yes, Phil.” Elizabeth slid her gaze down, torn at the thought that she was happy for her husband but hurting for her youngest sister. Francheska was the victim here. And Benjamin… he was the suspect that ran away.
“I wasn’t able to confront Mom Lucy about it because we were too busy trying to bring back Sophia, here.” Elizabeth was freaking. Though it was ages ago, she couldn’t recover from the height of the case her parents had filed against Benjamin, for allegedly sexually assaulting her sister, the night after she and Philippe got married in Forest Green.
Ensconced up in those memories, Elizabeth was, all of a sudden, full of regrets. If she hadn’t let her sister attend the post-party with Ben at the lake house in the Bo Lake, Francheska could have been just fine. Benjamin, too. And everyone could have been living happily, ever after.
(Elizabeth knew then that both were truly teenagers—Francheska was fifteen and Ben was eighteen, so mixed up with emotions and misdirected with desires, but Elizabeth, at that time, was much too focused on her pregnancy with Alex and her honeymoon with Philippe.)
“Eliz…” Philippe, who now seemed to be looking for solutions, spoke again. Only now, he was looking down. “What happens now if Francheska is coming? What about Sophia? You know your sister is disgusted with her.” Unmistakably, he was terrified, too.
The question dragged Elizabeth to the breaking point. “I don’t know,” she said, an uncommon response for a smart woman like her. “We’ll know the things to do. As of the moment, let’s just be happy that my sister is coming back, okay?”
Sophia gazed through the windows just after she finished doing her homework and saw an old man in front of their house, carrying a load of boxes in and out of his truck. He was Mr. Salvador, who was then full of activity at restoring his own house.
Unlike the Vabueritti’s renovated Hispanic mansion, Mr. Salvador’s was very American. Even his backyard told so because of its open lawn and non-existence of a giant golden gate—something far too convivial, compared to the other houses in the block. Philipdomia’s history was reflected well in the Olympus Heights neighborhood, on how the various colonial invaders had caused significant impacts on the country.
Watching him, Sophia wanted to offer some help: wall painting perhaps or anything within her abilities. So she put on her Orlando Polo Club denim shirt over her white sleeveless one and headed downstairs.
On her way out, she was put to a stop when her mother called her from the kitchen. “Sophia, honey, where are you going?” Elizabeth asked carefully and approached her.
“I’m going to help our neighbor, Mom. I think he needs help.” Sophia was careful with her movements, too.
“What neighbor?” Elizabeth examined her daughter for a while and noticed that Sophia was losing some weight. “Have you not been eating well, lately?” She walked closer and weighed Sophia’s arms carefully. “Your arms are getting tinier. Try to eat some more, okay? And get some good sleep,” she reprimanded, wishing she could offer her daughter a tight and lengthy hug.
Sophia also studied her mom. It seemed her mother was the one deprived of food and sleep.
For Elizabeth, a sense of failure had been washing over her ever since she learned of Francheska’s return. Of course, she was beyond ecstatic for her sister, but she was scared to death that she might lose Sophia once her daughter found out about the secrets. It was way more frightening than heading into a black hole.
“And who’s the neighbor you wanted to help again?” Elizabeth asked.
“The old man in front of the house, Mom.”
“Oh, you mean Mr. Salvador?”
“He is Mr. Salvador?”
“Yeah. He’s a retired navy officer but the old man is really down-to-earth.” Elizabeth began to detail and was gratified to see that Sophia seemed animated. “He doesn’t want to be called Captain Salvador, that’s why people here call him Mr. Salvador. But you better check first if he’s in a good mood before approaching him, okay?”
“Is he hot-tempered or something?”
“Not exactly. Just be nice when you talk to him. And say hi for me, then.” Elizabeth added, smiling.
“I will, Mom. Bye.”
To Elizabeth’s disappointment, there was no kiss-in-the-cheek from her daughter or even a brief body-hug. It seemed the silent gap wasn’t over yet.
Sophia was arranging her words as she crossed the street, but Mr. Salvador already saw her and greeted her.
“Hey, Sophia. Is that you?” Mr. Salvador was lively and inviting.
Face aflame, Sophia greeted him back and began to offer her help. “Hello there, Mr. Salvador,” she was waving a hand and giving a sweet smile, “I just finished my homework when I saw you and I thought that I could come and help you…”
“Oh! Thank you, Barbie, but I can do this. You’re not going to make your emaciated arms get bigger, aren’t you?” Mr. Salvador was genuinely concerned when he thought Sophia would only get exhausted, especially when he noticed those small arms and gaunt face. “I mean, these boxes are really heavy,” he added.
The refusal didn’t matter to Sophia. In fact, she insisted. “No, sir. I don’t mind. I’m glad to help.” She appeared as though a hard-headed child before her grandpa.
This then made Mr. Salvador halt and drop the boxes back into his truck, his wrinkles becoming evident. “By the way,” he said, and between his sighs was the thought of Sophia’s accident. “I heard what happened. How are you now?” Sophia knew at that juncture he was referring to the accident.
“I—I’m fine now, Mr. Salvador.” She managed a polite shrug as her mind got lost and drifted into the sudden thought of Giovanni. Whenever the accident was brought out, she remembered Giovanni. It had always been linked to him. At this, Sophia couldn’t help but feel more emotional… and guilty. “I guess…” she said, and realized for sure she would no longer be fine knowing she used to be false-hearted with Giovanni.
Her sad words and facial expression plunged deep into the old man’s soul. If a thousand battleships in the navy could only mend her, he would go back as captain and order everyone to navigate in one piece.
“Uhm…” Mr. Salvador moaned then, gawking down. “You know, there were days when you’d always greet me every time you pass by my front porch. Lately you’ve been inaudible.”
The revelation brought Sophia to a shock. She didn’t know she’d been quite friendly before her memory loss, especially to this old man. She thought she’d always been quiet and shy. Little did she knew those were the days when she was at the height of her mutiny against her family. At some point, she was the opposite of what she was, right now.
For an instant, Sophia pondered over but was forced to return a response when Mr. Salvador cleared his throat because of a cough.
“I—I guess it’s because of…” Sophia was backsliding to continue. Mr. Salvador seemed more attentive to her than to his cough. “Maybe because of my amnesia, sir.”
The moment she’d finished saying it, Mr. Salvador froze, all of a sudden. “Amnesia?!” Surely he was in a big surprise. “I didn’t know that you have that. I’m sorry!”
Sophia then brightened up her face and set aside the thought. It would only put down the good mood. “It’s okay, Mr. Salvador.” She slid an encouraging look. “And I think I have to go back to the house now. Mom wanted to say hello, by the way.”
Mr. Salvador’s face brightened up, as well. “Oh, in that case, relay my greetings back to your mom.” He winked and loved Sophia even more.