Chapter 18
The Artist in Her
There were still a few weeks before summer ended.
One late morning, since Zarah was still on vacation in Europe with her parents, Elizabeth decided to convince Sophia to attend an art class. She wanted to wash her daughter’s sadness away by reviving her passion, which was to sketch. She knew that it was the Tenth of May, the day of her daughter’s painting competition at the National Art Institute, but she chose to zip her mouth about it, considering Sophia’s amnesia.
“You love to sketch, honey! Every summer, you attend Ms. Bun’s art class.” Elizabeth talked to Sophia as she joined her on the dining table.
Landing a steaming cup of rosemary tea on the table, Sophia bent her head down and dampened her lower lip. She was not sure about how she was going to respond to her mother’s offer.
“You have lots of sketch pads, hon.” Elizabeth leaned forward and volunteered to squeeze a slice of lemon on her daughter’s cup. “You’re an exceptional artist,” she added, pinning on a wide smile.
Sophia contemplated her mother’s offer again. With a profound look at her hands, she wondered if they could still sketch, exactly like they used to. Though she hadn’t seen, yet, a sample of her own work ever since the accident, she heard that they were great.
Elizabeth’s eyes lingered and were drawn to Sophia, and she thought of something that could, somehow, let some light into her daughter’s blank mind.
“Wait here and I’ll get your sketch pads for you to see,” Elizabeth set forth, giving Sophia a pat on the back.
“Yes, Mom. I’ll wait here…” Sophia nodded and granted her mother a plain smile.
Elizabeth went upstairs and looked for them.
Rounding at her daughter’s bed, she knew that she just put them somewhere in Sophia’s bedroom. She kept searching and at last, she found one beneath Sophia’s study desk piled along with art magazines and school books. It was Sophia’s latest sketch pad. She went back, downstairs, and handed it to Sophia.
“I don’t remember where I put the others but this is what I found,” explained Elizabeth, as she approached her daughter from behind, and volunteered to open it for her.
As the pages were turned one by one, Sophia was amazed by her own artwork. “Did I sketch all of these?” she asked, lifting her chin, looking at her mom through the corners of her eyes.
“Yes, honey.” Elizabeth’s voice sounded proud.
Page after page, the sketch of what she saw at the lake house that night seized Sophia’s eyes. The gigantic pair of white wings was, in particular, outstandingly sketched!
“It’s beautiful, Sophia! What made you sketch that?” Elizabeth applauded her.
Out of the blue, Sophia remembered what she read from her diary a few days ago. It was described the way it was sketched.
“Your imagination is brilliant, honey! What made you draw such a pair of huge wings, surrounded by a flock of smaller birds?” Elizabeth, still at Sophia’s back, ensued. “Um... let me interpret that.” She brought out a challenge to herself and placed her right index finger over her lower lip, thinking hard.
“Mom, when will we visit Forest Green again?” Sophia, all of a sudden, changed the course of their conversation.
“Forest Green? We just went there about four months ago.”
Gradually, Sophia nodded and confessed, “I feel like I need to go back there.”
“And what would you do there?” Elizabeth’s surprise persisted, as she punctured her eyes into Sophia’s sketch, mulling over it, as if it reminded her of something.
“I don’t know, Mom. It’s just that... a part of me is telling me to get back there.”
“Oh, by the way, how did you know of Forest Green?” Elizabeth quickly asked, surprised about how Sophia learned of Forest Green, despite her amnesia.
“Um, through my diaries, Mom…”
Knowing that Sophia grew up there and hopefully, some things would miraculously flash back into her memory, Elizabeth was fairly persuaded.
But Grandma Lucy spied their conversation.
Sensing Elizabeth’s plan to visit Forest Green, Grandma Lucy demanded for a private talk with her daughter-in-law.
Elizabeth agreed and temporarily left Sophia.
They headed to Philippe’s office room, the one that was adjacent to the living room.
While closing the door, Grandma Lucy made sure they did not appear suspicious to Sophia.
“I think it’s time for you to know about Jericho.” Grandma Lucy began to reveal some secrets, her eyes concentrated on the rays of the sun passing between the small spaces of the curtains.
“I heard of that name when we were in Forest Green. What about that guy, Mom?” Elizabeth asked as she stood, five feet away from Grandma Lucy.
Looking down, Grandma Lucy took a hard time to select her words. In an upset intonation, she spoke again. “Jericho is the son of an insane woman in Forest Green. They are poor… and pathetic! I don’t want that kind of guy for my granddaughter!”
Rendered speechless, Elizabeth felt like she was thrown from East to West and vice versa.
“Mom, you mean to say... my daughter had a relationship with that guy?” Elizabeth survived to ask in pins and needles. “But she’d just turned thirteen when we took her!”
“That was what I was asking myself, before. She was too young, Elizabeth!” The frown in Grandma Lucy’s face deepened.
“Mom, maybe he’s just a friend. Maybe you’re overreacting!” Elizabeth attempted to stretch it out.
“You think I was stupid enough to see what he was doing to her?”
“What, Mom?”
Instantly, Grandma Lucy fell mute. Letting her breath come out slowly, she folded her arms on her chest and carried on. “I was awake that night when I heard someone climb Sophia’s room. Her door was open when...” Grandma Lucy’s voice suddenly trembled.
On the edge, Elizabeth stepped closer towards her and waited for her mother-in-law to finish her sentence.
Grandma Lucy found courage to speak again. “Her door was open when...”
“When?”
“Her door was open when I saw him kissing Sophia!”
Elizabeth, at once, weakened. “Oh, dear God....”
“She was twelve so I decided to call you right away... to take her away.” The moment she said it, Grandma Lucy faced Elizabeth, looking deadly.
Elizabeth felt rooted to where she was standing, and allowed herself be stabbed by every knife coming from Grandma Lucy’s eyes and words. She was speechless, shaking, disbelieving every word she heard from her mother-in-law.
“I’m her grandma and I want the best for her! You think it was fine with me to see my young and innocent granddaughter being kissed by a tramp?” Grandma Lucy stressed and paced towards the windows to avoid Elizabeth’s shocked and perplexed eyes.
With those sharp words, Elizabeth could almost collapse and sink to the floor. She wished for a pole of strength, just a grab away, for her knees were about to betray her.
“If I did not call you that day, to take her... her life would have been so different, Elizabeth!” Grandma Lucy advanced. “That is the reason why, as much as possible, I don’t want her back in Forest Green. It will only bring everything back!”
About to explode, Elizabeth remained silent. Soon, she survived enough to say something, “What if it’s over now...?”
Grandma Lucy brusquely laughed and faced Elizabeth once more. “When you visited Forest Green four months ago, they saw each other.” Grandma Lucy lifted her lips sideways with swaying of head. “Oh, Eliz, trust me. I’ve been told. And I’m very sure the lust is still there. She’s just like Francheska.” All of a sudden, Grandma Lucy realized, too late, that it was a slip of the tongue.
“Mom, please! Don’t dredge up the family history!” Elizabeth pleaded. “Please, don’t involve my sister, Fracheska, here!”
Grandma Lucy’s eyebrows raised. “All right! But from whom would Sophia inherit such—”
“Mom! Please!” Elizabeth pleaded harder, cutting Grandma Lucy’s sentence before she could unearth the unwanted family secrets, of Sophia’s true identity.
Grandma Lucy appeared disillusioned. “Remember, I lost my son, Benjamin, because of Francheska! And I don’t know if he is still alive or—” Grandma Lucy cried, all of a sudden.
Silence conquered Elizabeth. She could not bear the rushing torrent of the past. The times when Francheska threatened to abort Sophia. The times when her parents, Randy and Emily, were filing a case against Benjamin, Philippe’s younger brother, for sexually assaulting Francheska. And Elizabeth didn’t know if her sister was alive afterwards (because she ran away after giving birth). I also lost a sister because of your son, Elizabeth wanted to scream at Grandma Lucy.
“My son was innocent, Eliz… Yes, they were both teenagers. We all know they were soft on the head... But everyone at the party told me that Francheska was taking too many drinks, the night you and Philippe got wed in Forest Green. Yes, Benjamin had a crush on Francheska, but I know my son! I know my son, Eliz! He might not have remembered everything because he was extremely drunk and had popped some drugs… but I know, he couldn’t do such a thing. Francheska’s claim, that she was raped in the woods, near our lake house, lacked evidence, Elizabeth. It lacked evidence! And now, I don’t know where my dear Benjamin is…”
There was another moment of painful silence!
“There’s not a day that passes by, that I do not think of my son, Elizabeth…” Grandma Lucy struggled to wipe her tears. “I always do…” She broke into another sob.
Still, silence served as Elizabeth’s recourse. There were no words to mollify or lessen the situation she and Grandma Lucy were in.
“I’m going back to Forest Green tonight!” Grandma Lucy wiped another stream of tears. “Sophia’s getting better and I think she doesn’t need me anymore!” she proceeded cold-bloodedly, and was about to leave the room.
Elizabeth stopped her. “Your granddaughter still needs you, Mom. We need you! Please… give our family another chance,” she said, attempting to meet Grandma Lucy’s eyes.
“I have to get back there, Eliz!” Grandma Lucy insisted, and left Elizabeth, in a rush.
Sophia heard some echoes of shouts, ringing, from her father’s office, and she decided to go there. Witnessing how Grandma Lucy recklessly exited the room, she knew they had a fight. Then, she made haste, to check on her mom.
Witnessing those tearful eyes of her mother, Sophia ran to console her.
“Mom, are you all right?”
Not a single word came out from Elizabeth’s trembling mouth as she rested on Philippe’s chair.
“Mom?” Sophia repeated. “What’s wrong?”
Elizabeth blinked back her tears and pretended she was fine, looking at her daughter with a mixture of love and regret.
Sophia’s innocent face slowly frowned as her hands rested on her mother’s arm. “Mom, is there something that I can do?” Watching her mom, watching the heavy rainfall from her mother’s eyes, it felt like the downward pull of her chest was much stronger than gravity.
Elizabeth’s bare hands sponged her tears down but a dew magnified her daughter’s face. “I’m fine, honey! I’m fine! Have you already decided to attend Ms. Bun’s art class?”
The pallid smile of Elizabeth poked Sophia. Agreeing was one way to drift her mom’s sadness away, she thought, and so she acted with full-blown interest.
“Yes, Mom. I’m actually excited to attend it.”
“I’m glad you finally decided. I’ll call Ms. Bun, then,” Elizabeth concluded, her face finally revealing signs of relief.
