Oh, the look on his son’s face when he learned Marie was pregnant. Samuel’s overpowering animosity was respectfully quelled by the sadness of another loss. While Samuel may not have shared the sympathy, Amanda did. On the day Sharron went to heaven, accompanied by Nathaniel and Marie’s unborn son, Amanda appreciated the great loss and wisely guided her husband through appropriate conduct.
Thank god, Anton was home. After witnessing the scene on the stairs, his condolences were the only ones Nathaniel would accept. After all, Anton was the one to save her. Nathaniel didn’t know what he’d have done if he’d lost Marie too.
It took months. Eventually, Nathaniel resorted to psychiatric therapy. Marie didn’t realize she was being treated; she never would have permitted it. Her stubbornness, despite her despair, made Nathaniel smile. He hired a therapist to be her nurse. She encouraged, no pushed, Marie to perform daily activities: rise, shower, eat, walk, etc. During those activities, the nurse engaged Marie in conversation. In time, with encouragement, Marie reentered the world of the living.
She hadn’t just endured the loss of their child and Sharron; Marie finally spoke about her first child, a daughter, who she was forbidden to hold or touch. She only saw the baby girl for a few seconds.
When she learned she was pregnant at eighteen, she understandably detested the child. It was after all the result of unconsensual incest. Marie’s uncle came to live with her family in an effort to recover from a drug problem. He was a dreamer of sorts, seeing life through music and art. He claimed that drugs intensified his creativity.
When his advances first began, Marie told her mother. Of course her uncle denied the allegations. After questioning her brother, Marie’s mother warned Marie to stop lying. A few months later, when Marie became pregnant, her uncle accused her of coming on to him. Helplessly incapacitated with cocaine, how could he resist?
Marie’s parents didn’t entertain her stories to the contrary or debate her options. She was shipped away for the end of her senior year. The following summer, her baby was placed in a good home, with a competent caring mother.
Marie never returned home and hasn’t spoken to any of her family in years. She needed a complete escape. After a few years of odd jobs, she contacted the attorney who handled the adoption. He knew of a possible position. Marie answered a request for a personal assistant.
Nathaniel heard her story before. However, when Marie shared it with her nurse, it helped her move through her continued grief. Nathaniel reveled in Marie’s daily progress as she shed layers of dark veils. He couldn’t be sure, but he hoped, the therapy combined with his support helped his new love learn to live again.
He was unable to help Sharron; he couldn’t bring her back. Therefore, in order to resurrect Marie, no holds were barred. Of course, Nathaniel Rawls had a tendency to show support in unusual ways. He wanted Marie to know there was nothing he wouldn’t do to aid her recovery. At the same time, he had investigators working to find her daughter. The source of her past anguish was easily located.
Marie’s father owned a small business in upstate New York, a car dealership. Nathaniel wondered if an unwed daughter were truly such a great disgrace in 1981 or if it were the allegations of incest that her family feared. As he devised the demise of the family owned business, Nathaniel brought Marie’s father’s greatest fear to reality. The day Nathaniel showed Marie the paper work, in fact giving her rights to the now defunct car dealership, he wasn’t sure how she would react.
Marie couldn’t believe Nathaniel’s gift. Strolling the paved stones through the estate’s gardens, she listened to his deep rich voice and inhaled the spicy scent of autumn. The summer flowers were sleeping, replaced with orange and yellow mums. The various shades of green in the distance were transforming to vibrant shades of red and brown. It seemed as though the nearby hillsides were ablaze with flames, leaving waste in their wake.
Although the world was settling in for the slumber of winter, Marie felt herself coming back to life, enjoying a springtime rejuvenation in the middle of autumn. The journey was draining, yet with each accomplishment she regained strength. Knowing it was the isolating depression that drained her energy, she worked daily to distance herself from the darkness, filling herself with increased vitality.
Marie never thought of herself as vengeful. But every evening as she was forced to eat at the same table as Samuel Rawls, her skin crawled and thoughts of revenge surfaced from recesses unknown. It was the one injustice she willed herself to endure, for Nathaniel. He wanted his family together.