SAY IT ISN’T SO
A few moments after she rang the bell, Mrs. Vaz opened the door. “Where have you been baba? We’ve been trying to reach you on your mobile for so long. And Emily, we’re not running a hotel. If you want to change your sheets please don’t just throw….” Mrs. Vaz stopped talking. Concern appeared on her wrinkled face as she noticed her daughter’s swollen eyes. Emily pushed her aside and mumbled, “Sorry about the sheets. I left a note.”
Ma followed her into the living room, the concern turning into worry as she asked, “What is it, Emily? What happened?”
“Nothing, Ma. Just. Please leave me alone for a while.”
It took a great deal of willpower to remain silent and respect her daughters’ wishes. Emily couldn’t stomach breakfast and, unable to sleep, spent most of the morning pacing up and down in the hall.
When Emily refused to have lunch, her mother pleaded, “Emily, what is it? You’re going to wear out the floor pacing up and down like that. Will you please tell us what happened? You’re scaring us.”
Emily looked at her parents. She had always assumed that Ethan and she would look like them about four decades later. After what had happened, that vision was dying very quickly. She wasn’t sure she could find the correct words to explain to them how badly she had screwed up. However, she knew that they deserved to hear the truth from her and not from any other wagging tongue. She sighed and said softly, “I think you need to sit down…”
Mr. and Mrs. Vaz held hands as they sat on the sofa, steeling themselves for what was to come. Not in their wildest dreams did they imagine Emily would be saying, “…and then last night, I slept with Arun Shetty.”
“What?” Ma gasped horrified.
Emily hung her head. “It was a momentary loss of judgement. I am so disgusted. I don’t know what to do.”
“A. Momentary. Loss. Of. Judgement.” Her mother repeated the words in staccato. “Emily! Is that your justification for breaking your marriage vows? Jesus, help me! I asked him to spend time with you! What was I thinking?”
“Do you remember nothing of what the priest said at your wedding service? Has nothing we have tried to teach you and show you by example left any impact on you? You slept with another man?? Oh my sweet Jesus, give me strength! Poor Ethan!”
Her father got up and walked out of the room. Emily watched him go and broke down into tears. “I’m so sorry Ma. I’m so sorry….”
Mrs. Vaz stroked her sobbing daughter’s head and stared blankly at the door through which her husband had disappeared. She didn’t know what to say. Emily needed comfort that only a mother could provide, but, she had slept with another man! In the Vaz family home! Mrs. Vaz was seized with the urge to burn the sheets from her daughters’ bedroom. Emily had done something that her remorse, however heartfelt and deep, wasn’t nearly enough to provide her with the comforting blanket of forgiveness. Ethan was like a son and Emily had done the unthinkable. Mrs. Vaz shuddered involuntarily and asked, “How are you going to tell him?”
Emily shook her head. “I don’t know. I know I can’t delay it forever. I was going to call him this morning. I can’t make myself dial his number. I think I need to give it a couple of days and work up the courage to face him.”
“Hmm…” responded Ma. Emily knew she wasn’t convinced but she was too exhausted to make her case. She said nothing, leaned back against the sofa seat and closed her eyes.
It could have been minutes or hours later when Mr. Vaz called out to her, bringing her out of her temporary peace. She rose and joined him in the master bedroom.
He refused to look at his child. In a hard voice, most unlike his usual self, he said, “Emily, you need to find a place of your own to stay. When you do, please don’t come back here. What you did was unforgivable. I would throw you out this instant, but, you are my baby girl and I always thought you were a perfect little angel. Seems that was nothing except a father’s foolish fancy.” His voice wavered and he looked at Emily for just a second before resuming his gaze out the window. “Find an apartment and get out of my house.”
It was as though she had been stabbed in the heart repeatedly with shards of ice. She knew that her parents would be angry, it would have been naïve to think otherwise, but to be thrown out of her home? Her father couldn’t be serious.
“Dada…” she implored.
Mr. Vaz got up and left the room, rubbing the paunch that had grown larger over the years. Their conversation was over.
******
Emily screwed up and how! Thanks for coming back again today. If you are new and want to catch up, please click here.
UBC: Post 28
Filed under: Fiction, novella, UBC October, Ultimate Blog Challenge Tagged: affair, Emily, fiction, novella, story, UBC, UBC October, ultimate blog challenge, unforgivable 
