enola_name-of-father-3

IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER by Enola                                                                       <<< Part 2

PART 3

7:12am – Juliet kept on glancing at the big watch hung up on the wall. In forty-eight minutes’ her night shift would finish and she would finally leave.
“Do you still feel sick, Juliet?” Dawn was the only one who ever called her friend with her real name. To everyone else she was Sister Josephine. “Why don’t you go home? You look very tired.”
“I feel really better now. I can stay if you need me.”
“No, actually I don’t. Everything is quiet, so you can go. If you weren’t a nun I’d say you’re pregnant, but since you are a nun, it must be something else.” The tone of Dawn’s voice sounded rather worried. “I’ve never seen you that pale.”
“Probably, I’ve caught the flu,” said Juliet without looking at her friend.
“I want you to undergo a blood test. It might be something serious and I don’t want to run any risk.”
Juliet shut her eyes for a moment, her hands trembling slightly. Fortunately, Dawn didn’t see her. She was preparing a syringe and a test tube to take some of her blood. Juliet didn’t watch as the needle penetrated her skin.

Six weeks had passed since she came back from London. It had been six difficult weeks, the first couple almost unbearable. At work she had managed to pretend well enough that she was serene, she was chatty as usual with patients, but when she left and returned home everything was different. As soon as she closed the door behind her, she gave a cry of despair. Every day she had to struggle with her conscience. She was aware that she had done something wrong, but she couldn’t forget about him. Every time she begged God for help, the memory of those moments spent with James was much stronger. Several times she woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t help but weeping. She looked at the door hoping it would open and he would come in, but it never happened. She spent each minute of her spare time praying on her knees in her room or at church. When everything had begun to get a bit better, she started feeling poorly. The first time was about a week ago whilst assisting Dawn during an operation. At the very first sight of blood she felt sick and was forced to leave. Since that day she had nausea almost every morning.

An energetic knock at the door, awoke her at 3pm. Dawn came in looking grave. She had just got her test results. Juliet bent her head and turned over leaning her hands over the table.
“It’s positive, isn’t it?” she said in a soft voice. Her eyes began to fill with tears.
“I couldn’t believe it. I checked three, four, five times, but the result was always the same.” Dawn stepped closer. “What happened in London? Why didn’t you tell me? Did somebody abuse you?”
Juliet shook her hand and wiped her face. “It’s not as you think,” she sobbed. She moved a chair and sat down.
Her friend sat next to her. “You know you can speak to me freely, as you’ve always done,” said Dawn taking Juliet’s hands in hers.

“I met a man, my brother’s mate. At first he didn’t know I was a nun, he always paid me a compliment and he even asked me out. So I told him the truth because I didn’t feel at ease. But I ended up telling him every single thing and…oh Dawn, he was so caring, so sweet to me. He held me tight in his strong arms, he stoked my hair and also gave me a little kiss but he apologized at once. I asked him to do it again. Then I pleaded with him not to stop. He also said he loved me. Why Dawn? Why did I let it to happen? I am a nun…”
“You silly thing,” said Dawn sweetly wiping her friend’s tears which kept on rolling down her face without a break, “you want to know why? Because, first of all darling, you’re a woman. A beautiful and lovely woman. A woman who has suffered a lot and, because of that, a woman who needs to be loved more than anybody else.”

Juliet stood up and went by the window. “I don’t know what to do,” she said sadly.
“You just have one thing to do,” said Dawn going closer, “You must tell him.”
“No. NO! I can’t!”
“Juliet, darling,” Dawn cupped her friend’s face in her hands. “He must know. Go and talk to Father Albert first. I’m sure he agrees with me.”
The two women went out and Dawn watched her friend going to the church wondering how she had managed to keep her feelings in for so long.

Juliet went to church straight away. She needed to know what he thought about the situation. As she entered the church, Father Albert was praying on his knees before the huge white marble table. She walked towards him without making a sound and knelt next to him.
“Father,” she whispered, “I need to talk to you.”
“I was waiting for you,” he said before making the sign of the cross and getting up. “Come.” He sat down in the first bench and invited her to sat by his side. “What has been oppressing you lately, sister?”
“Something terrible, father. I broke one of my vows.”
“Which one?”
She didn’t answer at once. She took a deep breath and spoke softly ashamed, “Of chastity, father.”
“I guess it happened while you were staying in London. It must have been someone very special, otherwise you wouldn’t have ever broken your vow.”
“He truly was, father. He comforted me, he made me feel good, and said he was in love with me. I know I did wrong. I’ve tried not to think of him, I’ve tried to erase everything about him, but I failed.”

“You can keep on trying, but I do believe you could never forget about him since you love him too. I know you do.” The priest took her hands in his and, speaking quietly, he said: “But there’s more. You’re expecting a baby.” Juliet didn’t have the strength to watch him. She only nodded sniffing. “And this frightened you. You fear he couldn’t care about it or that something bad might happen to your baby this time as well. But you’ve got to deal with it. I understand it’s not any easy. Talk to him. He’s your baby’s father, he’s got the right to know. Then, he said he loved you.”
“Before I went away, I felt him a note begging him to forget about me and, probably, that’s what he’s done.”
“You can’t know if you don’t speak to him. Do it, then you’ll see what to do.”

Two days later, at midday, Juliet was in London again, just in front of her brother’s house. She entered a phone box and called him to his mobile.
“Yes, I’m in and alone. Why?”
“I’m in front of your house.”
“Really? What are you doing out there? Come in!” said Mark enthusiast. As he opened the door, he let his crutches go and hugged his sister.
“How is your leg?” she asked picking the crutches up, then he handed them to him.
“I got the plaster removed yesterday but I’ve got to use the crutches for a while. But tell me what are you doing in here,” he said going to sit on the sofa.
“Do you mind me taking a shower first?”
“Of course not! And, please Jules, do me a favour, take that ugly black gown off.”
“It’s not a gown, it’s a habit,” she remarked.
“Gown or habit, it makes no difference. Take it off. It’s upsetting and depressing,” he grimaced.

A quarter later Mark watcher Juliet coming down the stairs with a pleased smile across his face since she was wearing ordinary clothes. She sat down by his side and asked,
“Have you seen James lately?”
“I saw him last week before he went to his father’s in Wales. If I’m not wrong, he should be coming back around 4.”
“I’m expecting a baby,” she said quickly looking at her hands interwoven over her lap.
“Pardon?”
“The evening before I left, me and James made love.”
“Good heavens!” he exclaimed. “Now I got it. That’s why you left so quickly and he looked miserable when I saw him later that day.” Mark grasped her hands and went on, “Jules, why didn’t you come and speak to me?”
“Because I couldn’t tell you. Calling you was much easier. I knew that if I had seen you, you would’ve noticed that something was wrong and you wouldn’t have left me in peace unless I told you.”
Mark wrapped his arm around her sister and gave her a kiss on the forehead. He suggested going to Euston Station later and telling James about the baby.

Mark heard Juliet coming back home some minutes before 5pm and, with some apprehension, he waited for her to enter the kitchen. Sadly, he realized she didn’t look any good but he didn’t speak a word. She sat down next to him and told him what had happened at Euston Station. She sat at table and had some milk whilst waiting for the train from Cardiff to arrive. When she spotted James among all the others passengers who had got off, she stood up and walked towards him. Just after a few steps, she saw him waving at someone and she then saw a brunette going closer. He put down the bag he was carrying and the two of them hugged each other before kissing on the lips. Mark didn’t expect that. He didn’t know that James was seeing someone. He promised his sister he would take care of her and her baby.

Mark closed the spare room door where his sister had just fallen asleep and he went downstairs carefully.
Juliet had the intention to leave tomorrow and he felt he had to do something. He took his mobile and called his friend. James, when he knew that Mark had finally got rid of his plaster, suggested celebrating with a pint.
“It’d be great,” said Mark, “but not this evening. Jules is here and I want to spend some time with her.”
For a moment he didn’t hear a sound from the other side. “She’s back?”
“She had to deal with something urgent. Unfortunately, she’s going away tomorrow in the morning.”
“So soon?”
“I’ve tried to persuade her into staying longer but she said she has to go back to work. Frankly, I think that’s only an excuse.”
“Why you say that?”
“Because she’s not fine at all. Earlier she burst out crying all of a sudden. She gave me no explanation and I don’t know what the hell is wrong with her. Believe me, seeing her like that drives me crazy. Now I’ve got to leave you, James.”
“Ok. Bye.”
Mark put his mobile down and he said under his breath, “I played my part, James. Now it’s your turn. Let’s see if you care about her.”

He was deeply disappointed when he accompanied her sister to the airport. James had neither call nor come to see her. He hugged his sister tightly promising he would join her as soon as he could.

One day later.

Dawn was taking the new medications that had arrived on morning out of their boxes when, from the window, she saw a taxi approaching. That was something rather unusual in their village. Extremely curious to know who was coming, she went out. The taxi stopped just in front of the hospital and a short white man got off carrying a bag. Having paid the taxi driver, the white man came closer and she noticed he was quite handsome.
“May I help you?” asked Dawn kindly.
With a hint of a smile the stranger replied, “I believe so. I’m looking for Juliet…erm…I mean Sister Josephine.”
“I’ve never called her Sister Josephine in five years,” smiled the Kenyan doctor, “Juliet is a lot nicer. She finished her shift one hour ago, she should be at church. You can leave your bag in here if you like.”
“It’d be great. Thank you very much.”
As the stranger walked away, Dawn looked at him with a big grin upon her face.

Knelt at the first bench, Sister Josephine was saying her prayers. Suddenly, some murmurs broke the silence of the sacred building. ‘Those little scamps again!’ she thought to herself. Having made the sign of the cross, she got up and turned over. Three kids, two boys and a girl, beckoned to her to go closer. They were lovely after all, and she couldn’t get angry at them. One of the boys said that a white man, who had given them a packet of candies, was waiting for her outside. When she asked them who that man was, they replied they had never seen him before. She then told them to go and eat the candies out of the church and, a while later, she herself went out wondering who the stranger white man might be.

Part 4 >>>    coming soon

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