© 2002 by Sarah Ryniker JudgmentalMama@hotmail.com http://www.oocities.org/iamthealmightyrah/FF.html
STORY LAST UPDATED ON 17/08/2002
Rise from the Ashes Prologue Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Epilogue
CHAPTER SIX
Gerald was furious to find out that Michael had got Rachael pregnant. Michael got another beating and then, without Rachael knowing of it, a plan was made behind her back. The plan, of course, had come from my mind. I also told them to keep it from her, because I knew she wanted to keep the child. And that just wasn't possible. It would bring her happiness, no matter the father.
Michael would take the child as soon as it was born. The baby would be born here, with a midwife of my choosing. I was, after all, going to aid my beautiful cousin, sister and now stepdaughter through this horrendous time in her life. She depended on me for everything, and having control of Rachael was happiness.
Hell, having control of anything was happiness to me.
Rachael, I had decided, would be told the baby had died. How the baby died, I didn't yet decide. But that was what she would be told. After having the child in her, she would certainly want to know it. And the death of it would bring her sheer misery.
Karen had already decided that she wanted his child. She had yet to become pregnant. And she wanted that baby with a passion. She was extremely jealous of Rachael. Jealous, especially, of the fact that her husband, blood or not, wanted her. Her husband, Rachael willing or not, had produced a child with her. All the while Karen had still been unable to conceive.
Brendan never did treat Rachael the same again. As he watched her pregnancy progress, and saw the excitement of it, his disgust with her grew. He just couldn't understand why she wanted to keep a baby of rape, rape by her own blood. No matter how many times I, or Rachael, tried to explain it to him, he shut his ears to it. He hated seeing the woman he loved carrying, happily, another man's child. And I loved to see him in agony.
Rachael became depressed because of Brendan eventually disappearing from her life. When next we heard from him, when she was in her eighth month of pregnancy, he had met up with some girl and had become engaged to her. It killed Rachael to hear it, and I gladly delivered the news to her.
I loved to watch her crumble as each syllable was pronounced. Oh, how she loved him. She had planned on spending the rest of her life with him, and I had ruined it all. I loved having the knowledge that I had ruined everything for her. She had hurt me and I was hurting her ten folds more.
I knew Gerald was angry. He hated to look at Rachael. Within days of announcing the pregnancy, she began to show. It was as if the child inside wanted to taunt everyone around it, and say, "Look at me! I am loving and you all hate it. Isn't it grand?" I already had decided that I loved the child within her. The baby was the reason Rachael's life was tumbling down around her. And it made me proud.
In a sense, I felt responsible for that child, too. After all, without me it would never come into existence. It would never be conceived to bring misery to the Parish family world. In a way, I had mothered that child. And nobody even knew it. Oh, the joys of being alive and in control.
The only time I ever saw Rachael out of her depression was when she was in the library, reading to Mitch. He seemed to love the sound of her voice as she read to him. And, though I was jealous and I hated her, I wanted my son to be happy. And if her reading to him made him happy, then I'd allow it. He never did enjoy me reading to him much, but then again, I'd never got into it as much as she did.
And he loved to tell me about the stories. As I sat in my bedroom one day, he rushed in at warp speed and into my lap. "Mama!" he cried.
"Yes, Mitch?" I asked, stroking his hair. He was, without a doubt, the only thing I loved in my life. He was all that truly mattered.
"Guess what Auntie Rachael readed to me!"
I grimaced as her name spewed from his innocent lips. "What did she read?" I asked, patiently, although my insides were churning with rage. How dare she try to take my child away into her own little world!
"She readed to me a story called…" He stopped and thought a moment, having forgotten the name of the story. "The towtus and hawe." I couldn't help but laugh at the way he mispronounced the name of the classic. How young and innocent he was to the world. He couldn't even speak properly yet.
"Well, that is a wonderful story!" I cried with feigned enthusiasm. "Did you enjoy it?"
"Yes, Mama," he said, nodding his head. "I just wanted to tell you. I'm goin' to play now," he announced and then rushed from my bedroom.
I then searched out Rachael. She was in her usual place, which was lounging in the library. She sat by the giant windows overlooking the sea below. She seemed so sad and miserable now. And I knew something had to be wrong with me, normal people would feel twinges of guilt had they caused this innocent, beautiful girl such pain. Yet, I only rejoiced at it, feeling my power rise more and more every time I caught a glimpse of her.
"I heard about the story you read to Mitch today," I announced as my greeting.
She turned to me, a little stunned to know she hadn't heard my entrance. "He does love that story. I read to him all of the time, and that story seemed to be his favourite, yet." Jealousy welled up within me. She knew all about my son's favourites and dislikes. Why didn't I know them?
"You're going to be a fantastic mother, Rachael," I told her, instead of screaming at her and tearing out her hair.
"I hope so. I worry about abnormalities and brain damage because of the baby having the same blood. Won't Michael's blood being my very own cause problems?" I had never thought about what she was saying, but it certainly made sense.
"I wouldn't worry about it. Everything will be fine," I assured her. But with her words, the idea of how the baby would die came into my head. It was the perfect way. Even though I did have a feeling the child would be born perfectly healthy. So far, the midwife said everything seemed fine.
Of course everything seemed fine, I thought bitterly. What could possibly go wrong with Ms Perfection herself? Everything she did and everything she would bring into the world would be absolutely perfect. I was positive that the child that would be born would be amazing and beautiful and everything a child of mine could be, but probably wouldn't be. No matter how beautiful and handsome Mitch grew up to be, her child would always be more perfect.
I saw Rachael with mixed emotions about the child growing within her. Sometimes she was amazed by the fact that there was a tiny creature wiggling around inside of her, naïvely eager to begin life. Other times she hated the fact that the child she carried was blood of her blood, her cousin's, and unknown to her, her half-brother's child. I knew she wouldn't give the child up for anything, but she did wish with all of her might that it belonged to somebody else.
I was also happy to see Karen around her. Karen, who had never grown up, hated to see Rachael's big, and still growing, belly. She had yet to become pregnant herself, though she and Michael had been trying for a while now. She had decided that it just wasn't meant to be, though she didn't give up.
But the fact of the matter was she couldn't wait for Rachael to pop the baby out. The baby would become Karen's child within minutes of birth. As soon as the
baby was in Karen's arms, Michael and Karen were forever banned from this home and the riches surrounding it. Michael wasn't happy about it, but it was either take the child or leave now with nothing. A child was something that he and Karen wanted, so he chose to take the baby.
"When is that baby going to be born?" Karen demanded of me as I sat in the gazebo in the centre of the garden.
"I told you, she still has another two weeks, Karen. Calm yourself. You'll have that baby in your arms within minutes of its birth," I promised.
"I am getting so impatient, though, Ella! I want to leave here so badly. I need to get away from her. It's not like I hadn't seen the letter she wrote him," she revealed.
My head shot up. She had seen it? "What letter she wrote him?" I asked, pretending shock.
"It asked him to come to her room. She framed him, the little whore." Her eyes glowed dangerously as they looked up towards the window that was Rachael's room. "She must have stolen it back. It disappeared not long after I saw it."
I smiled at her and shook my head. "I just can't believe her. I wonder what's come over her."
"Well, I've been thinking," Karen said suddenly, finally sitting down beside me.
"What have you thought up? Maybe I can find out if it is true or not." I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees and clasping my hands together.
"I think that she was pregnant before and when Brendan refused to marry her, she wrote that letter to Michael and then pretended that she was raped." It was something I had never thought of before. Karen was intelligent, even more so for not expecting that I had anything to do with it, and her idea seemed plausible. Of course, it wasn't the truth, but I could tell Gerald differently.
I nodded, looking thoughtful. "That has to be it, Karen. You're so right!" I exclaimed. She looked proud of herself for solving a "mystery". How silly she was. If only she knew the truth.
"I knew that had to be the answer. Why don't you do a little prying into it? She likes you. After all, you are her best friend." With that, Karen rose and left me to my own sick, private thoughts.
Of course I was her best friend, I thought. I was good at being sneaky and conniving. I had no friends, yet I didn't need them. The thoughts that had attacked me when I first began to live here had frightened me. Now I laughed at myself. How could such thoughts frighten me? I had the upper hand. I would always have the upper hand.
Rise from the Ashes Prologue Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Epilogue