Sacrifices of the Soul, Chapter 29
 
 
 

" STOP THIS WEDDING!!"

Orville gets up to the Altar.

" Orville, what the HELL are you doing?", Chad barks.

" You can’t get married, Chad."

" Orville, I don’t know what’s goin’ on in that crazy mind of yours, but, NOW, is not the time. I have a wedding to do."

" You CANNOT get married, Chad."

" That’s what I’m ‘bout to do. So, why don’t you go sit somewhere."

" NO!. This wedding can’t take place!"

" Ok, Orville, I’ll bite. Why can’t it take place?"

" You can’t marry her, Chad. I’m sorry. I never thought it would get this far. I thought it would be OK, and that I could protect all of you."

" Orville, I don’t know what the hell you’re saying. But, you’re interrupting MY WEDDING! Now, be gone, you old fool."

Orville turns to look at Eve, sitting on the first pew, next to TC.

" I warned you. I told you to keep your daughters, away…far away from Chad Harris. I WARNED YOU not to let them fall in love with him."

" Eve, what is he talking about? That he warned you? Why would he warn you?", TC asked turning to Eve.

" I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going on. Orville,", Eve said, getting up, going over to the old man. " Maybe you need to get some rest. Maybe you need a sedative."

" I don’t need any drugs! I told you what to do! And, you ignored, me, Eve. Why?"

" Orville, I’ll take you out into one of the church offices, and we can talk about it..whatever it is.", Eve says, her eyes pleading.

" Sorry, Eve. I can’t go. I can’t let this wedding take place. I didn’t mean to hurt you. Or you. Or you.", Orville says, going from Eve to TC, to Whitney and Chad at the altar.

Whitney is holding onto Chad for dear life. " Please make him go away, Chad. He’s ruining our big day."

Chad looked into pleading eyes, and got mad. " That’s it, Old Man. I’ve had it with you. I came to marry the woman I love, and you’re gonna take your ass outta here, if I have to KICK it out of here!", Chad says, grabbing Orvlle by the arm, and almost dragging him down the aisle.

Orville gets out of Chad’s grasp, does a quick turn around and grabs Chad by the shoulders. " You can’t marry her, Chad. You can’t. I’m sorry."

" WHY THE HELL NOT?’

" Because, she’s your SISTER!"

" MY SISTER?! What the HELL are you talkin’ ‘ bout?", Chad says, furious with Orville.

Ivy, who has heard what Orville says, shakes her head and says, " Oh, My God." She says it again.

" Ivy, will you shut up!", Julian hisses.

Chad drags Orville back up to the Altar. " Look man, I can see that you don’t want me to be happy for some reason, but, coming up with this shuck and jive that Whitney is my sister, ain’t gonna do it."

" It’s the TRUTH!", Orville exclaims.

" Chad...my brother?", Whitney shakes her head. " You’re wrong. You HAVE to be wrong."

" I’m sorry, Whitney. I never thought it would come to this. I never thought the truth would have to come out. But, now is the time."

" Time for what? Old Man, in order for me to be Whitney’s brother, then one of the Russells would have to be my parent. And, they ain’t like that! They ain’t the type to be havin’ no babies out of wedlock, and throwing them away. That’s not their thing."

" Your parent didn’t throw you away. Your parent doesn't know that you exist. "

" What?"

" It had to happen this way….what happened to you. I'm sorry, Chad. I'm so sorry. But, I always thought it was more important that you believe ALIVE, than for you to 'maybe' be with your parent. Keeping you alive was my main priority."

" You have completely flipped out. I always thought you were off your rocker, but, now I know. You ain't makin' no kind of sense. I'm not Whitney's brother. I can't be. "

" You ARE Whitney's brother. You are. It wasn't supposed to happen this way. It wasn't supposed to happen at all. " Orville turns to Eve. " I TOLD YOU to keep your daughters away from him. Didn't you know me well enough to know that I don't play games with my warning?"

" Don't you talk to Dr. Russell. You talk to ME!", Chad said, furious. He takes Orville by the hand and faces him towards Eve and TC. " If one of them IS my parent, then you tell me now. RIGHT NOW, which one is my parent? WHICH ONE?"

Whitney is trembling and Theresa has come over to her, holding her. Simone, is on Whitney's other side, and is holding onto Whitney's hand, tears streaming down her face.

" So, which one, Orville. Since you seem to want to tell this lie. Which one is it?"

Orville took a deep breath, and then exhaled. " I'm sorry, Eve. I tried to protect you."

Eve looked at Orville and shook her head…." No, no, no.", she kept on saying, over and over again.

By this time, TC was all over Orville. He was holding him angrily by the lapels of his coat.  " The time for this to be humorous has passed, Old Man. You've interrupted my Baby Girl's wedding, and now, you've dishonored my wife. How dare you accuse my WIFE of being Chad's mother. My wife does NOT have any other children outside of our daughters, and she would NEVER have abandoned her child. How dare you disrespect her and accuse her of such things!"

" I told you…she didn't know. She never knew. She could never know. That was all part of it. That was the only way that I could keep the baby alive. Breaking Eve's heart was the only way to do it back then. I couldn't do what I had been paid to do, so I thought I would do what was best for everyone involved."

" LIAR! Stop continuing on with this farce. I swear to you, I'll tear you limb from limb!", TC hisses, his temper flaring as the seconds pass.

" You may not want to know it, but, it's true.", Orville insists.

Just as TC is about to land a punch, Sam grabs him from behind and they both fall on the floor as Sam's grab is harsh.

" TC! You can't. Simmer down. Take a breather."

" This crazy fool is spreading lies about my wife, and I'm supposed to just stand there and take it? I don't think so. I vowed to protect my family, and that include my wife's honor from lowlifes like him."

Orville walks over to Eve, who has a stunned look on her face.

" My baby is dead.", she says in a quiet voice, barely audible to Orville next to her.

" No, Eve. Your baby isn't dead. But, I had to make you think that he was."

" My baby is dead.", Eve says again, to no one in particular, looking at Orville in confusion.

" No, he's not."

" MY BABY IS DEAD!", Eve shouts, with a wild, crazed look on her face at Orville.

With this announcement, all eyes are on Eve: TC, Sam, Grace, Chad, Whitney, Simone, Ethan being the ones closest to her at the altar. Grace looks at Sam in confusion. TC looks at Eve with utter shock.

Eve grabs Orville.

" MY BABY IS DEAD!", she says again, looking dead into Orville's face.

Orville shakes his head. " No, he's not. I'm sorry, Eve. I didn't want to hurt you. But, I didn't have a choice. I came to care about you a great deal. You were more than an assignment to me. You got to me. You were so sweet and innocent. There was an air of goodness about you, that I got attached to."

Eve got up off the Altar and looked around. Everyone was staring at her. No one was saying anything.

" You're wrong, Orville. I don't know what you're talking about, but, I KNOW that MY BABY DIED! You're lying to everyone. I don't know why you are, or why you would upset my daughter's wedding like this, but, I'm deeply offended." Eve did as if she were fixing her dress, and straightened up her jacket and walked over to Father Lonigan.

" Father, I don't know what this man is talking about. He's obviously delusional, and you should really continue the ceremony."

Eve looked at Chad, who was standing near Ethan, and Whitney, who had Theresa and Simone on either side.

" He doesn't know what he's talking about. He's completely mistaken. Of course the two of you are to be married. It's just the ramblings of a crazy man."

Eve went over to Whitney, and she started adjusting her  veil. " See, sweetheart, everything's going to be just fine. You'll be married today, don't worry about it." Whitney looked at Eve with a dazed look on her face. Simone's tears by now, are streaming down her face like a river.

This time it was Orville's turn to do the grabbing. He took Eve by the arm, and brought her directly in front of Chad.

" THIS is YOUR SON!", Orville exclaims. " It was a dreary Christmas morning, Eve. It wasn't even dawn yet, when you gave birth to him. He was a tiny thing. The doctor was from India, I think, and the nurse they had in with you, was a Black woman, from the islands. She had an accent. The baby came right out, once they got you to the delivery room. They took you back to your room, where Crystal was already waiting for you."

" Crystal? The singer who was killed? You KNEW her?", Chad asked confused.

" They brought the baby into see you. You were so happy to see you. All of the hard times melted away from your face.  You were glowing. You cried when they put him in your arms. You had Crystal put a pillow up in your lap, as you raised your legs. You put him gently on the pillow, and then you explored him. You looked at him, everything, head to toe. You counted his fingers and toes at least three times. You wanted to see everything about your baby. You gave him his first feeding. Then, the nurse came in, and you said that you were tired. Before the baby left, Crystal took out a present for him: a panda bear. The nurse told you to take a nap, and that you would see the baby afterwards. That was the last time you ever saw him."

Eve is shaking her head, and chanting " No…no…no..", over and over.

" Because it was so early in the morning, the hospital, understaffed because of a Holiday, was even more barren. I saw my opportunity, and took it."

" Opportunity?", Chad asked.

" Yes. Opportunity. During the time that you were in the labor room, there was a baby that had been brought in by the police. It had been abandoned, and was already sickly. I watched the nurse bring your son back to the nursery. It was right before the change in shifts. She left to go fill out some paperwork, and there was no one there. I had heard her talking with the other nurse, and they were commenting that they didn't think the abandoned baby would make it. They were both Black boys, around the same size and coloring. All it took was a switch of the babies in the baby cubicles, and switching their ID bracelets. It's a shame that it was that simple, but, it was. The abandoned baby died within an hour of the new shift, and the nurse on duty contacted your doctor, with the news. "

Eve shook her head some more. She couldn't believe it. She couldn't. It wasn't possible. Nothing he was saying could be the truth. In a voice, almost as quiet as a mouse, and full of pain, Eve whispered: " Why?"

" Cause I finally found something that I wouldn't do for money. I hadn't up til that point. There wasn't anything that I wouldn't do for money. I prided myself on it. But, I had never been asked to do anything to someone that was truly innocent either. And, what could be more innocent than a newborn baby. A child, who didn't asked to be brought into the world, but, didn't deserve death either."

" Death?", Chad uttered.

" Yes, Chad, I was supposed to kill you."