Sacrifices of the Soul, Chapter 35
 
 
 

Sam nearly had to push TC down into the chair.

" TC, you’re going to have to get a grip."

" I can’t believe that PUNK had the nerve to try and tell me about MY daughter."

" I don’t think he was doing that at all, TC."

" What? You on his side, Sam?"

" No, TC. I’m on your side. But, I’m also on Simone’s side, and I think you’re not listening to what your daughter has to say."

" When she starts talking some sense, then I’ll listen to her."

" What is SENSE, TC? When she spouts the anti-Eve rhetoric that you and Whitney have down? Is THAT what you want for your daughter?"

" She has NO REASON to say anything good about her mother."

" No, TC. YOU don’t have any reason to say anything good about Eve. I admit it, you were betrayed. Completely, by her. But, don’t push your feelings off on your daughter. Watching Simone in there, I could see her pain and agony. She’s walking on eggshells around you, TC. Holding her tongue. Not saying what she feels, and suppressing anything that might make you angry with her."

" She is not."

" YES, SHE IS! That is one confused and scared little girl, TC. And, the thing is, she had been taught since birth that if there was a problem, the people that she could go to were her mother and father. But, nobody ever told her where to go if the problem WAS her mother and father. I guess she thought she could come to Grace and I, but, since we’re in the Anti-Eve chorus, we were out. The only place she feels she can discuss her mother, without fear of recrimination, is with her brother."

" Don’t call him that."

" Sorry, TC. You don’t get to choose that. Chad was right about that. Chad IS Simone’s brother. And, he seems to want to be there for her. But, then, why are we surprised. Because, that’s what the Chad we knew before his parentage would have done. He might be Julian’s son, TC, but, Chad is his own man, you KNOW that man."

" I don’t know that at all. He’s Crane’s Bastard!"

" And Eve’s. THAT is what sticks you in your craw, isn’t it TC? He’s Julian AND Eve’s son. Well, that’s the truth. That’s a fact. And, you can’t erase it, TC. And, you can’t erase the bond that exists between Chad, Whitney and Simone. They ARE siblings, TC. Now, Whitney may choose not to have anything to do with Chad. Under the circumstances, I completely understand. But, Simone is another case. She WANTS Chad in her life. And, if you fight her on this, I’m warning you, TC, you will lose. You will push her away from you, and one day, when you FINALLY get your senses back, it may be too late, because she may not want anything to do with you."

" Simone is my baby, Sam."

" No, TC. She’s a young woman. On the brink of her adulthood. And, she’s certainly old enough to know her own mind and heart. What she was telling you in there, if you weren’t listening, is that she’s no longer towing the party line about Eve. She might have problems with her mother, but, she’s willing to try and work things out with her."

" Oh, yeah. And, where is her ‘Sainted’ mother? Abandoned her, that’s what she did!"

" TC, if you weren’t my best friend, I would beat your ass right now. Please, don’t tell me that you’re going around to your daughters talking this shit about their mother abandoning them. Please don’t tell me that you’ve sunk that low!

Because, if you have, I’m going to tell you now, our friendship is just about over. I can watch you throw away 20 years of marriage, and can only mourn for you.

But, I wont sit around, and watch you destroy your daughter’s souls, by running down their mother like that.

When I was first starting out in law enforcement, and I was assigned to Family Court, I was disgusted by what I saw. Over and over again, I saw people who CLAIMED to love their children, use them as pawns AGAINST their former spouse. It’s sick. SICK I tell you, to watch these innocent children being twisted and used as battering rams against the other parent. A child is taught to love both their parents, and suddenly, they have to choose? Forced to? Do you know what that does to a child’s spirit?

I do. Because, I saw more than a few of the kids I had seen in Family Court, a few years later in the juvenile system. Now, people can try and explain it all they want. But, I think that there was a direct correlation.

So, no, my friend, I won’t sit around, and watch as you poison your children against their mother. Yes, Eve did some bad things. But, what exactly did she do, TC? She loved you and the girls with every fiber of her being every day that you were all together. No, she didn’t tell you about her past with Julian, or their son. Because, she thought the son was DEAD. She would NEVER have let Chad and Whitney get close IF she had known.

And, you can’t stand here and tell me that you believe she would.

Your daughter was asking you a  very serious question, TC, when she asked you what was SHE if Eve was a WHORE? You better think long and hard about your NON-Answer to her, and the language you use to talk about their mother. Simone NOR Whitney need to hear you speak of their mother that way. If you want to bitch to me, you can do it. I’ll sit here and listen to you call Eve every name in the book. But, watch what you say to your daughters.

Eve will be their mother until the day they die, and what happens now, with the divorce, will shape both girls’ future relationships. ALL the studies on divorce have shown that. You want books, we’ll go get plenty of them. I want you to have a good idea as to the damage that you are doing to your children. I can’t stop you from getting a divorce. But, I want you to see that the KIND of divorce that you get, can truly scar your daughters for LIFE. Their self-esteem, the men that they become involved with, how they relate to their own children. All will influenced by how YOU handle this divorce from Eve.

I love you, TC. In some ways, I’m closer to you than I’ve ever been with Hank. So, I’m going to lay it on the line: clean up your act, or you will truly ruin your relationships with not just one, but possibly BOTH your daughters. And, then, what would your life be?"

Sam left TC outside to think about what he had said.
 

" My Dad can’t tell me that I can’t love my mother, Kay!", Simone said, throwing a magazine across the room.

" I know, Simone. I support you. Remember, I was your cover last night."

" Yeah, I know, Kay. Thanks."

" How did it go with Chad?"

"It went pretty good. Chad talked to me. We talked about our mom. Chad’s looking for her. He hasn’t stopped. He doesn’t think that she abandoned me."

Kay went to sit by Simone. " Simone, is that what you thought? That your mom abandoned you?"

Simone didn’t answer for a minute, but, she just nodded, and when Kay looked at her, she realized that Simone had tears in her eyes. Kay hugged Simone.

" Simone, that’s crazy. Your mom just needed some time to think. She would NEVER abandon you. Remember, all the times we used to say that we were lucky. So lucky that we had the best moms in the whole world? Well, it’s true. Your mom wouldn’t abandon you."

Simone nodded. " That’s what Chad said."

" He’s right. See, I told you that big brothers were the best. Chad is going to be so good for you."

" I want to be good for him, too."

" Of course. Our big brothers are SO lucky to have us.", Kay joked. It was the first time Simone had laughed all day. Kay then brought out her new outfit, and told Simone they had to go shopping. Grace, who had heard the exchange, decided to leave the two girls to their teen talk.
 

TC was still sitting outside when he heard the back door open. Standing there, was Grace, with two glasses of lemonade. She handed one to TC.

" I thought you were Sam."

" I told him I thought I should come down to speak with you."

" Oh. He’s still speaking to me?"

" Of course he is, TC. He’s just a little upset at what’s happened between you and Simone. He’s concerned. So am I. I eavesdropped on a conversation between our daughters. I found it illuminating."

" What did you learn?"

" That Simone doesn’t feel that she can be open about her feelings for Eve, which are complicated. She IS disappointed in Eve, but, doesn’t hate her. The only one in her life who wants to hear that, she feels, is Chad. He supports her feelings for her mother. "

" Because, it suits him."

" No, because he’s her brother, and he cares for her. Kay said something to Simone that knocked me out. She said that their ‘big brothers’ were lucky to have them in their lives. She was joking, but, there’s some seriousness to it. Even though Noah’s away at school, I know that the bond between he and Kay is as strong as ever, and if she were in any trouble that she felt she couldn’t talk to Sam or I about, I’m pretty sure that she would be able to tell Noah. That he’s her safe harbour. Someone older, who’s looking out for her best interests, and would ultimately steer Kay our way. Their relationship just doesn’t benefit Kay, it benefits Noah too. So, I understand what Simone means to Chad."

" How can she MEAN anything to him? They just found out that they’re siblings, Grace."

" In theory, TC. But, Chad’s been looking for his family his entire life almost. He’s been ready for when they came into his life. He had prepared his heart for them. And, when he found out that he KNEW his family, so much of the ‘adjustment’ period had already been done."

" So, what am I supposed to do? Invite him over for family dinners?"

" No. No one’s saying that you have to do that, TC. You don’t ever have to have Chad into your home. Simone can meet him at the Book Café. Or the Lopez-Fitzgerald house. Or even at our house. He never has to come to your house again. But, Simone has to feel free that she can have her brother as part of her life. If you fight her on this, you’ll lose, even if you win, TC. Even if you win."

" That’s what Sam says."

" And, he’s right. TC, your daughter is as stubborn as you. Do you remember when the two of you would play chess together. Never a more stubborn pair. Neither one would concede a point. Ever. TC, we only have a short time with our children where they NEED us around and actually WANT us. Once that time is over, the rest of our lives is spent hoping that we impressed them enough so that they want to spend time with us. Soon Simone will graduate from high school and be a legal adult. Once that happens, she never has to harken your door ever again. Don’t force her into that decision."

" I love my daughters with all my heart!", TC exclaimed.

" So does Eve. You know it. She hurt you, and the girls, but, you know it wasn’t intentional, and it doesn’t erase what you shared. YOU can divorce Eve, but, don’t ask your daughters to. That’s too much for them to bear. Even Whitney, though she doesn’t know it yet. "

" Grace, where is my daughter?"

" Up in Kay’s room."

" Thanks."
 

Julian was on the phone with a business associate in Japan when Chad burst through the door.

" Keiko, I will get back to you in a few moments. I must take care of something on this end."

Julian hangs up the phone.

" I want to know what you’re doing to protect my mother from her husband.", Chad demanded.

Julian put his hands to his temples and rubbed. It was going to be one of THOSE kinds of conversations.
 

Simone and Kay were going over the next week’s schedule in cooking class, when they heard a knock on the door.

" Come in.", Kay said.

The door opened, and it was TC.

" I’m going to go help Mom with dinner.", Kay said quickly, leaving the room.

Simone didn’t look up from the menu, and TC didn’t really move inside of the room. There was silence between them when TC spoke up:

" Sugarbear, I love you. You and Whitney are all I have left from the life I ‘thought’ I had. I can’t stand it when we fight, and I get terrified at the thought that one day you wouldn’t love me anymore. I have a lot of issues. With your mother. With your brother. But, not with you. Never with you. You’re half of the reason I can get up in the morning, and why I continue breathing. I don’t want him in our home. And, when you go to meet him, you leave me a note. But, if you feel you want a relationship with him, I can’t stop you. I won’t try. "

Simone looked up at TC, and went across the room and hugged her father. " I love you, Daddy. Thank you."

" Love you too, Sugarbear."