Patrice looked at her daughter as her eyes filled with tears. “I am so sorry, baby girl. I’m sorry I believed her lies all these years. Every time I would ask, she would tell me to shut up, she told me I wasn’t to think about that anymore.” Shaking her head she admitted, “I could never forget you. I had so many hopes and dreams while I was pregnant with you. I might have been afraid of your dad but I wanted you to be born, I wanted to teach you everything a little girl should know. I wanted to watch you take your first step, lose your first tooth, watch you take the bus to school for the first time. I wanted all of that and so much more. I wanted to see the wonder in your eyes as you fell in love for the first time. All of these were things I never got to do but wanted to see. I dreamed many times what you would look like, had you lived.”
Tatum had tears rolling down her cheeks as she sat there and stared at her.
“Did whoever she gave you to…” Patrice’s voice cracked as she stared at Tatum. “Please—tell me they were kind to you?”
Tatum stared back at the woman she just learned was her mother for a moment and shook her head. “No she wasn’t good nor was she kind to me, she was a rigid woman, and having a child in her home was not her idea of fun. I learned to stay out of her way real quick.”
Patrice hung her head and truly cried for what was done to them.
The room went quiet as they all simply sat there in a solemn silence.
A few moments later, Patrice lifted her head. “Damn you Cheryl, damn you and everyone who helped you destroy mine and my child’s life. Damn you all to hell!” she raged. “I hope both Cheryl and her fucking daughter burn in the fires of hell.” She looked over at Tatum. “I’m sorry. I should have figured it out…I knew Cheryl wasn’t right in the head. She had secrets that made her cruel and I used to watch her with the children at the Abbey.” She turned to Cat and Luna. “I owe you both an apology. I should have stood up to her for you and I didn’t. She kept us mostly apart for a reason, I just realized what that reason was.” Shaking her head she admitted, “I never knew Isobel was her daughter. You see, I never saw her hair until today and when you pointed it out, everything became clear. That was why Isobel kept coming back, all those years. I thought it was because she missed the Abbey, I didn’t realize it was because of her mother.” She stared at Cat. “I never knew you were Isobel’s daughter.”
Tatum studied her mother for a moment then looked at Hawkins. “Can you untie her? I don’t believe she’s going to run or hurt anyone.”
Hawkins paused as he stared at Patrice then he nodded.
Kota got up to cut the tape that bound her.
Patrice groaned as her arms were released, she rubbed them to get feeling back in them, then wiped her tears away. “I still can’t believe you’re here and that you’re alive.”
“Did you know a man named Dennis Matchy?” Luna wanted to know.
Patrice nodded. “I knew of him but have never met the man.”
“I spent my first five years under his roof,” Luna told her softly. “He went to the house Tatum was sent to just recently in order to take her to her father. I think he was going to trade her to Greenaway for something, I’m just not sure what.”
“He knew who she was then?” Patrice asked.
“I think he recognized her eyes the same as you did,” Hawkins replied.
“This has to end.” Patrice shook her head. She looked between Hawkins and her daughter and asked, “What do you want me to do?”
Tatum frowned at her in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“Do you want me to tell Joel about you?” Patrice asked. “You may want to know him. After all, he is your father, and I know he would want to know about you.”
Tatum looked worried. “Wouldn’t that put you in danger though?”
Patrice smiled softly, but she spoke with a sad voice, “He might not understand that’s true, but I failed you in everything else since you were born. I would do this for you. I made so many mistakes when I was young, so many things I can’t take back but this is something I can do for you, if you wish.”
Tatum shook her head. “I don’t need to know him. He doesn’t sound like the kind of man I would want to know. I guess, I really just wanted answers. Mrs. Wyman never told me anything. When I would ask, she would look down her nose at me and tell me I was better off not knowing. She told me the truth would reveal secrets that should be kept as secrets.” Tatum grabbed Brute’s hand and continued, “Then she would scream at me, telling me that I never should have been born, that I was the daughter of the devil’s own whore. She would look at me and get so mad. I never understood what I had done wrong.”
Patrice’s heart broke. Her one decision all those years ago ruined so many lives. The Abbey and Cheryl / Mother Superior had been all she knew. The more she thought about it, the more she realized her mistake in trusting Cheryl at all. Cheryl had worked her way into a position of power after she had her daughter. By the time she had arrived at the Abbey when she was eight, the pattern had been set. Cheryl never claimed Jolene as her daughter on paper but in her heart, she knew she was. She raised her daughter as if she were just another child dropped off at the Abbey, yet she allowed her to go off with the cartel and she didn’t care what her daughter was doing all these years. But she was convinced that Isobel had been paying Cheryl all these years. Had Cheryl been blackmailing her own daughter all this time? Then something clicked in her brain. She surged to her feet and stared at Cat in horror. “Oh, my God…” Her hand went up to cover her mouth as things began to fall into place.
Cat frowned. “What?” She looked over at Titan then at Hawkins. “What’s the matter?”
Patrice sat back down hard and shook her head. “That woman is pure evil.”
“Why don’t you tell us something we don’t know?” Hawkins grunted.
Patrice shook her head and told them, “No… you have no idea, she’s been taking money from Jolene for years. When I told you I knew of Dennis Matchy? I’ve seen him at the Abbey several times a long time ago, then he showed up again, just recently. I never knew why he stopped coming, I’m pretty sure it’s been about seventeen or eighteen years? Then a few weeks ago, he suddenly showed up again.”
Luna spoke up, “He went to prison for drug dealing and child abuse seventeen years ago. He was supposed to stay behind bars for ten years but he couldn’t keep his nose clean inside and got extra time. I was the kid he abused. I thought he was my father all those years.”
Patrice gazed at her and shook her head. “You never were. I remember the night Isobel brought you to the Abbey. I was about ready to have my own baby and I was walking the halls, when I saw Isobel carrying a very tiny baby in her arms. She and Cheryl were talking in low voices and then Mother Su— Cheryl reached out and slapped her. I heard her tell Jolene—Isobel that she would take care of the baby. Then I saw Isobel hand her an envelope. I’m pretty sure it was filled with money. Then a few days later, Dennis came to the Abbey late at night. When he left, he took the baby with him.” She looked over at Luna. “I didn’t know that baby was you, when you came back a few years later. I never had a thought that you were that same child.”
“So why did you treat us so badly?” Cat asked. “We were just kids back then and you treated us like shit.”
Patrice hung her head. “I know. I don’t have any excuses for what I did. I was in so much pain from losing my own child and the woman you call Cheryl was filling my head with all kinds of garbage.” Shaking her head she repeated, “That woman is pure evil, how she came to be in charge of the Abbey I’ll never know.”
Kota frowned. “Wait a minute, go back to the night Isobel brought the baby to the Abbey.” He looked at Luna then back at Patrice. “You’re telling us she knew Isobel stole a baby and that she brought the baby to the Abbey?”
Patrice nodded. “Yes, I was watching them from the second floor. I heard voices and looked over the banister. I could see Cheryl and Isobel below. Isobel was carrying a small baby and Cheryl took her and then slapped Isobel. I think she said something about bringing her troubles back home. Isobel told her the baby wasn’t hers but that it belonged to the cartel. She told Cheryl to hide the baby and that they could use her as leverage one day, if they needed to. Then Isobel gave her an envelope and walked away.”
“How long was the baby there?” Kota asked.
“A few days, maybe four at the most,” Patrice stated. “I was about to go into labor when I saw Dennis take the baby. I asked Cheryl about it and she told me I was wrong. She told me Isobel hadn’t been there and there had been no baby either. She claimed she didn’t know anyone named Dennis.”
Kota looked over at his dad and growled, “She’s known for years who Luna was and she’s known all along who Cat is. Now Tatum. She’s been in a position of power all these years and I wonder how many other lives she’s ruined?”
“Well, I can make one wrong right at least,” Patrice told them.
“No you can’t.” Tatum shook her head. “Not for me. Don’t even consider it. I don’t need to know my father if he’s such a bastard that he would hurt you. All I ever wanted to know was who I was, and that I had someone out there who was missing me, that maybe loved me.” She looked away as she went on, “All my life living in that house with that awful woman, I had to believe that someone out there loved me. That was the only way I could survive her abuse.”
Patrice’s hands trembled, as she felt so miserable. “I did love you. I never stopped loving you. My heart was broken. I mourned the loss of my baby. When you were born and Cheryl told me you died, a part of me died too. So that’s why when Cheryl began telling me all her shit, I believed her. I was weak and becoming like her. Finally, I have woken up to that fact and I deeply regret it. I was in too deep and trapped for all these years. I should have left the Abbey, but I was too afraid.” She stared at Tatum. “I admit my mistakes and now I want to try to fix them. I can’t hide behind the Abbey walls anymore and I can’t hide behind Cheryl’s skirts anymore either. Joel needs to hear the truth, he needs to know about you and why I left all those years ago. He also needs to know about Cheryl’s lies. I won’t tell him where you are or who you are with but the lies have to stop.”
Tatum kept shaking her head, as she looked very afraid.
Brute wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
Patrice took a deep breath and looked over at Hawkins. “Do you have a burner phone I can use to call him? I don’t want him to be able to trace the call. I won’t put you or your MC in danger and I won’t put my daughter’s life in danger.”
Hawkins looked over at JuJu.
JuJu got up and walked to his office. When he returned, he handed Hawkins a burner phone.
Hawkins slid the phone over to Patrice.
She opened it and tapped a number in.
“You don’t want privacy for this call?” Hawkins asked her.
“No, I want you all to hear what I say. I won’t betray any of you and I want you to know I’m telling the truth. I want no doubt in your mind or Tatum’s. There have been too many lies already.” She put the call on speaker.
When the call was answered, they all heard Joel’s voice, “Who the fuck is this and how did you get this number?” He growled.
“Joel,” Patrice said breathlessly.
They heard Joel gasp at the sound of her voice then a few seconds later, Joel whispered her name, “Gellis? Is that really you?” Then his voice got louder as he spoke, “Where the hell have you been woman and why are you calling me after all this time?”
“Joel I-I have something I need to tell you and I don’t think you’re going to like it but p-please just hear me out. Will you listen, please?” Her voice trembled as she whispered her request.
“I’ll listen but it better be good,” Joel finally told her.
Patrice swallowed hard and began recalling her past, “Twenty four years ago when we met and you began spending time with me, I fell in love with you. I didn’t even try to stop it from happening. At first, I didn’t know what you did and back then, I didn’t care. I loved you so much. Then I found out what you did for a living and you began to change. I should have walked away the first time you hit me but I didn’t. I stayed and I took your abuse. Then you got so cruel and I tried to walk away, but you brought me back and you beat me. I stayed then because I was afraid of you. I lived in fear of your temper and I felt so trapped. I—I was carrying your baby and the fear I felt for my baby suddenly gave me the strength I needed to break away for good. I didn’t want you to hit me anymore and I sure as hell didn’t want you to start hitting our child. I grew up with that and I wanted more for my child than what I had, so I left. I hid, so you would never know about the baby.”
“What about the baby?” Joel growled.
“The baby was a little girl,” Patrice told him. “The night she was born, I was told she died. I was lied to all these years. I believed our d-daughter was dead.”
“What happened to change that?” Joel asked almost curiously.
“I saw her,” Patrice whispered. “She walked into the room and when I saw her, I passed out. I knew she was our daughter the moment I saw her eyes. Oh Joel, she has your eyes and that’s when I knew I had been lied to for all these years. The one place, the one person I went to when I left you, lied to me. She told me my baby was dead. It changed everything. And I had believed she was dead for the last twenty four years.”
“Where are you and where is my daughter?” Joel growled the words out.
“I’m not going to tell you that.” Patrice shuddered. “I’ll leave it up to her to contact you if she wants to. I know it’s not fair but the life you led scares me. You’ve gotten stronger and bigger since I left you. I don’t know you anymore. All I know is that I left for a reason and that reason was because of your temper.”
“Tell me where you and the girl are!” Joel yelled through the line. “If I have to come find you, I won’t be happy.”
“That right there is the reason I won’t tell you,” she replied. “Did I make a mistake? Yes, I did. I trusted the wrong person twenty four years ago but your mistake was abusing me in the first place. She knows about you now and the lies of the past are out in the open. They were going to use your daughter to get to you and I couldn’t let that happen. I lost her once and I’m not going to lose her again.” Tears rolled down her face and she gripped the phone tightly. “I thought I loved you once upon a time, and maybe I still do, but when I knew she was growing inside me… I loved her more. I walked away from you for her and I don’t regret that one bit.” She paused then sobbed, “I had to stop the lies and I have. Now I’m free. Goodbye Joel.”
They could all hear Joel threaten her not to end the call but Patrice ended the call. She shut the phone off and laid it carefully on the table.
Juju took the phone and removed the battery.
Patrice trembled badly as she watched him, then she folded her arms on the table, laid her head on them and wept.
Tatum got up, walked around the table, and wrapped her arms around her mother, holding her while she sobbed.
