Everyone sat around while staring at the woman who’d called herself Mother Superior for a long time. Every question Hawkins or anyone else tried to ask her was met with silence.
About a half hour later, Patrice was escorted back to the main room and she too, was bound to a chair just like the Mother Superior.
Cat stood beside one of the windows. She found herself staring out into the woods looking for what, she had no idea. In reality, the answers to all of it were right in this room in the guise of two nuns. ‘Guise’ would be the right thing to call them both too. The supposed Mother ran that Abbey like a prison, allowing horrible terror and events to scar many kids for their entire lives. Such as her and Luna. After all these years, the woman who’d made her life and Luna’s life miserable…sat right here.
As she looked out at the woods, she felt something dark causing her to shiver from within. She frowned and thought back to her dreams. She got this feeling every time she had a bad dream or slipped into someone else’s nightmares.
But she was wide awake, wasn’t she? She continued to stare at the woods and slowly, somehow the woods changed into tall buildings… Then she heard the whine of a bike engine and she saw a street with a chain link fence at one end.
When the engine shut down, she could hear two voices, one was male and the other female but they were not happy voices, the couple was having an argument of epic proportions. She couldn’t see their faces, only hear their voices. She could barely hear what they were saying but the rage in both their voices were felt more than heard.
“I told you bitch, you were nothing more than an easy time. I’m not staying in this fucking town.”
“But I’m carrying your child, don’t you fucking care about that, you big bastard?” Her voice was just as vicious as his had been.
“Fuck no, I don’t give a fuck about you, or that kid, probably isn’t mine anyway.”
“You bastard!” she screamed. “I’ve only ever been with you.”
“So you claim.” He scoffed. “I’m leaving this god forsaken town and I ain’t ever coming back.”
“Take me with you,” she begged. “My father is gonna kill me if he finds out I’m pregnant. He’s a preacher for God’s sake.”
“Not my problem, Cheryl. I’m not taking you with me. NO, I’m outta here.”
Then Cat heard a loud SMACK, as the woman must’ve slapped him. Then she heard him slap her back… hard. Next, a motorcycle engine started up and roared away. She could hear the woman crying.
Cat came out of her memory with a start.
Titan was shaking her as she came back to the present.
He stared into her eyes then grabbed her up and held her close. “God, you scared me, where were you?”
Cat shook her head to clear away the dazed feeling. She turned around to make eye contact with the woman she knew as Mother Superior. She could read the slight fear in her eyes but it was still overshadowed by the hate the woman had in her glare.
Cat shivered and wished she could have seen their faces. She laid her head on Titan’s chest. Finally, she whispered, “I think she has a reason to hate bikers.”
Titan froze and asked, “What reason? We haven’t hurt her. Not yet anyway, but if she doesn’t start talking to us, I’m not sure what Hawkins is gonna do to her.”
“He won’t hurt her will he?” Cat looked up at Titan.
Titan shook his head. “No, he doesn’t have to physically hurt someone to hurt them, you know that.”
Cat nodded and turned her head to stare at the woman again. “I think I saw her past. She is… was a preacher’s daughter that got mixed up with a biker and he left her behind when he left town. He left her carrying his child. A child he never claimed, not then and not later either.” Her words came out barely loud enough to be considered even a whisper but he heard them. “I think her real name is Cheryl.”
Titan froze and turned his head to stare at the woman they were talking about. “Cheryl ?” he called out softly.
The former Mother Superior paled and turned her head to stare at them both.
Hawkins noted how frightened and pale the woman became and how her eyes went blank. He snapped his gaze over to Titan and Cat. “What? What did you two figure out?” he barked at Titan.
Cat shivered as Titan held her closer. He glared at his prez. “A biker left her behind after using her. He left her alone and pregnant, Cat thinks her name is Cheryl,” he paused then added, “Oh and her father was a preacher who wouldn’t be happy she was pregnant.”
“Well, hell’s bells,” Hawkins grumbled. “No wonder she hates us. The pieces are finally starting to come together and making some kind of sense now, aren’t they?’ He turned to glare at the woman. “What Cat saw, is all that true Cheryl?” He put emphasis on the name.
Cheryl/Mother Superior just sat there like a stone. She had closed off her expression and simply stared back at them.
Patrice stared at the Mother Superior in shock. Before she could say anything, a door opened down the hall. Patrice turned her head to see who was coming down the hallway.
A young woman came into the room.
Horrified at the sight, Patrice gasped. It wasn’t until their eyes met in confusion that she realized just who she really was. What stood out the most about her was her strange teal colored eyes. Eyes she’d only seen in one other family. Patrice trembled as the cold began to spread through her entire body. She couldn’t stop it and soon, she was shaking.
The biker they called Brute got up, walked over to the new girl, and wrapped his arm around her.
Patrice knew she should have looked away but she just couldn’t seem to. She’d been told a long time ago that this girl was dead. She turned her head and glared at the one woman who’d told her that lie.
Cheryl’s eyes met hers with a cool indifference.
“You fucking lied to me,” Patrice whispered.
Cheryl pursed her lips together. “Shut up fool, before these fucking bikers find out any more than they already have,” she whispered. “It isn’t only me that has something to hide here. So do you.”
“If they don’t kill us, he certainly will,” Patrice whispered back.
“Then shut your damn mouth!” Cheryl growled. “If they find out about him they might just call him and tell him about her. Is that what you want? You want her daddy to find her after all these years?” She paused, then more quietly she said, “He’d take one look at her and put a bullet in your head without even asking why.” Snorting, she went on to add, “He might not have wanted you, but he would want his child.”
Patrice shut her mouth and turned to look at the girl again. She couldn’t believe she was here of all places. She didn’t know if that fact was a blessing or a curse. Suddenly, everything she ever thought she knew had turned upside down. She couldn’t understand what was happening.
Hawkins had kept at the supposed Mother Superior, asking her questions about Isobel.
Cash had been trying to get Patrice to talk as well.
Neither man had any luck. The two women sat in utter silence. The one called Patrice though, she now looked angry and sullen.
Hawkins had been wondering what that was all about, when JuJu came over to the table and handed him a couple of sheets of paper.
Hawkins looked down at the papers. The first sheet had a young woman’s face on it, a younger version of Cheryl/Mother Superior and he could see she had been a lovely young woman. He turned his head to study the older woman. It was apparent to him that time, rage and hate had marred not only her soul but her physical being as well. Lines of discord marred her cheeks and wrinkles pruned her forehead.
He again looked down at the papers. The second page was a mugshot and her police record.
Her real name is Cheryl George, only daughter of Pastor Henry George. She was the original rebel, as at the age of fifteen, she got caught breaking into her father’s pastoral office and robbing the collection plates.
Her father pressed charges and she spent the weekend in jail. Her next offense happened three months later when she got busted for drinking with some bikers. Again, she spent the weekend in jail. When she was released, her records claimed her father reported that she had run away for a month. She wasn’t home for long and spent her sixteenth birthday in the abbey, where she had lived ever since. The records stopped after that. Which hadn’t filled in the years in between.
Hawkins raised his gaze from the papers to the living person. “So, your name is Cheryl George? Why not just tell us that, instead of all this secrecy and foolishness? What else are you hiding, woman?”
“That’s none of your business,” Cheryl snapped. “I haven’t done anything wrong and this is kidnapping if you don’t release us.”
“Oh, I’m not going to keep you any longer than I need to, but you have to understand why you’re here.” Hawkins stared at her.
“I know why you brought me here and I’m not willing to tell you jack shit.” She sneered.
“Stop!” Patrice called out. “Just stop. You are as bad as Isobel.” She shook her head. “You’ve done nothing but lie since the day I was brought to the Abbey as a child! And what’s more, you seemed to enjoy the pain you spread. You don’t think of what toll your lies take, all you care about is your damned self!”
Cash frowned and asked her, “How long have you lived there?”
“I’ve been there since I was eight years old,” Patrice told him. “I went there when my parents were killed in an ambush by an opposing cartel.”
Luna gasped and stared at her. “So that means…You are Gellis Hondas, not Isobel.”
“Yes, I am Gellis Hondas,” Patrice admitted. “But I haven’t used that name in a very long time.”
“Then who the fuck is Isobel?” Wilder demanded.
Patrice shook her head. “I don’t know. She…” Patrice looked straight at Cheryl as she spoke, “Isobel was already at the orphanage when I got there. I think she’d been there since her birth.”
“How is that possible?” Hawkins dared to ask.
“Part of the Abbey is a place for unwed mothers to wait out their pregnancies,” Patrice explained. “Some of those children never leave the Abbey until they‘re adopted.”
“What was Isobel’s name when she was a child?” Cat asked.
“Her name was Jolene,” Patrice replied. “As her mother was unwed, she didn’t have a last name…” She paused for a second. “At least, not one I ever knew about.” She shrugged. “No one really knew who her mother was back then, she was just another orphan like the rest of us.”
Hawkins looked over at Cheryl and shook his head. “Why do I doubt that?” Then he looked over at Patrice and asked, “How then did she go with the Montoya cartel and become their traitor to the Alverez cartel?”
Patrice shook her head. “When Mr. Montoya came to collect me, I didn’t want to go with him. My own father told me about him and he wasn’t a good man. Jolene called me all kinds of a fool for refusing to go. She said if she could get out of the Abbey, she would gladly leave. I told her fine, then she could go in my place. She could have the kind of life she wanted once the Montoya’s accepted her. She could be the one to run the drugs and take chances with her life everyday. And she could be the one sitting in a lousy jail cell when the police caught her distributing the drugs the Montoya cartel brought over the border. I wanted nothing to do with them or with her. She stepped up without even a pause and they took her away from the Abbey.”
Hawkins turned back to Cheryl. “So the Abbey was a place for unwed mothers. Is that why you were there, you figured on having your baby? So the question now would be…is Isobel your child, your daughter?”
“Why should I tell you anything?” Cheryl hissed.
Patrice shook her head. The woman had apparently kept her secret for three quarters of her life and if it were possible, she would take it to her grave. They might think they know the answers but they couldn’t be sure until she admitted it and she wasn’t going to admit diddly squat. Sighing, Patrice again looked over at the girl who had come into the room a few minutes ago. She just couldn’t believe her own eyes.
Tatum noticed Patrice staring at her. She frowned but the other woman didn’t look away. She looked at Brute then back at Patrice and saw she was still staring. “Why are you looking at me?” she finally asked.
“Because…I never knew you were still alive,” Patrice finally spoke.
“What?” Tatum asked. “Do you know who I am?”
Patrice nodded her head slowly as tears filled her eyes. “I was told one lie after another, after you were born.” She sat up a little straighter in her chair as she cleared her throat and stated, “Today, the lies stop. Today, the truth will be told and to hell with the consequences. I’m so tired of all of this. I can’t let it go on anymore. It has to stop.” She paused to glare at Cheryl. “I’m done with this… Done.” She turned her head again to stare at Tatum. “I know he might kill me but this is one lie that will stop today…”
