Face Your Fears

Chapter 14

 April glanced over at Hadley with a miserable look on her face, tears dripping down her face. "Did you know about Dad?" 

 Thank God it was Hadley's job to counsel people, because I would have floundered for a ridiculous amount of time finding an answer for that question.

 "I did," Hadley replied calmly.  "But you have to understand, April, when I first met Archer you'd just turned five. And I know Chris is your father and you deserve to know about him, but, honey, that's not something you tell a five-year-old."

April groaned loudly and dropped her head back against the couch. "I know that, but we should've known earlier! I can't believe Mom kept that from us for so long!"

 I spoke up before Hadley could say anything.

"April, Mom may have not handled things the way she should have, but she was only trying to protect you and May and June. Chris was murdered before you were born and you have no idea what that did to Mom. It destroyed her. This happened fourteen years ago, but she still hasn't completely recovered from it." 

April ran her hands over her face, seconds away from bursting into tears again. "I know, I know, I just..." 

 "You what?" Hadley asked quietly when April didn't finish her sentence.

She shook her head, tears spilling down her cheeks, and spent the next five minutes sobbing on Hadley's shoulder.

 My cell phone rang on the counter as Hadley tried to calm down April down, and I quickly stood up to answer it. 

 "Hello?" 

"Archer, thank God." Mom sounded immensely relieved over the line. "Is April with you? She just ran out of the house this morning, and I - " 

 "She's here, Mom, don't worry. Hadley's with her right now."

Mom let out a heavy sigh of relief, probably making the sign of the cross on her side. 

 "Thank God," she repeated. "I was so worried."

"She's fine, Mom. Really."

An awkward silence fell over the line, crackling with tension. What were we supposed to say to each other? 

I'm sorry for telling my sisters their father was murdered? 

"Look, Archer," Mom began at the same time I started to say, "Mom, I'm really - " 

Mom took a deep breath, her voice shaking when she finally spoke. "Archer, you...you and April should come over. We need to talk. All of us. The family."

A slight weight disappeared from my shoulders at Mom's words. Talking was exactly what we needed to be doing, and it was probably a good five years late. I didn't necessarily want to talk about what had happened, though, and I didn't think Mom was too keen on the idea either, but it was inevitable. 

"Okay," I said after a moment. "We'll be over as soon as April calms down a bit. She's, er...crying. Profusely."

"Can't say I blame her," Mom said, her voice slightly bitter. "Hadley's talking to her, isn't she?" 

I glanced back over into the living room. April was still crying, but not as loudly and as much as before. Hadley was talking to her in soft, soothing tones, which seemed to be helping her. 

"Yeah," I said. "She is."

"Thank God you married a counselor, Archer. The Lord knows we need one.”

That Mom was most certainly not kidding about. 

I signed off with Mom with promises to come over to the coffee house later and made my way back into the living room.