True
Chapter Twelve
Chloe sat completely alone on a bench at the edge of
the park. Brady had left her
alone to read while he took a walk around the park.
She had already finished skimming the first book, but found nothing in
there. A lot of talk about school
and Nancy's relationship with Craig. But
nothing that alluded to Chloe or her father.
Chloe began on the second book with a sigh. The first part was mostly Nancy lamenting the fact that Craig
was away at medical school, and how much she missed him. But, about 25 pages in... Chloe noticed something out of the
ordinary.
"Chloe..."
Chloe broke out of her trance and looked up.
Brady had come back with his hands full and he plopped down on the
bench beside her. "Hey...
There's a little cafe on the other end of the park.
I got you an iced mocha and a turkey sandwich... whole wheat of
course."
Chloe took the food from his hands and looked at him
strangely. "Weird... I was thinking earlier about how much I miss the
Dot.Com iced mochas."
Brady grinned at her and sipped his own drink.
"You mean, I never told you that I was psychic?"
Chloe rolled her eyes and laughed.
"Well, just promise me that you will use your mystic powers of
divining for good and not evil."
Brady nodded knowingly. "See... that's the thing.
I'm only psychic when it comes to things like... 'Chloe is craving a
mocha' or 'Chloe prefers whole wheat over white bread'.
The big stuff is out of my reach."
Chloe nodded understandingly.
"So... it's a blessing AND a curse then."
"Pretty much... So, did you find anything good
yet?"
Chloe shrugged and took a bite of her sandwich.
"I don't know... The first book was pretty useless.
Your basic teenage rambling kinda stuff.
But, the second one might be helpful.
This was all written when Craig was away in medical school and they
were apart."
"Around the time that she got pregnant?"
"Mm-hmmm... Check this out..." Chloe took a
quick sip of her drink before reading out of the journal.
She pointed at the page and began reading; "Craig called me from
school yesterday. He couldn't
talk long because he was on his way to class.
I miss him terribly but I'm trying to stay occupied with my studies.
I noticed something strange though.
Mr. Lennox is coming over to the house a lot more than usual.
He usually comes over after dinner and has drinks with my father.
They spend the rest of the night in the study discussing 'business'
dealings and telling stories. I
don't know what it is about him, but he creeps me out.
He just looks at me sometimes and it gives me chills.
I can't stand to be down there when he's here, so I just come upstairs
and stay in my room."
Chloe stopped reading and took another bite of her
sandwich. Brady took a glance at
the page himself and shrugged. "Mr.
Lennox, huh? You think that might
be him?"
"I don't know... I haven't got any further than
this yet. But, it sounds
suspicious so far."
"Well... keep going. Don't let me bother you."
Chloe smiled and kept skimming the pages.
Several minutes later, she stopped and looked up at Brady.
"Oh... here we go... I guess this Lennox guy came over a lot, and
things just kept getting creepier."
She began reading from the journal out loud,
"Last night was different. Usually
I have my privacy upstairs, but while I was falling asleep I heard someone
open the door. I thought maybe it
was my father coming to tell me something, but it wasn't.
It was him. He came in my
room. I pretended to be asleep,
but he kneeled on the edge of my bed and stroked my hair. He tried to touch me in other places but I told him to get
out before I screamed. I wish
Craig was home, I know that he would protect me from all of this.
I tried to tell my father, but he wouldn't listen.
He said that 'Sam Lennox is a very important man, and I'm not to accuse
of those sort of things.'"
Chloe shook her head and sighed.
She skimmed through a few more pages until she read another entry out
loud. "Craig is home for
Thanksgiving weekend and I couldn't be happier.
I had planned to tell him about Sam, but when I saw how happy he was to
see me, I couldn't bear to bring him down like that.
Sam has tried a few more times to get intimate with me, but I have
stopped him successfully. I'm
sure that he'll give up soon. I
hope so. Craig and I are spending
every second together and tonight he is taking me out on his family's boat so
we can have some privacy. I can't
wait... I can forget about all my problems with Mr. Lennox and concentrate on
my love for Craig."
"Boy... those two really had it bad for each
other, didn't they?"
Chloe chuckled softly. "Still do actually... I just wonder what possessed her
to lie to Craig for so long."
Chloe flipped a few pages but noticed something
strange. "Brady... this is
odd. Really odd."
Brady looked over her shoulder at what Chloe was
reading. "What is it?"
"Well, after the entries on Thanksgiving... it
just stops. Until after
Christmas. This entry about
spending time with Craig on the boat is the last one until January 10th.
That's like 6 weeks, Brady."
Brady looked confused. "So... what happened?
What made her stop writing?"
Chloe looked at the page in front of her dated
January 10th, 1984. She drew in a
deep breath as she saw the word rape float past her and snapped the book shut.
"Oh My God... Brady... I can't even read it."
Brady took the book out of her hand and turned to the
page she had left off on. "I
haven't written anything in my journal for over 6 weeks.
There is so much to say, but I could never find the words to say what
happened. I have been raped and
nobody will listen. I came back
from my date with Craig on Saturday after Thanksgiving to what I thought was a
sleeping house. When I got to my
room, he was there. I tried to
run away, but he grabbed me and threw me to the bed.
I tried so hard to stop it but I couldn't.
I froze. I couldn't even
scream, and even if I had, nobody would have heard me.
My father was passed out drunk downstairs, I'm sure.
I've tried to tell him what happened, but he doesn't care.
He says that his business deals with Sam Lennox are too important for
me to send Sam to jail. I can't tell Craig... I am too ashamed of what happened to
ever tell him. I can never tell
him."
Chloe had tears running down her face when she looked
over at Brady. "I don't even
know what to say..."
Brady drew her to him and wrapped his arms around
her. "You don't have to say
anything, Chloe..."
She sobbed into his chest and he held her tighter.
She lifted her head and looked at him with watery eyes.
"When I was a kid, I used to dream that even though they abandoned
me, that maybe my parents did love each other and that maybe I was conceived
out of love. When Nancy told me
that she was raped, I didn't want to believe it.
But, now I know the truth. My
father was nothing but a horrible, despicable human being who took advantage
of a innocent girl. I should have
never been born, Brady... I shouldn't be here."
Brady handed her a napkin to wipe the tears and
kissed her on the forehead gently. "Don't
say that, Chloe... Please don't say that.
The circumstances around your birth may have been tragic, but that
doesn't mean your life has to turn out that way too.
Just because you weren't conceived in love doesn't mean that your
existence has no meaning."
Chloe wiped her tears with the napkin and took a few
deep breaths in. "The words
sound good, Brady... but I just don't know if I can believe them."
Brady looked at her in shock.
"Chloe... you HAVE to believe them.
Maybe your existence means nothing to you, but it means a lot to the
rest of us. I know that my life wouldn't be the same without you in it.
And, I think I speak for Shawn and Belle too on that matter.
And you have to know that Craig and Nancy care for you a lot.
No matter what you might think, there are people who love you.
And it doesn't matter how you were brought into this world, it only
matters that you're in it now."
Chloe sighed and rested her head on his shoulder.
"I just wish things could have been different... Why did so much
pain have to be caused because of an event that never had to happen?"
"I don't know... but, you have to let go of the
past sometimes. I know that
there's been a lot of pain and hard times, but you can't dwell on it or let it
rule your life anymore."
Chloe chuckled softly. "And that's coming from the King of Grudges..."
Brady nodded his head in agreement.
"Used to be... But, Marlena and I both realized that we were
living in the past. Dwelling on
things that happened years ago... misunderstandings, and mistakes of the past.
I let my hatred rule me and I was miserable and so was she.
So, we let it go... The present and the future are too important to
waste on yesterday."
Chloe looked at Brady in amazement.
"Sometimes you frighten me."
Brady laughed quietly. "Really? Why
is that?"
"You sound like a book.
Or that Dr. Phil guy on Oprah."
"Now you are frightening me... You watch
Oprah?"
Chloe shook her head and smiled.
"No... Nancy does. She
says that she likes Dr. Phil because he 'tells it like it is'..."
Brady laughed. "Well,
I've had a lot of practice with psychotherapy... I have lived most of my life
with the world-renowned Dr. Marlena Evans Black."
Chloe raised her eyebrows at him.
"World renowned, huh?"
"So, I've heard..."
Brady smiled at her briefly, "So, what next?
More reading?"
Chloe cringed in her seat. "I probably should
read the rest of it... But, I don't know if I can take any more of this
today."
"We've got over a week before we even have to go
home. Take your time."
Chloe nodded. "Can
we just find a hotel to stay in for tonight?
I'll decide what to do in the morning..."
Brady smiled and stood up. He took her hand and helped her from the bench.
"Alright then... let's get outta here."
Chloe held the three journals tightly and followed Brady to the parking lot. As she got in to the van, she wondered if Sam Lennox still lived in Newport. < And if he does, will I have the strength to face him? >