As soon as he blurted these words out, Edward realized the blunder he had made. His intention had not been to reveal the secret but sothing in him had just snapped. He was tired of holding in so many secrets, perhaps releasing so of them could help him unburden himself.
Besides, it seed like his mother had found a great detail about so of the things that transpired back then. Maybe it was better to just let it all out.
Grandma Mayfair's index finger dug deep into her ear and wiggled sowhat violently like it could reboot her brain, she thought that maybe she had heard her son wrong because of the nonexistent excess wax inside the ear.
"What did you say Edward? Repeat what you just said." She finally managed to ask.
Edward stared blankly at his mother, his face showing no remorse. "Mother you heard right, I did it because father asked to. I barely even knew the dead Montgory's, but I had to claim that Bernard was my friend in order to hide the fact that father had been involved sohow in the tragedy, and he did not want people connecting the dots.
Most people thought that I was being a good Samaritan by helping Rekha, but they had no idea that guilt was eating up inside.
Every ti I heard Rekha cry out for her parents; I blad myself as if I had sohow caused the accident. I blad father even more for involving Bernard in his business. Nothing we do for Rekha will ever bring her parents back to life. I would not bla her for hating our family." He fell back in the sofa, feeling relief because a secret that he had carried for many years was now off his shoulders.
In reaction to his confession, his mother clutched on her chest dramatically like as though her pounding heart was about to escape from the rib cage. Slowly she sank back in the chair, her mouth hung wide open as it let out a stiff cry.
"Mother!" Edward leaped from his seat; it seed like his mother was in the process of getting a heart attack.
"Alfie? Alfie!" He shouted on top of his lungs, but the secretary did not rush in. It was around 11:00pm in the night and all the employees had retired to bed.
"God damn it!" Edward fidgeted to fish out his phone that was inside the side pocket of his grey pants. "Mother, are you alright?" He asked over and over as he dialed the ergency helpline.
Grandma Mayfair snatched the phone away from him and cut the call. "I am not alright! I am in shock Edward." She snapped at him, straightening herself to a better angle in which she would be comfortable and not hurt her back.
"Edward, I am going to ask you a question and I expect nothing but the truth. Does this an that you spoke to your father after he left for that damn mission that killed him?" She asked, her fingers pinched his chin as she lifted his face like as though she could discern his truth from his lies.
In response, Edward's head bobbed like a dashboard puppy on a bumpy road. "Yes, mother I did. I am so sorry that that I hid from you the fact that father called . It's just.....things were complicated, he was not trying to protect Rekha only, he was protecting us too." He whispered but in it, the whole truth unraveled.
Grandma Mayfair's brows shot up towards her hairline, she almost got up to scream or curse at her dead husband for putting their son in such a position, but she held off on it. She could tell that there was even more that had not been revealed, and she wanted to know everything.
Leaning forward she said, "Listen to Edward, you are going to tell everything that you and your father talked about that day. Do you understand ? I am tired of living in the dark on this matter. I have failed to move on, to this day, I still cry myself to sleep. I stay up late at night in my bed, alone, wondering if I could have stopped him from going if I knew what he had been up to.
If he had been thinking of when he died, or if there was a way that I could have saved him. I keep imagining what his dead body looked like because you wouldn't let see it." She spoke hastily, unearthing the buried ache that lay within her heart. Many had moved on, but she had failed to, after all he was the love of her life.
"For a while there, I even suspected that we buried an empty coffin, and he run out on us and that is why you were acting like that at the funeral." She sniveled and wiped tears from her eyes. "Sotis I hate him so much for making a widow and I wake in the middle night, get a drink, look at his pictures and I tell him just how much I hate him." She looked around Edward's office, hoping for that drink now because she needed it.
Shock coursed through Edwards veins on listening to his mother's words, it was her that urged them to move on with life and stop mourning their father. Not once had he seen her crying over him except for that day when he was lowered in the ground. He always thought that she had handled her grief gracefully and thought that he had been shielding her by not telling her the truth. Now he was realizing that he was wrong, she was in pain and carrying her pain alone. Maybe if he had told her everything it would have eased her hurting heart sohow.
Edward relaxed his fists and opened his mouth to say, "He called three days after he set off and told that he had gone to the Island of no return. It is a dood island mother I will never understand why father decided to go there knowing all the bad things they say happen there or that people tend to go missing over there. He said he had gone to help a friend that was missing." He paused, waiting for her submission.
Grandma waved dismissively. "He had the savior ntality; Cillian would catch a grenade for anyone it was his nature. It is why he chose to work for the academy." She elaborated.
A tiny scoff ca from Edward. "Whatever you say mother, I still think it was the worst decision he ever made in his life and the results speak for themselves. Anyway, father called twice. First it was to tell to request the academy to send back up to the Island." He shuddered, on rembering how terrified his father's voice sounded on that day.
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