Faith
By: Hayley Olson
She opened the drawer to search for the questionable object. It glinted and glimmered in the little light that was coming through the window of her Dads bedroom. She was there to search for one thing and one thing only: evidence that her dad was cheating on her mom.
It was a day that started out like any other. Except for the fact that a woman, about 30-years-old was about to have her baby. She was wheeled through the delivering room while she was wailing. Her husband kept saying to her "Have faith, Laura, have faith in these Doctors! They are here to help the baby come out with the least amount of pain. Don't lose faith!" Laura wailed again. "PUSH!" the Doctor kept telling her, "PUSH!"
After the baby was born the doctor put the baby in bed with Laura. "Faith is her name. I never lost faith that I could have this baby and that is what my husband- Jake- kept telling me. Not to lose faith, that's our new motto in this family. Never lose faith, the baby or the feeling." Everyone in the room smiled. Laura's parents had made it just in time for the birth, while Jake's where just rushing in. "Oh my god!" screamed Jake's mom, "What's her name?" Everyone answered at the same time, "Faith!" Jake's mom rushed over to the bed, along with Laura's mom, and they both said, "Welcome to the family Faith!" Everyone had tears shimmering in their eyes.
Now it is 15 years later in the Johnson house and they have had some very big difficulties in the years past, but this was probably the worst. About three months ago Faith overheard her dad talking to some lady about their date tonight and the time he would be at her house to pick her up. At that time Faith walked in the room and asked, "Was that Grandma?" Her dad replied, "No, it was my co-worker that I'm going to have dinner with so we can discuss a preposition." She didn't know any better so at that time she blew it off, but her dad started to get new clothes, and be gone at night a lot. Then she started to get a little suspicious. She once saw this show where they were talking about cheating Husbands and she watched and started to take notes about what was different about her dad. He was getting new clothes, barley talked to her mom, was out a lot, moved to a different room in the house so he didn't share a room with her mom. She was watching another show where they were talking about cheating Husband's and she got her list and watched. They were talking about signs of a cheating spouse and all the signs were the same she saw in her dad. She proposed the thought to her mom and they thought up a plan. "I have been thinking the same thing, Faith. I was watching the same shows as you, but the one thing we haven't seen is a new piece of jewelry."
"Good point, mom."
"Now here is what I want you to do…You are going to sneak into your fathers room and look through his things to look for something that fits the description of: New Jewelry. But where would he hide it?"
"In his sock drawer, that's where I sometimes hide my stuff."
"Good idea, Faith! Now when your Father goes "out" again I want you to go into his room and look for the 'thing' ".
"O.K., mom"
That night he dad went out so she snuck into his room. She opened the drawer to look for the questionable object. It glinted and glimmered in the little light that was coming through the window in her dad's room. She was there to look for one thing and one thing only. Evidence that her dad was cheating on her mom. A piece of jewelry: ring, bracelet anything. She lifted a pair of socks and there it was. It was a red box and under that was a card that had a name on it: Beverly. Omigod! She thought, He's cheating on my mom! With this Beverly person! She started to cry. She couldn't bear the thought that her dad was with someone else and he wasn't telling anyone!
She started to bawl, and cry non-stop. Then her dad came in. Busted! She thought. Her dad rushed over, "Baby what's wrong?"
"What's wrong? That's all you can say? That's all you can say, especially since what you are doing can tear this family apart! How could you dad!"
"How could I what?"
"How could you cheat on mom! How could you tear this family apart for some Beverly person?"
At the mention of Beverly's name the color drained from his face.
"How do you know about Beverly?"
She stuck out the box with the huge diamond ring and the card.
"Oh…"
"Yeah, oh, dad. How could you?"
"Give me the box… Faith… FAITH YOU GET BACK HERE!"
He screamed at her, when she ran from the room. She ran right into her mom.
"Mom, I got the jewelry and a card, her name is-"
Just then her dad came around the corner and stopped as soon as he saw the card and box in his wife's hands.
"I, she's just-"
"I don't need to hear it, Jake. Your daughter and I have been watching you and we thing you have a lot of explaining to do!"
"Okay, what I want to know is…why didn't you confront me, Faith?" her dad questioned.
"Well, we were watching some shows that tell you if your spouse is cheating on you or not. And, after a little investigation, you matched every single item they talked about."
"Yes, but-" Stuttered Jake.
"And, Jake, I didn't buy you those clothes. So someone else had to since I didn't."
"But what I want to know is: Why, Dad? Why would you tear apart this family? You know that you're going to make me and Vanessa decide between you and mom, right?"
"Let me explain!"
"Fine." Replied Faith
"She does work at the Law Firm. She is 39 and I'm 43. Her name is Beverly. Faith, did you look any lower in the sock drawer?"
"No." she replied.
"Well there were divorce paper lined up for your mom and me. They have been there for the past 5 years. Your mom and I have been discussing it, and I think that is why she is being so calm, isn't that right Laura? Because now we can sign those and I can be with Beverly."
"Yes, Faith, I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I didn't want you to tell Vanessa, because I know how emotional 13-year-olds can get. And didn't want you to worry, plus you might confront someone and they would advise us to get counseling. And we didn't want that for this family."
"How do you two know what is best for this family? When you-dad- were willing to break us up for Beverly! And mom, you never told us! You never tell us anything! I thought families were supposed to be honest and loving to everyone in the family!"
"Faith, Baby, we are fam-"
"Oh, Jake stop trying to convince her that you are not going to go to Beverly, we all know you are."
"I'm gonna go call Vanessa, she needs to be here!" And with that Faith fled the room, she wanted to cry, to scream, she wanted to have a normal family! Omigod! She thought, How is this gonna affect Vanessa? She needs to get home. That's all I'll say. Yeah.
She got the phone and called Vanessa's cell phone. When she got Vanessa on the phone, she immediately started bawling. Then she told Vanessa the whole story. Once she was done Vanessa only said one thing: "Faith, what are we gonna do?"
The only thing that could come out of her mouth was: "I don't know."
Once Vanessa got home she started screaming questions at their father.
"How could you? Don't you love mom? Don't you love us? How long have you been with her? Isn't she too young for you? HOW COULD YOU TEAR THIS FAMILY APART!"
And with that the sisters ran to their bedroom that they shared. They were both infuriated! Their dad had lied to them for 3 years about loving their mom, when he really loved Beverly! That night the sisters devised a plan. They were going to do something drastic, something that would get their parents back together. They had to meet and mess with Beverly. They had to make her the opposite of what their dad likes. Then they had to make their dad love their mom again.
"That's gonna be kinda hard, don't you think?" Asked Vanessa.
"Maybe, if we had another person it might be easier." Suggested Faith. Just then their mom came in sobbing and wailing something along the lines of: "Faith, I named you faith because your father always had faith in me! Now all he wants from me is to sign his stupid divorce papers! I know that you girls have a plan and I will help you with whatever plan you have!"
"I don't know-" started Vanessa.
"Wait, maybe we should let her in! We were just talking about the fact that it'll be hard just the two of us!" interrupted Faith.
" Okay, but mom? Do you still love Dad?" Asked Vanessa.
"I don't really know. I do at times, but then there are times where I would like nothing more than to divorce him. I think I do truly love Jake though." Answered Laura.
That is all the girls needed to hear. They then told their mom about the plan and Laura loved it! She was so glad that her girls were willing to do anything to get the family together! They had soon devised a plan. It consisted of 5 parts:
They were going to follow their dad on one of his "dates" and find out who Beverly is.
Then when their Dad went out of town they were going to go find Beverly at the Firm and talk to her and tell her all of this fake stuff about what their Dad likes and dosen't like.
Then when their Dad got back he would go on as "date" with Beverly and she would follow what they told her and he would be driven away.
He would end up crawling back to their mom and she would play hard-to-get.
She accepts him and they are happy.
Well, they had to follow him but they couldn't let him know it was they. So they went over to Faith's boyfriend's house and borrowed his Electric Scooter. They followed him to the fanciest resturant in town: Le Belle Café dans le Frances.
It is a French Café. Their whole family is 50 French. "He must have told her that, so now they cant tell her that the were all from Iowa where their grandparents were Dairy farmers." Commented Faith. Oh, well, thought Vanessa, We'll have to think of something else. They started thinking of lies on the way to the Café and thought up some pretty good ones.
When they got to the restaurant they saw Beverly and both of the girls gasped. She was so beautiful! Long brown, curly hair, bright blue eyes, tan skin, a little shorter than their dad, and a soft voice. She spoke to him in a soft whisper-or what she thought was a whisper- and said:
"I'm glad you brought me here! I've always wanted to come here and I can't wait to try their food! My sister came here and she said it was amazing!"
"You know that I have two daughters, right?" he replied.
"Why…I do think you told me…Vanessa and Faith, right?"
"Yes, they found out that I have been seeing you, and they were both very upset."
"Oh! Jakie, that is really too bad! Did they tell Laura?"
She asked with a very upset look on her face.
"Yes, they did and she was upset too."
"I'm surprised that they didn't follow you here! You'd think they would want to meet me!"
"I think they are trying to get past the surprise part of this still." Just then a voice interrupted they conversation:
"Table for Jake and Beverly! Ready!"
Jake said, "That's us!" Taking her hand and leading her to a table with red, red roses on the table and they sat down.
"Vanessa, lets go!" Vanessa had, had her mouth gaping open at Beverly and her dad almost saw her.
"WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO! She is so pretty, maybe we can get mom all pretty and meet dad for dinner and see how it goes?"
"Yeah!" Faith exclaimed. They jumped back on the scooter and rode to their house.
"MOM, MOM, MOM!" They screamed as they ran in the house.
"We saw Beverly and she was pretty and we thought up a new plan!"
"Tell me, then" She said.
The girls smirked at each other and said, "We are going to get you made over!"
"That is such a silly…that's a great idea! Where?"
"Spalon Montage!"
"I love that place!"
"Yes!" said Vanessa, and then she collapsed into a fit of giggles. Faith took over, "You are going to get a perm, highlights, pedicure, manicure, make-up and fashion tips!"
"Fashion tips…ok…sounds like fun! When is it?"
"Tomorrow, at…um…Nessa, when is it again?"
"At...at…4:30pm" she said through her fit of giggles.
"Right. At 4:30, and you need to be there half an hour early. Okay, mom?" Faith asked.
"Okay, is it the Chicago one or Springfield? Wait, it has to be the one here because Springfield one is too far."
"Yeah, it's the one in the middle of Downtown Chicago."
"I'll be there!"
"Cool!" said the girls with big smiles on their faces. It was all set, their mom was going to be pretty and their dad was going to say bye-bye to Beverly! It was perfect! Until the accident.
"4:30, yeah, great idea girls, at 4:30, when the rush hour is going on! Ugh!" Laura exclaimed. She had been stuck in traffic now for one hour. And it was 4:00 and she wasn't even close to Spalon!
"I'll call the girls and have them call Spalon to say I am going to be late!" she told herself. She then reached for her cell phone and in the process she knocked over some coffee.
"DANG!" she exclaimed!
She bent down to get napkins and she saw her cell phone and tried to dial the number while wiping the coffee off her. She didn't see the other car until she heard the screeching of brakes and the flash of headlights.
"Dad? Dad…dad are you ok?" asked Vanessa as she opened the door to her father's bedroom.
"Nessa, get Faith and start the car. We need to go to the Hospital." Her dad told her, the whole time not looking at her. "She's been hurt and they're not sure of what is going to happen."
Vanessa then ran into her and Faiths room and told her the story and they rushed out and started the car. Their father got in and sped onto the highway.
All three of them burst into the Hospital like three people that were about to have babies themselves. Jake ran over to a desk and started screaming questions ant the receptionist and she took him by the shoulder and said: "I don't want to be the one to tell you. Follow me." She then grabbed Vanessa, Faith and Jake and dragged them into a little office that had a man sitting behind a desk and the receptionist said to the man, "Laura Johnson's family Dr. Brenar."
"Ah, yes." He replied, "Well folks, it looks like I have some good and bad news. What do you want first? Good, or bad?"
All three of them looked at each other and said, "Bad."
"O.k." Dr. Brenar replied, "Laura got into a car crash, as you may or may not know." With those words the girl's eye's widened.
"Is she gonna be okay?" asked Vanessa.
"That is part of the news, see, she…well, she is…she might not make it. She has had serious heart issues since she got here and she is not able to walk…now she keeps going in and out of a coma… which we think is related to her heart. Now the good news is there is a surgery that may or may not work but it may fix her broken heart."
Vanessa and Faith glared at their father when Dr. Brenar said, "broken heart". "Girls," the Dr. Started, "I didn't mean it as in a loving way. I mean it as in a professional way."
"Well you know our answer. Lets do the surgery and get her healed." Said Faith. "Yeah", agreed Vanessa, " we need our mom."
"But there is more bad news." Said Dr. Brenar with a sad expression on his face. "The surgery, it takes…it costs a lot of money."
"My dad has a really good job…he can handle it." Stated Vanessa.
"Well about the job-" started their dad.
"Ladies, a good job or not won't pay for this. It is $750,000."
Their jaws dropped. Their dad started again.
"Uh-oh. Um, about the job, I was planning on Beverly and I got fired and all I've been doing for the past three weeks is going to interviews."
" We can't come up with that kind of money! Why didn't you tell us about this?" exclaimed Vanessa and Faith. They then turned out of the room and went to search for their mom's room. "She is in room 209!" Dr. Brenar called after them.
"Mom." They gasped when they saw their mom.
What they saw of their mom was just a little, mostly from her waist up. The rest of her was covered in a white cast. The both ran to the end of her bed where her doctors' sheet was hanging. It read some terrible news: Paralyzed from the waist down, and a second-degree concussion. "O…mi…god…mom-" Faith began but she was too filled up with emotion. They heard someone knock on the door, it was a nurse, she had one of those smiles where they are going to say everything is okay but it really isn't.
"Hello Ladies." She said, they both murmered weak hellos.
"Well, Laura is doing okay, she is out of her coma right now, but she's sleeping so don't wake her up. She is paralyzed from the waist down, which I guess you already know. There is a surgery that she can, and is going to have that will let her walk again, but she will have to learn to walk again. She is also having some issues with her heart."
"What kind of issues?" Faith questioned.
"Well, she-" started the nurse.
Just then Laura woke up and screamed, she said she had just talked with the Lord about her presence on the earth! After that everyone just fell silent. A few minutes later she did the same thing. A few minutes later she did the same thing, but the nurse and Fait and Vanessa stopped her from falling back asleep and asked he what she was talking about.
"Well," started Laura, she was panting like she just ran a marathon," I was sitting at the table, then all of a sudden I was floating on clouds in heaven! I was sitting at a table with Him! I asked what I was doing there. He told me we were going to talk about my time on Earth. He said I had two choices… I could stay here and fight to live again, or give up and go to heaven. I chose to try and fight…and win over all these difficulties, but-". And without another word she fell asleep.
"Must be the drugs." Muttered the nurse.
"What drugs?" said a voice from the doorway.
The three girls turned around and saw Dr. Brenar standing there.
"Did you give her the right amount of drugs?" he asked the nurse.
"Yes, Dr." she said, "Three pills and one cup of the pain killer?"
"Yes, maybe she is just reacting to it differently." He said with a curious look on his face. Then he left.
When they found their dad he was on his cell phone with – who else- Beverly, telling her what happened.
"So, now she is in and out of a coma-" then he paused to listen.
" I just don't know Beverly, I'll have to talk to the girl's and their in the room with their mom… now they're here." He said when he saw them.
Exasperated, Faith took the phone out of his hand and closed it. Ending his conversation with Beverly. "How could you already be talking to her?"
"Girls-" he started, but Vanessa cut him off.
"You know what dad? We think you are just not getting enough from mom so you are using Beverly"
Faith gave Vanessa a look saying, We do?
"And we think it is sick and wrong that you would use her like that." She ended.