Chapter Seventy-Four

David had managed to put his feelings into words and wrote them down in a letter. Just saying everything he couldn't when she was alive. It somewhat helped, he also brought along a very small teddy bear for the unborn baby. So that's why he was at Maya's grave that early afternoon. He did briefly look towards the other grave next to it, that has been well maintained he noticed; Henrietta looked after her grandson's grave well. He placed the teddy bear against it, he picked up one of the flowers and saw Jacob's name. Making him give a sigh however he left it there, the boy was currently grieving whether people liked it or not. He placed the letter on the ground, it was a rather long rant but he couldn't say it Maya's face anymore so he just wrote it all in a letter. He just remained crouching for a good while when he heard footsteps, he just looked up see the local vicar with some flowers.

"Sorry to disturb you, I'm just putting these down on that grave there" the vicar explained. He was the same vicar who John briefly spoke to before he did what he did.

People keep coming back to that one grave he noticed. Whoever it was must have made a great impact he thought, an awful one but still great. David just looked up at him with a sad smile as he got up. The vicar placing some flowers on the grave a few meters down...

"Can I ask you something?" David nervously asked him.

"Of cause" the vicar assured him with a friendly smile.

David was about to ask his question however he deemed it too stupid. He wasn't really a believer but it was still stuck in his head. Though he thought it better stay there, he thought the vicar would just look at him as if he was a simpleton. Though of cause, he would never deem any serious question as stupid. These last few weeks made him think of his mother and death (and of cause the baby was on his mind no matter what he was doing).

"It doesn't matter" David tried to say.

"I think it does, you can ask me anything you like" the vicar replied.

"I'm not really a churchgoer but I just keep thinking about things. Things I can't control, this grave; well my ex-girlfriend is buried under there and" David paused slightly, he didn't know how to put it into words...

"And she was pregnant when she died" David began to explain.

Making the vicar walk a bit closer over, he had an idea where this was going. He got questions about unborn babies all the time. A very sad topic but he was use to it by now, he was a vicar and he was there with people in all stages of their life. He had also spoke to many people, good and bad.

"I'm sorry" the vicar spoke softly.

"But she was a bad person, you know. And I hate the thought of my baby...well I think it was mine and I believe it was mine, I hate the thought of he or she being buried with that woman. I just can't get it out of my head" David confessed.

"I see, I'm sorry to hear that...I won't pressure you into telling me what she did but I think I can still answer your question. I don't know what she did but I do know that all children go to a better place, he or she will be with God now...If she's really that bad" the vicar tried to explain.

Though that didn't mean much to David, like he said; he wasn't a believer.

"That's what you think? Even unborn children?" David asked.

"Even unborn children, yes. If it gives you any comfort, if the mother really was as bad as what you say. The unborn child will no longer be with her, they will be in different places"

"I hope so...I like to think my mum's looking after them until I get to meet them. All I have is a scan picture you see, she didn't tell me she was pregnant when she was alive. So this is all I have"

"I understand, well I hope going to the grave helped and I hope my answer helped"

"It did a bit I guess, thanks"

"It's alright...Well I will leave you to it now"

And this he did as he gave him one final look. David giving a small sigh, he supposed that did help. He really wishes for that, it was a nice thought. He just knows his mother Lydia would have loved to have seen all her grandchildren, perhaps she's already met her youngest. Now he doesn't have faith but he still had hope.

...

It cost rather a bit and Henrietta reluctantly paid it. Her sister Georgina looked a state, her hair was now short and brown. She changed it to look less like the rest of the women in her family. It's been clear the women had been crying on the way here however Henrietta couldn't find it in her to care. She treated her very badly these few decades, she's hardly been a sister at all.

"Where is he?" Georgina asked her with tears filling up her eyes.

"In the morgue"

This blunt response just made the woman wail again. Her son was dead, that's all she could think. She didn't believe a word against him, she believed he wasn't capable of doing such evil things. Not even when Maya's old diary was read out to her, she just it deemed as a sick teenage girl's fantasy. She convinced herself even more when the truth about Maya being a pervert came out.

"How did he die?" Georgina managed to ask through her ugly crying sounds.

"He was goading John about our Maya so he killed him with a branch, he kept bashing his head until he died"

This made Georgina slap her sister around the face. Her blunt responses angered her greatly, she didn't like it when people treated her the way she treated them, did she? The woman just walked past her sister and she gave her grandmother a hug. Crying still, she wouldn't stop. She was in a frightful state and nobody was willing to console her. Georgina didn't care when her sister was going through the pain of burying her daughter (or her grandson before that), so why should Henrietta care about her?

"Do you still not believe me, Georgina?" Henrietta asked her in despair.

"Stop talking! My son was just caught up in your daughter's lies, that's all. She deprived him of so much!" Georgina hissed.

Getting back up, not caring that she was scaring her grandmother Rosa.

"The only person who deprived him of anything was you. You left him here when he was a baby, you left him with Auntie Rosa because you couldn't cope with being a mother. The only reason you're here is because you want attention. You're using your son's death so people will say how sorry they are, you crave the attention!" Henrietta argued back.

"Says you! If you really believed Maya was abused then why did you send her off to John's?! Knowing he drank himself into a stupor most days!"

"She was a state because of your son! Now unlike you, I accept what she was. You can't even do that"

"Because it's not true! Just because your daughter is sick in the head, doesn't mean mine is! No, your daughter likely didn't know who the father of her baby was so she decided to put the blame on Ethan, that's all it was!"

"Oh, really? That's why she wrote about it in her diary and begged me not to tell anyone? You really are deluded, Georgina. We both failed as mothers, why can't you accept that? I did a long time ago"

"You failed as a mother, not me! Now I'm going to go to my son and you're not going to be here when I get back!" Georgina snarled.

Shoving past her and making her way out the front door, she was on her way to the morgue.

...

The young woman in question Kelly was questioned by police. Though as John expected, she denied Ethan did anything wrong. She was old enough when she met him, that's the story she was sticking to. She was saying how the Stepney family made her boyfriend's life a living Hell and that she wasn't surprised John snapped. So they had to let her go without any further questioning. With both the mother and the current girlfriend defending him, John's claims were getting less legit in the eyes of the law sadly.

"You better ask Henrietta again...I bet she and John planned the whole thing!" Kelly hissed before walking past the police desk.

Making them murmur something to each other. The police supposed they would have to because now it was a suspected orchestrated murder case. The woman in question had returned back to Emmerdale, so she could avoid her sister and Liam. She was sat outside 'The Woolpack' with her friend Pearl.

"Your sister sounds quite dreadful if you don't mind me saying" Pearl remarked to her.

"She just refuses to believe what he is...I don't want anything to do with the funeral, I don't want to help"

"It wasn't anything to do with you and she didn't help you anyway, if I were you. I would't help either"

A police car soon came into focus as it drove up the small pathway. Henrietta didn't think much of it. She just carried on talking to Pearl, explaining the whole awful business. The police officers stopped the car in front of her however, one of them getting out as they simply asked her...

"Are you Henrietta Stepney?"

"Yes, you already questioned me"

"Come to the station again, we need to question you again"

"It be a waste of your time"

Though this response made the officer cuff her for they thought she was being like that on purpose. She generally however thought there was no need, so she gave a confused "What?" to them.

"Henrietta Stepney, we are arresting you on suspicion of the conspiracy to murder Ethan Stepney. You do not have to say anything. But, it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence"

"That's ridiculous...Haven't you already arrested her ex-husband, John?" Pearl spoke up. She may not have known her for long but she has known her long enough to know she didn't do that sort of thing.

"Please don't get involved, Miss" the officer simply told Pearl, putting a very confused Henrietta into the back of a police car.

"It's Georgina isn't it?" Henrietta managed to ask them before they shut the door on her.

She thought it must be her who accused of her this, nobody else would be so cruel. Though of cause it was Kelly who really accused her. And they had to look into the claims of both of them having something to do with it.

...

TBC