[Warning: Child abuse referred to in this chapter.]
Two months passed and it the last week of March. Samantha and Ashleigh were due any day, and David and Sam could hardly contain their glee their wives were about to give birth. Meanwhile, Ruthie, Hope, and Felicity were anticipating their next bundles of joy; and Rod and Shelby, who had thought and talked about getting fixed, were considering trying to have one more baby, after Shelby heard God telling her not to have misgivings because her pregnancy with Danielle and Theodore had been more difficult than she had wanted it to be.
At the weekly business meeting, the financials from the previous Sunday service were taken apart, and the lesson plans the children drew up for Sunday school were approved. The conversation then turned to Rita, who was hand-picked by Ruthie to deliver that Sunday's sermon.
"So what do you have in mind, Rita?" asked Shelby. As senior pastor, she would have the final say.
"Well, Shelby," said Rita, "I've been going back and forth in my mind, and I decided to stick to the Lectionary which has this week's reading as John, chapter four. But I want to take a different tack than what is usually given. And I ran this by Felicity first."
"And?" Shelby asked Felicity.
"It's brilliant," said Peter's wife. "It's beyond brilliant. Go ahead, darling."
"Well, it starts with the part about the five husbands Jesus spoke of in relation to the Samaritan woman," Rita said. "Well, he really wasn't being literal. The Samaritans are - because they still exist - are a breakaway faction of Jews. They worship on Mount Gerazim, above Nablus in the West Bank. They moved their temple five times before settling on its ultimate location. The previous sites are the five husbands. It goes from there, but one has to understand that much first. The Samaritans aren't the boogeymen that the Bible presents to be at first glance. They may not worship like us, but they are like us regardless. And by reaching out the way he did, Jesus was saying He's the saviour of all mankind."
"If you can build a sermon around that," said Tamara, "I think you're going to get a lot of praise from our congregation. If my sister-in-law, Hope, was here, she'd really be impressed."
Not needing to comment further, Shelby approved the sermon, and asked Rita to have a PowerPoint for the projectors and a script for the teleprompter.
"Way ahead of you, Shel," said Rita happily, handing over a thumbnail drive.
The meeting went on without further incident, and every one went to their respective homes.
During the evening, Ruthie and Rita were having supper with Roxanne. Rita brought up she was still deeply tempted to try to seduce Rhiannon, regardless of her age, and wanted to know how she could fight it.
"I know," said Rita, "Oscar Wilde said, 'I can resist everything except temptation - "
"No," interrupted Roxanne, "The correct quote is, 'The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.' Subtle difference, but an important one. You should not be tempted at all. It's not a sin to be tempted, but if you can avoid it at all, it'll be better for your well-being."
"I know it's hard, Rita," said Ruthie, "but Hope and I are sticking to what we said as your mothers. Two years, no exceptions. And I hope James and Heather are sticking by what Felicity told them on my behalf."
"Um ..." said Rita. "I don't want to rat out my siblings, but since you brought it up, Ruthie ... they found a way to get really intimate with their girlfriend and boyfriend."
Ruthie was horrified, and immediately called Felicity.
Felicity was furious, and she summoned her stepchildren to their living room. In the absence of Peter, who was counselling patients at a nearby hospital, she was the sole disciplinarian.
"Don't deny it, because Rita told your mother, who told me," Felicity said angrily. "Did you feel up your respective love interests?"
"No," said Heather in shame. "Chester and I had phone sex, and James here has had phone sex with Maighread."
"Since I became a part of this family," said Felicity, "you two have been nothing but helpful in making me a full member of the clan. You have also been almost angels. Not perfect, but you've tried. But it's one thing to watch porn on TV behind your parents' backs. Actually having phone sex, at your age, is just as dangerous as being physically somewhere between second and third base. You need just one pitch to make it a home run. And I won't stand for it!
"When I married Peter, I got shared custody of you with your birth mother - Ruthie. And Ruthie told me if you really misbehaved, then she gave me full authority to punish you. And that's what I'm going to do right now. You're both grounded to the end of the school year. No cell phones, and no surfing on the computers other than to check your business e-mails from church and school. You need to do your school assignments online so I'll let you do that, but that's it. No social media, no checking the news, no roll playing games, nothing. When school is over for the summer break, you'll get your privileges restored, but you'll be on probation for the next two years. If either of you does anything inappropriate with your respective loves, I'll break all of you up. I'm not bluffing here. I love both of you, as much as I love my children by birth, but you've crossed a line and I won't tolerate it! Is that understood?"
"Yes, Felicity," said Heather.
"Yes, Felicity," said James. They felt bad they let their stepmother down, as well as their mother and father.
"Good," said Felicity. "Kitchen, now. I don't mean for supper to get spoiled, but no talking unless I speak first!"
Back at Ruthie's, supper was finishing up when the phone rang twice, indicating someone was trying to buzz in. Rita went to open the door. She was stunned to see a familiar man standing at the threshold. Although Rita had never seen him before, she knew him from a photograph. It was Jimmy Moon.
"Reverend Moon, this is a ... surprise," the girl said.
Jimmy waved his right hand in a palm down motion, as if to say, "Too formal."
"It's Jimmy, squirt," said Jimmy, gently running the same hand through Rita's hair as if she was his own daughter. Rita didn't resist this and in fact saw it as a sign of respect.
"May I come in?" he asked.
Rita agreed and opened the door. She led the way into the kitchen. Ruthie dropped her jaw in shock.
"I thought you weren't coming until my nieces and nephew were born next month," she said.
"Well, I'm here," said Jimmy, kissing Ruthie on the forehead. "How's my favourite mother in the world?"
"It's a privilege having your baby," said Ruthie. "You know Roxanne?"
"Uh, yeah," Jimmy replied. "She was my arresting officer. Good to see you, Roxie."
"Likewise," Roxanne said.
"Rita," said Ruthie, "you know Jimmy is moving in with us soon in time for the birth of your sister. Um, I mean your cousins."
"I was hoping it could be this week," Jimmy said.
"Why?"
"I literally had to run from Enid. It leaked out I'm gay and a posse threatened the church I've just left. They also threatened to blow up Felicity's manor. It's really a matter of life or death. I have two suitcases with most of my clothes, in the car in your driveway. Until it's safe to return to get the rest of my belongings, I need to crash here."
"Of course," said Ruthie. "And we'll get in touch with some of the other ministers in Enid to try to calm things down. You can have any of the spare bedrooms in the basement."
"That's the reason why I agreed to be your sperm donor," said Jimmy. "You're the kind and resolute woman I remember, when you were a little girl, and I dated Lucy. Thank you. I'll get my stuff."
"Rita, can you bundle up and help your sister's father?"
"Gladly," said Rita. As the two headed outside, she asked, "What was the deal with Lucy, anyway?"
For the next few hours, Ruthie, Roxanne, Rita, and Jimmy commiserated about church business and how the household was going to work once Ruthie's daughter was born. As Rita got ready to go to bed, the phone rang twice once more. A bit worried that someone would call on the Camdens at that time of night, Ruthie asked Rita to open the door, but to be careful about letting strangers in.
It wasn't a stranger. It was Ruthie's uncle, George Grayson, his wife, Patty Mary Kinkirk - Kevin's sister - and their daughter, Daphne.
"Heat up some hors d'oeuvres," Ruthie told Rita. Rita did as asked, and came out with a tray of Chinese treats - dumplings, spring rolls, and dim sum.
As the group took their turns at picking items, Ruthie turned to George. "What's so important? Couldn't this wait until after the service tomorrow?"
"No, Ruthie," said George. "Daphne needs to tell you something."
Over the next few minutes, Daphne talked about her interactions with Eric. She presented a sordid tale of Eric attempting to groom her using several different methods. At the end of her list, she said that Eric had molested her no fewer than seven times. The last time was when she finally snapped, and had a rape kit done.
"Why would Dad do that?" said Ruthie in disbelief. "Okay, granted - he had sex with, at current count, twenty-seven women, other than the four accusing him in the present trial. And I get he would commit statutory rape. If he's found guilty and loses his minister's license, it won't be a loss in my book. But -"
"He also raped Erica," interrupted Patty Mary. "Four times. And we've got proof."
Rita screamed, and ran to her bedroom.
Ruthie was shaking. A full minute passed by in silence.
Finally, she said, "If what you're saying is true, and the rape kits come back as a match to Eric Camden, then he's no father of mine. Raping his own nieces is something I can never forgive. But you can understand I want to be absolutely certain."
"Well, there's nothing to think about," George told his niece. "My brother is a coward."
There followed another two minutes of silence as the group ate some more snacks.
Ruthie then said, "You've had a long day. Jimmy Moon here just moved in. You three can take the other two bedrooms in the basement. And you can stay here as long as you're in Saint Louis, and I'll personally drive you to the airport when you head back to Buffalo. In the meantime, we're here to talk as long as you want."
The conversation turned to other topics, but the elephant still hung in the room. As Roxanne and Ruthie got ready for bed, after the Graysons had turned in, Roxanne turned to her friend.
"Miss your wife?" she asked.
"More than anything," said Ruthie. "Phone and cybersex don't make up for the real thing."
"How bad do you want it?"
"I'm not cheating on Hope, if that's what you're asking."
"I wouldn't cheat on Lucy, either ... but if you want to trade notes for 'best practices,' I'm game."
"That I can do," said Ruthie, finally managing to smile since she received the bombshell about her son and daughter earlier in the evening. "Your bedroom or mine?"
The church service went off without a hitch the next day, and when Rita returned to her bedroom later on, she found her church e-mail full with about two hundred positive notes. There was only one dissenter, who said he agreed with what she said but that Rita, as an eleven year old, was too young to deliver any sermon.
Well, said Rita to herself, you can't win them all, but I won't let it get to me.
The next day was the day set for the long awaited trial of Eric. The courtroom was packed. The lawyers for both the prosecution and the defense were there as well. But one person did not show up. Eric.
Ten o'clock went by. Ten fifteen. Then Ten thirty.
Janice, the prosecutor, turned to Hope, who was sitting in the gallery, looking at her watch like nearly everyone else in the room. Janice waved her to outside in the lobby.
"I know this looks awful," said Hope, "but I don't know where my father-in-law is."
"On a day like this," said Janice, "I would have expected you to personally escort him to this room. The judge could revoke bail right now and issue a bench warrant."
"I may be his babysitter," conceded Hope, "but he's showed up for all his appearances until now without prompting - "
"But to tell you the truth, I was going to drop the charges this morning."
Hope was stunned. "Why?" she asked.
"We now have proof that the four accusers outright lied about their ages to Eric."
"Ignorance of the law is not an excuse. He's still guilty of statutory rape."
"No jury is going to believe the word of four sex trade workers," said Janice, trying to look at the situation realistically.
"This state has a rape shield law," said Hope, trying to throw a bone at the prosecutor. "The fact they're in the trade has no relevance."
"I thought you were on his side," said Janice, peculiarly.
"If he broke the law, then I can't defend my father-in-law," said Hope. "Given what I know about him, which was given to you in discovery, he is an habitual sex addict - if not outright offender. And if the new accusations we learned about the last couple of days is true, he's got big problems."
"I can't speak to the New York State charges and Daphne," the prosecutor replied, "but Erica ... we'll have to wait for the rape kit, and play it by ear. But for now, you need to try to find Eric, now, so this current situation can be disposed of."
Just then, the women heard the sound of loud footsteps come around the hallway. It was Simon, Lucy, and Sarah.
"Thank God you're here!" said Sarah, wrapping her arms around Hope. "Eric's been kidnapped! Whoever it was, left this ransom note on your and his doorway."
Sarah handed a manila envelope to Janice.
"Who did this?" asked Hope, in shock.
"Damned if we know," said Simon. "But if we can figure out the who, we'll know the why. Or vice versa?"
Lucy shrugged.