Jean Grainger Box Set: So Much Owed, Shadow of a Century, Under Heaven's Shining Stars

by Jean Grainger

  ‘Don’t be silly Scarlett, it’s lovely to see you. I told you you’re always welcome. How did it go with your mother yesterday?’

  She placed a cappuccino in front of Scarlett.

  ‘I thought you didn’t have any coffee?’ Scarlett asked, surprised.

  Eileen looked abashed. ‘Well, I hoped you’d call again, so after you left yesterday I went to the Vietnamese grocery store up the street and got some. I wasn’t sure what kind to get since I’m a dedicated tea drinker, but Zong, the girl that works there, is really helpful. She’s doing a master’s in history, so I help her out sometimes with proofreading and things like that. Anyway, she suggested I get this kind. She says everyone likes cappuccino. Is it alright?’

  Scarlett was so touched at the small gesture, she felt a lump rise in her throat.

  ‘It’s great, thanks!’ She sipped it, and though she would never normally order one, she found the sweet frothiness comforting.

  ‘How about something to eat? Have you eaten yet?’

  She suddenly realised that last thing she ate was the few bites of lunch at her mother’s before everything blew up.

  ‘I’m fine, Eileen. Honestly. The coffee’s perfect.’

  ‘Well how about I make you a sandwich anyway. Grilled cheese? I think it makes almost everyone feel better.’

  ‘That would be exactly what I’d love.’ She felt guilty at accepting Eileen’s kindness when her own mother was lying in a hospital bed, due to her only child’s neglect.

  Eileen busied herself getting bread and cheese and Scarlett watched her. She really was very sprightly for her age and totally different than the shaken woman she had met the first day after the burglary.

  ‘So,’ she paused, ‘tough night?’ Eileen wasn’t probing. Scarlett knew she would be just as happy to talk about the weather but wanted to get it off her chest.

  Scarlett felt so tired. Where to begin? She’d spent most of the night awake, waiting to get some diagnosis of her mother’s condition. She sat beside her bed while Lorena slept. The nurse had given her a sedative because she had become agitated, and they assured Scarlett that after that she would be fine, but Scarlett was reluctant to leave her mother who looked so small and vulnerable in the bed. Over and over she berated herself for being so selfishly wrapped up in her own life that she had failed to look after Lorena. She eventually went home in the early hours but couldn’t sleep. She longed to call Charlie, just to hear his voice, but resisted. Instead, as soon as it was a reasonable time, she called Artie and told him what had happened. As usual, he was gruff but she could hear the concern in his voice. He promised he’d use his connections to find out more about this Father Ennio, and true to his word, he called her back twenty minutes later with what he found out.

  One of Artie’s friends was a Rabbi who played golf with the bishop. It seems that Ennio had been removed from his parish a year ago after several complaints were sent to the Bishop’s office about his extreme views. The church allowed him to stay in his house and gave him a small pension in the hope that he’d just live out his life calmly. They were horrified with the news of what he had done to Lorena and the bishop wanted to meet Scarlett. That prospect was just too much to cope with on top of everything else. She’d eventually decided to get out of her house as the walls were closing in on her. Artie invited her to lunch at his house, but she knew his kids and grandkids were coming too and she just wasn’t in the mood to socialize. So Eileen was the only other person she could talk to.

  As she told Eileen the story, the reality of what had happened sank in. Explaining it as best she could to Eileen was helping her make sense of it in her own head.

  She told Eileen about the shock of seeing her mother’s bedroom and recounted the hurtful things Lorena had said.

  ‘You poor thing, what a horrible thing to experience!’ Eileen was sympathetic. ‘Your mother must be a very ill lady to say those things. I know it’s going to be hard to forget but try to think of it as it being her, but not her, if you know what I mean. She is clearly influenced by this priest, and I don’t think, from what you told me about her, that she really meant those things she said. The thing is, usually faith is a good thing, at least from where I’m coming from it is anyway. But when you lose focus on the present, on the here and now, and your mind is taken over by what you imagine the spiritual world to be, then that’s not living. And that’s what we are here to do, to live, and to try to be happy and be true to ourselves and those around us. You mentioned the fact that your father was violent. Maybe this was her way of trying to process all of that.’

  ‘Maybe, but the thing is, it isn’t just that.’ Scarlett said quietly. ‘I’ve ignored it for so long. I knew it wasn’t right, but I thought that it kept her occupied and out of my hair. I really did think it was harmless. Also, I’m so angry at her, for so many things that I...’

  ‘Why are you angry?’ Eileen was gentle.

  ‘Where to start? This stupid name, for starters. Why do that to a kid? I just don’t get it. But I guess more for the fact that she could have left him, my father. She should have, but she didn’t, and so I had the most horrible childhood. No fun, only fear. I would never put a child through that. I never said it to her, she’s kind of vulnerable or something. It would have been like kicking a puppy, but she was my mother. She should have protected me, and she didn’t.’ Scarlett was surprised at herself. She had never verbalised these feelings before.

  ‘Scarlett, it’s a lovely name by the way, you’ve had a terrible shock. You have enough to deal with in your own life right now, and now this. I understand how you feel, why you feel anger at her, but maybe it’s time you gave yourself and your mom a break? This is hard, but maybe it will prove to be the thing you need to get things back with your mother. She does love you, I’m sure of it, and you love her too. But sometimes life just gets really complicated and we lose sight of what matters to us. Have you spoken to the hospital this morning?’

  ‘Yeah, I’ve spoken to the registrar. I called him as I was coming over here, but the main guy won’t be there until tomorrow. She’s ok, comfortable is what they said. She did freak out in the hospital last night, and she scratched the nurse’s face. But they sedated her, and they’re going to keep her mildly sedated until they can assess her fully.’

  ‘And is there any sign of this priest?’ Eileen asked.

  ‘I need to speak to someone higher up in the church, the bishop or someone, about him, I think. From what I can gather from Artie, that’s my boss who owns the newspaper, I called him this morning. He knows the most unlikely people, and he found out this guy was sidelined and relieved of all his duties from his parish around a year ago. He was getting weirder and weirder it seems, and the Church decided to take him out of the ministry after getting lots of complaints. The hope was that he would just toddle off into retirement, and the Church would house him and take care of him quietly. That plan backfired and now he’s a major headache for the diocese. I’m sure they’re hoping that my mother is his only victim, but we have no idea. There may be other poor people under his influence as well. The most important thing to do now is track him down. He’s not at his house and he hasn’t been seen since leaving my mother’s house yesterday and now it looks like we have to involve the police.’

  ‘Does your mother have any money? Is that what he’s after, do you think?’ Eileen was pensive.

  ‘No, that’s the thing. Of course, your first thought when something happens like this is that it’s a scam of some kind, but Lorena has nothing really of value. She works in a flower shop part-time and I help her out with bills and other stuff, so that’s not what he’s after. It’s a mystery what’s in it for him.’ She bit into the delicious grilled cheese sandwich and realised she was starving. Eileen put a large slice of homemade coffee walnut cake in front of her for afterwards.

  ‘Well, is there a physical connection, I mean, is it an affair, do you think? Could that explain it?’ Eileen asked.
>
  Scarlett laughed for the first time since everything happened.

  ‘No, definitely not! You should see this guy. He looks like Mr Burns from The Simpsons, all bent and skinny and bald and so creepy. No way. Lorena spends what little money she has on glamour. She loves clothes and jewellery and always has her hair done and her make-up perfect. She’s a Southern Belle through and through. Though I never saw her like she was when I got there yesterday, wearing a big, shapeless thing, her hair hanging over her face, and no makeup. I never saw her like that in my whole life. She’s the one usually on at me for not dressing up enough. There’s no way she’s involved with him, like that. Urrgh.’ Scarlett shuddered at the thought.

  ‘Well, I do know they say that a sign of mental health issues is when someone loses interest in their appearance, I wonder what he wants, maybe nothing. Maybe he’s just crazy and really believes all that stuff,’ Eileen wondered.

  ‘Yeah, it’s hard to know, isn’t it? One thing I do know is that I’m going to track this guy down and make sure he doesn’t do anything like this again. Who knows, he could have loads of old ladies under his weird spell. The Church will have to do something.’

  On and on they talked all afternoon about everything and nothing. Eileen talked about her own mother and the relationship they had, which was close but not perfect either. As Scarlett devoured another slice of the delicious cake, Eileen revealed it was her mother who had taught her how to bake.

  As Scarlett was getting up to leave, her phone rang. It was Charlie.

  ‘Hey Red!’ Her heart quickened, even the sound of his voice made her nervous with anticipation. Maybe he was going to suggest they meet. She’d risk it, even if they were being followed, just to see him again.

  Eileen discreetly left the room to give her some privacy.

  ‘Hi! How are you?’ she asked.

  ‘Ok I guess. You know how it is. You?’ He sounded strange, distracted.

  ‘Well, things have been a bit stressful actually. My mother...’ she began, but he interrupted her.

  ‘Listen Red, I can’t stay on long. I gotta go in a second but I just needed to talk to you.’ Warmth flooded through her. He needed to talk to her.

  She was about to respond that she needed to talk to him too, when he went on, his voice low and urgent.

  ‘I need you to promise me something. I’m so sorry for how everything turned out, you know that, right? But I need you to not react, ok? I’m going on CBS Evening news on Friday. Jordan Flint is interviewing me and I’m gonna have to say some things that I don’t want to say. But I’m not left with any choices here, Red, you get that, right? I’d never deliberately hurt you, so please just ignore everything...’

  Scarlett was trying to process this as she was listening to him.

  ‘Say what? What are you going to say? Something about me?’ Panic was rising in her chest. She was trying to stay calm, but surely he wasn’t going to do one of those confessional TV interviews where he said he was a sex addict who loved his wife or something like that?

  ‘Look, I’m gonna steer it way from you as much as I can, but I guess they will want to talk about us. I have to say it was nothing. It’s the only way I can recover anything from this. If you care for me at all, Red, you just won’t react, ok? They’ll be after you for a few days again, like when it broke, but you know how it goes. They’ll leave you alone once something more interesting comes along. Can you do this for me?’

  She couldn’t speak. She had seen politicians and celebrities who had fallen from grace on these kinds of shows before. Tugging the nation’s heart strings, and she admitted to herself that she had never spared a thought for the other woman. Neither would anyone else, she realised. Through the haze of her confusion, she thought she could hear someone else on the line.

  ‘Red, are you there? Red? Look, another thing, if you need money, I can get some to you. Are you even listening to me?’ She could hear the panic in his voice. Was he trying to bribe her to keep her mouth shut?

  ‘Yeah, I’m here.’ Voices behind him again.

  ‘Look, I gotta go, I love you,. Please just do this for me.’ The line went dead.

  Chapter 25

  Scarlett sat in the bright sunny office overlooking the hospital gardens, trying to process what she was being told.

  ‘This is very complicated territory to discuss, because we are very reluctant to paint any firm belief in a religious idea as crazy. The last thing we want is to label anyone as insane because of their spiritual convictions. After all, few religions would stand up to logical reasoned explanation, but we do not dismiss as deluded those who believe in the resurrection, or transubstantiation, for example. And yet, we as psychiatrists know a significant percentage of patients fall victim to psychiatric disorders that include fixed and false beliefs, what we call delusions. They don't talk about the CIA following them or extraterrestrials visiting them. They talk about being chosen by God for special missions, or being told by God to fast, or they labour under the belief of actually being God. Religious delusions can afflict those who have expressed no prior deep religious faith, or they can befall those who are practising Muslims or Christians or Jews. I remember one man whose first episode of mental illness included arriving at the ER carrying a statue of the Virgin Mary, which he had stolen from a local church, believing he was receiving messages from her.’

  Scarlett listened intently to the psychiatrist whose voice was soothing and gentle. He looked like a kind old uncle with a green suit and a purple bow-tie. His shiny bald head shone in the sunlight and his large belly seemed to be putting undue pressure on his shirt buttons. She could imagine him as being very serene around people in distress, patients or their families, despite his garish outfit. His room was incredibly warm, and through the slightly open window you could hear voices from the garden below, where Lorena sat on a bench with a member of the clinic’s staff. She had seemed calm when Scarlett saw her earlier, but she looked much older and smaller, as if all the life was gone out of her.

  ‘So, Dr Wells, is she depressed? Can this be reversed?’

  ‘Delusions do sometimes occur in the setting of depression. Yet spiritual awakenings can occur at moments of desperation, too. And this is the tremendously difficult terrain we walk when we bring up the question of religious beliefs crossing the line into psychiatric symptoms.’

  Despite his kind manner, Scarlett was getting frustrated with what seemed like fluffy answers.

  Scarlett interjected, ‘Ok, so she is having delusions, you think. Brought about either by depression or desperation. But what do we do now? Does she stay here forever being medicated, or do we send her back home and hope she comes back to her old self?’

  The psychiatrist smiled. ‘I understand your frustration, I really do. It is extremely frightening and difficult to deal with a case such as your mother’s. I understand you went to visit with her before seeing me? Well, you will have noticed that she is much less agitated, but she may have seemed a bit distant, unreachable?’

  ‘Exactly.’ Scarlett said, relieved. At least they didn’t think this was a reasonable state for Lorena to be in. ‘She seemed mildly pleased to see me and she spoke, but just about the garden and how pretty it was. She never mentioned the episode with Ennio or how she spoke to me that day.’

  ‘Yes, well, she remains mildly sedated, which explains her demeanour. I intend to reduce the dosage over the coming days, while monitoring her to see how she is coping with re-entry into the world, as it were. I am hopeful that she will recover from this episode, but there is undoubtedly underlying trauma there. I understand she had an abusive marriage in her youth?’

  Scarlett nodded. ‘My father was a violent alcoholic who regularly took out his rages on her.’

  ‘And how did she cope with that?’ His questions were gentle but probing.

  ‘Well, she’s not normally like she is now. Not just the religion, but everything. She’s usually very glamorous, loves fashion and al
ways looks well groomed. She always took her inspiration from the movies, the old ones you know, from the Golden Era of Hollywood. And she had lots of magazines and things, and she would show me the pictures after my father had been arrested or just gone off drinking or whatever. It was like her escape. She’s always been a little, I don’t know, eccentric, but this is a whole new departure for her.’

  Dr Wells chuckled. ‘Ah, that explains your beautiful name then?’

  Scarlett smiled. ‘I’m used to it now, I guess, but yeah, she named me after the Vivien Leigh character. I’ve spent a lifetime explaining. It’s been a pain, though, since I look nothing like my namesake.’

  ‘I can imagine.’ He smiled sympathetically.

  Scarlett shrugged. ‘As I said, I’m used to it now. But the thing is, she was always a little bit into religion. She was raised Baptist in Georgia, but I think all the flamboyance of Catholicism appealed to her since she’s very dramatic.’ Scarlett added with a wry smile, ‘So when she married my father, he was Irish and so was a Catholic, and she embraced it. But it was going to mass on Sundays and dressing up for Easter and Christmas, that kind of thing, not like the way she has been recently.’

  ‘So do you think anything might have triggered her relationship with this Father Ennio, a reason why she moved towards him and away from the more standard Catholic Church? You mentioned she hasn’t been seen at her local parish church for some time?’

  Scarlett shrugged. ‘I’ve no idea. I haven’t seen much of her recently. When we’d talk on the phone, I knew she was getting a bit more into it, but I’d no idea it had come to this. I’m shocked and I’ve no idea what to do next. I know you can’t tell me exactly, but if I even had some idea where we might go with her...’

  ‘Well, in my experience, and bearing in mind that no two cases are identical, I can tell you that sometimes the patient is fine, back to their old selves and there is no reoccurrence. Other times it leads to further episodes, which can be more or less severe. The key would be to ensure there was no contact between her and this priest. Maximum benefit can be gained by removing the person from the environment where the events that precipitated the episode took place, particularly in the early weeks after treatment, though this isn’t always possible, of course.’