Pastor Lett had moved closer to the gazebo, her shoulders dropped, her head hung low. She interrupted Hannah, hoping not to agitate Cole any further, but needing to speak her mind. “He had run of the house until just recently. I didn’t like keeping him there. I came to visit him every day, sometimes many times each day. He is family to me. As I said, while I cared for him, he lived in the house, not the cellar, and then those damned teenagers became curious about the haunted house on the hill.” She paused, looking up at the house, wearily. “We had to keep the kid,” she said endearingly, “William, secluded to the cellar where he had grown up.” Pastor Lett looked down and shook her head. She knew she would have to face the community and that this was just the beginning. Cole’s anger wasn’t near what she’d expected, but the ache in her gut still surprised her, the sadness for what she’d done engulfed her mind and her body. “It’s awful, Cole, and I know that,” she spoke from her heart, true words laced with disgrace. “I have wrestled with this for years. You have no idea how painful it is,” her voice escalated, “but I am a pastor, and I gave the family my word!”
She looked at Molly, hoping for understanding, forgiveness. Erik sat beside her, worn out, motionless. “It was Molly who made me change my mind. When I saw her with Rodney, I realized then that the kid, that William, needed to have more of a life, no matter what the Perkinson family wanted.” The anguish in Pastor Lett’s words was clear. “I have wanted to release him from that place for years, but Chet Perkinson was adamant about him remaining there, hidden from the community. I felt locked in a prison—knowing it was wrong to keep him hidden, and yet, I had given my word.” She turned away, ashamed.
Cole looked at her, then at Hannah, and Newton. “How could you do this for so long? There’s a man in there! For Christ’s sake, Pastor Lett, you of all people.”
“I know,” Pastor Lett said, solemnly. “I cannot reconcile it myself, so I don’t expect you to. We’re trying to right the wrong we’ve done, make his life better, provide a real life, no matter how closely we’re scrutinized.”
“Newton, Hannah? You, too?” Cole turned pained eyes toward them.
Hannah nodded, “Yes, Cole, we all helped take care of William. He’s a lovely man, just lovely.” She shrugged. “When a family asks something of you, how do you know when it is right to go against their wishes? How do you know when to back out of it?”
“I thought for sure this would have ended years ago,” Pastor Lett added. “Another location found, a home with a family possibly, anything, but the years just kept passing by, and then it was such a habit, such a normal typical thing, taking care of him, well....” she let her words trail off with the setting sun and looked away. “I don’t expect to be forgiven. He’s a man now, physically, but he’s still a five-year-old mentally. I cannot tell you how many nights I wanted to bring him home with me, but I was worried that even that would get me into trouble. Once Rodney was beaten, I was unsure of anything in this town. Hannah,” she looked at her brown hair waving in the slight breeze, her hands covered with dirt and dust, the understanding that was evident on her face, and the compassion in her eyes, “and Newton,” Newton gazed nervously at the ground, hands in his khaki pants pockets, the toe of his sneaker kicked at the ground, “well, they are the only people I felt that I could truly trust with someone else’s life.” She looked toward Molly, “until the other night, when Molly opened my eyes and made me remember that there are good people in the world, that sometimes giving of yourself, making yourself vulnerable, is the right thing to do at any cost.” Her eyes pleaded with Molly, who allowed the end of her mouth to turn up.
Cole paced, running his hand through his dark hair. “What the hell? Molly?” he looked at her, as if she held all of the answers.
“Cole,” Molly said, “she didn’t have to invite us here.” Her voice was quiet, almost a whisper. “She didn’t have to expose William at all. It sounds like—and not that I condone her behavior—but it sounds like she was overwhelmed, accepted a responsibility that she came to realize wasn’t the right thing to do, and now she is trying to right her wrong.” She reached up, tenderly brushing his hair off of his forehead. He leaned down and rested his cheek against hers, as if he would know what was right by touching her, as if the answer would seep through her skin to his own mind.
He turned toward Pastor Lett then, and spoke softly, his hand in Molly’s, “Well, what the hell are we waiting for?” he looked around. “Let’s get William out of there and get this place in shape for him. The quicker the better.” He looked toward the gazebo where Erik sat, the color returned to his face. “Erik, I need you: Stat!” Erik walked swiftly to his side, “Dad?” Cole put his hands on his shoulder. “Are you all right, son?” Erik nodded. “Good. Can we use your strength to help make this place livable?” Erik looked to his mother for guidance. She nodded, encouraging him. “Hell yes!” he said.
Hannah sidled up to Molly and tapped her on the shoulder. Molly turned and understood from the pained look in Hannah’s eyes that there was more. Hannah took Molly’s hand and led her away from the group, to the edge of the woods.
“As long as we’re all confessing,” Hannah whispered, “I have something to tell you.” Tears formed in her eyes and she turned to face the lake. “Walk with me?” They walked over the crest of the hill, descending toward the lake. “Remember when I took you into the woods?”
Molly feared what she’d hear next. “You don’t have to tell me anything, Hannah,” she said.
Hannah stopped walking and faced Molly. “I want to. I’ve been carrying this around for too long.” She took a deep breath, let it out slowly. A bird landed on the water and Hannah watched the ripples snaking their way to the shore. “That place, where I knelt?” Molly nodded. “I…I had a daughter. She only lived for moments, and Charlie was so crazy,” her words spewed swiftly, nervously from her lips. “Hannah, no.”
Hannah nodded. “I was terrified. If Charlie had found out he would have done god knows what. I know it was wrong, not to bury her properly, but I did the best I could.”
I did the best I could. Molly felt the truth in her words. “I’m sorry,” was all she could say.
Epilogue
“Hurry up, you guys, we’ll be late for the party!” Molly hustled downstairs. The interwoven sparkles in her clingy black dress gleamed from the lights on the Christmas tree with her every move. She walked up behind Erik and hugged him, remembering the days when he had gone through a stage where he had pretended that Molly wasn’t his mother—embarrassed by any public displays of attention. She couldn’t believe that the young man who stood beside her, his arm around her shoulders, was the same person—she’d thought the stage would never end. Her heart swelled with pride. “Thanks for coming home for the holidays,” she said.
“Ma, where else would I go?”
“Jenna’s?” she said, cautiously.
“Yeah, right, like she’d be more fun than you and Dad? I don’t think so.” He popped an almond in his mouth. “Besides,” he grinned from ear to ear, “she had to be with her family today anyway.”