[¥]Chapter 11[¥]

¬£¬The True Secrets¬£¬

My dad took us to this fancy restaurant. The scenery was beautiful; the tables were covered in red and black table clothes, some tables had white candles in the center, while others had a beige color candles. The air smelled fresh and scented. The people here were dress to impress, in their evening gowns and fancy tuxedo. My dad has really out done himself this time. The server escorted us to our seats. We had a table by the window. You could see the beach from here. The sun was setting witch made it even more special. We took our seats, read over the menu that was at our table, while the waiter went to see another table. When she returned we ordered our food, minutes later she arrived with the entree, and we began to talk about our day.

"So anything interesting happened today?" My dad said as took a bite of his food.

"I saw Maurice today." I spoke up first, taking a sip of my drink. I knew that would make them happy. You see they treated Marcel as if he were their own child when his parents wouldn't. Him and I would always hang around each other no matter what. Everywhere I went he went. Except to the bathroom of course. His parents were drunks. Therefore, sometimes his dad would beat on him for no reason and his mom would just sit there and let it happen. Witch made he spend most of his time at my house. We would tell each other everything. We even confessed to each other that we liked one another, but we were little we didn't know what we were talking about.

"Oh really. How is he doing?" My mom asked taking a bite of her salad.

"Grown. He has twins now." I shoved a fork full of salad in my mouth also. When I said that my dad almost choked on his food. I knew that would catch someone off guard.

"Did you say twins?" My father said catching his breath.

"Yes sir." I nodded my head as I ate more of my food.

"How old is Marcel anyway?" My mom asked trying to think back on the old days.

"Twenty."

"How old are his kids?" My dad asked.

"Three."

"I know one thing, you better not be having any babies no time soon." He said in his serious voice. When he said that I almost chocked on my food.

"Dad no."

He laughed at my reaction and said, "I'm just saying."

"Okay. Next!" I said changing the subject.

It grew quiet between us until my mom's sweet and soft voice said, "I got a job interview tomorrow." She had a big, bright smile on her face.

"For what?" I asked curiously.

"Modeling."

"Wow. Way to go mom!" We high five each other and continued with our food.

"What are you going to be modeling?" My dad asked, also with a smile on his face. It is good to see my parent is happy again. Now we look like a real family.

"I don't know yet." My mom said unsure of herself. "But I start off with a photo shoot. Then from the pictures they can tell what they want me to model." She continued with a broad smile plastered on her face.

"That's so cool!" I exclaimed. "I always wanted to do modeling but I don't like my legs." I continued.

"Nonsense you have beautiful legs." She patted my knee.

"So what are you runway or just a photo model?" My dad asked still eating his food.

"I want to do runway but I'm not sure." She said with a shrug of her shoulders. We all ate in silence for about a second until my mom said, "Enough about me. Kevin do you have anything interesting to say?" She said turning her attention to my dad.

"Yes I do." He smiled broadly. "I've just been offered a spot as a detective, down at the station."

"That's awesome." I started excitedly. But then stopped when I actually thought about it. "But wait that means you won't be home anymore." I suddenly felt sad. I like having my dad home with us it made me feel complete as a family.

"Yes I will. I'm not going anywhere." he rubbed my hand with comfort.

"Okay if you say so. So now what's the bad news?" I said. Every time we talk about the good things going on in life there has bound to be bad right around the ally.

"What are you talking about?" My dad said eating more of his food.

"Why would you think that?" My mom added. They must really think I am crazy.

"I know you guys." I started.

"There's always bad news coming right after the good news." My parents shot each other this wiry look. That is how I knew something was up. So I braced myself for the worst. Neither of them said anything for a while. They only ate the rest of their food. "What is it? I'm a big girl I can handle it." I finally said breaking the tension that was growing between us. Things always has to take a drastic turn for the worst.

"Well you already know that Jason is out." My dad started.

"Yeah, keep going." I said anxiously awaiting the news.

"Well it's your uncle." My mom finished.

"Dad's brother right? The one who killed my brother?" I asked making sure it was the same person. When I said that my mom shot him a look. I knew I should not have said that last part.

"What she wanted to know." My dad said defending himself. "We couldn't keep it from her forever." he continued.

"Mom it's okay. I'll be fine." I reassured her.

She took a deep breath, pushed her finished plate away from her and said, "Well it looks like he didn't tell you the whole truth." I finished my salad and looked at my father as I wiped my mouth.

"What's going on?" I asked getting confused all over again. My dad let out a deep sigh, and pushed his plat away from him. We were now done with the entree, just waiting on the main course.

"I didn't want it to come to this," he said wiping his mouth and hands on the napkin that sat in front of him. "But since it's out there why not." He shrugged his shoulders and began to explain. "Your uncle, my brother, not only went to jail for murder, but he also went for child molestation." WHAT!!!??? I spit out my drink and almost chocked at those words. My mom patted my back to help me gain control of myself.

"Did I hear you correct? Did you say he was a child molester?" I said wiping my mouth. They just sat there and shook their heads. Wow, this family really is twisted. I just sat there in silence. I had nothing else to say to them. But it seems they had more.

"You see the thing is, your brother use to have these dreams that a man would touch him at night. We didn't know what to do think." my mom started again. When my dad saw she could not say anymore he took over.

"Until one night we, well I," He said correcting himself. "Caught him trying to molest you, when you were about 4. He went to jail for a while. And when he got out he did it again when you were 6, and the real reason your brother died was because he was going to tell us about it, but my brother wouldn't let him, so he locked him in the closet and Cedric suffocated." This whole night turned from exciting to dreadful. The scenery could lift up the mood my parents were in right now. I am actually lost for words. No wonder I kept having dreams of someone raping a little girl.

Finally finding words to speak I said, "Whoa that's sick." There was not more to say but that.

My mom replied, "Yeah, well we had to move, but it seems like where ever we move he seems to find us." she sat there with an expressionless face. I do not think I have ever seen neither of my parents in this state of matter.

"So that's what you guys were arguing about." I said referring back to Friday afternoon. "You didn't want to move because he was going to find us again." I made sure I played it out in my head before actually saying it.

"Pretty much." my dad said. With that, we sat in silence waiting for the waiter to return with our main course.

At this point, I do not think I can eat anything else. The waiter brought our food with a warm smile. "Is there anything else I can get you guys today." she asked.

"A new life" I mumbled. I guess she heard me because she looked at me and I could see the concern in her eyes but I spoke up and said "No thank you. You've been a great help this evening." she said thank you, turned on her heels, and began to walk to another table. We sat there in silence and ate our food. I know there was something they were hiding from me but what? I thought. Then a picture of that person from Saturday flashed in my head again. "Did my uncle have a scar above his right eye?" I asked curiously, not hoping for a specific answer. But something that will help me with this crazy mess. They both looked up at me. As if to find someone else who had said those very words.

"Yeah why? Did you see him?" My dad finally asked eating his food.

"Yeah, Saturday. He was at the movies." I said nonchalantly.

"Did he touch you?" He asked.

"He tried but Kelly and Lenox came before he did anything." I said sounding like nothing was wrong when I knew there was. I looked at my parents and they both had worried looks on their faces. "Is this bad?" I asked dropping my fork onto my plate.

"That means he's out, and found us." In a blink of an eye, he switched from being worried to being overprotective. "You can't go out with Kelly anymore unless I or your mom is around." He finished. WHAT! WHY?

"But dad that's not fair!" I did not notice how loud I was until I saw a couple of people that were nearby look at us. "Why punish my life because your brother wants to be a sick psycho." I said in a lower tone.

"Trust me it's for your own good." He said sternly. "He can come by the house but you are not to go anywhere in public with him." I did not want to hear any more of it. I tossed my fork back onto my plate and sat there with my arms folded.

Coming to my defense my mom spoke up. "Kevin don't you think you're going a little too far with this. I mean she can handle herself." she told him. Hoping to get him to bring the protective side down a little.

"Yeah dad. Are you the one who told me 'Show no fear' and 'don't be afraid of anything'." I agreed with her.

"Yeah." he said drinking his wine.

"Okay then. Trust me. I can handle myself." I assured him. To be honest I do not think I can trust myself with this kind of situation. Luckily I'll always have Kelly by my side and I know he'll protect me.

"If you say so." He finally gave in.

"Just like you said 'we can't keep secrets from her forever,'" my mom said. "Well we can't protect her forever. We raised a strong girl." she added as she put her hand on top of his.

"I guess you can say that." he said still insure of the whole thing. We went back to eating our food, and changed the subject back to their new jobs. They talked about what they expect to accomplish now. My mom might let me help her find an outfit to wear for her photo shoot. This should be loads of fun.

======================

There you have it. What do you think?