??Love and betrayal ??
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??Episode 35??
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From U.S Bah ❤✌?
Mrs. Ivy Kedem closes the door and leans
back against it.
She closes her eyes ti-ghtly, sighs de-eply, and then walks forward slowly into the
luxurious living-room.
She drops her handbag in a chair and sits
down warily.
She hears footsteps from the stairs and
looks up slowly. Her husband, dressed in a long white
gown, is descending the stairs.
Ivy’s eyebrows raise as she looks at her
watch.
MADAM IVY
Honey, you couldn’t make it to the office today?
Ken Kedem leans down and brushes his
li-ps across hers, and then he sits down
beside her.
KEN KEDEM
No, dear. I couldn’t go. Went in to see Effe in the morning, and the poor girl was
so heartbroken, crying her heart out. I
couldn’t leave her, since you were also
not here. Decided to stay with her.
MADAM IVY
(sadly)
That bad?
KEN KEDEM
(nodding)
Worse. She really loves that boy. She
was telling me Chris is innocent, that he
didn’t steal the money, and that the stories about him and all these other
women are false. Blaming herself for not
believing in him.
Ivy Kedem’s heart beat with sudden fear
and dread.
MADAM IVY
What’s wrong with her? She was there
herself! She saw the drugs, the money,
and his accomplice, that Janet girl! Why
on earth is she saying he was framed?
KEN KEDEM
I don’t know, dear. I don’t know. But for her sake I wish it’s true that boy is
innocent. She’s hurting too much!
MADAM IVY
Is Eyram here?
KEN KEDEM
Nope. Took Junior to see Dr. Henderson. Junior is acting irritable. Not taking his
food. Seems to be coming down with a
cold.
MADAM IVY
(getting to her feet)
I think I better check on Effe.
KEN KEDEM
Yeah, do.
Effe appears on the landing then, and
she pauses, and looks at her mother.
Madam Ivy looks up, and her eyes meets
Effe’s. The look of sheer pain, anger, accusation
and disgust on her daughter’s face
suddenly hit Ivy with the for-ce of an
earthquake.
Her face crumbles with great fear and
distress because she knows instantly that Effe knows!
Has Chris Bawa told Effe everything?
Dear Lord, no! Madam Ivy begins to
tremble, and her husband looks at her
with sudden concern.
He gets to his feet, and notices his daughter for the first time, and sees the
look of sheer loathing on her face as she
stares at her mother, and Ken also
becomes scared immediately.
He puts an arm across his wife’s
shoulders as Effe descends the stairs slowly, her eyes still fixed on her mother.
EFFE
(coldly)
I want a word with you.
The coldness of her voice shocks them,
and they look at each other anxiously.
MADAM IVY
Right, dear. Go ahead, I’m listening.
Effe shakes her head, and teard rops fly
off her puffy face.
EFFE
With you! Alone! Dad, please excuse us a moment!
MADAM IVY
(sadly, with a choke in her voice)
Go ahead, dear. There’s nothing your
father doesn’t know about me. We share
everything!
EFFE
(in a very hurt voice)
Really? Everything? Are you sure he
knows EVERYTHING about you?
Believe, he doesn’t know what I’m going
to talk to you about!
Ken Kedem sighs de-eply and drops his
arm from across his wife’s shoulders.
KEN KEDEM
Are you going to talk about Sweet Ama
Baby, my dear?
Effe’s mouth fall open with shock. She looks at her father with desperate
trepidation.
EFFE
You know? You know about Sweet Ama
Baby, about Mom’s past?
Ken Kedem suddenly looks very old and haggard. He shakes his head numbly and
walks to a sofa and sits down.
KEN KEDEM
(in a tired voice)
This is a day I’ve dreaded my whole life!
MADAM IVY
(looking at her husband with tortured
eyes)
Oh, honey!
She goes and sits beside her husband.
He looks at his wife and smiles wanly. He
takes her hands in his and ki-sses her fingers. He speaks without looking at
Effe.
KEN KEDEM
I don’t know how you found out, Effe, my
dear, but yes, I know all about your
Mom’s past. When I met her I was a struggling Bank Clerk. My girlfriend had
just jilted me, left me for a wealthy old
man. I was hurting, and my friends took
me to a brothel, thinking if I spent some
time with another woman I would get
over my girl. I met your Mom there. I spent a night with her, and another night,
and another night. I spent my whole
month’s salary with her. I fell in love with
her, and after three months I asked her to
marry me.
Effe sinks weakly into a chair. She is shocked to her very bones. She
sees just how painful the memories are
for her parents, and for a moment she
cannot speak, and tears fall down her
cheeks again.
MADAM IVY
(silent anguished tears spilling down her
cheeks)
Eventually I stopped the prostitution, and
married your father, but we had great
debts to clear. You see, he took a loan
from the bank he worked at, to set up a transportation business, and his girlfriend
took the money and ran away. We
nee-ded to pay off that money, and so
although I stopped prostitution, I set up a
business, making some girls work for me.
Effe nods silently, bitterly.
EFFE
Not only young girls, Mama. Young boys
too, isn’t it?
Ken Kedem springs to his feet, and he
looks at his daughter with fierce eyes.
KEN KEDEM
(shouting)
Don’t you dare judge your Mama, dear!
Yes, she did some bad things, but she
sacrificed for this family! I didn’t know
she had a brothel going until much, much
later, when she confessed to me! By that time you girls were growing up. I made
your Mama promise to put an end to it,
and she did, and we’ve been happy ever
since!
EFFE
I’m sorry, Dad! I’m really sorry!
Ken Kedem takes a de-ep breath and
exhales slowly.
KEN KEDEM
Sorry for shouting at you, sweet cake, but
I don’t want this family to fall apart!
We’ve dreaded this moment, about you girls finding out about this. Every family
has its dark secrets, baby, but we should
learn to stick together, and be
strengthened in our weaknesses. But
how did you find out, baby? Who told
you? Wordlessly Effe takes out the photo she
has taken from Janet’s album, and hands
it to her father.
EFFE
(sadly)
The girl in that picture knew Mom. She told me all about her!
Ken Kedem takes a look at the photo,
and his face breaks down so completely
that he almost falls down.
He turns a thun-derstruck face towards
his wife, and Madam Ivy gets up with a cry of concern.
MADAM IVY
What is it, honey? Please, what’s it?
KEN KEDEM
What in the name of Jesus is this, Ivy?
You knew Chris? You knew him all along? And Cuger? You knew the Chief
Inspector too? Oh, come on, Ivy! Did you
lie? Did you frame Chris with the missing
money?
Madam Ivy looks at the incriminating
photo, and she drops slowly into a chair. Her face is devastated. She begins to
tremble with sudden fear and panic.
Madam Ivy raises a face filled with
remorse and humiliation and holds her
husband’s legs.
MADAM IVY
I knew them, honey. You remember my
friend Ida? She was the Governess of the
orphanage. I used to visit her. Cuger was
her brother. I took that picture several
years ago, and when I saw Chris again I
recognized him as the boy from the orphanage. That was why I didn’t want
our daughter to have anything to do with
him! Forgive me, dearest, please!
Effe stares at her mother with absolute
consternation.
Her mother is lying! She has never told her father about the things she did with
young children, especially with Chris!
Tears spring to Effe’s eyes, tears of
shame, of betrayal, of bitterness, and of
hurt.
KEN KEDEM
But if he grew up in an orphanage so
what? My Lord, dearest, she loves him,
and he loves her! We have money! Effe
has money! We thought Steve was a
good match, but look what he did to the
poor girl? Did you frame Chris, you and this Cuger fella?
Madam Ivy is weeping miserably now.
She holds her husband ti-ghtly around the
wai-st.
MADAM IVY
Forgive me, darling! Please forgive me! I was wrong! I was so wrong!
KEN KEDEM
(in a devastated voice)
I’m so shocked, dear! To go to that extent
is unpardonable! You know I worship you,
and of course I forgive you, and I’ll stand by you throu-ghdeath! It’s your daughter
you have hurt! Make it up to her!
He holds his wife ti-ghtly, comforting her,
patting her.
Effe turns away and quietly walks up the
stairs to her room. Trembling with the effects of her shock,
she picks up a suitcase and begins to
pack some of her stuff into it.
A few minutes later the door opens, and
her mother comes in.
She closes the door behind her and turns the key in the lock.
She looks haggard and beaten.
She sits down gently on the bed and
looks at Effe.
MADAM IVY
(her voice small) Please. If your father finds out about
Chris and me, it’ll kill him. Please, Effe.
Effe looks at her with absolute shock and
disgust.
EFFE
Don’t worry, Mom, I won’t tell him, or Eyram, for that matter. You have to
promise me, Mama, that you wouldn’t do
anything to harm Janet or her marriage.
Rage suddenly fills Madam Ivy’s face,
and she explodes.
MADAM IVY
Janet. She dared to do this to me?
EFFE
Leave Janet alone, Mom, otherwise Dad
will find out all that you did with Chris.
MADAM IVY
I don’t want to lose you, my dear! Effe turns on her mother, and her face is
bitter.
EFFE
Lose me? After all that you did to me?
You drove the man of my life away from
me!
MADAM IVY
(intensely, desperately)
But you can’t be with him, dear? Don’t
you un-derstand? I did it for you! The
relationship between you two was a
taboo! I couldn’t let that happen!!
EFFE
(in distress)
Why, Mama, why? Do you still want him?
Do you still want to sleep with him? He
ran from you! He spurned you, and God
has brou-ght us together. I love him, Mama! I just want to be with him! Surely,
whatever you felt for him, all those years
ago, is over now! We can move on from
here, can’t we?
Madam Ivy stands up and approaches
her daughter. She takes her hands in hers, and bitter
tears w£ts her cheeks.
MADAM IVY
I don’t know what that boy did to me, Ef,
my darling! I wanted him so bad! I
couldn’t keep off him! I fought it, heaven knows I fought it, but to no avail. When
he continued to say no to me, to spurn
me, I adopted a new ploy. I disguised
myself as a deaf-mute woman, and Ida
brou-ght him to me, at night, in darkness!
Effe snatches her hands out of her mother’s own, and walks backwards,
shaking her head with horror as fresh
tears drown her!
Her face is so horrified that Madam Ivy
can ha-rdly watch it.
EFFE
(sobbing)
No, no, no! Mama! Don’t tell me you
se-duced him! Please don’t tell me you
cheated on Dad with Chris! Please, no!
Please, please, please, no!!
MADAM IVY
(weeping too)
I’m sorry, baby! You don’t know how sorry
I am, how much I’ve regretted this! But
that is what happened! I cheated on your
father, and yes, I slept with Chris,
although he didn’t know it then! When I saw him with you, I almost died! I was
sure it was a sign from Heaven, a
punishment for my evil days! I couldn’t let
you be with him, dear! Not him, not the
boy I slept with!! Not the only man I
cheated on your father with!! Aside from reminding me of my greatest sin, it also is
a taboo!
EFFE
(in a horrified whisper)
MAMA! LORD, NO! OH NO, MAMA!!!!
MADAM IVY
Chris didn’t know about it, but I told him
yesterday. It hurt him very much!
EFFE
Mama! Where’s Chris? WHERE’S CHRIS,
MAMA???
MADAM IVY
He left, Ef. He couldn’t take it. He said
he’s dirty, and that he’s going away. And
he wouldn’t ever see you again. Much as
I regret this, much as it’s unfortunate, it
has to be this way, Ef. Please, find it in
your heart to forgive me!
EFFE
It was no fault of his, Mama! You took
advantage of a poor orphan, and you
destroyed his life! If he had known it was
you, posing as this deaf-mute woman, he
wouldn’t have had s-× with you! But that is all past now, Mama. It’s all past. He
didn’t know, and so there’s nothing to
forgive him for. He isn’t the one at fault
here. You are. You will have to forgive
yourself and move on. I love him, Mama,
and I’m going to be with him! It doesn’t really matter what he did in the past.
What matters now is what we feel for
each other. I’m going to look for him and
make him feel like he’s never been loved
before. I’m going to heal his heart with all
the love I feel for him.
MADAM IVY
He’s gone, baby, forever!
EFFE
I don’t care how long it takes, or how
ha-rd it will be, or even how much he
hates himself, but whatever it takes, I’m going to find him, Mama, and I’m going to
love him, and drive the pain in his heart
away! I’m going to right all the wrongs
you have caused in the life of that poor
boy, Mama!
MADAM IVY
You can’t, Effe! He saw my nak-edness!
We were intimate! True, I se-duced him,
and he didn’t know it was me, but he was
like a drug, something I couldn’t keep
away from! He’s the only man I ever
cheated on your father with, and he’s been my shame for so many years!
Seeing him again, with you, was so
terrible for me, bringing back painful
memories! I can’t stand him with you,
Effe! Please, it would be better to give
Steve a second chance, than to be with Chris! Please, don’t imprison me with this,
don’t crucify me! Please!
EFFE
(with tears in her eyes)
I love him, Mama. And I’m going to have
him, and love him! It doesn’t really matter if he slept with you willingly or forcibly.
It’s a past act, something I can never
hold him with. He hadn’t met me yet so I
can’t hold it against him. You hurt him,
Mama! He was a poor child, and you
introduced him to child prostitution! It hurt him, and made him feel worthless all
his life! Perhaps, it is poetic justice that
he should fall in love with me, so that I
can love him, and heal the wounds my
own mother opened in his soul! You stole
his childhood from him, Mama. Nobody should grow up like that!
Madam Ivy shakes her head sadly, and
her eyes are haunted with horror.
MADAM IVY
Please, my dearest! He’s gone! When he
learnt about what happened between us, he was willing to sacrifice the love he had
for you! You can’t find him, Ef! You can’t
waste the rest of your life looking for him!
EFFE
First, I’m leaving this house, Mama. I’ll go to my estate house! And then I’m going to find him. I’ll find him, Mama! I won’t stop until I find him.
To be continued..