Reunion and Revelation

It had been 35 years since I last saw my friends. Life was capable of bringing to one what one never expected but life wasn’t all cruel to us since all 5 of us are alive.

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“Mary,” my husband called and I looked back from the pan of potatoes I was sliding into the oven. “The kids wanna come over for the get-together as well,”

“Oh, John. You should have handled that,” I said as I grabbed the avocadoes to mash them.

“Trust me, Mary…I tried. They insisted on coming with the grandkids too,”

I furrowed my eyebrow and focused my stare on him.

“Okay, okay. I might have suggested that but they really wanna meet our friends,”

“Some other times, John. I want this night to be for just the five of us. The last time we were gathered was in college, you know,”

“Alright,” I said with a defeated look. “I’d just speak to them again.

“You should,” I said and he scoffed before walking away.

A few hours later, after tons of cooking and baking, I got dressed, and in no time, they arrived.

“Mary,” Julian said as she pulled me in for a hug and air-kissed me. Julian has always been my least favorite out of the group and even though we had grown, I still couldn’t look past the fact that she had her eyes on John.

“You still look as angelic as always,” Jude said, side-hugging me.

“John,” Melinda called with a soft look on her face. She was the softest and most elegant of us all. So well-spoken that I mostly catch myself envying her sometimes.

“Mary,” Melinda called, hugging me tightly and I smiled broadly, genuinely. “It’s been so long,” she said as she pulled me out of the hug, taking in a deep breath of satisfaction? Excitement? I had no idea.

“It’s been 35 years,” I said, smiling and John patted her shoulder.

“Let’s go in,” John said.

“It’s so good to see you all,” Julian said and we all nodded.

We chatted and did a lot of catching up before going over to the dining area to eat.

“How are your children?” Melinda asked.

“They are very well. They wanted to be here but of course, Mary declined,” John answered.

“Don’t say it like that, John. I just wanted this night to be about us,”

“You should have allowed them over. We wouldn’t mind,” Melinda said, forking her broccoli a little aggressively and I grinned.

“We’d have lots of nights to spend together after this,” I said, placing my hand on her hand.

“So, how’s work, life in general?” John asked Jude.

“Well, work is fine and we’re making waves. I never imagined myself going into real estate though but it has been a game changer after I partnered with Julian and as for life, life sucks!” he said and we all laughed.

Life indeed sucks.

“So you and Julian have always been in touch?” Melinda asked.

“Oh, not always. We recently just got in contact. I think about 5 years or was it three? I had a meeting with a furniture store and there I found Jude trying to share his flyers,”

“Things must have been tough,” I said, turning over to Jude.

“It was rough,” he affirmed and I patted his hand.

“How about you, Melinda?” I asked. I was so interested in what she had been up to. I wanted to know how she was doing since I have always thought highly of her.

“Uhmm,” she started, smiling. “I believe at the early stage, we’ve all had it rough. It was like that with me but John was God sent. He helped me with the adoption of my child,”

My smile was still there but it was fading off gradually.

“ Uhmm…what do you mean by that? I asked Melinda but my eyes were focused across the table at John who looked like he could erupt with the volcano at any time.

“He said you both agreed to this. Is there anything I’m not meant to say here?”

“No, Melinda. Speak on,” I answered.

“John and I made a mistake. Just one and it led to Sasha. I promise you, I didn't mean to do that to you. I was going to come to you myself and tell you all but John assured me it was all under control and you’d forgiven him, us,”

“Melinda!!” John yelled.

“Sasha is your child? My first daughter is your child?” I could feel my blood boiling out of anger and betrayal.

I have dealt with John’s infidelity all my life but this was the greatest of this.

“I thought you brought Sasha home because you found her wandering and you thought bringing her home would help me have my own child,”

It was all a lie. My whole life was a lie. I waited for John to say something, just anything but no words came.

The whole room was quiet and no one was ready to break the silence.

“I didn't mean to hurt…I thought this whole thing had been sorted and there was no…” She stopped as Julian signaled to her to say no more.

I couldn’t even feel my skin nor did I feel any emotions. I stood up from the dining area and walked outside the house with no destination in mind.

The most painful of all was that no one followed me, not even John.