It’s Over

“What are you doing here?”

She looked startled and hurt. “I wanted to see you,” she said. “We were supposed to meet last night but you stood me up. And when I called to find out why, you didn’t answer your phone. So, that’s why I came over this evening. I wanted to see you and to find out what’s wrong.

He opened the door wider and stepped aside for her to go in. “Come in, Pamela or should I call you Sue?”

She frowned at him. “Sue is my middle name. I prefer to be called by my first name which is Pamela. How did you find out that my parents and friends call me Sue?”

“My mother called you Sue when she saw your photo and recognized you.”

She looked very confused now. “But, how could she recognize me when we’ve never met? Does she know my parents?”

“You’d better sit down. I’m about to give you a big shock.”

She sat down on the sofa, her expression anxious as she looked up at him. “What are you going to tell me?”

“You’re my half-sister, Pamela.”

“What?”

“Yes, shocking isn’t it? You can’t imagine how shocked and disgusted I was when Mother told me that you’re my sister, Sue. After she recovered from her shock, she told me the whole story of how my father cheated on her with your mother and they had you. Your mother died from complications from childbirth and you were raised by your mother’s parents. My mother found out about you because she came across a box of photos of you in the attic when she was clearing out my father’s things after he died. Apparently, your grandparents were keeping in touch with him because he was sending them money to take care of you. It was his money which made it possible for you to go to the best private schools and university. I don’t know whether it was done out of love or guilt but my father helped your grandparents to take care of you.”

She sat there, looking dazed. “This is a big shock,” she said. “I had no idea that I had a brother. My grandparents never said a word. When they passed away, I sold the house and moved to London. All I knew was that my mother was single when she had me and my birth certificate had Unknown where my father’s name should have been. I never knew who he was. When you and I met, I had no idea that we were related. There wasn’t any family resemblance.”

“Our father would be turning over in his grave if he only knew that you and I were lovers.”

“Were?”

“Yes. Were. It’s over between us.”

She rose to her feet, alarmed. “You don’t mean it.” she protested. “You can’t.”

“I do. It’s over, Pamela. We can’t see each other any more.”

“But why?” she protested.

“You know bloody well why.”

“But no one knows about us, except your mother and she won’t tell anyone.”

“No, she won’t but there’s always the chance that we would be found out and when we are both of us could get arrested because we are breaking the law.”

“It’s wrong to arrest two people for being in love with each other.”

“We aren’t just two regular people, Pamela. We’re–we’re…” He couldn’t even bring himself to say it.

“We’re related but it isn’t our fault that when we met, we didn’t know that we were.”

“Yes, but now that we do, we can’t continue our relationship. The law says it’s wrong and so does the Bible.”

“So, you expect me to walk out of your life just like that.”

“You have to.”

She ran over to him and clung to him, the tears running down her pale face as she buried it in his chest. “I can’t,” she wailed. “I love you, Colin. I don’t care if-if you’re my half-brother.”

He closed his eyes in despair. “Pamela, please…”

“Let’s leave London and go somewhere else–where no one will know.”

“We can’t,” he muttered tightly before he gently but firmly pushed her away. He walked over to the window and leaned forward, his head resting against the window pane, his hands flat on the seat.

She went over to him. The tears were running down her face. Impatiently, she brushed them away. “Colin, is-is there someone else? Is that why you want to end our relationship?”

“No!” he cried, his eyes flashing as he looked at her. “There isn’t anyone else.”

“What about Helen? You’ve been seeing her a lot lately, haven’t you?”

“Who told you that?”

“Helen herself. Is-is it true?”

“Helen and I are just good friends.”

“I think she wants to be more than friends. Are you attracted to her, Colin?” Jealousy flashed in her eyes.

“No! And you know bloody well why I’m not attracted to her or to any other woman.”

“And you know why I’m not with anyone else. The moment we met, I knew that you were the only man I wanted to be with. The only man for me. Abraham and Sarah had the same father and they got married. Isaac and Jacob both married their first cousins. They all had normal, healthy children.”

“You can’t compare us to any of those couples. They had to marry their relatives because they weren’t allowed to intermarry with other nations because of their idolatry. You and I don’t have that limitation. We can marry other people.”

“But, I don’t want to marry anyone else. I want to marry you, Colin. I want to be your wife and the mother of your children.”

“No. This is wrong.”

“Colin, please don’t throw away what we have because of a stupid law. Let’s leave England and go somewhere else.”

“No, Pamela. I can’t do this any more. What I feel for you–what we feel for each other is sick.”

She flinched. That hurt. “You think our love is sick?” she murmured.

“Yes! Now, please go. I need to be alone.”

“I’ll go,” she said. “Will you call me?”

“No and I don’t want you to call me either. There can’t be any more contact between us.”

“So, it’s really over between us?”

“Yes.”

“What-what about when we have family gatherings?”

“I’ll make up some excuse not to come and I’ll go to a bar and drown my sorrows or better yet, I’ll pick up a woman, any one would do and bring her back here or we could go to her place which ever one is closer and I’ll bury myself in her.”

A sob rose in her throat and grabbing her handbag, she ran out of the room. Minutes later, he heard the door slam.

He remained at the window for a while longer and then, he went to the bar and grabbed a bottle of Tequila and went over to the sofa. He was going to drink until he couldn’t feel anything or passed out. Whichever came first.

The tears blinded her as she started across the street.

“Look out!” someone yelled.

By the time she saw the car, it was too late.

This is the sequel to Sue.

Source: Good Housekeeping;