Barbara McMahon - Truth Be Told

“This house is going to become a home for pregnant, unwed teenagers,” April said. “It’s Cade’s idea, but one Maddie was all for. And no wonder. Oh, there’s so much to tell you!”

“Wait until I get there,” Eliza warned, heading out the back door toward Jo’s car.

Five minutes later April and Jo were working together to make the single bed in the small upstairs room. It had not been used when the girls lived in the house. The windows looked over the backyard. The entire room wasn’t much bigger than a closet, but it would be fine for one short-term visitor.

“Okay, so bring me up to date,” Jo said, sitting on the newly made bed.

“You first. Whatever in the world possessed you to tell Sheriff Halstead that Maddie beat you?” Eliza asked, standing at the foot of the bed, her hands on her hips.

Jo glanced at April, who also stared at her. They did know! She hated to talk about it but knew she had to offer some explanation. She glanced at her finger.

“Remember this?” She raised the finger and showed her scar.

Eliza stepped forward and touched her finger to Jo’s. “I have a scar, too.”

“Me, too,” April said, reaching over to complete the ritual. “All for one and one for all.”

Jo heard the echo of younger voices. They’d become blood sisters that day.

“I messed up,” she said, slowly bringing down her hand.

“I’ll say,” Eliza concurred. “Why?”

“I told Maddie what happened and she didn’t believe me.” Even after all these years, Maddie’s refusal to believe her had the power to hurt. “Accused me of lying, of trying to protect one of the boys from school, of trying to—” Jo stopped. The words would resound in her mind forever. “Never mind. I need to talk to Maddie. I was punishing her by telling the authorities she’d beaten me. When I tried to tell the sheriff the truth later, he threatened to put me in jail for lying. How could I know back then that it was a bluff? I believed him.”

“We wondered why nothing beyond sending us away had happened,” April said. “Eliza had Sam look into it.”

“I say we use the fund-raiser in July to set the record straight,” Eliza said.

“What do you propose—a banner declaring Maddie innocent?” April asked.

“So she didn’t get into trouble for my lies?” Jo asked. The fear that Maddie had gone to jail or lost her home or worse had always hovered over her.

Eliza sat cross-legged at the foot of the bed. “Nope. We got sent away, and that seemed to be it. And we don’t need a banner. We just need to be ready to answer questions.”

April nodded, perching on the other side of the bed. “Sam told Jack that the whole thing was badly documented. There didn’t appear to be any attempt to make an arrest. And who, even back then, would believe Maddie beat you up? You were taller, younger, athletic.”

“What really happened? Who beat you?” Eliza asked softly.

Jo looked at them, then shook her head. “Let me talk to Maddie first. Then I’ll tell you everything.”

“She’s at the hospital. We can go over now if you like,” April said, reaching over to grab a pillow and stuff it into a case. “Or after dinner, so we can stay and visit longer.”

“I need to go by myself,” Jo said.

The other two looked at each other and nodded.

“We know you didn’t stay with your next foster parents,” April said, tossing the pillow at the head of the bed and leaning back on the footboard. “What happened?”

Jo flipped open her ID case and lobbed it onto the center of the bed. The golden badge gleamed. Her photo on the identification card stared up at them.

“You’re a cop!” Eliza said, grabbing the ID and reading the card. “A Los Angeles police officer.” She burst out laughing and handed the card to April.

April grinned as she took it. “We all thought you might have been in jail somewhere, a criminal—not arresting criminals.”

“A criminal!” Jo felt offended.

Eliza nodded, her eyes brimming with laughter. “You were always getting into trouble—skipping school, hanging out with those guys who were bad news.”

“Hey, Josiah Heller is the one who told me about Maddie.” Not that his revelation was altruistic.

“Can you arrest whoever attacked you?” April asked, handing back the leather case.

“The statute of limitations has run out, and I’m not living in this jurisdiction. I’m here to apologize to Maddie, nothing more.” Though she had thought over the years how she’d like to make the man pay. Maybe something would come of her visit, but she didn’t have high hopes.

“Mending fences is a good thing, especially now that we’re all together again,” Eliza said. “You’ll have to stay for the fair.”

“And my wedding,” April said.

“What are you talking about?” Jo asked.

“Which, the fair or the wedding?” April asked.

“You told me about the fair. Are you really getting married that quickly?”

“As soon as Maddie’s able to attend. Doesn’t seem quick to me.”

“And everyone in the county shows up at the fair, making it the perfect place for you to show your support by helping out, and making sure anyone who asks knows Maddie never beat you,” Eliza said. “That’s even better than we planned. Since you gave the false information, you can set the record straight.”

“Like anyone is going to listen to me,” Jo muttered. No one had twelve years ago.

“I bet people in L.A. listen to you,” April said. “How else could you do your job?”

“They don’t know the situation.”

Eliza frowned. “Well, I’m thinking we don’t know it, either.”

Jo nodded. “Just let me talk to Maddie and I’ll tell you everything—if it’s okay with her.”

Jo leaned back on the pillow propped against the headboard and looked at the two women who’d once been closer to her than sisters. “So tell me all that’s been going on with you two,” she invited.

In the time before dinner Eliza filled Jo in on her move to Boston and becoming a chef. April regaled her with her account of becoming a model in Paris and then startled Jo when she told her she’d been married twice. But the biggest surprise was that she’d just discovered Maddie was her biological grandmother!

Jo listened, glad her friends’ lives had turned out so well. She would have felt far worse than she had if other lives had been ruined because of her. She’d always figured she deserved what she got, but Eliza and April hadn’t.

They were still talking when Cade arrived. Eliza dashed downstairs the moment she heard his voice, though Jo didn’t know how she could distinguish it from the voices of the construction workers.

“Jack’ll be here soon,” April said, rising. “Freshen up and come meet him.” Spontaneously, she reached over and hugged Jo. “I’m so glad you’re here!”

Jo watched April go, closing the door behind her. She was back in Maraville, but nothing was as she’d thought it would be.

How amazing to find both April and Eliza here. And both engaged to be married. When she’d allowed herself to think about them over the years, she’d always envisioned them married with the families they used to talk about having one day. In her case, she had no dreams of building a family. There was plenty to do on her job. The fact she’d never met a man she felt she could trust also played a big part in her decision. She’d leave romance to April and Eliza.

Jo went to the bathroom at the end of the hall. The construction crew had finally left. Dust wafted in the air. She peeked in the door of the room Eliza had always had and saw a new connecting bath between her room and the room she herself used to use.

She moved to the door of her old room and went in. Surprised to see everything almost as she’d left it except for the new door to the connecting bath, she studied the posters and announcements on the old bulletin board. Together they captured moments of time in a teenage girl’s life.