Chapter Five: Part Two

The doorbell rang promptly at 5:00 PM at the Benson mansion on that fateful evening.  Rosita asked Matthew to answer it.  Before he had a chance, though, Nicholas came bounding through the door, bringing the priest with him.  “Hey, Mom!” he shouted.  “Your boyfriend is here.”

Rosita stuck her head out of the kitchen.  “Nicholas, don’t be such a smart mouth.  We don’t talk about a holy man that way.”  She went on.  “Father Olson, please forgive Nick for his rudeness.  It’s hard to keep two boys under control when their father is so seldom around.

“I understand, Rosita,” said Father Olson with just a touch of a smile.  “I was once a young buck myself.”

Matthew stood back and watched the short interchange between the three of them.

“Father Olson, would you like me to take your coat?” he asked.

Nicholas just snickered and walked away.

“Nick, dinner is almost ready,” said Rosita.  “Please go and get washed up.  Matthew, will you please set the table?  The china and silver are on the dining room table.  There will be five of us tonight.

“Five?” questioned Matthew. 

“Yes,” she replied.  “Your father came home early from his trip.  We’ll all have dinner together.  I hope that’s alright with you, Father.  My husband isn’t much of a churchgoing man, so this will give you a chance to get to know him better.”

“Of course!” said the priest.  “I’ve always wondered what kind of a man deserves to have a wonderful family like you and your sons.  This will be a pleasure for me.  I hope he’ll feel the same way.”

“Not likely, Padre,” said Daniel as he walked down from the upstairs.  “I don’t believe in all of that Bible stuff, and I doubt that you can change my mind, so let’s stick to baseball and politics.  This’ll give me a chance to get to know who it is that sets my wife’s heart aflutter,” he said sarcastically.  “I figured it’s either you or Jesus, or maybe the combination.”

Father Olson laughed a bit nervously.  “Well, I’ve never been much of a lady’s man, Mr. Benson.  As you know, I’m married to the Church.”

Daniel responded, “Well, whatever works for you.  I think the Church would leave me a little frustrated.  Doesn’t it you?” 

Rosita interrupted, not liking the direction this conversation was taking.  She could tell that her husband had already had too much to drink.  Daniel wasn’t a kind drunk, so she hoped that he’d stay away from anymore alcohol until after Father Olson left. 

Matthew could hear what was being said as he set the table.  “Oh no,” he thought.  “I wanted tonight to be a chance for Nick to see how wrong he is about Father Olson and Mom.  Now Dad’s here and he’s drunk.”  The boy prayed that things would go more smoothly than they had begun, and that they could all get through this evening with a minimum of damage.

As they made their way into the formal dining room, Nicholas came sauntering into the room.  He had changed his clothes into something that was at least clean, but it smelled like he’d been smoking marijuana.

“Nick,” shouted his father as he grabbed him by the arm.  “What the hell have you been doing?”

“Nothing, Dad,” lied Nick.  I’ve just been out in the field trying to get rid of all that Oregon grape that’s been taking over.  I burned a bunch of it in the burn barrel.”

“Yeah, right,” said Daniel angrily as he slapped Nick across the face, breaking open his lip in front of Rosita, Matthew and Father Olson.  “How many times have I told you to stay away from pot?  Oregon grape, my ass.  You’d have to burn down a whole field of it to get that much stink on you.”

“I’m sorry, Dad,” said Nick, sounding as contrite as he could.  What he was really thinking was that if his father wasn’t such a shithead, he wouldn’t have to smoke pot to make himself feel better.  Nothing he could ever do would make this man happy or make his life any better.  It was at that moment when he made a subconscious, yet irrevocable, deal with the devil.

Rosita quickly took Nick into the kitchen to try and stop the bleeding.  How could she know that nothing would ever stop the bleeding again?  His heart would bleed forever, along with the hearts of everyone he knew.

Dinner was finally served without Nick in attendance.  He had gone to his room, banished from his father’s dangerous presence.  Rosita and Father Olson tried to make polite conversation.

“Rosita,” he said.  “This is the best chicken molé I’ve ever had.  Where’d you get that recipe? 

“Thank you, Father,” she replied.   “This was my mama’s recipe. She made it for me every year on my birthday.”

“Your sweet mama,” growled Daniel.  “Was she the one who let you become a prostitute?  Did you know that, Matthew?  Your mother was a cocktail waitress/hooker in a downtown bar when I met her.  She loved it when men would grab her boobs or stick their hands up her dress.  You knew that, didn’t you?  How about you, Holy Man/?  Did you know that about my wife?”

Poor Matthew was dumbfounded.  He didn’t believe what his father was saying.  He knew that when his dad was drunk, he wanted to make everyone feel bad.  So, Matthew said nothing.  He just hung his head, embarrassed for everyone in the room.

“Knock it off, Daniel,” said the priest.  “You’ve got no business treating your wife that way.  You’ve got no business treating your children this way either!” 

“Oh, you’re pretty tough there, Father Wonderful,” snapped Daniel.  “Of course, I’d expect nothing less from the man who knocked up my wife eleven years ago.  Don’t think I didn’t notice.  The boy’s got the same colored hair as you.  Hell, he’s even got the same weird colored eyes.  The only reason I’ve let the bastard and his mother stick around here was so my darling bride could take care of my real son.  Yep.  I’ve always known I only had one of them.  Didn’t you know that boy?” he said to Matthew.  “Didn’t you know that your father is a Catholic priest?  A ‘Holy’ man?  And that your mother’s a whore?  You’re nothing but a little bastard!”

“Stop it!” shouted Rosita.  “Stop it, you miserable excuse for a man!  You are nothing – just a horrible mistake made by God.  Even he’ll have trouble forgiving you for this.”

Father Olson got up quickly, pushed his chair out of the way, and stepped toward Daniel.  When Daniel took a drunken swing at him, the priest knocked him to the ground.  Straddling him, Father Olson put his hands around Daniel’s neck and squeezed.   The priest then said in a voice that neither Rosita nor Matthew had ever heard from him before, “Now hear this, Daniel Benson.  I’ve killed a man before, and I’m not afraid to do it again if I have to.  You’re not going to treat your wife this way again.  You’re never again going to hurt your sons the way you have tonight either.  And you are never going to tell another person that I’m Matthew’s father.  You’re not going to do that to your wife or to Matthew.  Do you understand me?”

Daniel’s face was starting to turn blue.  Nobody could’ve ever known that this gentle man of God had once killed a man in a bar fight.  He’d served 5 years in prison for manslaughter, and had learned there how to protect himself. 

As Father Olson let up just a touch on his grip of Daniel’s neck, Daniel started to cough and wheeze as the oxygen whistled back into his lungs. “You son of a bitch,” he roared.  “You’re not going to . . .”

The priest bore down again.  “This is your last chance, man.  When I take my hands off of your sorry-assed neck, you’re not going to say a word.  You’re going to go downstairs and get in the pool to cool down and sober up.  Then you’re going to come back upstairs, pack your clothes and get out of this house.   And finally, you’re never going to bother anyone in this family again.  You understand, right?  I’m fairly certain that you do,” he said as he gave one final squeeze.

Daniel dragged himself off of the floor and disappeared into the lower level of the house. Father Olson regained his composure, and gathered Rosita and Matthew around him with a gentle hug.  “Rosita, Matthew, I love you both.  I always have and I always will.  But I’m married to the Church.  I’ll look after you and keep you as safe as I can.  Please let me know anytime that I can help you.  I’m so sorry that this happened.  I’m sorry that you’ve learned about my past.  I made a deadly mistake, and will spend the rest of my life trying to make up for it.  God has forgiven me, and I hope you will too.”

Rosita broke down in tears.  “Oh, Father.  Please forgive me for bringing you into this house.  You’ve been so kind all of these years, and now this happened because of my drunken husband.  Mattie, I’m sorry too that you learned about your real father this way.  I wanted to wait until you were older and could understood better before I told you.  You’re so young, and you never did anything wrong to deserve this.  I’m so sorry!!” she sobbed.

Matthew said just eight words.  Words that came from a ten-year-old boy with the wisdom of an old soul. “Mom and Father Olson, I love you both.”  Then he turned and went upstairs.  As he walked around the corner to his bedroom, he saw Nick running back into his own room.  Some secrets were just never meant to be kept.