Chapter Three: Part Two

 

In 1972, when Daniel was 25 years old, his father died in a hunting accident, leaving his amassed wealth to his son.  There was no funeral for DeWayne Benson.  He’d never married again after Ruby’s death, so he had no wife to grieve his loss.   His son had been brought up to care nothing about anyone, including his father.

Daniel wasted no time having his father’s body cremated.  He threw the ashes into the garbage and immediately moved into the large wing of the mansion where his father had lived.

Daniel, too, acquired a law degree like his father.  He needed one, not because he cared about law, but because he had nothing better to do. He used his status as a lawyer to fill up his time.  He took on rich clients who didn’t want an ethical attorney looking into their business or finances.  In return, his wealth grew.  Caring noting about the lives he harmed while serving as a representative of the criminally rich, Daniel gained a reputation for being unscrupulous and self-serving.  The thought amused and delighted him.

In the summer of 1983, at age 36, Daniel married a beautiful young woman from Chile.  She desperately needed a green card and he needed to get laid.  Priceless!  His wife’s name was Rosita.

Daniel met Rosita at a club in downtown Portland.  She was serving drinks to a group of loud, drunken college boys.  Daniel watched as one of the boys grabbed Rosita’s breast.  He walked over, tapped the young man on the shoulder, and proceeded to break his jaw with no apology or explanation given.  He then took Rosita by the hand, and walked out of the bar.  There is no record of what took place later that night, although it doesn’t take a genius to guess. 

Daniel and Rosita were married by a Justice of the Peace, on the same hillside where his mother and the maid were buried.  There was no longer any sign of the grave, so it didn’t create a problem.  Rosita, Daniel thought, would be the perfect wife.  She was brought up in a culture where women were submissive to their husbands.  He could expect her to take care of their large home while he was off pretending to be an upstanding citizen. 

Rosita knew from her family history that love had little to do with a successful marriage.  She quietly did what Daniel wanted, and for that she was able to lead a respectable life in the outskirts of Oregon City at the Benson compound.   Rosita learned to speak English.  She was allowed to redecorate the mansion to her taste.  She got her green card and didn’t have to worry about being deported anymore.  But, still, she was lonely.

Daniel frequently traveled to other parts of the country.  Although they tried to have a family right away, it took Rosita and Daniel five years before she was finally able to give Daniel a son – Nicholas.  Little Nick.  He was a beautiful child, with his mother’s black hair and dark brown eyes.  Interestingly, he was also born with a full set of baby teeth, and a birthmark on his cheek that looked like a spider. The midwife delivered the baby told Rosita not to worry about the birthmark.  It would fade.  She said nothing, though, about the full set of teeth.

As Nicholas became a toddler his perfect little smile served him well.  He charmed his way into the hearts of the ladies at the Catholic Church where he attended mass with his mama.  He was a striking, though aloof, little boy.  Rosita bragged to Daniel about how the church women loved their son.  Daniel didn’t much care.  He refused to set foot inside the church.  He didn’t mind Rosita and Nick going to Mass, though.  What was she going to do?  Have an affair with the priest?  The thought made him chuckle.

As Nicholas grew, his mother felt it was important to give him a sibling.  He was such a self-absorbed little boy that Rosita believed it would be good for him to learn how to share with another person.  As things were, Nick was given every material thing he could want from his father, but none of the love or attention he needed.  As with his father before him, Daniel’s business connections took him out of town much of the time, leaving Nick alone with his mother.

Not only did his father’s travels leave Nick without a father, it also left Rosita in need of adult companionship.  To fight the loneliness, she and Nick went to church every morning.  Nick wasn’t old enough for school yet, so they made what friends they had inside the Catholic parish near Oregon City.

The ladies of the church pitied Rosita.  They knew she lived in the splendid mansion on the hill, but couldn’t help but notice the sadness in her eyes.  Still, Rosita never complained.  The women invited her to become a member of various guilds at the church, but Rosita always turned them down, claiming that she needed to be home to take care of Nick.  What the women didn’t realize was that Daniel would have beaten Rosita for leaving his son with another family to be cared for while she worked at the church.  The ‘unwashed masses’ he called them.

Rosita knew that those people whom Daniel held in such disregard, though, were in far superior stead with the Lord than Daniel would ever be.  They were kind, loving and hard- working people, who would’ve been happy to take care of Nick for an hour or two while Rosita helped place flowers and greenery around the church for Sunday Mass.  She would have loved being able to work with the other women to set up fundraisers for the local Catholic school in Oregon City.  It simply wasn’t meant to be at that time in her life.

Finally, in 1992, Rosita became pregnant with her second child.  Daniel wasn’t home for much of the pregnancy but, again, her church life helped to make this time easier for her.  Nicholas was now five and was a devil’s handful.  Rosita apologized profusely to Father Olson after every Mass when Nick refused to settle down and became a disruption during the church services.  The kindly priest simply smiled and said that all children are God’s children, and that Nick was welcome to attend Mass with his mother. 

For some reason, Nick took a particular dislike to Father Olson.  It was as though he was jealous of the affection his mother showed the priest.  One day, as Rosita and Nick were leaving the church, the priest held her hand for just a moment.  Nick took that opportunity to bite the priest with the vengeful anger of a wild beast.  Father Olson yelled, more surprised than hurt.  He drew back his bleeding hand and looked for a moment as though he might use it to slap the young boy across the butt.  The priest caught himself, though, and simply said “Nick, I know it’s not easy to share your mama’s attention.  She’s a pretty special mother.  Maybe the three of us can meet in town one day, so I can buy you an ice cream cone.  Would you like that?”

Nick stared at the priest with an icy glare and said “I hate you.  I don’t want anything from you.  Don’t touch my mama.”

Rosita was embarrassed and horrified. She didn’t know why her young son felt such a strong dislike for the priest, but it was clear that he did.  Rosita apologized quickly, and led Nick away, wondering what had led to the outburst.

Two months later, Rosita gave birth to her second son, Matthew.  This baby looked nothing like Rosita, but instead had sandy colored hair, bright green eyes and a fair complexion.  Rosita knew that her family had several mixed marriages prior to hers, and assumed that Daniel’s family did too.  She found nothing unusual about the baby’s looks, and was, in fact, pleased that he looked so angelic.  Nick’s previous childish attack on Father Olson was forgotten amidst the excitement of this darling new child.