Chapter 83
Broken Trust
Part 1
It had seemed I had just closed my
eyes when Shane was shaking me awake announcing that Dad was here and he wanted
to talk to all of us. My mother was panicking wondering if Dad was going to
kill us all for speaking to the caseworker and Officer Kenly about all that was
going on. Personally, I couldn’t blame her giving her a warm smile and told her
to keep near the phone if things got out of hand.
When I reached the living room where Dad was waiting I didn’t have to ask regarding
my father or my sisters. I had overheard her tell him that my father had gone
to work and took my sisters with him. He simply said that this was family
matter and would be best if she too left so he could speak to us alone. My
mother said not a chance in hell after what he did to us yesterday was she
about too leave until she was assured he wouldn’t harm us because he didn’t
like the outcome.
Dad shrugged his shoulders stating he had cooled down and had come to make
things right not to harm us for something that we didn’t do that there was
enough blame on the table that it requires a more understanding than a
punishment; hoping to find a solution for all of us. My mother took a seat next
to me taking my hand in hers. Dad said he was sorry and feared the worst that
his whole family was caught up in this unspeakable evil that Shawn and Danny
had been doing.
He didn’t mention Arthur mostly likely because he was pushed into it or the
fact he was retarded, which was a poor of excuse if any. No one said a word
regarding that it had been going on longer than he realized not until we were
sure he wasn’t going to punish us for it. Dad said he was doing his best to
come to terms with it, but knowing his own flesh and blood had been corrupt
doing it and now is the ring leader in it. Makes it hard for any parent to
believe.
Dad started crying when he looked at us knowing that he should have believed us
the first time. We didn’t say anything; our trust had been broken. Even though
he kept saying how sorry he was for not listening. That now more than ever we
needed to be stronger as a family, not a family divide when we have endured
such love that we could talk about anything, but now it seems we or Mom and him
weren’t as closes as they had thought or they would have believed us not be
convinced that we were lying demanding proof. The first thought was the
turn-table wondering if he would demand that we be placed in it to determine if
we were still lying. Like I said our trust had been broken.
My mother stated. “And because of that, I too feel I can’t trust you with my
sons care after what you put all of these boys through such a painful procedure
just because you think all them were doing it when all along it was your own
son and this no good boy Danny, hell I would like to blame you for bringing it
into the house in the first place Mr. Rothwell. If I had my way you would never
be allowed to be foster parents.”
At first, I thought Dad was going to kill her or slap her for talking to him in
such a way. I knew if it was my foster mother he would have, but all Dad did
was sit there letting her strike him down word for word what he had done to
cause this mess. When he did speak he calmly said “Mrs. Shepherd, my wife and I
are so sorry, that if we had the chance to go back undo it we would. We would
have found more boys like your son Eric, not ones ready to enter the prison
system.
“Instead, we would have been more selective when came to the crimes they were
known for. Yet we can not go back. All we can do is go forward, but I can
assure you we will not make the same mistake again. For now, we will no longer
take in foster kids, that are bound for prison instead we will help boys like
your son become better men and steer them away from trouble.”
Mom stood raising her voice. “These are nothing but words to me, Mr. Rothwell.
I want the same promises in writing, I wanted to be stated in Family Court, I
wanted to be stated on every record that if you go back on your word or
promises that you too have as much to lose as I do. If I even think about
marking my sons in any way before I even allow my son even near you. I can not
speak for your boys, but I can speak for my sons and trust me the law is on my
side. His caseworker has promised me if I continue on the path I am now on. You
will be the last foster home he will ever see, but we both know that right now,
you are the best thing he's got to a real father.
“Oh God I wish I could say it wasn’t true, but I can’t so I am not asking, I am
demanding you to swear before God and the courts, that these boys right here
and now that no harm will come to them under your watch. Or so help me I will
pick up that phone and write a hundred letters exposing everything to the world
about what your son Shawn has been doing that when people look at you like they
look at me. They hide their children the moment you walk in the door. Granted I
deserve it, but as God, as my witness, I am not the same mother and have been
given another chance. So it only fair that I give you one, but until you can prove
to me that nothing like this will happen again, Eric stays with me.
“I’ll give you until Friday to decide what you will do, considering these boys
will be safe and protected by Bishop Earl and Officer Kenly and the other
fathers. That if you so much as break that trust that your life is over, not
one person will save you as they burn you at the stake and bury your bones so
deep you will never be found. No one will mourn you for letting you bring in
such filth that has corrupted your son Shawn to the point that he is now
predator that should be locked up not seek treatment but should be behind bars
to protect your younger boys and other sons from being abused by him.
“Personally I would like to cut off his penis and sew his a*s up so tight that
he s***s through his mouth and pee through a straw. Yet I too have enough
problems of my own that I am not the one to fix yours.”
Mom drove the point hard by pressing her finger to his chest and looked him
straight in the eye. “Now get out of my house and don’t come back until you
have a solution and do what I have asked. We live in a small town Mr. Rothwell
and I can guarantee you all I would have to do is make one phone call and
everyone would know before I made the third call to Highland that your son Shawn
is a pedophile and you been letting it go on for years. You’ll be lucky if you
made it home in one piece before they nailed you and him to a cross.”
Mom opened the door and waited for him to leave. Dad stood and walked out the
door turned around before my mother closed it said one last time he was sorry.
No one said a word as my mother slammed the door shut as we watched her shake
as she slid down the floor shaking. I was too considering my mother had just
taken on the biggest giant and won. I knew my father would be angry when he
finds a check that would make you gasp when she took us all out for breakfast
or in our case brunch. Mom refused mine and Shane’s money to help split the
cost, but Mom refused to state we were her responsibility and she would be a
poor mother if she didn’t make sure we had enough to eat.
By the time we got back, Dad was sitting in the driveway with Officer Kenly and
my caseworker. Doing exactly what my mother suggested and had just finished his
own contract which stated if I was harmed by him, my foster Mom, other than
being punished for bad behavior. Yet most important his son Shawn and Danny,
they would give up custody of me to my mother.
Considering I would be 18 in less than 2 and a half years. Stating that Shawn
and Danny would be sent to Juvenile hall until their 18th birthday and could
face prison if they still were considered pedophiles, he also signed a contract
regarding Jason and Jared would be given treatment for the abuses they had
endured. Stating if Shawn or Danny touched them in any way that too would send
them to Juive as well place both of them into foster care, my caseworker adding
if either possibility happened it would terminate their rights to be foster
parents.
Dad signed the contract said by the time he got back to join us on the father's
sons camp-out he’d have my foster Moms signature as well. Which surprised us,
but Officer Kenly and my caseworker said he better have a plan in place before
they would return me to him. Dad said he was thinking of adding cameras in each
of the boy’s rooms and throughout the property, too catch them in the act if
anything like this ever happened again. To prove that we were innocent of such
crimes, but weren’t sure how the law would feel about it recording family and
friends due to the privacy act. Lockers and nanny cams are one thing, this was
something different.
Officer Kenly stated in cases like these. The law would require them as a
fail-safe, but be warned if it happened and he erased any footage that showed
it happening. The previous contract would bind him and he could be facing
prison as well. Stating the State Police
and a signed Judge of Family Court would view every tape without warning and
would know if the feed was interrupted by a stamped time and date to make sure
every tape was in order.
My caseworker said until he could have them installed by an order of the court
and by a signed professional contractor to do it. I would remain with my
mother. Dad didn’t like the idea. Neither did I, because that could take weeks
knowing how fast the courts moved. Dad wanted assurances that my father
couldn’t harm me.
My mother may have signed a contract, but my father hasn’t and refuses to and
has stated he would prefer me dead, in jail, or in some foster home he didn’t
care where I was as long as I was just gone and same went for my brother Aaron.
Both weren’t going to happen according to my mother and grandmother and neither
was finding the Downing’s to take both me and Aaron in. My grandmother could
live with that decision, but my mother wouldn’t. It was either the Rothwell’s
or her, no more foster homes and certainly not home for boys. Too bad nobody
asked me what I wanted, but it wouldn’t have been a hard decision. I would have
chosen the Downing’s, but right now the only option that anyone could agree on
was the Rothwell’s.
There was nothing more they could do assure my father couldn’t harm me. I had
places I could go that would ensure my safety, my room was a fortress, I had a
watch that knew where I was every seconded. As well as it had a trigger that
could be activated to alert that I was in trouble, and most of all I was
capable of protecting myself against either my father or my mother until help
arrived. Other than wrapping me up in bubble wrap there was nothing more they
could do. Neither Dad or I said anything about the fail-safe of the drug that
could limit the effects of a tranquilizer, it was one promise I intended to
keep even from Shane.
The fact that Dad was coming with us, only stated he was trying to earn that
trust back, besides the bad boys were locked up behind bars where they couldn’t
do any harm to no one, which freed Dad to reconcile our trust. I was still a
little worried, but Mom was right. I couldn’t be any safer with Officer Kenly
and Bishop Earl watching over me and my brothers. Dad would have to be stupid
to try something.
Even more so having signed a contract that he could lose just as much as my
mother, but that contract had to be stamped and in the court's hands by the
time Dad joined us and notarized. Dad wasted no time after getting the
direction that father’s and Sons was being held at our favorite spot where we
have been several times before. All he needed was a change of clothes and his
sleeping bag. Considering Shane still had our tent and Jared and Jason’s tent
we just needed fresh ice for the cooler and more sodas and snacks to put in our
small battery operated fridge which had now been recharged.
There was nothing left for us to do besides restock our cooler and pack our
suitcases and in my case just overnight bag. Considering I wouldn’t be going
back home when the camp-out ended. Not that I had brought anything with me
besides a pair of shorts even those had been washed.
I had no doubt if we went naked nobody would care considering it was just boys
and their fathers, but let's be practical we weren’t going to nudist resort or
beach. Which I had fond memories of going to with the Rothwell’s a time or two
for a family vacation, but know it made me sick to think about what was going
through the bad boy's minds when they see a naked woman or man or worse a
child.
The idea of them seeing me or my family naked makes me want to hurl or better
yet cut off their penis and feed it to them. Now I had a new image of what else
they were doing as I sat there on this doughnut pillow taking my last pain
killer and packing laxatives to help prevent pain while I use the bathroom. I
could almost hear Shawn and his two lowlifes moaning as they rape each other
over and over again.
I personally can understand Dads feelings that make your skin crawl. Just the
idea of having someone’s penis up your a*s, makes me want to sew it up tight
and crawl back inside my Eskimo suit just so they couldn’t get a hard-on when
they looked at me. Yet I will be damned if I let them destroy or taint the
beauty of Gods work or let them destroy the closeness of family we have built
just so they can feel they have a right to.
I had decided not to let them enter my mind anymore and I knew it was going to
be the hardest thing I had ever done, but I needed to so I prayed that God
would help me, even though I didn’t think he was listening. I wasn’t sure if a
blessing would help, but I had learned an important lesson. The only stupid
questions are the ones you don’t ask.
Shane agreed with me that we should ask Bishop Earl and Officer Kenly to give
us all blessing the second we arrived at camp. Shane was prepared even though I
wasn’t, opening the glove box and placed a bottle of consecrated oil into his
pocket. Telling me he never leaves home without it. I wondered if Dad had some
as well inside his car, but I had no doubt that my father had not one single
drop of it in the house. He may clean a church house for a living, but when it
comes to family and God he wasn’t a believer.
We had arrived early after several hugs and kisses from my mother and promising
to be good before she would even let us out of the house. Shane and my foster
brothers took it in stride and let my mother shower them with affection. It
made me miss my foster Mom, wondering what was going through her head and would
she agree to the contract. Shane asked me a penny for my thoughts I smiled
said: “I was just thinking about Mom.”
Shane said. “I am sure there are going to be words, but in the end, she would
agree with Dad if she hadn’t already.” I knew he was right, but still didn’t
make me feel any better. Even if she loved us all she would have a lot to
looses.
I didn’t like the idea of Jared and Jason being put in the system, but neither
could I prevent it. The other thought I had was if that did happen she and Dad
would lose not only their family but also their meal ticket. Maybe if Jason and
Jared were lucky they move in with Kerry and her husband… Jody is what I didn’t
know, but most likely she stays at home or go with her brothers. Time will tell
and I feared that fate was hanging me and my family that l loved out to dry.