Should Diana knew that tonight's party would be a turning point on each and every one's lives, perhaps she would call off the party for one of her migraine's headache. And most importantly, should any of the other five knew about revealing of their innermost secrets, perhaps all of them would cancel coming to the party and come up with an excuse.
Throughout her life, Diana had been knocked down by occasional hostility that she could not understand them; however one adversary that had lamented her more than anything else was the life of her daughter, Victoria. She thought that Jacob and her had done a good job to raise her, to educate her, to teach her morality and dignity. Vickie had the love of very dedicated grandparents, Diana's parents, which would be the dream of any child or a teenager or even an adult. Good and loving grandparents always are God sent. But all these turned up to be inaccurate when Vickie left home at age twenty two not for seeking her education or a career, but to follow a ne'er-do-well, mean hearted boyfriend across the country.
For six months, neither of the parents or grandparents had any idea where she was. In that period, Diana had lost completely her sense of gentleness. She was angry, worried, and inverted. Why did her daughter had to turn out like Helena, Jacob's sister, who was murdered in the streets? As a matter of fact, that was how Jacob thought. Then after that first six months of total torment and pangs, a letter from her came asking for money. Diana disagreed with Jacob for not sending money to her. After that once or twice a year, they heard from her, now by phone calls since Vickie knew how to fool her mother even by the tone of her voice, always asking for money, and always saying that she would be home soon. She lied and manipulated her parents. Diana told Jacob that their daughter had turned out like his side of family not hers. Jacob was hurt but he knew it was true. Finally after two years, Jacob had a serious talk with Diana. He told her even though he understood her pain and misery, since he suffered himself, too; and even though the money was the only thing that still connected them to their daughter, they needed to stop this beguilement and deception of their only child.
"Don't you see, how she is using us! She knows you and she knows that you do anything to have a news from her. She is using us and you know it. We need to stop sending her money."
Diana already knew this in her head, but her heart always differed with her mind. Therefore she disagreed with Jacob. Then he said:
"Let's do an experiment. We both know that Vickie calls us only when she wants money. She is twenty four now. When you were twenty four, you had her and even supported me until I finished school. These are all facts. Let's just for one time we don't send her the money and see if she contacts us again. What do you say?"
It took Diana almost another six months to agree with her husband. When they came to this decision, they both knew that they would never hear from her, and if they would, it would be from someone else that had known Vickie. It was a serious, yet heart wrenching resolution for both of them, particularly Diana. The life of Helena, Jacob's sister was repeating. They had to warn Diana's parents that she might call them for money. They asked them that under no circumstance they would send her any. That was a hard thing for the grandparents to swallow, too. But they knew it was the right accord. This cost Diana her normal sleep, life, and purpose; and for Jacob was another book. Since the last contact, a year and half ago, none of them had heard a word from Vickie, as though she had vanished in the whirl of life.
There had not been a day for the last three years, since Vickie left home, that Diana felt joy. Since that inauspicious moment, her days and nights had stayed dark and gloomy. Her poems all had changed from admiring nature and its beauty to dark, melancholy verses of a depressed mother. Just the other day she wrote:
"Should be lost whom I loved in crowd,
My eyes would rain like sky with cloud.
Should I find my lost one on time,
I would enchant a poem with rhyme."
Diana could never forsake her daughter in her heart; she could never betray her little angle for anything in this world; she could not heed anyone else; but as many mothers had suffered before her, she, too, lamented- a bitter torture that at all times stayed with her. She was not like Marie, Jacob's mother; however, her daughter had turned out like her. She was also aware that Jacob's pain was no less than hers. But one thing they both tried very hard to avoid was not to bring up that dismal subject. However there was not a day that their daughter's name or her memory was not mentioned. When this happened, Diana calmly sobbed and then wrote a few verses. In fact, since Vickie's disappearance, the only time she was able to write was when Vickie was mentioned.
As for Jacob, he would walk to the yard, picked up any trash he could see, and then would come back inside to imprison himself in his study behind his typewriter. Both of them were aware of the other who had taken in the inmost suffering. This mutual understanding between them was acquiescent, for they were always best friends to each other. If perhaps, at any given moment, they felt hostility towards the other, this mastery, therefore, momentarily be of no harmony at all. For them, it was impossible to either forget everything, throw them out, or separate themselves from it emotionally or physically. Jacob and Diana were one in the body of love after twenty six years of marriage.
~*
To Be Continued
"Let's do an experiment. You know and I know that Vickie calls us
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