Short Stories

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Truth

As she sat in her cubicle at her desk, Jill placed her forehead in her twisted fingers and rested her elbows heavily on the firm desktop. She sighed deeply. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity was about to slip through her fingers. She had just hung up the phone with her husband Rick. He was very excited. After five years of marriage, he had finally found the house of their dreams and wanted to buy it right away. He had already called the banker. All he needed was the current amounts in Jill’s checking and savings accounts and they could be in the house by next weekend.

Jill began to cry. There was no money in the checking or savings accounts; at least no money compared to the amounts that Rick thought were there. To make matters worse, there was a ton more credit card debt that Rick knew nothing about. He knew nothing because Jill kept it a secret: A secret that only she and Sarah shared.

Sarah moved out of town earlier that month, just before Jill was about to tell Rick about her misdeeds, effectively leaving the scene of the crime.

Sarah lost her job sixteen months before and had been unemployed for four months. It should not have been a major problem; except Sarah had expensive tastes, and her lifestyle reflected those tastes. She lived in a fancy house that she could not afford. She had many fancy toys that she did not need but could not live without indulging in. Then there was the fine furniture. Sarah loved to indulge in the finest wood-grained ensembles that money could buy. Sarah only bought the best and reminded Jill on a daily basis to only buy the best. In other words, Sarah had bills to pay and since she was out of work, she expected Jill to pay them. It was expected, so Jill did it. For over a year now, Jill had been secretly funneling her and Rick’s savings to her mother, Sarah.

It was expected of a loving daughter. As she had done all her life, Jill did what Mother expected at whatever cost. It was about to cost Jill, the future. Jill had threatened many times to tell Rick what was going on. Her heart told her it was wrong to betray her husband, to keep secrets from him. Her mother told her it wasn’t betrayal; it was helping her family. The family she had before marrying Rick; her true family.

Jill called her mother and explained the situation. With a quiver in her voice she asked her mother for advice. “Mother,” she questioned Sarah, “What am I going to do now?”

Sarah replied, “I don’t know Dear. If he loves you, you’ll be fine. If not, come live with me.”

Jill was flabbergasted. “Come live with you? Is that your solution to everything? Just run away?”

Sarah explained calmly, “What other choice do you have? I wish I could pay you back, but the move cost me everything I had. I’m flat broke.”

As she hung up the phone, Jill felt even more devastated. She had called for advice and gotten her mother’s usual runaway response. Jill pondered her options. Was there any possible way out of this mess that would not ruin her life? She decided to call her father and ask his advice.

“Dad?” asked Jill. “I’ve done something very wrong and I need you to hear me out. I desperately need your help.” She went on to explain the situation to him, to explain how she had loaned Sarah over $30,000 over the past year and a half and how she had done it all behind her husband’s back.
Disappointed her father replied, “You’ve broken the sacred marriage vows. Lending you money will not help the problem.”

Jill interrupted. “But Dad. I’m working a good job; I could make payments to you.”

“You have to come clean.” He told her. “The truth is your only salvation. You have to tell him. Today. Now. Tell him Jill. Throw yourself on his mercy and maybe he won’t throw you out. If he does, I wouldn’t blame him. You lied. You have to pay the consequences.”

Jill went home with a listing of all her bills, she laid it all on the table for Rick to see. The culmination of over a year and a half of living a lie had a big price tag. The ultimate cost just might be her marriage. She stared teary-eyed at the totals and waited for her husband of five years to darken the doorway.

Rick opened the door to her tear-stained cheeks. He took her by the hands and asked what was wrong. Jill said nothing. She only pointed to the sheet of paper that revealed the entire sum of her sins. Its contents had changed their future. He was flabbergasted. He grabbed the portable telephone and stormed out of the house.

Much to his embarrassment, he called off the deal on the house, and did not speak to her for the rest of the night. He did not have much to say for the rest of the weekend. Jill paced and cried most of the weekend, but never left the house. She was not going to run. She would do as her father said and face the consequences, whatever they may be.

On Sunday night, Rick came to Jill with a little piece of torn pink paper in his hand. On the paper was written in bold block letters a single word. TRUTH.

“Today is the new beginning of our marriage." He told her. "On this paper is the word that must govern the rest of our days together. I want you to always carry this in your pocket. Everything you do from this day forward must be based on this word or our marriage will be a failure. I love you and I forgive you.”

Jill kept the paper close to her from that day forward and kept the word deep in her heart.

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