A Woman Discovered

Buried Secrets Exposed

 The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; the devout are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death. Isaiah 57:1-2 (NIV)

As Dosie raised Jenna, she gave her the best of everything. Jenna wanted nothing to do with Rose and the two became estranged. Whatever darkness of heart and mind motivated Dosie to deceive and betray her daughter and granddaughter grew deeper and more sinister throughout the years. Dosie brainwashed the child into thinking that Rose had not wanted her and had abandoned her as a baby and gave her up for adoption. She told Jenna that Rose was unfit, incompetent, and neglected her as an infant. She also ingrained into the child's thinking that Rose was loathsome, immoral, and a perpetual disappointment as a human being. This caused Jenna to be hateful and bitter towards her birth mother. It was no wonder that she shunned and rejected Rose's attention and affections even denied that Rose was even her mother, but she believed Rose to be her sister, as Dosie had falsely told her.

During this season, Dosie perfectly played the part of a martyred saint. She lamented and bemoaned her situation of a horrible, shameful, loathsome daughter who had abandoned the poor innocent sweet precious baby girl that she had to rescue and raise on her own as a single mother. Dosie loved and thrived on people's reactions and comments. She received sympathy, condolences, praise, and admiration from her friends, acquaintances, and coworkers for her heroic sacrifice. This lasted for several months, then one day, Dosie received a large check in the mail from Black River Trucking Company. It was the insurance settlement from Ralph's fatal truck accident and would allow Dosie the means to pursue a new life in another location. With money in hand, she decided that it was time to quit her job as administrator of Red Maple Manor.

Dosie and Jenna left Martinborough and moved to Tennessee where she purchased a small horse farm in Montgomery county. Dosie concocted a different story to tell in Tennessee. With Rose out of sight and out of mind, Dosie began to tell everyone that she had given birth later in life. Somehow, she was able to falsely put her name on Jenna's birth certificate as the birth mother, erasing Rose out of the picture completely.

Dosie surrounded herself with horse enthusiasts and joined a prestigious riding club that put Jenna in the right circles with the right people. She made sure that Jenna had the best horse, riding clothes, horse tack, and equipment. Jenna blossomed and thrived in her new arena of life.

Although Jenna had forgotten about Rose, Rose had not forgotten about Jenna. The ache in her heart never completely went away. Every so often an event would trigger a memory and Jenna would be in the forethought of Jenna's mind. This lingering ache lasted for several years until finally Rose couldn't take it anymore. After several years had passed, Rose approached Ace about hiring a private investigator to locate the whereabouts of Jenna. Once Rose had Jenna's contact information, she wrote to her long-lost daughter explaining what had happened to her when she was a baby. It was very important to Rose that Jenna knew that she had loved her as best as she could have in the early years of her life. After reading the unexpected letter, Jenna showed it to Dosie who was furious and denied everything, saying that it was all lies and false accusations. Dosie grabbed the letter from Jenna's hand and ripped it to shreds. Jenna doubted Rose and chose to believe Dosie's warped version of the truth. The young twelve-year-old girl believed in her own mind that Rose was the one lying, although, the only proof Dosie produced was the falsified birth certificate. Dosie and Jenna scornfully dismissed Rose out of their lives yet again. Dosie had Rose served with a restraining order that forbid anymore contact with her daughter. This cut Rose's heart to the quick and caused her great anguish.

Rose was devastated and felt so foolish for interjecting herself into her estranged daughter's life. She learned that sometimes you must cut ties and let people believe what they want to. No amount of reasoning or logic would persuade them to think otherwise. It is unfortunate, but that is the way it is. Some people can only understand things from their level of perception. By this time Rose was just done, the restraining order saw to that. No more letters, no more words of explanation, no more tears to be shed, no more beating herself up. She had to learn how to forgive herself. It was so much easier for Rose to forgive everyone else, Brian, her mother, her father, and anyone else who had wronged her. That was easy. But when it came to forgiving herself, she struggled and found it difficult.