DANGEROUS ARRANGEMENTS

PICTURE - PERFECT

As suspicions continued to grow over my father and Sherin's unusual interaction, I continued to give way to denial.

Every area of my life was in crisis.

I had very little friends that I saw outside of the ones that attended family gatherings, and I was limited to fellowship within a nine to five window of co-workers. This was my only link to the outside world and the only sanity I possessed beyond the walls of my then dreadful life.

Aside from my kids, I was suffocated in the home I shared with an angry husband, delusional parents, my innocent brother and his treacherous wife.

And still ahead was my father's upcoming retirement party.

This would be the first time all of us as a family including my older brother Matt and family would be showcased in front of so many people.

My parents now had three children who were married, with children of their own.

And even though the very fabric of this picture-perfect family appeared great from the outside, the seams were about to burst from the truth of all the surmounting strife and dissension taking place on the inside.

It should be said, however; my brothers and I sans in-laws were not full of contempt for one another.

We were not divided in our affections for one other as siblings even though our marriages to less than desirable specimens pushed for constant division among us. 

We always sought to treat each other with loyalty, love, and respect, no matter the challenges we faced from the new additions to our clan.

The night of my Father's retirement party had now arrived, and we stood tall before our guests despite the ongoing problems we faced amongst each other.

I had the constant burden of not knowing how I was going to present to Matt what I had been observing as of late at home between my dad and Sherin.

All I could conclude was that I didn't think it was a good idea to unveil my suspicions to him that night at the party and hoped to reserve my having to share it with him later in the week.

But as it turned out, I didn't have to do any revealing at all because Sherin took it upon herself that night to behave in true form, as only Sherin could do.

During the party, she proudly strutted around with my father from table to table, greeting our guests.

I could tell that my father would uncomfortably wiggle away from her when she would try to slip her arm around his. But his ongoing attempts to separate her closeness from him were unsuccessful, and she continued to remain awkwardly clinging to his side.

And although my mother was busy catching up with guests on the other side of the same room, I noticed more than once that she also saw, what I was seeing.

At the behest of the photographer my mother hired for the event, we were now being summoned to come up and onto the corner of the stage, located at the front end of the restaurant; far away from off from the mingling guests below.

The photographer asked Matt and his family to take pictures with my parents, and then with my father alone. He then asked the same of me, my husband and our children. Finally, he asked for all of us as a family to stand by my parents to capture a family portrait.

We did as he wished and closely surrounded my parents as we posed for a family photo.

Matt stood beside my mother with his toddler son in his arms and his wife and infant daughter behind him. And on the other end, Peter was asked to stand beside my father with Sherin behind him and me and my family beside her.

But Sherin took it upon herself to switch out spots with Peter and stand next to my Father instead.

It was obvious that her changing positions bothered us all, including the photographer but no one ventured to say anything out loud about it.

She wasted no time whispering something in my father's ear as they both laughed while the rest of stood uneasily trying not to lose our composure in front of the photographer.

My husband, however, let out an obnoxious and dramatic sigh as he intensely stared at Sherin and then my father, making it clear that he was more than a little annoyed by their questionable banter.

We proceeded to reluctantly take a few more pictures at the direction of the photographer and was then finally dismissed.

Once we dispersed, with my youngest daughter in my arms, I quickly headed towards the steps and made my way down to the main floor to join the rest of the guests.

I was followed by Matt who tapped me lightly on the shoulder and then motioned for me to follow him to an area where they were still serving appetizers.

We casually smiled at passing guests on our way there and once we were beyond the listening ears of others, he took a sip of his drink and went on to ask me

"What the hell was going on between Dad and Sherin?"

I shrugged my shoulders in disappointment and confessed that I was going to reach out to him later that week to request that he and I meet up so I could tell him in person what I had been observing at home over the past few weeks between Sherin and our father.

At first, I thought maybe my husband had shared with Matt his own observations of my father and Sherin but then realized as Matt carried on, that he himself had noticed that Sherin and my father were behaving abnormally close. 

He further explained that during the family photo session, he witnessed Sherin reaching for my father's hand, and my father reaching for hers in return.

Although I didn't have the same visual as he had from where I was standing to see what he saw transpire, I sadly didn't have a hard time believing him considering she showed no hesitation in switching places with Peter so she could stand next to my father.

The more Matt and I discussed our uncertainties over my father and Sherin, the more obvious our disgust over it began to fill our eyes.

All the while we were completely surrounded by our relatives and our family's closest friends. All of who were there to celebrate my father and his retirement, and all none the wiser regarding the state of affairs now troubling us as a family.