Deceit. [COMPLETED.]

Chapter 18

"An old friend"
[JENNY STAMFORD.]

The room was exactly how Jenny had remembered it.

It might have lost some of its innocence over the years but looking around it was as if nothing had changed.

She took in a deep sigh savouring every second that she was alone looking at each item of furniture as if it was the first time she had set eyes on them from the deep laid rug in the middle of the wooden floor to the large oak writing desk in front of the window still as she remembered it full to the brim with papers and books.
To her right the same large wooden cross still hung on the wall high above the fireplace but rather than relish its existence the cross only sent a shiver down her spine.

She rolled the forefingers around the thumb of each hand, her nerves at meeting the Reverend Mother again still as strong as ever.

The air was cold. It created an involuntary shiver, the same thick stone walls stubbornly blocking out any of the natural warmth from the sunshine outside. That at least brought about a smile, images of her first few days at the nunnery coming back to her in waves of clarity as if it was only yesterday.

The door suddenly opened and there she was; Sister Mary Winerfred, Mother Superior to the order of St Benedict's holding the same wrinkled face Jenny had remembered, the same white hair and the same bowed figure that gave the Mother Superior an almost fragile appearance.

Jenny watched as a set of dark brown eyes settled on her abdomen. It brought about a slight chuckle.

'No Reverend Mother. I'm not pregnant again.'

Mary Winerfred gave a nod of approval. 'Glad to hear it.'

A silence followed. Time was going nowhere. Mother Superior moved slowly behind her desk and as with a brush of a gentle wind she sighed softly easing herself down onto a wide velvet armchair. There was still time for Sister Mary to then gaze affectionately at the cross Jenny was so weary of.

When her eyes came back the Reverend Mother was ready for whatever had brought Jenny to her.

Jenny cleared her throat.

'Is it wrong to hate?'

A direct question and one that caused the old lady to lean forwards and bring her hands together in the form of an arch.

'You came to our study groups if I remember,' she said calmly. 'Sister Wendy was your tutor I recall. An excellent teacher and I am sure she would have taught you many things, lessons God would wish all of us to learn including the greatest of them all which is that all goodness comes from him alone, while hate can only ever come from man himself.'

Jenny despised those lessons at first, rebelled vigorously and had to spend many of her first days in the tower, as it was affectionately known by all the girls,  but over time she began to understand them and even liked what she heard.

'But what about an eye for an eye?' she asked.

'Which is the more powerful a force,' asked Sister Mary. 'Love or hate?'

'Hate.'

'Why?'

'Because it comes with aggression and strength of will,' said Jennifer quickly, 'while love has no substance. It's completely meaningless.'

The Mother Superior looked again at the cross before moving her gaze out behind her towards the empty courtyard.

'For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son saying that who so ever shall believe in him shall have ever lasting life.'