Letters to Juliet

Chapter 15

Mrs Leagan closed the door of her daughter's bedroom, sighing sadly.

Elisa had been brought to this hospital a week ago and had not recovered her mind yet...

It was hard for her to accept that her daughter was in a hospital for mentally ills. This kind of place was normally aimed at crazy people and not at her glorious daughter! But she had to acknowledge as soon as she had seen her, fastened to a bed, hysterical, yelling string of crazy talks, then few seconds later, oddly becoming calm again and, with a plaintive voice, mumbling incomprehensible words among which could distinctly escape the names of Candy and Albert, for in the following, returning with greatest intensity to her paranoid delirium. Her state since then had not changed and doctors did not look very optimist...

After each of her visits, rage used to fill her hurt mother's heart, with a desire of revenge that would suffocate her to dizzy spell. She had not yet informed her Great Aunt Elroy about her niece's state. The of yesteryear sour-tempered and authoritarian woman, had since many years given up her place to an old and in poor health woman, whose majestic wearing of head that had so often commanded respect around her, was no more than an illusion now. She had to avoid any emotional traumas and the though insensitive Sarah Leagan's heart, was not brave enough to share this bad news with her.

I'll have to do it at some point...

She knew, through the Great- Aunt's servants that she had called Elisa's name several times yet. She could not lie to her eternally.... But before reaching this extreme, she wanted to talk with her cousin and convince him to reconsider his decision. Back to her suite in the Waldorf Astoria hotel, she rushed to ask the operator to dial the numbers, her fingers feverishly drumming of eagerness on the handset...

*********

George's slightly arched eyebrow as he handed the telephone to him was clearly eloquent. Intrigued, Albert took the handset and his cousin's moaning voice came to him immediately, making rush his pulse of irritation. Rolling his eyes, he absently listened to her singing the praise of her daughter while expressing her impossibility to understand the terrible decision he had taken regarding her. It was probably nothing less than an act of madness on his behalf! Chuckles shook his athletic shoulders before the impudence of her insinuation.

- Don't you have a heart, my cousin? – She implored him, with one of the most tearful tone aimed at mollifying him.

- I had worn her, my cousin. And this, several times!

- But... Coming to cast her out though she is a member of the family...

- Was!...

- But come on, my cousin, all of this is ridiculous! Have you lost any sense?

- It's quite the reverse, my dear. Your daughter helped me to recover all my lu-ci-di-ty! It was about time I stopped all her tricks! I've been very patient all along these years, putting down to her stupidity and to the education you had given her, your daughter's scandalous behavior towards my own ...

- Let me ask you about your own definition of the word "scandal", my cousin – she retorted, cut to the quick – You, who adopted that orphan whose origins remain unknown, probably of a convict and a prostitute...

- My dear cousin, as I listen to you, I can't deny the filiation that binds you both. You really are your daughter's mother!...

Sarah Leagan blemished. Albert's cutting remark was far from being a compliment and she pinched her lips of annoyance, tears of indignation coming up. Then, recovering, she added in an ultimate tremolo: