The Day She Found Out The Truth

By Frankie Jenn

Delfina (Finnie) Collins is a nurse at a Philadelphia hospital. She has a great job, and lives in a beautiful house in a good part of town, She has a wonderful fiance and enough money to live the good life. But there's something Finnie doesn't know; about herself, about her job, about her fiance, about her life.
Monday begins a week-long saga until she finally finds out the truth. And it starts one night because of an encounter with a shadowy figure in a dark alley.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Frankie Jenn
• Release date: Mar 23, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463087558

Frankie Jenn

Frankie Jenn was born in Philadelphia, PA. She graduated high school from the Philadelphia High School for Girls, before attending the University Of Michigan. After one year, she left and joined the Air Force, where she studied engineering technology. She currently resides in Philadelphia. She had 4 children and 5 cats.

Book preview

(6 Days Before…)

Chapter 1

The week Finnie found out the truth began like any other. She had just finished her shift at the hospital and had stopped by her mother’s on the way home. Now as she stood in front of the house, she noticed that Darrell had not trimmed back the roses yesterday when he had been over to do the yard. She made a mental note to remind her twin brother later to do so next time he came by. In the meantime, it meant that she was going to have to hear about it from her mother. She sighed. Maybe this would be one of her mother’s good days. Maybe she hadn’t looked out of the window since Darrell had been by yesterday. Being confined to a walker since her stroke, she didn’t always notice things like the garden. Maybe today would be one of those days.

Finnie pulled the keys out of her purse and inserted the front door key into the lock. As soon as she opened the door, she could hear her mother’s voice from the back.

Is that you, Delfina? Did you see the rose bushes? Wasn’t Sonny supposed to do the yard yesterday? Did you tell him to cut the roses back? Why do I always have to remind you two to do even the simplest things?

That answered the question of whether her mom had noticed the roses. Her brother was called Sonny because her retired military father called all young men sonny. With Darrell, the name just stuck. Finnie sighed again, as she made her way to the kitchen at the back of the house. Her mother was sitting at the kitchen table while her aunt Sophia placed a bowl of steaming oatmeal in front of her.

Patty, hush! Can’t you even let that child get into the house good before you go at it? At least say hello to your daughter before you get going. Patty muttered something that might have been hello.

Hey Mom. Finnie kissed her mother’s barely offered cheek. Hey Sophia. She kissed her aunt.

You want some of this oatmeal Delfina? her aunt asked. Of course, the vast majority called her Finnie, including her aunt. But that was only when her mother wasn’t around to hear it. But in her mother’s presence her aunt was always careful to call Finnie by her full name, lest it start the complaining pipeline.

No auntie, I won’t be staying that long. I pulled a double shift and I just want to go crawl into bed.

Her mother grumbled. How long is ‘not that long’? You could make it a point to stay a bit, since you only come by once a week.

Mom, I just now said I pulled a double at the hospital. Did you not hear that part? Normally, I do stay. Just not this time. Please, can we not fight today? I’ll get some tea and sit with you if you guys have any herbal.

Sure, honey, we have herbal, her aunt said. Do you want the peppermint or the chamomile? I also think I have some lemon honey left, her aunt said this as she rummaged through the cupboard.

The peppermint is fine, auntie. Finnie said, as she sat across from her mother. So, Mom, how is it going?

Her mother gave her a black look. I don’t like that physical therapist that you have coming by. He upsets me.

That’s because he pushes you to do the work, Mom. You don’t recover if you don’t do the work.

I do the work! her mother was beginning to get agitated. He says ‘lift your leg,’ I lift my leg. But it hurts.

Well, yes it’s going to hurt some Mom. Finnie gratefully accepted the tea from her aunt. You have to retrain your muscles. It’s like learning how to walk all over again.

Don’t talk to me as if I’m stupid, her mother snapped. I know I have to retrain my muscles. I just want a different person.

Finnie sipped her tea to keep from having to respond. Her mother had already had two therapists. Finnie was not about to get her another. Her mother was just going to have to put on her big-girl patties and get over it. She stole a glance at her aunt who shrugged. They were so different, these two. Her mother, with creamy skin and fine features loved to recount how in her younger days she had been frequently told that she favored movie legend, Lena Horne, only with dark red hair. Some Scottish in the genes, so it was said. She had been tall enough to be a striker on her college volleyball team, along with Sophia who though shorter might have been the better athlete.

Sophia bore no resemblance to Ms. Horne which might account for why, while Finnie’s mother quit school to try to become a singer slash actress, Sophia stayed the course and had gotten her degree before becoming an attorney with one of Philadelphia’s better law firms. Finnie’s mother, on the other hand, had to finally come to the reality of how few people ever get to be rich and famous actresses. Which meant she also had to come back home broke and dejected. Settling for a job as a secretary at her sister’s law firm might have paid the bills and ultimately allowed her to meet her future husband, but it wasn’t her dream. Maybe that’s why even prior to having a stroke several months earlier, Finnie remembered her even from childhood as a nag, quick to anger and highly critical. Maybe she was simply unhappy with the way her life had turned out.

Or maybe her disappointment went back to her youth when she had discovered that Finnie’s father had continued in a relationship with the woman he had been seeing before he met Patty. After Finnie’s parents became involved, but before they were married, her father’s relationship with this other woman had resulted in a daughter a couple of years older than Finnie and Sonny. Her father had refused to abandon the daughter even though he had ended the relationship with the mother. This became a sore spot for her mother as the daughter of that union, a girl named Candace, though raised in a different home by a different mother, spent a great deal of time with Finnie and her brother. Her father was adamant that the children all know each other.

Finnie reflected on this, as well as the many things she needed to do during the day tomorrow as she sipped her tea. But first, today, she seriously needed to get some sleep.

Girl, don’t you hear me talking to you? I said, ‘why did you have to pull a double?’

I didn’t have to pull one Mom. But Sherrie asked me to cover for her because her daughter is sick. And she covers for me when I ask her. Besides, Will and I could use the extra money.

Use it for what, her mother said. It doesn’t seem like you two are ever going to get married.

We’re getting married, Mom. Finnie replied wearily. Her aunt gave her a sympathetic look standing behind her mother.

Will I be alive to see it?

Ten long minutes later Finnie was at the door while her aunt explained,

I don’t think she slept well last night. I saw the light on in her room at 2:30 this morning.

Is she not sleeping? Finnie asked, concerned.

No, no, she usually sleeps just fine. She argued with the therapist. I think she just couldn’t relax after that.

Finnie sighed again. She loved her mother dearly, but sometimes she felt that the farther away from her mother she was, the better she could love her.

As she drove home, Finnie thought about her mother. Her father, also named Darrell was away on his yearly trip with his military buddies. Though the trip had been scheduled and paid for long before her mother’s stroke, Finnie wished he had cancelled going this time. He and his buddies were retired. They could go away anytime. Of course, Finnie always suspected that part of the necessity for these trips was for her father to get away from her mother.

Finnie loved etymology, the study of names. She had picked up that love from looking up her own name, which means dolphin. She had thought as a ten-year old that it was cool to be named after such an intelligent, beautiful creature. It had even spurred her to start swimming.

But she often wondered how some people ended up with names that so did not express their character. Her father’s name was Darrell, which meant beloved, and that fit him to a tee. Everyone loved Darrell. They loved her brother Darrell Jr as well. Her aunt Sophia was kind and wise just like her name. Even her fiancé Will (short for William meaning resolute/protector) had a name appropriate to his personality. But her mother, well let’s just say that the name Patricia which means noble just did not fit the person. In times when Finnie was extremely tired or frustrated with her mother, in those bad moments she considered whether a name meaning harpy or shrew would’ve been better suited.

Upon arriving at her house, Finnie parked the car and sat, head on the steering wheel for several minutes. Her tired brain just didn’t want to have to think about Moms, dispositions, unmindful brothers or absent fathers any longer. Finnie got out and went into the house. Mr. Bojangles, her big ragdoll cat strolled into the living room with a plaintive meow.

Oh, no Finnie said, scooping up the big fluffy feline, not you too. Not today.

She carted Mr. Bojangles into the kitchen, spooned cat food into his empty dish, and gave him some water.

I know Sonny fed you when he came home yesterday, so don’t even. And where’s your buddy? Is he pretending to be starving too?

Finnie was referring to Sonny’s dog, Blitz. The two animals did play together and keep each other company, so Finnie called them buddies. But of course, Mr. Bojangles was getting his, so Blitz could fend for himself. Some buddy.

She considered getting herself a bite, thought the better of it, and went upstairs to take a shower. Renting her aunt’s house after her uncle’s death last year definitely had its perks. The rent was low, the hot water plentiful, and it allowed her aunt to move in with her mother and father. Everybody wins. Sonny had fixed up the basement space and there was always typically someone there to feed the animals. It was the perfect setup. Twenty minutes after trooping upstairs, Finnie was lights out to the world.

Chapter 2

Finnie awoke around 8 that evening. She lay in bed blankly watching Mr. Bojangles snoozing at her feet and wondered whether to try and catch a few more winks. The problem with working nights is that it can mess up your circadian rhythm she mused sleepily. But she knew she had a busy day tomorrow, and though she could use the rest, if she went back to sleep now, her body would want to stay up all night and sleep in the morning, which was her normal routine. So, she got up, threw on some yoga pants and one of her brother’s Thomas Construction sweatshirts, and headed downstairs.

She could hear the television playing in the living room which was unusual. Typically, Sonny came in after work, fixed himself some dinner and he and his boxer Blitz retired to his basement apartment until it was time for Blitz’s walk around 10. But when Finnie peeked into the living room, there they both were, sacked out, television tray with his dinner’s remains, ensconced in front of the TV.

Hey, she said kicking her brother on the foot, hey!

Sonny snorted a few times, before groggily sitting up on the couch. Blitz stay sleeping blissfully at his feet.

What? he said while rubbing his eyes in bleary confusion.

Why are you taking your ‘old man’ nap up here? Finnie asked. What’s up with your room?

Oh, he said, still rubbing, my satellite is not working again. Did you call the people?

No, because, a) my satellite service is fine, and b) I was sacked out all day after pulling that double, remember?

Oh yeah, oh yeah, sorry. he said and yawned. I forgot

Yeah, just like you forgot to do Mom’s rose bushes yesterday. So, I had to hear about it, like ‘wah, wah, wah, my rose bushes.

Sonny grinned. Sorry girl. But, better you than me.

Finnie stared at her brother sourly. He was incredibly good-looking with his bronze skin, ginger hair and her same hazel-colored eyes, and she knew he got by a lot on charm and B.S. But she also knew that if the roles were reversed, she’d feel the same way, so after a minute, she grinned.

Anyway, Mom was in fine fettle this morning. What’d you cook?

Chops, okra, home-fried potatoes. Put them up though. Thought you ate. Was Mom just on about the roses? he got up, stumbled over his sleeping dog, shook his head and followed her into the kitchen.

When is Mom ever just on about one thing? Finnie pulled open the refrigerator door and peered in.

Oh! You fixed cornbread! she grabbed the plastic containers of leftovers while her brother reached into the cabinet and pulled out a fifth of Hennessey and two glasses. He held up the bottle.

Chaser? he asked

Uh, Finnie was busy piling