CHAPTER 55
To understand the Swiss family, you'd have to know much about how this family came to be. First, their marriage wasn't always this sweet and lovey-dovey. It had been one hell of a ride. The journey had actually started with the great-granddad, Robinson Swiss, and his wife, Margret, who decided to find a bride for their son, Robert. Eleanor was chosen as the honorable woman who deserved their son, mostly because she came from a family of lawyers herself, aside being a lawyer too. So, yes, there's had been an arranged marriage.
The first time Robert met Eleanor, his first thought was, 'She's pretty and proud as hell.' Of course, what did he expect from a woman who became the youngest lawyer ever in Miami at age 19? Eleanor was used to having her way and didn't see any reason why any man needed to be respected. She could also argue her way out of any situation. All of this made Robert want to run away as much as possible. Eleanor also had her reservations. The man pitched with her didn't seem like someone she could stand. Fine, he was good-looking and smarter than most men she had dated. Still, she believed she could do better. Moreover, she didn't fancy the idea of a lawyer dating another lawyer. What was the fun in that?
But fate is a bitch. Fate kept throwing him right back in her arms. They had run ins severally after their first meeting. It was like life kept throwing them together. Nevertheless, they fought it. They soon turned it into a game of see-and-dodge. It was the only solution. If only these two knew the meetings weren't fate but family. The strong forces of their individual families kept them in close range. They were forces too strong to shake off. The mothers kept tab on their kids and update each other. Which was why Robert was almost always in the same place as Eleanor.
Eventually, after series of fights back and forth, the kids succumb to their families wish. The marriage ceremony was without much enthusiasm. The couple themselves played no serious role in the planning aside picking their clothes. The mothers, overjoyed to have so much interference went overboard. From the numerous guests list, down to food, venue, everything. It was all these two.
The new couple stayed their separate rooms. For weeks, they pretended not to acknowledge their union. Robert let his wife do her bidding. He would dress up early, get his breakfast from the maid and leave the house while she did whatever she wanted with hers. He wasn't curious how she spent her day. Neither was she. He continued instead to go to the court, handle cases and study more. Some nights, he went clubbing and have some ladies over. After all, a man got to let go.
But while Robert seemed to have find his rhythm, Eleanor hadn't. She had been warned by her parents to leave her firm to join her husband's which was far promising. Indeed, she resigned, although forced, with no backup plan. She refused to tell her parents that she didn't tell her betrothed her family's plan of establishing her in his firm. They spoke of nothing. No plan, at all. Most of their outings, they simply are in silence after which he would drop her and drive off hurriedly as if happy to be free of the torture moments with her. Her days were so boring she slept almost all day. Finally, one day she followed her husband to court.
Of course, she waited till he was gone before driving there. She watched him handle a case and was impressed. The next day, she went back. Then the next. She soon found herself in his courtroom watching him and noting how passionate he was about the law. It was like seeing a shadow of herself in him. This became something to talk about. From just that spark of light, the couple began to communicate and hence found that they had a lot in common. The rest was love all through.
Like every marriage, there's had survived lots of ups and downs. In fact, as Mrs. Swiss will always point out, her marriage had survived more downs than up. For instance, their first few months as a married couple had been hell. She always recounts the scenario she had witnessed from trailing behind her husband. It had started with a simple case of checking him in the courtroom. Then she began to check his after work movements. Imagine her surprise when she found out the man she had assumed too innocent and boring parties most weekends. And then came the day she walked in on him with a girl in the club, butt naked. She had suspected he had girls going his bidding which was why he hadn't touched her months after their marriage. With her suspicions confirmed and her husband sighting her, she left.
Guilt had made Robert sober for days. He came home with gifts and love letters. His wife would hiss and walk away. Sometimes, she thrashed the gifts. But of course, Robert was angry one night and spoke about how their relationship would end before it began since they both didn't want it to. And she kissed him. Who said they didn't want it when she had been craving him in bed for weeks now? And that had ended his frolicking. Mrs. Swiss was sure now that her husband of close to 45years would never treat her respectfully by cheating on her.
When the kids started coming, the couple had another challenge. Mrs. Swiss learnt in a hard way that career and kids better be kept separate or one suffers terribly from the load of the other. Even though she was getting sucked into the Swiss' courtrooms, she had to slow down especially after her husband became a judge. For a career woman, it had been the worst decision she would ever make. Robert had been forced to come to a compromise with her. So, he let have just one case a month. That way, she could spend ample time with the kids. And most times, when the court could do without him, Robert stayed home with the kids, talking and playing. Which was why till date, Evangeline took a shine to him even if recent events seemed to have forced them apart. She was confident they would find their way back to each other somehow.
Like most mothers who knows their family well, Eleanor Swiss became intuitive to certain circumstances. She was one of the women who knew their husband so well they could predict to an extent their reaction to certain things. Robert may act tough and scary in the courtroom, but deep down, his wife knew he hated to see the innocents suffering a fate that wasn't theirs. He hated people in power molesting the poor. It was one secret to his fair rulings in court, a contrast to people's opinion of him following in the footstep of their family. The same passion that would later land his family in danger.
Her kids were another attachment she learned to understand. Adriana was the quiet, determined woman. As a young girl, she had chosen the family business of defending the helpless. While in school, countless times, Adriana would come home with series of letters from kids in school who wanted her to tell her dad about their situation. How this started, nobody knew. But Mrs. Swiss could picture her daughter climbing a chair in the center of the class to shout her thoughts to the class. She would have done this when someone in her class complained about a misdeed at home or perhaps a teacher was too harsh on a pupil and Adriana saw the need to speak out. As a child, she knew the law and how to twist it to soothe her needs. It was a quality that made her one of the best lawyer in town.
Evangeline on the other hand was stubborn and very inquisitive. Though she felt shielded by her sister, she wasn't relegated to the back. Matter of fact, most of the courage Adriana had to stand up to situations were festered by her. Mrs. Swiss could always tell when Adriana's outburst was really Evangeline's and not her. This mostly made the two never in agreement. Evangeline had found herself being punished by her mother for things done by her sister all for the poor excuse that she had pushed her sister into doing it. A particular incident had stood out among other incidents.
That day, Adriana as usual had come home with a letter written by her classmate. It wasn't like the typical childish scribbling. This was nothing a child could have made up. Of course, Adriana had no idea it was something real. She had simply done what she did with the others; try to defend the innocent in court while her sister watch her prove the innocent man free. As she was presenting the case of a violent father beating up his ten-year-old each time he got drunk, Evangeline had a sudden idea. "Why don't we go over to Vicki's house and try to talk her out of this violence?" Evangeline suggested.
"But it's all made up." Adriana laughed, almost hysterical. Her sister had a funny way of suggesting the most absurd of ideas.
"It wouldn't hurt anyone to try." Evangeline pushed further.
Adriana decided her sister was right. Later that day, towards the evening, the two siblings found themselves skedaddling along Vicki's house. It wasn't a good time. They were barely feet in the house when they heard a glass crashed to the floor followed by a loud scream. The two kids stood frozen in the compound. Soon, Vicki ran out of the house covered in blood, shouting and crying. Adriana and her sister seeing this sight started to cry too.
Neighbors came to see what was going on. They found the three kids. Vicki could only point in the house. There her father was found, lying face down in the pool of blood, unconscious and his wife beside him, crying profusely. It turns out the man had always been molesting his step daughter, Vicki each time he got drunk. As the girl herself would later explain, Adriana had said something about how one could escape dangerous men like that the next day after reading her letter by hitting the man with something hard which was exactly what she had done.
The man was jailed and the girl freed, but Mrs. Swiss was worried. What could have happened when her kids got there and the man was too drunk for any good? Would one of the girls be the one in the pool, unconscious? All these got her worked up. Then the vital question, who told the girl to hit her step dad? Was it really Adriana? So, like every mother, Mrs. Swiss interrogated her daughters in a very free and fair way, separately too. She wasn't surprised to know that her first daughter had discussed the letter with her sister that day before going to school the next day. Needless to say, Mrs. Swiss knew where the idea had spring out from.
Evangeline was grounded the next day, including her sister. But Evan felt unjustly punished. She started acting out after then.
Marriage had been full of its ups and downs. Hers had survived a lot, but it had helped her know each of her family members better. She knew the tone they used when they were upset. She could tell when they were trying to hide things from her. She knew when they were angry about something or about a thing she did. She knew them that well. Which was why when she woke up this morning and found herself wrapped in her husband's arm, she whispered, "Oh my God." They were back to being the married couple they once were. Robert was becoming attached again. And she didn't want that. He had left his family in the midst of a raging war. Now, he walks back and she was back in his arms? Things didn't work that way. She was supposed to make him sweat it, regret walking out on her and her kids. She sighed heavily and rolled away from him. Just as she was about getting off bed, she heard someone drive in and then,
"Mother?" Evangeline and Adriana yelled.
Mrs. Swiss knew something terribly was up. Her kids called her mom. They used 'Mother' only when they were upset. Turning to her husband, who yawned tiredly and smiled at her, she said, "I hate to burst this bubble, honey. Those kids are angry."
