Chapter 47 All These Years

• Everyone had a surprised look on their face as they stared at Ruby, wondering if she was okay, well, everyone aside from Morris, who knew everything right from the start. He had returned to Sacramento to receive the news that Ruby had called the entire family together for a meeting in which he was meant to be present, he came there full of optimism that Ruby must have called the meeting to discuss their divorce and he was right. Ruby's father turned to Morris as if demanding an explanation from him. "Now that your parents are dead, you now think you can do whatever you want with my daughter" he fired angrily. Morris tried to talk but Ruby was fast enough to speak before him. "No father, the divorce was my idea," Ruby said shocking everyone the more. "Why Ruby, Don't you love your husband anymore?" Her mother whos seated close to her asked. Ruby just glanced at her and smiled, she too wasn't sure of that anymore, she might have mistaken her regrets and remorsefulness for love or perhaps she love him, she wasn't sure which one it was. "I'm tired, I need a break and I have to atone for something I did," Ruby said and all eyes turned to her. "Something you did, what did you do that was so bad that you had to give up your ten years of marriage for?" Her father asked. She glanced at him for a while before shifting her gaze to Khloe's parents, she had invited them too.
• "You know the night after the engagement between Khloe and Morris," Ruby paused for a while trying to summon more courage to continue, she glanced at Morris and saw him giving her the signal not to say anything about Khloe but Ruby didn't listen to him, her mind was already made up. "What happened afterwards?" Khloe's mother asked getting interested. Ruby glanced at her as tears flowed freely from her eyes, the pain she was currently feeling was nothing compared to the pain the woman felt when she lost her only child, she felt like her world had crumbled when Khloe died. "I... I..." Ruby couldn't say anything as tears clouded her throat, her mother gradually patted her back. "Tell me Rebecca, what did you do?" She asked softly. "I argued with Khloe in the bathroom before she died and I accidentally pushed her when she was using the iron stretcher, she fall in a dumb of water and when she tried getting up the iron stretcher came in contact with the water and it electrocuted her," Ruby said. Everywhere became as quiet as a grave as they all stared at her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to push her, it wasn't intentional," Ruby cried, she was getting scared of the silent treatment everyone was giving her including her including her parents. "All these years Rebecca...." Her mother paused trying to put herself together. "All these years Rebecca you didn't say a word to anyone and you lived your life as if nothing had happened," Her mother said staring at her. "I'm sorry, I was scared, I didn't want to go to jail, I didn't really mean to do it, I'm really sorry," Ruby said in tears.
• "What were you two arguing about?" Khloe's mother asked and they all looked at her. She had tears in her eyes. Ruby opened her mouth to talk but it was too heavy for her to say, "How would she tell her that she had entered the bathroom to pick on Khloe and mock her for having s eating disorder just because she was jealous that she was getting married to Morris Fox? How would say that she had threatened Khloe with the nudes that she took there, threatening to release them to the public and she came fighting back before she pushed her accidentally, how?" Ruby thought as she stared into the women's eyes, she thought of lying but Alice's advice echoed in her head as if she just heard it. She closed her eyes thinking about what Alice had told her. "If you want to confess to your family, you are free to do so but don't leave out any detail because if you do, you haven't earned their forgiveness and you haven't atoned for what you did fully," Ruby nodded her head agreeing with what Alice said. She bluntly said everything that happened without leaving a single detail and her eyes were still closed, she feared that if she opened her eyes and stared into their eyes she might not be able to complete the story.