“What did he do to you, Mum?” His eyes are so full of sadness, it makes me want to cry.
“I love you, Noah. But you’re not a therapist, and that’s who I need to talk to about this.”
“It’s worse than I realised, isn’t it?”
I give his hand a squeeze. “I know you’re an adult, but I can’t talk about a lot of this with you.”
“Mum.” He reaches for me, and I let him pull me into a hug. “I should have done more.”
“None of this is on you. None of it. We’re all free now and we’re going to start a new life. Got it?”
Noah nods.
“I love you and your brother and sisters so very much.”
“I love you too,” he whispers.
Four
Emma
Seven months later
* * *
Probate took six weeks.
The lawyer had told me it should be straight forward, and it was.
But the next piece of advice was to not do anything for six months in case there were any claims against the estate.
So, I got busy, preparing the house for sale while I hoped like anything that there were no outstanding debts I didn’t know about.
I wasn’t about to live in this house a minute longer than I had to—there are too many bad memories here.
When Malcolm entered the church, he lied. As part of their scam, all assets had to be disposed of, and money handed over to them because they were the ones who would look after you.
I’m not sure what he told them or how much he handed over, but he had a four-bedroom house in Christchurch and plenty of money in the bank when we walked away.
I know my father’s angry—he’s a senior member of the church now, and he had some blazing rows with Malcolm when we left. But now I’m grateful for Malcolm’s lack of financial commitment to the church. Everything has been left to me—except for some funds that will be left in trust until our children turn eighteen.
With Noah being twenty-six, he gets his straight away. It’s not a lot—just a few thousand—but given that Malcolm’s on his birth certificate as his father, I think Malcolm realised if he didn’t include him, it would give Noah opportunity to challenge the will.
As it was, I had to work hard to convince Malcolm not to throw Noah out when he turned eighteen. Thankfully, Noah could get student loans to go to university where he could study accounting, and when he found an entry level job after graduation, the extra money coming into the house bought us more time.
He could have left us behind, but he stayed, and he took on a second evening job to help some more.
Malcolm also couldn’t control him as much as the rest of us as he got older.
Now I lean on him—maybe more than I should because he’s still young but without even asking, he’s stepped in to help with the younger ones and give them some sense of normality.
Overall, the tone of our home is lighter. Laughter rings out within walls where fear once reigned. Malcolm never laid a hand on any of us, but we were all terrified of him. The old adage ‘his bark was worse than his bite’ might have been true, but he had other ways of scaring us.
It’s not taken us long to find our new normal, and by the time probate cleared, I was ready to take the next step—selling up and moving.
There’s no way we’re staying in Christchurch. It’s too close to my father. There’s only one place I want to go, and that’s where Noah’s father lives—Napier.
I’m not ready to share who that is yet. Noah worked out he’s not Malcolm’s a long time ago, but I’ve told my family I want to move back to the city that I loved when I lived there.
