Abuse of Faith: Part 3

==========

July 13th, 2020

Miami, Florida

Off Camera

==========

Every hero has their weakness.  Every Superman has their kryptonite.  For someone who truly believes herself to be the one true hero of professional wrestling, Glory Braddock would of course have to have some kind of weakness.  But what exactly is her weakness?

Fear.

Those who know The British Bombshell the best would say that “fear” is an odd weakness for someone as strong and well respected as Braddock is.  Glory Braddock has faced down monsters twice her size, she has faced down insurmountable odds and overcome them all throughout a hall of fame career.  The self-proclaimed Best in the World should have no reason to fear anything and yet fear seems to have her paralyzed.  Braddock is paranoid and fearful primarily over the state of her mind.  Her once proud, knowledgeable, well educated mind is riddled with guilt and doubt as she second guesses her own decisions, as she second guesses the path she has chosen.

The path she has chosen is not unlike that of Lucky Luciano, Paul Castellano, and Frank Costello.  The path she has chosen is that of a power hungry tyrant.  A belief that she alone knows what is best for professional wrestling and, in particular her company, has led her to utilize bribery and blackmail in order to gain control over her wrestling company’s Board of Directors.  Then paranoia that she might lose her power led her to having her own sister locked up, all in a ploy to paint herself as a hero.  But those closest to her know the truth.  Those closest to her can see through the facade and recognize that she is acting just like the tyrants she used to oppose.

Whatever happened to Glory Braddock?  How did she let herself become like this?  And furthermore, is there a way back from it?  Braddock isn’t even sure she wants to come back at this point.  She does enjoy the power and influence she has.  She is an owner of a wrestling company, a wrestling school, and she is an active competitor in Supreme Championship Wrestling.  Glory Braddock is arguably the most influential wrestler in the world today and she is happy with herself.  She is happy with what she has accomplished.

Yet she realizes that it all could come crashing down around her if she cannot get her paranoia, fear, and guilt under control.  All of this stress put upon her mind has led to a resurgence of her post traumatic stress syndrome.  She tried to strangle Meagan Collins, a business associate she is currently blackmailing.  She even nearly assaulted her own daughter, Melinda Braddock, in a blind rage.  The British Bombshell realizes that she is losing control of herself and that she needs help.  As much as she hates to admit it, she needs help.

Her family, but more importantly her mother, had suggested for a long time now that she see a psychiatrist.  Braddock had already been to see a psychiatrist once before as part of a plan to appease her company’s Board of Directors but she stopped seeing the psychiatrist the moment the Board was satisfied that she was well.  Hindsight is always 20/20 and perhaps leaving so soon wasn’t a good idea?  Perhaps if she had stuck it out these mental issues would not be a problem right now.  But what’s done is done and all Glory can do is hope a return to the psychiatrist will do the trick.

Lucky for her. Dr. Frederick Fitzgerald was happy to treat her again; but only on the condition that she does not stop the treatment.  Glory must continue seeing Dr. Fitzgerald until he says she is “cured”.  Braddock hates not being in control.  She hates not being able to make the final decision.  But in this case she needs him and he knows it.  So reluctantly, Glory has agreed to the terms.  And as promised, The British Bombshell has returned for her second session with Dr. Frederick Fitzgerald.

Braddock is lying down on the comfortable crimson red sofa in Dr. Fitzgerald’s office.  She is wearing a set of purple women’s dress pants, matching purple high heel pumps, a white silk blouse, and a purple blazer.  Yes, Glory really likes the color purple.  Her long blonde hair hangs unrestrained to shoulder length.  The rest of the office is small and drab with navy blue carpeting and two gray chairs that look rather uncomfortable.  Dr. Fitzgerald himself sits in a black swivel chair behind a light brown desk.  He has a pen in hand and a notepad on the desk ready to take notes as they proceed with this session.

“I must admit that I am pleasantly surprised that you returned, Ms. Braddock.”

“I told you that I would.  Didn’t you believe me?”

“You left without a word to me the last time, Ms. Braddock.  And you have made it abundantly clear what you think about this, and knowing how stubborn you can be made me doubt your sincerity.”

Even Glory herself cannot help but smirk at this.  The truth is that Glory Braddock is indeed very stubborn but she gets it honestly.  She gets the stubborn streak from her mother’s side of the family.  Mary Ford and her sister, Kelly Jones, the mother of Glory’s cousins Angelica and Kayla Jones, were just as stubborn as Glory, if not more so.  Realizing that the psychiatrist raises a valid point, The British Bombshell nods her head.

“Fair enough.”

“I’m sure you’re anxious to get started, but before we do I want to stress upon you that this is not a quick fix.  That was your mistake the last time.  You thought this session was a quick fix to a problem you had.  This very well could take a long time before you are fully healed.  Are you prepared to go the distance this time and not...how is it that you put it in your business...tap out?”

Braddock rolls her eyes as she knows that he said that to push her buttons.  She won’t be easily provoked though.  “I’m in it for the long haul, mate.  Trust me.”

“Good, so let’s begin with a simple question; what is it that you fear the most?”

“Seriously?” Glory asks incredulously.  The psychiatrist nods his head.

“Yes.  From what you told me you have done some very serious things from bribery, blackmail, and you had your sister locked up in a sanitarium on trumped up charges.  There must be a reason for this and I believe it is fear.  You are afraid of something.  What is it that you are afraid of?  What scares you so much that it drove you to take such drastic actions?”

“This is bloody ridiculous!  You know damn well why I did all that crap because we’ve been through this before!”

“Humor me.”

“Fine.” Braddock sighs, rolling her eyes. “I did that because I was afraid of losing my company.”

There is a long pause as Glory stares up at the ceiling, waiting for the psychiatrist’s response.  After several tense moments she hears a response she wasn’t expecting.

“You’re lying.”

“What?!” Glory swings her legs over the side of the sofa and stares a hole through Dr. Fitzgerald.

“You’re lying and I know you’re lying because you’re right, we have been through this before.  You told me during our last sessions, the ones you skipped out on too early, that you were afraid of losing your company and even then I had my doubts that it was as simple as that.  What you have done since then, what brings you back to me today, the mere fact that you problems persist, confirms in my mind that I was right.  There is a deeper fear inside of you that is driving this whole thing, Ms. Braddock.”

“Well then what the bloody hell do you think it is?!”

“I don’t know.  Only you can answer that.”

“Then what the hell am I paying you for?!” Braddock exclaims angrily.

“Just lean back and relax, ok?”

“Is this that hypnotherapy crap?”

“Just relax.”

“Fine!” Braddock sighs as she lies back down on the sofa and does her best to relax.  Dr. Fitzgerald presses a button on his desk and soft, relaxing, classical music begins to play in the background.  The psychiatrist then begins in earnest…

“Just relax.  Empty your mind.  Take a few breaths to calm yourself.  Think of nothing.  Listen to the music.  The soft, soothing music.”

Glory is still skeptical of this but she does feel somewhat more comfortable right now than she did earlier.  The anger she had been feeling and frustration that had been building up is beginning to die down as she takes the deep breaths, as she listens to the soft soothing music.  After nearly a minute of total silence...except for the music, that is...Dr. Fitzgerald begins to speak out again.

“Honesty, Ms. Braddock.  Think only of honesty because that is important to recovery.”

“Honestly.” Glory says, her voice sounding somewhat distant.

“Yes, honesty.  Now tell me, honestly, what is it that you truly fear?”

“Failure.”

“Interesting.” The psychiatrist is somewhat surprised by this response but he does not doubt it.  Still, how could someone as successful as Glory Braddock fear failure?  He decides to press further.  “Explain, Ms. Braddock.  Why is it that you fear failure?”

“Failure has been a part of my family.  My dad’s marriage failed because he was obsessed with his career.  My dad’s dream of competing in the Olympics as a wrestler failed because he got injured in a match.  My sister failed to handle the pressures of the spotlight and the stress of living up to the Braddock name so she became a drug user.  I failed to help my sister deal with her drug use.  And ultimately I failed to stop Aphrodite Noel.  Then I failed my company once and lost control of it to an enemy of the family.”

Tears form in Glory’s eyes as she pauses just momentarily. “Failure after failure have littered my family’s past.”

“So you chose self-destructive methods to deal with your failures?”

“I didn’t view what I did as self-destructive.  One thing I learned from my dad is to never stop learning and to always learn from your mistakes.  So I learned from the one person who had defeated me...Aphrodite Noel…”

“I understand the logic, learning from one who bested you, but you must understand that everyone will make mistakes.  So why did you take such drastic actions?  Why go to her?”

“Everyone makes mistakes but I’m NOT everyone!” Glory exclaims loudly. “I strive for nothing but the best.  I strive for perfection.  If there is a flaw it must be eliminated, that’s how my dad trained me.  We would not stop our training sessions until I did whatever exercise he asked of me perfectly.  So I went to Aphrodite to become perfect, to fix the mistakes I made.  I became her daughter and I began to learn from her…”

Dr. Frederick Fitzgerald nods his head as he takes this all in.  He knew most of this but never knew it went as deep as it did.  Fitzgerald decides that this is enough for now.  He presses the button again and the music stops.  “Ok, Ms. Braddock, sit up.”

“Huh?” Glory swings her legs over the side of the sofa and sits up.  She turns and looks at the psychiatrist. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.  I just want to ask you a few more questions...about Ms. Noel…”

“No…”

“Ms. Braddock, it is imperative that we…”

“No, you told me all I needed to do was be honest.  I think I’ve been very honest today.”

“But you cannot avoid difficult subjects.  It is unhealthy for our mind to keep bottling it up.  Look at what it made you do.”

“I know damn well what it made me do, doctor, and I admit, I need to talk about this, but not now.” Braddock shakes her head. “Not now.”

“Why not?  What are you afraid of?”

“You already know...failure…”

Dr. Fitzgerald nods his head. “At least you’re willing to admit what the real problem is.  You must understand, Ms. Braddock, that failure isn’t a problem.  Everyone makes mistakes and no one is perfect.”

“But I have to try to be perfect…”

“That’s fine, but you must always remind yourself that you will never BE perfect.  If you hold yourself up to too high of a standard you could be in for a huge letdown and that could lead to further stress.  I believe this failure is what brings about your post traumatic stress.  Any reminder of your failure triggers it.”

“I know…” Braddock reaches up to wipe tears from her eyes “...and that’s why I need a break.”

“But we just got started?”

“Please?”

The psychiatrist sighs but eventually relents. “Fine, let’s take a break.”

Dr. Frederick Fitzgerald gets up and exits the room, shutting the door behind him.  When he is gone Glory Braddock buries her face in her hands and begins to cry.

==========

Two Hours Later

Off Camera

==========

Glory Braddock wanted to leave the psychiatric session with Dr. Fitzgerald so badly.  He had managed to get inside of her head in a way that very few have managed.  It frightened her to the extent that she considered stopping this altogether but then she thought about the commitment she made.  She promised to finish these sessions, she promised to trust Dr. Fitzgerald with his work, even if it did make her feel uncomfortable.  And yes, today definitely made her feel very uncomfortable because it hit her where it hurts the most...her pride.

Most professional athletes are very proud, especially those who come from famous wrestling families like Glory Braddock.  But The British Bombshell feels a great pressure to be exactly what she claims to be: The Best in the World.  Anything less is unacceptable.  These failures that she has had in her past are haunting her and are causing her to lose focus and to lose control.  These failures and the fear of those failures are causing the PTSD to kick back in.  Glory realizes that now but she feels helpless.  She realizes that she is not the hero she once was, that she has become the tyrant she once opposed, but she cannot figure out how to make things right.

To make matters worse, Glory Braddock is still adding more guilt to her already overburdened conscience.  The British Bombshell lied to her family about these psychiatric sessions.  She never told anyone that she did agree to return to Dr. Fitzgerald.  She wants people to think that she is strong enough to defeat this on her own.  She doesn’t want anyone to believe that The Best in the World needs any help.  So she’s been lying about this ever since it began.  So now she must sneak back into her own home and avoid the family so as to not create any doubt or suspicion.

The sunlight is just beginning to fade away into the distance as nighttime takes hold in Miami, Florida.  The session ran longer than Braddock would have hoped.  She told her husband Kurt and daughter Melinda that she was going out to “run errands”...very vague but it satisfied them.  But she’s been gone for far too long.  Braddock is concerned that they will be suspicious.  She doesn’t want them asking where she’s been.  She needs to get back in without anyone noticing.

“The British Bombshell” Glory Braddock walks furiously up the sidewalk that leads to the front door of her gorgeous, modern Miami home.  The house looked like a cut out from a magazine. It was beautiful. but not in the old-world quaint kind of way.  Everything was geometric, which you could say about almost any pitched roof abode with square windows, but on this house you couldn't help but notice it. The roof was flat for a start and the door as wide as it was tall. The windows took up entire walls with only polished steel beams to break them into yet more rectangles. The look would have been entirely metallic, like a mini down-town skyscraper had it not been for the cedar beams of the external porch and the matching raised plant beds that contained only white blooms.  It looked new, because The British Bombshell took very good care of it; or rather she paid people to take care of it.  It looked like it had been finished last week. It looked almost too new in some strange way. It was as if it had rolled off a production line, but they had forgotten to apply the mandatory layer of color to it.

Braddock very quietly opens the door and then just as quietly and as silently as she can shuts it, avoiding any and all noises so as to not disturb the household.  Glory begins to walk quietly towards the staircase leading to the second floor when a voice calls out to her…

“Now I see where I get it from…”

Glory is startled at first but then she recognizes the voice.  She sighs as she realizes it is her daughter, Melinda Braddock.  The British Bombshell turns and heads in the direction of the voice.  She enters the living room; which is a gorgeous, sleek modern design much like the home’s exterior.  It is also clean; almost to perfection with barely a spot and even if one exists, it isn’t noticeable.  The cream colored sofa is soft, comfortable, and plush.  It is situated in front of a large flat screen television mounted on the wall above a fireplace.  The fireplace does seem slightly out of place as it is the only piece in this living room that looks relatively traditional.  It isn’t used often; this is Miami, after all.  Sitting in a comfortable recliner with her feet propped up is her daughter, nineteen year old Melinda Braddock.

“Mel?”

“Now I see where I get it from.” Melinda says, repeating herself. “I couldn’t sneak in worth a shit either.  At least I get it honest.”

“Watch the language, Mel.”

“I will as soon as you start telling the truth.”

“Oh bloody hell…” Glory feels the frustration boiling over as she shakes her head with utter disbelief.  She starts to turn around to walk away but Melinda stands up out of the recliner and stops her.

“We’re not done.”

“I say we are.” Glory remarks pointedly. “Now is not the time to start anything.”

“I think it’s the perfect time.  I mean, last year you were lecturing me about sneaking out all the time whether it was on a date with Clyde or whether it was with Matthew to train.  You were pissed at me for keeping that from you.  But then you turn around and do the same thing?”

Braddock’s temper begins to boil over again but she still manages to keep herself in check.  She doesn’t like being reminded of last year when Melinda was involved in a relationship with Clyde Sutter, nor does she want to think about Matthew Taylor training Melinda behind Glory’s back.

“This is different.  I was worried about you and rightfully so.”

“How is this different?  I was worried about you.  Kurt was worried about you.”

“I told you I went out to run an errand…”

“It shouldn’t take you that long.” Melinda shakes her head as she points this out.  Then a smirk forms upon her youthful face. “And that excuse was a very lame one, mom.  Seriously?  How much more vague can you be?”

“As vague as I want to be.” Glory tries to leave the room but Melinda again jumps in her way.

“What’s that supposed to mean?  Where the hell were you?”

“None of your business, Mel.  Now get out of my way.”

“Were you out conducting more criminal activity?”

“Criminal what?!  You have some nerve accusing your own mother of criminal activity.”

“Why?  I mean, I’m probably right.  How else except criminal activity did you manage to get Aunt Julia thrown into a mental asylum?  In fact, that’s probably what you were doing, weren’t you?  Plotting against Aunt Julia to silence her once and for all.”

The British Bombshell had done a thoroughly good job of controlling herself up until this point.  But everyone has their breaking point or, in this case to use the term Dr. Fitzgerald used, “a trigger”...and Glory Braddock has been triggered.  Without any real thought Glory lunges towards her daughter with wicked intent but Melinda manages to take her down with an arm drag into an arm bar.  Melinda keeps in wrenched in tightly.  Unfortunately the noise woke up Kurt Logan.  Glory’s husband is heard rushing down the stairs.  He makes his way into the living room and spots Melinda and Glory on the floor.

“Glory!  Melinda!  What the hell..?!”

Melinda is too stunned to answer.  Even she wasn’t expecting herself to so naturally, almost as if on instinct, take her own mother down.  She releases her grip on Glory and slowly pushes her back up to her feet.

“Uh, I’m sorry...it’s just…she…”

“No, Mel.” Glory says as she takes her husband Kurt’s hand and helps herself to her feet. “It’s not your fault.”

“Will someone mind telling me what the hell just happened?”

The British Bombshell gazes deep into her husband’s loving eyes.  She can see the worry and concern that is eating him alive.  Glory then sees the same worry and concern in her own daughter’s eyes.  Braddock realizes that she caused this, all of this, and this just adds more guilt to her already overwhelmed conscience.  Glory sighs and motions to the sofa.

“Come on, sit down.  I owe you both an explanation.”

Glory Braddock leads Kurt and Melinda over to the sofa.  Glory sits down first followed by Kurt who sits down on her right side.  Melinda Braddock sits down to her mother’s left.  The British Bombshell sighs deeply as she prepares for what she knows will be a difficult admission.

“My post traumatic stress...it’s back...in fact, I don’t think it ever truly left.”

“I thought your psychiatrist, Dr. Fitzgerald, I thought he said you were cured?”

“No.  I lied.” Braddock shakes her head. “I just never went back to see him.  But now the PTSD is worse than ever and it’s harder for me to control.  I lost control just now and went after Melinda.  She was just defending herself.”

Glory turns and looks at Melinda. “I’m sorry…”

“It’s ok, mom.”

Glory turns and looks over at her husband. “Kurt…”

“You know what you need to do, right?”

“I know and that’s what I’ve been doing.  That’s why I was late tonight.  I was out seeing Dr. Fitzgerald.”

“Why didn’t you just tell us that’s what you were doing?  We would have understood.” Kurt asks.  Glory sighs and shakes her head.

“Yes but you don’t understand where I’m coming from here, love.  I am Glory Braddock.  I am The Best in the World.  I have conquered the wrestling world and the business world.  I shouldn’t need anyone’s help.  I should be strong enough to beat this on my own, damn it!”

“You are the best but you’re not perfect.” Kurt says softly as he gently takes Glory’s hand and squeezes it tightly.  Braddock pulls it away as she shakes her head.

“But I should be…” Glory gets up and walks away.  Kurt and Melinda watch her exit the living room in silence but sharing the same thought: what happened to Glory Braddock?

The beautiful blonde makes her way upstairs slowly, trudging with her head bowed in shame at what she did tonight.  She shouldn’t have attacked her daughter but she lost control.  She shouldn’t be losing control.  None of this is right and Glory doesn’t see a solution in sight.  The psychiatrist, Dr. Fitzgerald, has made progress but this isn’t quick enough for Glory.  She needs more.  She is The Best in the World and she should be able to conquer this on her own.  She should be able to tackle this on her own.

As Braddock gets to the second level of her Miami home she gets an idea.  She goes into her bedroom and picks up the landline.  She immediately dials a number and waits patiently for an answer.  A smile creeps across her face.

“Yes, mom...do you mind coming down to Miami Saturday?”

==========

July 18th, 2020

Miami, Florida

Off Camera

==========

Guilt and fear can be crippling and in the case of “The British Bombshell” Glory Braddock, this fear and guilt have been doing damage to her psyche.  Mentally she is feeling so much pressure and stress than she has ever felt.  This added pressure, stress, along with the guilt and fear, have all come together in a perfect storm to trigger a resurgence of the post traumatic stress she had been dealing with for several years.  Braddock was determined to beat this on her own, she was determined to fix herself without the assistance of any specialist in the field of mental help.  It was her pride that was getting the best of her.  She is, after all, The Best in the World.  Surely she can overcome something like this on her own?

Yet thus far she has been unable to manage it as well as she had thought she would.  Earlier in the year she snapped and tried to strangle her business associate Meagan Collins.  Then she snapped and nearly strangled her own daughter.  That was what ultimately prompted her to finally relent and see a psychiatrist again.  The British Bombshell had hoped that seeing the psychiatrist would finally settle her problems but then, earlier this week, Braddock again lost control and went after her daughter.  Control is important to The British Bombshell.  She enjoys the feeling of being in control and the fact that she has seemingly lost control is most troubling to say the very least.  But how did it get this bad?  Maybe the better question is, what happened to Glory Braddock?

The symptoms of her change have been obvious for just about everyone except for Glory herself.  The British Bombshell has always prided herself on being the true hero of professional wrestling.  She has always prided herself on being willing to do anything for the best of professional wrestling.  Buying a wrestling promotion and then owning and operating her father’s wrestling school were both great ideas at first but then when she began bribing and blackmailing her enemies all just to maintain control over her corporate empire, all because she felt she alone knew what was best for her corporate empire, that is when things went too far.  How did she become a paranoid tyrant?  How did this happen?

The British Bombshell wants to get this straightened out once and for all and seeing a psychiatrist is only part of the solution.  The stubborn streak that she naturally inherited not only from her mother Mary Ford but also from her bull headed late father Glenn Braddock has caused her to attempt to seek out another potential solution.  Why must she only see a psychiatrist when Glory herself knows already part of the problem?

Part of the problem is the damaged relationship between her and her mother, Mary Ford.

Glory had bottled up an intense resentment of her mother over the divorce of Glenn Braddock and subsequent abandoning them to live in Boston, Massachusetts with her sister Kelly and nieces Angelica and Kayla Jones.  Mary’s logic and reason was certainly understandable.  Glenn Braddock was too obsessed with wrestling.  He put wrestling as his number one priority, even over his own family.  Most sane women would probably leave over this; but Glory never understood.  She hated growing up without a mother.  She hated how she was different from every other child, most of whom had both parents but she only had her father.  She only had Glenn Braddock because Mary never visited.

Most would understand Glory’s perspective as well.  Most would understand why she felt justified in her anger and resent towards her mother.  But that resentment and bottled up anger helped turn her into this tyrant.  It helped bring about these changes within Glory Braddock.  The British Bombshell knows that rebuilding that bond with her mother is a necessary part of fixing herself once and for all.  That process already begun last week when Mary and her daughter went to Sunday Mass at Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Miami, Florida.

This was a small way for Glory to reach out with an olive branch of peace towards her mother.  Glory remembers very little of the time she spent with her mother as a child, for she was very young when they split up.  But one of the things she does recall is the fierce battle over religious issues that her mother and father had.  Glenn Braddock was a fierce English patriot in about as many facets as you can imagine, including the religious.  He was an active member of the Church of England and he often argued with his wife Mary, a devout Roman Catholic, over their religious differences.  Glory remembers how her father put his foot down and refused to let his daughter go anywhere near a Catholic Church.  So perhaps visiting a Catholic Church with her mother is a way they can bond again?

Their first visit to Corpus Christi was an eye opening moment for The British Bombshell.  It even inspired her to finally go back and see the psychiatrist Dr. Fitzgerald in an attempt to fix her mental issues.  Glory was so moved by the service that she donated one thousand dollars to the church right on the spot.  And now?

Now she’s prepared to do something bigger…

Glory Braddock now walks side by side with her mother towards the office building of Corpus Christi Church.  It is a small, bland, rectangular building made out of red brick.  Nothing special about it whatsoever.  It’s dull appearance is a drastic contrast to the fantastic Gothic architecture of the church itself, Glory notices.  Braddock is wearing a little purple dress that hugs her every curve and matching purple high heeled patent leather pumps.  Mary is wearing an ankle length black skirt, black high heel pumps, and a white silk blouse.

“Gloria, I’m a little confused…” Mary says her voice trailing off a little.

“What about, mom?”

“I enjoyed lunch with you, Glory, and don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy spending time with you.  But what are we doing here?  Mass doesn’t start for a few hours.”

“I thought you religious types always said you can worship God anywhere and anytime?” Glory remarks with a sly grin on her face.  Mary sighs deeply and shakes her head.

“Of course you can, Glory, but…”

“It’s ok, mom.  I’m just teasing you.”

“That’s all well and good, but I still don’t understand what we’re doing here.”

“Look, you said it yourself, we both need this.  I need a relationship with you, I need a bond with my mother, a bond I never got growing up.  And you need this so you can move on from the guilt you felt after dad passed away.  The important thing is that we’re doing things together, ok?”

“Sure, whatever you say.”

Mary is reluctant as she follows her daughter to the front door of the tiny office building.  Glory opens it and steps inside followed by her mother.  What Glory has planned isn’t too spectacular but she still wants it to be kept a secret because she believes this will be a pleasant surprise for her mother.  Glory Braddock intends to become a Catholic and that is why she is here to meet with the priest of Corpus Christi, Father Sebastian.

The thing is, a desire to be closer to her mother isn’t what is driving her to this decision.  The guilt Glory feels in her mind is partially driving this decision.  She believes that giving her life and soul to the church, and maybe just a little money as well, will wipe away the guilt she feels.  Maybe this will help clear her guilty conscience?

The office building is just as small on the inside as it is on the outside, if not smaller.  Thus Glory almost immediately spots a door marked “Fr. Sebastian”.  Realizing that this is his office Glory leads her mother towards the door.  She knocks and a few moments later it is opened and the two women are greeted by the young priest Father Sebastian.

“Ms. Braddock, welcome!”

“Thank you, Father.  I hope you don’t mind that I brought my mom along with me?”

“Not at all.” Sebastian steps aside and motions for the two to enter.  Glory and Mary nod and then follow suit, entering the room.  There are two gray barely cushioned chairs in front of Father Sebastian’s oak desk.  Glory and Mary occupy these seats while Sebastian takes his seat at the oak desk.

“Mary...Mary Ford, is that right?” Sebastian asks Mary.  She nods her head.

“Yes, Father.”

“Well, Ms. Ford, may I say that you raised a fine daughter.  Do you have any idea what she has agreed to do for the church?”

“Oh it was nothing…” Glory shakes her head, blushing in some semblance of embarrassment.

“What did she do, Father?”

“She agreed to finance the entire remodeling of our Family Life Center, which is in desperate need of remodeling if I do say so myself.”

“Glory?” Mary is somewhat surprised by this news.  Glory just nods her head in confirmation of what Mary just heard.

“It’s the least I can do to help make up for...well...you know…”

“Make up for what?” Father Sebastian is now curious.

“I haven’t always made the best of decisions, Father.  I haven’t always been a decent, good person.  In fact, recently I’ve done some things that I am not necessarily proud of.  This is a way I think I can give back.  I can make things right.”

Mary is shocked.  Father Sebastian, while at first pleased by the donation to the church now seems somewhat disappointed in what Glory just told him.  The priest sighs as he leans back in his chair.

“Ms. Braddock, I hope you realize that if forgiveness is what you seek, then this isn’t the right way to do it.  If the Reformation and Counter Reformation taught us anything it was that you cannot just simply buy your way into eternal salvation.”

“I understand, Father.  That’s why I also wanted to ask if I could…” her voice trails off.

“If you could do what?”

“If I could join the church.”

Mary’s eyes grow wide as the next bombshell is dropped.  Glory ignores her mother’s reaction and just waits for what the priest has to say.  Father Sebastian nods his head.

“You can most definitely join the church but I must ask, are you joining for the right reasons?”

“Yes.”

“I hope that is true, but just so you understand what it is you are asking, and so you can faithfully and truthfully examine your own conscience, I will get a book for you to read.  It goes into detail about our Catholic faith and what will be expected.”

Father Sebastian gets up out of the chair and then exits the office.  As soon as he is gone Mary turns and gazes intensely at her daughter.

“Gloria...what on earth brought this about?”

“I already told you, we both need this.  We both need this relationship repaired.  This is one idea I had to help us bond, a way we can grow closer together.”

“I suppose that both of us being Catholic would bring us closer together but like Father said, is that really the right reason?  And the same can be asked about these unheard of donations you’re making to the church.”

“I need to do this, mom.”

“Why?”

“I just need to do it, ok?” Glory is beginning to grow more and more frustrated.  Mary can tell as she looks on at her daughter, studying her intensely.  After several tense moments pass Mary speaks up.

“Glory, you feel guilty.  I understand.  And as happy as I am that we will be spending more time together, as a mother I still have to advise you that seeing a psychiatrist for your issues is the best way to solve your problems.  Throwing money at it won’t help.”

“I know…” Glory says quietly, nodding her head “...and yes, I have been seeing a psychiatrist.”

“Good.” Mary takes Glory by her hands. “As much as I want you part of my life, this isn’t the end all be all solution.  A professional will give you the help you need.”