The next-door fight between two couples

Natasha found her mother out on the street outside their home pacing to and from as she waiting for her husband to appear. Natasha quickly parked to the side and ran after her. The first thing she noticed where the tears in her eyes.
“Mum,” she held her tightly in her arms.
“I am scared Tasha,” Martha cried.
“It’s okay mum, it’s okay…I trust that dad is okay. You know how my heart paces when something bad is about to happen? Well, feel it,” she took her mother’s hand and placed it over her heart.
“It’s calm right?” Natasha said.
“What if something happened? What if the past…what if….”
Natasha slowly released her mother from the embrace and instead held both her hands. “Mum,” she said. “Dad won’t ever do that again.”
Martha gave her daughter a puzzled expression.
“I know,” Natasha said. “I know you and dad didn’t want us kids to know about what happened but there was that one time when I was in high school, you thought I wasn’t at home but I had dodged class to attend a concert. I overheard you and dad talking about how you met.”
Martha stood petrified to the core. “How much did you hear?”
“Not much really, I just heard you telling him not to try anything like that ever again. Your actual words where; no matter how bad you feel things are, nothing is worth taking your own life.
“You have me and the kids now, you are not alone any more. You told dad that if the past comes up again, he should talk to you first and no matter how bad things may seem, you would stick by his side.”
“You remember all that?” Martha asked.
“It was the first time I saw dad cry, of course I remember every single word.”
“I remember that day,” Martha said. “You came home that evening and read out a poem you had written for him. It was the first time you read out anything you had written. Before you would spend hours and hours in your room writing but you never allowed us to see what you were writing. You made your dad cry that day….”
The memory itself was enough to bring tears to the two women.
“Look mum!” Natasha pointed in the distance. “There’s dad’s car!”
Martha quickly turned to check. “Oh my God, that’s him baby.” She was shaking in relief. Natasha moved behind her and placed her arms around her from behind.
“I told you, he would be back home.” She said.
“You did,” Martha said, kissing her daughter’s hand.
Bernard went to park right next to his daughter’s vehicle and the two women ran to his side before he could even step out of the vehicle.
“I am so sorry my love,” Bernard said to his wife as he got out of the car.
“What happened?” Martha asked, taking his hand.
Natasha closed the door for him to give the two a chance to hug it out.
“Where were you dad? You got us very worried.”
Bernard moved from his wife to give his daughter a hug as well. “I am so sorry honey, I swear it won’t happen again.”
“I’ll move my car and you can follow. I guess the two of you have some catching up to do.” She turned and walked to car.
“But dad,” Natasha paused before opening her door. “Don’t ever do something like this again, okay?”
“I promise,” Bernard said.
“What happened, Ben?” Martha asked her husband the moment they were in the privacy of their bedroom.
Bernard sat down on the edge of the bed and hung his head down. Martha joined him by his side.
“I met her Martha.”
Instantly, Martha knew who he was referring to. “Where?”
“Outside Tasha’s place of work…she works there too.”
“What?”
“I know, some strange fate.”
“Who recognized who first? What did she say when she saw you? What did you say to her? How is she? What does she look like? Where has she been? Is she okay? Did she grow up well?” Martha was excited to hear the good news.
Ben had not given up on the search for his daughter despite the many years that had passed. She was relieved that he could finally get some peace of mind now and experience happiness without feeling guilty every time he smiled.
“Everything happened just like I feared honey,” Ben informed his wife.
Suddenly perturbed, Martha gave her husband a questioning look. “She wasn’t happy to see you?”
“She wasn’t.”
“Oh no…but don’t look so beat my love,” she took his hand. “We expected something like this to happen didn’t we? It’s not like you parted on good terms. The two of you just need to sit down and talk so you can properly apologize and beg her for forgiveness.”
“I wish it was that easy,” he said. “But she doesn’t want to have anything to do with me.”
“That’s because she is still mad honey, the two of you just reconnected. It will take some time before she can start thinking of you kindly. Just be patient with her for now and keep going to her and do your best no matter how bad she treats you.”
Bernard sighed heavily. “Nothing like that will ever happen.” Tears had welled up in his eyes.
“Why do you say that honey?” Martha asked. “You are scaring me now. What did she say to you?”
Bernard fully turned his body around to look at his wife. “Honey,” he said in a very low voice.
“What is it Ben?” she asked.
He took a deep breath before speaking. “Luyando,” he began. “She arh…she….”
“Ben.”
“She said some things….” He continued. “Some pretty awful things about me to her new parents.”
“So she was adopted? Wow, that’s even better. We always feared something bad might have happened to her or that she might have been taken by some bad people.”
“Did you even hear what I said?”
“I’m sorry honey,” she said. “I was just so relieved when I heard adopted. What did she tell her parents? It can’t be that bad. Did she tell them about your drinking?”
“She told them more than that.” Ben was looking down now, unable to repeat the words that his daughter had said to him. How was a man to tell his wife that his own daughter had accused him of violence and rape?
What did she say?” Martha probed her husband.
“The worst things baby, she said the worst things. She accused me of doing some terrible things to her.”
“Honey, look at me,” Martha put her hand under his chin and lifted his head up. “What’s going on? What did she accuse you of?”
The tears Ben had desperately been fighting back since he came home came pouring out. Like the typical man he was, he tried to hide his pain but Martha knew him too well. She moved closer and embraced him.
“Whatever it is, you can talk to me about it honey.” She told him.
Martha waited for him to calm down and when he finally did, he looked her in the eye and finally told her.
“Rape!?” Martha was in deep shock. “She accused you of rape?”
“I never did anything like that to her Martha. I would never touch my daughter like that. Please, please…you have to believe me. No matter how drunk I got, such thoughts never even crossed my mind. I promise you Martha….please, say something.”
Ben, Ben,” she put her hand over his lap. “Relax, I wasn’t quite because I doubt you. Rape? You?” she laughed. “I was just shocked that she would accuse you of something like that. Why did she do that?”
Ben looked relieved upon confirming his wife’s trust in him. “She said it was the only way to ensure they adopted her instead of just leaving her some money and sending her back to me. She wanted to have the kind of life they gave their son.