By midday, I was checking the video on my phone with trembling hands.
Everything appeared perfectly normal at first.
Bev had a bowl of chopped fruit beside her while she played with her toys on the floor.
Cheryl read a book while relaxing on the couch with a cup of tea.
Cheryl then looked at her watch.
“Bev, sweetheart, are you ready? Our friend will be here any minute now!”
I felt sick to my stomach.
It was time to disclose the friend.
“Yes, Gran! I love her! Do you think she’ll play with my hair again?”
She.
When she saw my daughter, Cheryl smiled.
“If you ask her, I’m sure she will, little love. And you remember, right About what we don’t tell Mommy?”
The sweetness of my daughter’s voice was impossible.
“Yes. Not a word to Mom.”
I almost dropped my phone on the tiles in the office.
Then the faint ring of the doorbell reached my ears.
Cheryl got up and walked to the door, adjusting her clothes.
She opened it, and my hands gripped.
I had no idea who I was going to see or what I would see.
However, I felt nauseous.
If I needed it, at least I had my wastepaper container nearby.
Then I caught sight of her.
The companion.
Alexa, Jason’s ex-wife, entered my house.
Jason had parted ways with the woman years prior.
I was informed that the woman had relocated to a different state, stating that she needed a new beginning with strangers.
My daughter, Beverly, immediately rushed into her embrace.
I don’t recall reaching for my keys.
How I got into the car is a mystery to me.
All I know is that I was racing home one minute while seeing my entire existence collapse on the small screen.
I flung the door open until it slammed into the wall.
They were all there.
My daughter, Jason’s ex-wife, and Cheryl are seated on the couch together like a bizarre little family get-together.
Startled, Alexa turned to face me.
“Oh. Hi, Martha,” she said. “I didn’t expect you home so soon.”
She spoke nonchalantly, as if she were supposed to be here and I wasn’t.
As if I had interrupted their brief playdate.
“What the hell is she doing here?” I asked, my voice sounding sharper than I intended.
Bewildered, Beverly looked up.
“Why are you destroying the union, Mommy?” Innocently, she enquired.
A union? A reunion? I didn’t comprehend.
Cheryl let out a sigh, sitting back like this was all so tiresome for her.
“You always were a bit slow on the uptake, Martha,” she said smoothly.
Everything was broken by the subsequent talk.
“What union? Or reunion? What is my child talking about?”
Alexa moved uncomfortably.
“Look, I…” she started.
I said, “Shut up,” and to my astonishment, she did.
Cheryl grinned.
“I think it’s time you actually accepted reality, Martha. You’re not supposed to be here. You were never really supposed to be here. I think the only good thing to come from you is Bev.”
My entire body went frigid.
Cheryl bent over.
She pointed at Jason’s ex and declared, “Alexa is the one who was meant to be with Jason.”
“Not you, Martha. My goodness, you were a mistake. And if… or when, Jason realizes that, Beverly should already know where her real family is. Alexa won’t just leave her at some daycare. She’ll move to working from home, so that she can be with your daughter.”
Alexa refused to look at me.
She had a throw pillow on her lap and picked at the frills.
“You manipulated my child, Cheryl!” I shouted.
“You let her believe that I didn’t matter… that she didn’t matter?! That we were both replaceable to each other!”
Cheryl’s eyebrows went up.
“Well, aren’t you?” Something broke inside of me. And I don’t know what I would have done if my child hadn’t been present. Alexa was still silent when I turned to face her.
“And you? You went along with this? Why? You left Jason! So, what the hell do you even want?”
She took a swallow.
“I just… Cheryl convinced me that Beverly should know me. That maybe if Jason and I…”
I moved in closer.
“If you and Jason what? Got back together?” I spat.
She didn’t respond.
I looked at Cheryl again.
“I am done with you,” I said, my voice was steady now, deadly calm.
“You won’t see Beverly ever again.”
Cheryl pushed her hair behind her ear and grinned.
“That will never happen, my son.”
I smiled at her, hard and cold.
“Oh, we’ll see.”
I embraced Beverly tightly.
She didn’t argue with me.
She was perplexed, though. And more than anything else, that broke me.
I vowed to keep my baby near as I sat in the car.
Nobody was going to take my daughter away from me, no one at all.
Not Cheryl.
Not Alexa.
And what if Jason didn’t support me when he learnt?
Then not even him.
I described the matter to Bev while we were out for ice cream.
“Mom? What happened? Did I do something wrong?”
As I watched her pick at her ice cream, I replied, “Oh, no, honey.”
“Grandma did the wrong thing. She lied to you and me. And she was very naughty. We’re not going to see her again.”
She said, “And Aunty Alexa?”
“We’re not going to see her either. She hurt Daddy a long time ago. And… she’s not a nice person. And what do I say about people who are not nice?”
“We avoid them!” she exclaimed, grinning as she recalled.
Neither Alexa nor Cheryl were home when we arrived.
However, Jason was.
When he said, “Hello, baby,” Bev leaped into his arms.
“Jason, we must speak.”
While I told him everything, we sent Bev to play with her toys.
As additional evidence, I gave him the video.
For a long period he was silent and pallid.
“She’s never seeing Beverly again. Never. I don’t care.”
Cheryl attempted to contact.
She made an effort to protect herself.
Her number was blocked by me.
Not everyone deserves a second shot.
Furthermore, some people are not deserving of the title of family.
