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Bastian was on an errand, so I was home alone watching a movie when I heard a knock at the door. It took me a minute to process the fact that Aunt Kim stood on the front stoop of the Wrights' home.
“Larkspur, could I come in for a minute?”
My gut said to close and lock the door, but I stepped back and held the door open for her to enter. We settled in the living room and I reached for the remote and paused the movie. It was difficult making eye contact, because frankly she freaked me out. Somehow I managed to ask, “Is there something wrong?”
“I know we have never seen eye-to-eye, but I came here because it means a lot to your uncle that we attempt to get along.”
If by “not seen eye-to-eye,” she meant she'd been a vindictive jealous bitch to me for most of my life then, yes, I could agree with her statement.
She didn't seem to pick up on my annoyance as she continued on, “Your uncle remembers Dylan differently than I. She was my sister and I loved her, but she was a hard person to like. She was very selfish. People adored her because of how she looked, but if they scratched the surface they would have seen her beauty only ran skin deep. Eddie was mine. Dylan knew how I felt about him and she purposely took him from me. I had to watch as the man I loved fell head over heels for my own sister. Can you imagine how painful that was for me? She didn't care how much she was hurting me and as it turned out, her love for him was as fickle as her love for me when she up and left him.”
Despite myself, I found I actually felt sympathetic toward my aunt, because I couldn't imagine having a sister who deliberately stole Bastian from me. I knew my mother was selfish; I had firsthand experience of that, but I didn't think she was capable of such out and out cruelty. My mouth opened before I truly knew what I intended to say. “I'm sorry, Aunt Kim, that was really pretty awful of her.”
When she looked at me, there was a bit of wildness in her stare. “It all worked out, but maybe now you understand why I treated you as I did, when you came to live with us. How could I feel anything but contempt when just looking at you I see so much of her?”
Well, I didn't agree with that. I may look like my mother, but I wasn't her. Why should the child pay for the sins of the parent?
“I could never love you and I know that sounds harsh, but it's the simple truth. I had lived for so long in the shadow of my sister. Finally she died and I got all I wanted. But it didn't last because then you came, and once again my sister had planted herself quite firmly between me and what I wanted most. It was her last act of selfishness—sending you to me—as if she hadn't hurt me enough.”
She stood so abruptly, I almost pulled a muscle in my neck following her. “I came to see you at the request of your uncle. Perhaps you will call him and let him know you understand where I'm coming from. He lives in a fantasy world, where everyone gets along, but you and I both know life rarely works that way. Sometimes blood isn't thicker than water.”
She turned then and reached for my hand, holding it almost painfully in both of hers. “You will make it right with your uncle. He's my life, as are the girls. It's in your power to make this all go away. So prove you aren't like your mother and do the right thing.”
Before I could reply, she walked out the door. I just stood there for a few minutes, because I really didn't completely understand what just happened. Yes, I heard my aunt's words, but there was something about her entire speech which left an unpleasant taste in my mouth. For someone who claimed my mother was selfish, a fact I knew all too well, I heard an awful lot of me, me, me in Aunt Kim's spiel. Not to mention her comment about my mom dying and her finally getting everything she always wanted was seriously messed up.
I walked back into the living room, but couldn't watch the movie with the knot in my stomach, so I reached for my cell and called my uncle.
“Lark, what a nice a surprise.”
“Hi, Uncle Eddie. Do you have a minute?”
“Sure. Is everything okay?” There was a note of worry in his tone.
“Yeah, it's just that Aunt Kim was here.”
“She was?”
“Yeah. She explained to me about my mom, and I guess she was hoping by sharing with me I would understand her better, or more to the point, understand why she isn't a fan of mine.”
“What did she tell you?” There was no mistaking the anger in his voice.
I relayed the conversation and was completely shocked to hear the curse that hissed across the line.
“She shouldn't have burdened you with our shit. We had a long talk last night and I guess she thought if she could get you to understand, all would be okay between us, but we're way past that.”
I heard him exhale. “I'm sorry she came to see you and filled your head with impressions of your mother that are simply untrue. I was never in love with your aunt when we were younger, though I knew she had feelings for me. Perhaps it was unfair of me to marry Dylan's sister after she left knowing that a part of me would always belong to her, but you were an innocent child and should have been loved despite whatever happened in our love triangle. Your aunt's behavior toward you is wrong and she needs to acknowledge that. As far as your mother, she was a good person: kind, fair, selfless, but somewhere along the way she just lost herself. You may never have seen the good part of her, but I promise you it was there.”
He went silent for a minute. Then he added, “As for your aunt, we're separating. I don't want you to worry or feel responsible. It's something I've been thinking about doing for a very long time. My actions are not because of you, so please don't think that they are, despite what your aunt told you. Our problems are between us—you are just collateral damage. For that I'm very sorry.”
He sounded so sad, but resigned too. “I'm so sorry, Uncle Eddie.”
“I'm doing what I should have done a long time ago, Lark. I don't regret my life with Kim because I got the girls, but we've not been working for a really long time.” A wave of fear swept through me in response to his words—I really did believe the only thing that tethered my aunt to sanity was her family. I was afraid of how badly she would spiral out of control without Uncle Eddie and the girls to keep her grounded, but I kept my worries to myself.
“Please don't worry about it, okay?” Hesaid.
Easier said than done. “Okay.”
“So, to change the subject—how were finals?”
