cardigan [h.s.]

Chapter 24

Ivy

Watching Diana walk out of the house after the fight we had was heartbreaking. I didn't think it would hurt this much. But the way she looked at me as she walked out the door, it felt like someone was driving a butcher knife through my heart.

She was going on a date. Something she should be excited to tell me about. Something she should be running to me to talk to me about. I should be the mom nagging her with questions about where they're going and what they are going to do. I should be the mom, teasing her about not getting pregnant. And I should have asked when she was going to be home. But I know I can count on Harry to bring her home at a reasonable hour.

But instead we were fighting beforehand.

So many things were said in such little time and I have no idea if things will ever go back to normal. Everything she said was right. She has every right be downright pissed with me. I haven't been putting her first like I should be. I'm supposed to be her mother, and I have failed her.

I failed her for the second time in her life. The first being when I left her in the hands of my sister and she got seriously injured.

"That kid can never learn when to fucking shut up," my slightly drunk sister speaks up behind me. "Now you wonder why I tried to drink when I was pregnant with her. Such a brat, and spoiled. I can't believe I'm the one who gave-"

"You need to leave," I say quietly.

"What?" Georgiana spits out back. Venom colors her voice. She doesn't like it one bit that I'm asking her to leave. But I need to do this. Not for me. For Diana.

I turn to look her in the eye. "I said you need to leave."

"You're kicking me out?"

I nod.

"All because of that fucking kid?"

"That kid is your daughter but I guess you did give up that right a long time ago, and I became her mother when you abandoned her on that road, bleeding," I fire back, finally putting Diana first. I can't believe it took me this long. "So, yes Georgie, I am asking you leave all because of that kid."

"But, but," she sputters, no doubt anger coursing through her. "I'm your sister."

"And she's my kid," I reply, tears brimming my lower eyelids. "I made the mistake of letting you stay here when you first got out."

My sister scoffs, turning on her heel to walk back into the kitchen."She can't be that important." She open the cupboard and grabs a new bottle. "She-"

"She is," I cut her off. "She is more important this all of this. This mess I've put her through. This mess that you put her through years ago and that she still carries with her to this day because she has the scar to remind her every day. But I bet you don't care about that do you? You never cared about her did you? You-"

"I did fucking care!" I flinch from the sound of glass breaking and see that my sister had thrown the full bottle of vodka at me, barely missing me and hitting the hall behind me. "Alright," she breathes out. "I did care about her."

How can she say that she cared about that kid. She doesn't care about her. She didn't care about her back then when' she was just a child, and she doesn't care about her now. I don't see how she can say she cares about Diana, when she has done a shit job at doing so.

You aren't doing such a great job either right now.

"You did," I say. "You did care about her. That's where we differ Georgie" My sister looks confused on where I'm going with this, so I continue, "You did care about her. I do. So I'm asking you to please leave Georgie. Leave and never come back because it's not good for either of us. Diana and I have been doing fine without here. I'm sorry that I never let you stay. I shouldn't have, it was a mistake."

"So that's it?" she scoffs. "Kicking me to the curb? Your own sister?"

I sigh, "Just go Georgie, please."

I don't want to fight about this with her anymore. I just need her to leave, or else I am going to have to call the authorities to have escorted out of my house.

"I see. I know when I'm not wanted," she replies before grabbing another bottle and chucking at the wall behind me again. "Fuck you Ivy! Fuck you!"

I flinch from the noise, looking down at my shoes and letting the tears fall to the kitchen floor. The tears mixing in the alcohol on the floor. My sister stomping up the stairs, still cursing me out while she packs her things.

I know what I'm doing is the right thing, but I can't help but feel like I'm betraying my sister just a little bit. I told her that I would always be there for her, and now I'm going back on that promise.

I'm doing the right thing, right?

"I hope this is what you wanted," Georgie says as she stands in the wide open front door. The crisp night air filtering in. "And I hope you and that fucking bastard child have a great life, Ivy."

And with that she walks out the door, slamming it shut. The power behind the slam, causing the lamp next to the door to rattle along with the curtains to sway from the force.

I break down on the kitchen floor, falling to the floor. My knees getting cut up from the pieces of glass on the ground from the bottle my sister threw at my head. The tears non-stop and loud sobs escaping my lips at the thought of my fractured family.

How did everything change so quickly?