DO IT WITH CLASS

oma Julia and bad planning

When Alexei died, Julia became strict with Joanne, it didn't matter what aspect, she had to have some sort of control over it. Joanne was no longer allowed to take morning runs with Anna and Sanne, she couldn't have breakfast either because both made her look "te veel op een verdomde man" ("too much like a damn man")

Julia was old, but she still had her wits with her, so when Germany invaded Poland in September of '39, she knew it wasn't just gonna be Poland that would fall into the hands of the Nazi's. So, she made sure her and her granddaughter would have an escape to England if necessary.

Julia was right, the Germans invaded the Netherlands on the 10th of May 1940. But due to not living close to the German border in the slightest, they had time to run, they got on a dingy boat with both only one suitcase with their belongings and went to England, outrunning the Germans.

In England, the old woman was even more closed off, as she barely knew any English due to only leaving the Netherlands a handful of times. Joanne knew English, obviously, so she helped her grandmother around the best she could, but no matter what she did, Julia never eased up on her granddaughter and continued to break her confidence down bit by bit.

After living in England for just a little over a year, they finally got an opportunity to leave for America. The trip wasn't horrible, the beds were doable and the food wasn't terrible either; it was the waves, and Joanne had terrible seasickness on board. The older woman did nothing but say that the seasickness was doing her good, making her look thinner.

Safe to say Joanne was happy to be back in her old house in New Summerfield after being away for so long. It was exactly as she remembered, just as warm and welcoming. It was neat, save for the occasional book or paper here and there and there was not much dust in sight, thanks to James who lived in the house alone when he was in the states all those years.

Shortly after arriving, James and Joanne's grandmother started declining slowly but surely. At first she walked around the house normally, mumbling some nonsense to Joanne about stupid stuff every now and again. It was only after a while she became bed-bound, during that time, she never really spoke anymore. Jo felt absolutely horrible for it as she still loved her grandmother dearly, but she sometimes loved the silence, she loved not having to hear her oma's bullshit.

Jo went out again, made jokes with James and took morning runs through the fields around their house, it was nice but she couldn't help but wonder how her friends in the Netherlands were doing and if they were okay or even alive.

On the 11th of September 1942, Julia Vasilyev néé Gerritsen died in her sleep in the guest bedroom of the Sink family residence.

James was sad, but it didn't bother him that much, he hadn't seen his grandmother in many many years so he didn't cherish much love for her if he had to be completely honest. Joanne was devastated, no matter how bad her oma treated her, Jo never stopped loving her grandmother, nothing could change that. A small part of her hated herself for still loving her grandmother even after how she treated her.

They didn't invite their father to the funeral for multiple reasons. One being that they both didn't want to reunite with their father that way. Another being that he, just like his son, didn't cherish much love for the old bitter woman, and it just wasn't possible to invite anyone on such short notice. There was an obvious rift between the two of them that was not only caused by the language barrier, but also the way they led their lives, oma Julia didn't agree with the way the Sink family lived, and Robert also had strong opinions about his mother-in-law at times.

Nevertheless, he had respect for her, as she took his daughter in willingly and raised her for the past few years while he and his wife were not able to.

After a long minute of silence, the oldest Sink spoke again. "Does your ma know?" Even though Hannah left her home in the Netherlands early, she still loved her parents dearly. Jo knew that, James knew that and Robert knew it, too.

"No, we didn't. And we're not planning on telling her any time soon. She's been doing so incredibly well and this would destroy her completely, all her progress from the last years would be gone in a second" James answered, he could tell Jo was having trouble keeping her tears in, so he took the liberty to explain their reasons.

The father nodded his head in understanding, of course he didn't fully agree, his wife deserved to know, but he had to agree with his children that it would be best for Hannah.

"Very well, how long will you two be staying? I assume you'll be wanting to go back home soon" Robert finally said, wanting to know how much time he had with his son and daughter before they had to leave, again.

The siblings looked at each other once again, they didn't quite plan this trip thoroughly, being too focused on having to organise their grandmother's funeral and getting a train to Toccoa.

"We didn't know how long you wanted us to stay, the decision is yours dad"

.・。.・゜✭・.
Authors note:
I'm sorry that this chapter took so long to be uploaded, this is mainly a rundown of hoe they got at Toccoa and why and family history bla bla bla.
This took SO LONG to write bcs i absolutely hate it but it'll explain alot as to why Jo is the way she is.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter nonetheless!!
xxxx