Zelda Doherty- Scottish ancestry; Formerly a tender and loving woman, Zelda is the disgruntled mother of Shelby Doherty, whose heart has been embittered with resentment following her divorce from her daughter's biological father. Prior to her separation from her former husband, a sales manager at a paper company named Reuben with whom she quickly became besotted, she was known to be very doting and affectionate with her spouse. She led a relatively happy, stable lifestyle and was described as having been mild in temperament, with ambitions of furthering her education after receiving her Bachelor's in Political Science. She aspired to serve for the betterment of humanity and put her skills to practice in order to work on the social policy issues that generally impact people. Shelby's untimely birth put a strain on her relationship with Reuben however, as the pair struggled financially with their working-class backgrounds upon graduating from college. Zelda quickly fell into a depression shortly after Shelby's birth and struggled to embrace her new duties as a mother and maintain a warm relationship with her husband. She was unable to work due to her psychological condition for a significant amount of time and quickly found her relationship with Reuben deteriorating due to continuous misunderstandings and miscommunication. Reuben eventually became increasingly distant and despondent and began to argue more frequently with his wife, abandoning his previously gentle demeanor. Once an argument between himself and Zelda escalated and culminated in her slapping him across the face, the two separated due to irreconcilable differences. As a result, he chose to estrange himself from his former wife and daughter and move away to pursue a new life in Mississippi.
Having been a relatively young mom, she was often seen as a pretty woman who often has a hard expression in her eyes. She is somewhat short with a feminine figure and has gray eyes, ivory skin, and long red hair that has turned a dark auburn and falls towards her mid-back. Zelda can be slightly nervous and shows a more self-conscious side to herself at times, as evidenced by her reluctance to admitting she did not like pizza. She has a tendency to play by the rules and keep things in order, though this usually results in her getting into the exact trouble she tries to avoid. She will push herself to extremes so that she can accomplish her goals and, despite being anxious all the time, will throw herself out to help her coworkers. Her main attire as a child consisted of a dark green long-sleeved shirt with a white collar, a dark green skirt, long white socks, black Mary Janes, and noticeably a blue club jacket with a pink and orange pin on it, most likely part of the student government club. Zelda speaks with a sense of authority, but maintains a kindly composure that rubs off on other and can be determined to a fault, as she occasionally charges through without thinking of the consequences. Despite being a genius, she admits that she is quite terrible at passwords, with her birthdate being the only password that she goes by. She was a kind-hearted and grounded young girl who could solve a variety of things easily, making her open to negotiating with just about anyone. She had a caring nature, yet her mental sharpness often shined through, particularly when she's faced with people like Rupert, who tended to show off. While she was very open, Zelda did show some shame for not being very descriptive of what she had been up to, as she tried to have people trust her.
She speaks with a low voice and keeps to herself but has also proven to be a headstrong young lady who is very proud of her brainpower and fortitude. She showed a more active role in taking part in various adventures with her classmates and seemed to see herself as being" very cool". She took advantage of her nice living arrangements and exhibited great pride over her role in student government, yet whenever she was given an actual task to do, she would claim at last minute that she wasn't prepared or that she is not at one hundred percent. Zelda could be pushed into discomfort, especially if she is forcibly moved away from the things she loves, but she always managed to remain calm. She experimented with a different look one day and shows up to a gathering with dyed pink hair combed over to one side, purple eye blush and lipstick, and gold piercings on her ears and a stub on her eyebrow. She affectionately called her first zit Pam and fully embraced it due to believing that it was a sign of maturity and womanhood. She is implied to have very poor social skills and tends to do things to people, including Shelby without asking, and she likewise be quite cynical. Zelda's pragmatic approach often contrasts with her brother's big dreams, and she enjoys poking fun at his grand ideas, grounding them with a dose of realism. Despite her tendency to discourage his aspirations, this behavior stems from a desire to protect her sibling from potential disappointment. He isn't as smart compared to the rest of the family but makes up for it with a string of hidden talents and skills that aid the group in various ways. In the end, his realization that Zelda has been observing his habits and cares about their bond helps to mend their relationship. Zelda exhibits a bright, peppy personality to the world as a way of masking her insecurities and tends to give others the impression her life is better than it really is, but Shelby is well-aware of the reality.
While she truly loves Shelby in her own way, she does not spend much time with her, as she fears her very presence will drag her down to her own self-perceived lowly level. She also believes that her teachers are a far better influence on her than she will ever be, and although she is aware of her limitations, she still has hopes of being hired for a public sector job. Her anger can be described as cold and condescending, with her often being overly harsh and hard on her daughter. Zelda is considered attractive by many of Shelby's male classmates and often regarded as a "sugar mama" and the "ultimate milf". She nonetheless became an angry person and began to project her hostility onto her daughter, whom she perceived to physically be the spitting image of her father, after having previously been blindly in love with her ex-husband for many years. Her misplaced anger often affected Shelby negatively, plaguing her with self-doubt and numerous insecurities, as well as a poor self-image. She is seldom demonstrative with her daughter and has a snarky, despondent attitude when interacting with her, with neither being able to communicate properly or effectively with one another. Unable to continue her studies due to her pregnancy and find work in her field, Zelda now works at a call center and neglects her daughter for extended periods of time in favor of her work. She and Shelby often tended to avoid or ignore each other when at home together and had a strained relationship throughout the years. She experiences a scare however once Shelby is suddenly found collapsed on her bed running a high fever by her friend Naomi. She goes on an emergency visit to the hospital, during which she undergoes surgery to heal the infection caused by a ruptured appendix.
Zelda briefly shows her more humane side to herself as she shows concern for her daughter and the possibility of losing her. Although their relationship remains somewhat difficult following the events, she begins to show a softer side to Shelby and make more efforts to bond with her on occasion. The tension in their relationship intensifies however once Shelby falls into a deep depression and has an emotional breakdown her freshman year of college. A near sexual assault on campus causes her to lose focus on her studies and be placed on academic probation at Northeastern University. The mixed feelings of anxiety she experiences during her situation, combined with bottled up emotions from her previous social struggles in her adolescence, cause Shelby to become dissociated and delusional, as well as increasingly argumentative with Zelda. This leads Shelby to attack Zelda physically and verbally as she breaks a hole in the wall, releasing the pain she had felt in the years of being neglected and emotionally abused by her mother. Her mother, in a state of panic, calls the police on Shelby, leading to her being arrested and charged, although she later bonds Shelby out. She tries to help her daughter with her situation upon regretting her decision, assuring the police that all she'd ever wanted was for her daughter to receive help. Zelda urges Shelby to get help for her emotional issues and has Shelby briefly hospitalized in an inpatient clinic, during which she is initially misdiagnosed as Bipolar. She is later treated for Major Depressive Disorder while receiving continuous therapy throughout the summer through outpatient care, and eventually an LCSW named Luisa Huerta. Despite the concerns of her psychiatrist, Shelby insists on returning to her classes in the fall of that year and is later released from treatment.
By the end of the summer before she officially begins her sophomore year of college, she is left under the supervision of Zelda. Shelby's mental health struggles bring her closer to her mother, who works to have her assault charge dismissed and bring justice to her once she learns of the sexual harassment she experienced while in college. Her battle with mental illness causes Holly to reflect on certain aspects in her life and make attempts to forgive the past and move forward, as she tries to be sympathetic to her situation and treat her with more kindness and affection. It is shown that her mother depends heavily on her to help her and fix her problems, or come up with a scheme, and she revealed "broken" as her personal flaw, saying that it doesn't feel so bad when she "owns" it. She can come across as overconfident, quick-witted and insolent, yet her outward toughness is often a façade, and she also knows her vulnerabilities. Much of Zelda's past pain is healed once she receives an unexpected letter from Rupert, whom confesses that the reason from his distancing himself from the family was due to his previous diagnosis with an aggressive tumor in his pancreas. It was shown to be malignant, causing him to want to leave the household to prevent his wife and daughter from seeing him suffer through his illness. He tells Zelda that although he was in remission for some time and had seemingly recovered, his cancer had suddenly resurfaced in a terminal state after spreading to his lungs. He writes that his distancing himself from Zelda had been as a means of pushing her away and causing her to stop caring about him, to make his eventual death less painful for them both and their daughter. Reuben claims to have never stopped loving Zelda however or caring for her and his daughter and to have regretted his choices.
He also wishes that he could have been around to support his wife and see Shelby blossom into the young woman she had become. He admits to secretly still trying to help them both from afar, bringing Holly to the realization that the "large check" she had received had been a gift from Reuben himself. She learns that he had previously helped her buy themselves a new home in Long Island and had since quit his work as a sales manager and been earning his living instead as an entrepreneur. Zelda finally experiences a sense of relief as they cry upon reading the letter and embrace one another, wishing to put their past miscommunication with one another aside. She mends her strained bond with her daughter, and their relationship improves substantially over the years, with her becoming close to and involved in the lives of her three children. Shelby eventually marries Devon Tremain and births children of her own, and she describes her as an "okay chef" who is mostly known for her sourdough bread. She notes that her mother can often be found knitting to ease her stress and generally did most of the cooking when at home during the days they didn't order takeout and with time, with Zelda being able to open her heart to love once again. Zelda makes peace with herself and her past, allowing herself to fall in love with a man named Spencer, who she weds in two separate ceremonies. The first is revealed to be a micro wedding where are they are witnessed by a judge and surrounded by a few loved ones. The second is a more traditional one however that involves a private ceremony in her backyard, with a number of guests and her daughter Shelby as the maid of honor. She resides in New York's Lower East Side after coming back home from a honeymoon in Tahiti and gives birth to their only biological child and Shelby's half-brother in her early 40s, right after her senior year of college. ISFJ 6w5 (unhealthy)