“Well, let me tell you something,” she said, her body wavering. “You shouldn’t fall in love with her. She isn’t worthy of your love. She’s a selfish bitch who doesn’t even take care of her own mama.”
“Don’t talk about Darcy that way,” I told her, standing now. “You have no idea what she’s been through, and I don’t believe you care. Selfish is something you can find in the mirror.”
Darcy, Shellene, Lila, Remi, and Addison all came down the stairs one by one. I could see that Darcy’s mom felt a little overwhelmed by everyone seeing her in the state she was in.
“What are you doing here?” Darcy yelled at her, closing the distance between them.
“It seems like it’s a good thing I’m here before this nice man makes the biggest mistake of his life.” She wrapped her arm around my waist (mainly to prevent herself from falling over).
“Mom, stop it!” Addison yelled. “Don’t talk that way about my sister. She doesn’t deserve for you to treat her that way. Go home. Leave us alone, please. We don’t want you to come here again.”
“Let’s go next door and let Darcy and Addison talk privately with their mother,” Lila said as she ushered Shellene, Remi, and me toward the front door.
“You should know that Darcy is a whore!” She ran over to us, shaking her finger and almost face-planting on the floor until I reached over and steadied her. “That’s right.” She turned to Darcy. “Why don’t you tell everyone how you used to be a stripper? Isn’t that right? Your lap dances turned into sex most of the time, didn’t they? But you were happy about that because you made more money that way.”
There was complete silence as all eyes fell on Darcy. The look on her face confirmed her mother’s words. I’d never seen her look so hurt and embarrassed. I went over to her side and put my arm around her shoulders, but she pushed me off.
“Everything I did, I did it to take care of my family,” Darcy said.
“Okay, let’s go,” Lila said again. I obeyed even though I wanted to stay.
* * *
Darcy
“You’re nothing but a hypocrite. You judge me because I take the occasional drink or drug, but at least I don’t sell my body for a cheap buck,” she continued.
“MOM!” Addison yelled. She walked right up to her and slapped her in the face, hard.
She brought her hand up to her mouth and then saw the blood on her fingers. “How could you do that to me, Addison?” She was shaking and red in the face. “You always were a follower. Darcy has brainwashed you into thinking living with her is the best thing for you.” She held her hands up and looked around the room. “Living like this will only spoil you and make you selfish, just like her.”
“The occasional drink or drug? You don’t know your name half the time. You can’t even hold down a job for more than a few days. You haven’t got the capacity to care about anyone around you and see how what you’re doing is affecting them. Addison is living with me because you’re not well enough to look after her. I’m giving Addison a life that she can be proud of. All you’ve ever given her is shame and despair. Get out of this house, and don’t ever show your face around here again,” I told her as I pointed to the door.
“I wish I’d never had you two. My life would have been so much better if I didn’t have to put up with you!” She turned and stumbled out of the house and fell on her face.
I just stood there with my arm around Addison.
“Should we help her?” Addison asked.
“No. Let her figure it out.” I closed the door and took my sister in a big bear hug. “I don’t think she’ll be back.”
“I’m scared for her,” Addison sobbed.
“I know. I was, too, for so long, but I’m realizing that we can’t fix her. She needs to want to fix herself before she will make an honest effort. There’s nothing else we can do for her,” I said. “She’ll be alright, don’t worry.”
“I wish she were a normal mom like all my friends have,” Addison said through sobs.
“I know. I’m sorry you had to find out like that. Everything she said was true,” I told her, unable to look her in the eye. “I did all of it for you.” My voice cracked on the words.
Addison put her arm around me and held me tight. “You don’t have to apologize for anything. You haven’t done anything wrong. You did what you thought you had to do to keep our family safe. I feel awful that you had to do those things.”
I shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. It was my choice. A few years of doing that gave us our independence and freed us from the life we were living with her. It also paid for all of her medical treatments and several stays at the rehabilitation clinics. It’s sad they didn’t work for her. We also both got our university degrees with that money, and now we’re in a better place. If I hadn’t done that, we’d still be living in misery, and who knows how awful our life would have been?”
Addison looked at me. “Thank you for doing all of that and taking care of me when Mom couldn’t. Thank you for trying to help her. I love you, Darcy.”
I took her in my arms and held her close, knowing that things would be okay. “We Blackwell sisters are strong, and we’ll be just fine. You just wait and see,” I smiled.
THANE & DARCY