“You had used half of the $100,000 life insurance to marry your new wife and raise your second daughter.” Charlotte exploded in a rage. “Ever since you restarted your new life, you have forgotten the love that you gave my precious daughter and forgotten the child you had with her!”
Dylan roared as he waved his arm for them to go away. “Silence! I don’t want to hear anymore nonsense!”
“No! I need to say more! All these years, I never blamed you for all the times you mistreated my granddaughter since you allowed me to stay with her to watch her grow up. I really appreciate your kindness for not sending me to a nursing home,” Grandma Charlotte continued with her conversation. “I risked my life, bearing illness and old age to live this long until my granddaughter came of age. If you really can’t stand us living in your new life, then we’re willing to leave the house. Even though Talia has already turned eighteen years old and she is no longer under your guardianship, I hope you will let us leave the moment Talia graduates from her high school next year. I still have money from my 401k account that I could help my granddaughter with the bills. For the last memory of my daughter, please bear with us for the next five months.”
“Alright!” Talia’s father agreed after a long thought. “You can have five more months to stay in this house. After that, I hope you can leave for good.”
Charlotte interjected in a strong firm voice. “You better keep your word. I hope we can end the feud between us all now.”
“I did say as I promised. Even though I never loved or raised Talia like the oath I took for Alexia…” Dylan coughed himself on his mistake before he continued with his words. “I meant… on your daughter’s deathbed, at least I let the both of you have a roof to stay under for these past few years. That’s the best I can do since I need to start my own life too. I can’t make both sides happy!”
Edith interrupted him at that instant. “Darling, where will they go? You can’t just kick them out!”
Talia’s father stared at his wife and frowned. “I thought you wanted them to leave. And the sooner they’re gone, the less fights will happen in this house.”
“But who will do all those chores?” Edith pointed at the mess in the kitchen. “We have no money to hire for a maid.”
Dylan glowered at his wife for the first time ever since their marriage. “Enough! I already said my final word. I can’t change my mind now.” Before he left the room, he stared at his second daughter. “Abigail, that insufferable boy was right after all. I really should start teaching you some manners too. Remember that your mother and you had to take over the house duties when Talia and her grandma left this home.”
Glancing at her stepmother and half-sister screaming and chasing after her father up the stairs, she huddled with her grandma and cried in silence. She hoped that she would have her peaceful day at last. She went back to do her chores and then to do her homework.
The routine was comforting. Though the only difference that night was that she waited until midnight for Jayden’s phone call, the ringing of the receiver never echoed in the house. Frowning with a sigh, she turned to look at the outlet behind the sofa. She frowned at the sight, which the phone cord not only unplugged but also disappeared too. Talia assumed her stepmother must hide the cord during her shower in the bathroom.
Wow! JD must have made my stepmother furious. She even went this far to stop him from calling our house. With no choice, Talia groaned as she headed to bed to sleep.
The next day, the drama in their home changed for the better or worse. Her father and stepmother refused to look at Charlotte and her while Dylan persuaded Abigail to do the chores. Edith disagreed with teaching her daughter to do house duties, and her sibling refused to help with the chores. Since Talia wanted no argument with them after that drama, she ignored their presence.
However, she didn’t expect the change in her half-sister for the next several days. Abigail suddenly woke up early to cook a burnt breakfast for them. Talia never could eat the food, so she avoided eating breakfast. Her sibling even snatched the broom from Talia’s hand as she shoved Talia aside as she swept every corner in the kitchen. With the poor way she swept the floor, the room was even messier than before the cleaning. Talia gawked at the sudden change in Abigail.
What in the world? Is this still my half-sister? What’s with the sudden change in her?
Edith scolded Talia in a disapproving tone, “How come you’re so lazy? You should go and do your chores.”
“I really want to do my own cooking,” Talia protested as she gaped at the happy mood in Abigail, who wiped a feather duster at the white walls in the kitchen. “She wouldn’t let me do any of the chores though.”
Her stepmother frowned, “You should go and take that equipment from her hand, or else I won’t be lenient on you.”
Before Talia could retaliate, Dylan approached them from the living room. “I told Abigail that she should become hardworking if she wanted to catch a man’s attention.” He waved at Talia. “Go and stay with your grandma. This weekend, I want your stepmother to train Abigail on her house duties.”
Talia had no way out from this argument, so she excused herself and ambled down the downstairs. Even though her father had helped her escape an ear-splitting lecture from her stepmother, Talia didn’t want to eat those overcooked foods from Abigail. She might have had a better improvement from her house due to JD’s involvement, but the punishment of Abigail’s cooking made her weary.
Sighing with a heaved breath, she entered Charlotte’s bedroom to see her granny bending near the window. She strode over to see her grandma knitting on red and green wools.
“What are you making, Granny?” Talia stared at the length of the wool beneath the two stitching tools. “Is that a present?”
Charlotte nodded. “Of course! I’m going to give this to you for Christmas. You’re right on time. Let me see if this fits you.” She stood up and wrapped the fabric around Talia’s chest. “Hm… You have grown more now. I need to knit more fabric.”
Sitting back down on the stool, her grandma continued to knit to extend the fabric. Talia stopped asking questions as she laid down on the bed. Twisting and turning on the soft mattress, the creaks annoyed her grandma to no end.
"Go back to your room if you're just here to bother me," Charlotte sighed, nudging her granddaughter on her back. "I need to focus on knitting this sweater before Christmas arrives in a week."
Talia stopped moving. "JD hasn't called me for a week now. I wonder what's wrong with him."
"Don't you remember that he needs to study for his finals?" Charlotte reproached her granddaughter. "Have you even finished your studying too?"
Talia huffed as she thrashed one of her legs onto the bed. "Today is Saturday anyway, so I can finish doing my homework later tonight or tomorrow. I really want to talk to JD."
"Leave him alone for now. Thanks to that gentleman, we finally have peace and quiet." Charlotte grinned at Talia. "Have you even prepared a gift yet so that you can give it to him?"
Talia crawled out from the bed as she realized that she hadn't even prepared a present. She strode around the room while she thought of any ideas. What should she give as a present to him during this cold weather? Seeing the fabric in her grandma's hand, she sat on the ground and smiled at her granny.