Day 7: Breaking the Rules
"I've never thought about that before.", I muttered as a contribution to the conversation.
"I have — plenty of times. I don't know how you couldn't have before. She used to really be something." We passed the photos from a faded hat box filled with letters and pictures between us. The woman featured in them exhibits varying degrees of beauty. "I guess we accepted it before because she is her. Now there is some distance between us. I don't feel like I want to take whatever she feels like dishing."
"Well, actually, we do. Aunt Jade is here. She may not be the same person" Amaya gave me a challenging look before handing me a letter from a long-forgotten lover. "Consciously feel the stings, accept your feelings, and push past it. Like one of these Lolli's that she sucked the life out of before, she left them." I waved the paper in my hand to emphasize my point. Amaya rolled her eyes and sucked in her lips. She returned a picture to the box with one hand and picked up a letter with another.
Honestly, I don't remember her being so bad. I don't remember her being so good either. I was a kid when she lived with our family the first time. I am younger than Amaya and was less enamored by her. Aunt Jade had fewer opportunities to disappoint me with her physical distance. That combined with her lack of communication over the years hurt Amaya. With no wounds to heal, I can accept her more readily.
"Amaya," Aunt Liza called from the other room. Amaya put her finger up to her mouth. Other than her gesture, she did not move.
We could hear someone coming closer to our room. "Zara!" I didn't move. "Girls, we know that you are here. Your Aunt Jade has something to talk to you about."
Amaya responded, "I don't want to talk with her."
Aunt Liza aggressively entered the room. "Good. She wants you to listen. Just sit down and let her tell you her side of things." Neither of us moved. Her eyes shifted from both of us twice before she took a gentler stance. "Do it for me."
"She is going to spin whatever happened to make her look like the victim. My Mom used to say that her sister was always jealous. She couldn't get her life together because she always wanted what Mom had. What she couldn't obtain, she destroyed. Mom told me that her sister showed up with one of her stories. She took her in. When her sister left so went her relationship with Zara's Father. I know you know she had something to do with the disappearance of my Father, as well." Amaya took a deep breath. "Before this visit, she left along with all the conversations about her. I want to keep it that way."
"I want to know what she has to say." I stood up and walked towards the door. I didn't look at my Aunt Liza or my Sister.
Aunt Jade was sitting in my Mother's living room, looking like an alternative universe version of her. I could tell that she had consumed something that made her relaxed. Aunt Jade smiled with her lips but not with her eyes. She craned her neck to see if there were any one behind me. Aunt Jade didn't get up from my Mother's favorite chair to hug me. She stayed put and looked disappointed.
"Your sister isn't coming? I thought Amaya was back there with you."
"She was. I am here to hear what you have to say."
"No offense. I don't need to talk to you. I need to talk to Amaya. She is the one that is avoiding me."
"None taken. I can probably relay this to Amaya in a way that she will consider your point of view." Aunt Jade looked like she was trying to dismiss me with her eyes.
"I can go back to the room, and you can leave. Everything will remain the same. I'm not your favorite niece. I am trying to help you mend fences."
She sat at the edge of her seat as if she was contemplating bolting. Or, she could have been nervous. "Well, since you are already offended. I might as well tell you. You told me that you saw your Mother talking to the neighbor a couple of times." I can feel myself getting warm. I did not know what I thought she would say to me. Her words were unexpected and offensive.
"What?"
"A couple of times you mentioned in passing that your Mom was talking to your neighbor's husband. I told your Father that I thought she was spending too much time with the man next door for a woman that is supposed to be committed to him."
"Are you talking about Mr. and Mrs. Sentelle? The couple that still lives next door to this day. The nice people that looked out for us over the years when you disappeared from our lives. What exactly did I tell you? How old was I?"
"You saw them talking. And, I told your Father. He confronted your Mother. She called him crazy. I told him that his daughter wouldn't lie on her Mother. Next thing I know, they go from arguing with each other to arguing with me. They blamed their problems on me. They made me leave without saying "Bye" to Amaya. I heard that their relationship ended a few months after they turned on me. I saw your Father after he left. I reminded him that your Mother didn't know how to be in a relationship. He said that nothing was going on between your Mother and the neighbor. He didn't trust her because I was so convincing. I reminded him that you were a liar. She was raising you to be deceitful. I don't know what else she was putting in you girls."
"Why are you here?"
"Your Mother died. I thought you girls would need someone to lean on."
For the first time in life, I didn't see her beauty. Before my eyes, she transformed from another version of my Mother to a total stranger. A stranger that I never wanted to see ever again.
I could hear Amaya entering the room. "Don't worry about us. We have each other to lean on. I told her you were a hot mess.”
“I never thought about you in that way until now.”, I said as I felt Amaya’s arms around me for support.
We had officially lost our Mother and her Sister in the same year.