“You won’t be there? How will we see you? When will you be able to come to my basketball games?” He pouted as the reality of the situation set in. His anguished eyes showed his conflict about whether he should be happy about moving to Florida or sad about moving away from Olivia.
“I’ll visit as soon as I can. You’ll also come back to spend time with me,” Olivia consoled although her chest swelled with holding back her true emotions.
“I don’t want to leave you, Mama.” Christian leaned into her lap and began weeping.
“Oh, Christian. It’s okay, honey. We are going to work this all out.” Olivia stroked her son’s back to comfort him. She glared at Malcolm and anger seeped into her pores with the deeper revelation of the stress on the kids.
Aside from Christian’s sobs, silence thickened in the kitchen. A clock ticked above the stove. The dogs whimpered outside, which added to the family drama.
“This is unfair. Our whole lives are falling apart. I don’t have any of my stuff anymore and now you guys are taking me away from everything and everyone I know. None of this would even be happening if she didn’t set our house on fire,” Simone stated with dramatic flair. She jutted her thumb in Olivia’s direction. “This is all her fault.”
“Simone. You better think twice before you disrespect me again. Don’t you dare refer to me as ‘her’ when I’m sitting here.” Olivia shook her finger beneath Simone’s nose. “Let me tell you something, little girl. You may be angry with me and think I ruined your whole life. The regret I feel about setting our home on fire with you and Christian in the house consumes me daily. I never intended to harm either one of you. It may be a long time before you forgive me. It doesn’t change the fact I’m your mother. You will show me respect.”
Simone bunched her eyebrows and her lips drew into a frown. Her face contorted with a dark expression. Her chest rose and fell with rapidness from her constrained anger. The transformation in her daughter scared Olivia as she remembered Dr. Hennings’s words about how much Simone resented her.
“Can we live with you, Mom?” Christian raised his head from Olivia’s lap. “I mean. Dad, I don’t want to be away from you either. I don’t want to lose Mom.”
Malcolm’s eyebrows raised in concern. “Son, I have custody of you and your sister. You can’t live with your mom.”
“For now,” Olivia chimed in and shot Malcolm a daggered look. She focused on Christian and responded. “Mommy has to finish taking care of getting counseling and establishing my practice again. You’ll live with your Dad for now and we’ll see what we will do later.”
“I don’t have any friends at my school anymore. I’m fine if I can’t stay here now. I wish we could all be together.” Christian leaned on Olivia’s shoulder.
Olivia’s heart seemed to stop beating after hearing Christian’s words. It bothered her knowing the effect on her kids’ friendships. On the flip side, a change of schools would at least put them around children who wouldn’t refer to her as ‘psycho mom’. The people in Miami wouldn’t know what happened in San Antonio.
“Oh, my Gawd. I can’t believe this. This is unfair,” Simone whined.
“Simone. Since you’re finishing elementary school, you weren’t going to stay where you are anyway,” Malcolm explained.
“Oh, my Gawd. You don’t get it. This means I won’t be able to go to East Alamo Middle School next year. I’ve been looking forward to being on their swim team,” Simone complained. “I don’t want to swim if I have to move to Miami.”
“Stop using the Lord’s name in vain, Simone,” Christian corrected his sister.
“I said Gawd, not God,” Simone said.
“You meant God though,” Christian pressed.
Olivia raised her hand to let Christian know to back down. Any other time, Olivia would’ve addressed the issue. In this scenario, she wanted to be sensitive to what Simone was expressing. The change in schools would be significant. As a competitive intramural swimmer, she’d placed first in several swim meets and would no doubt continue to be successful in middle school. She would have to build her confidence to excel in the Miami community as she had in San Antonio.
“Kids. We’ll worry about the schools later. This is something beyond our control for the moment,” Malcolm stated.
“It is in your control. If you weren’t engaged to Mariah, we wouldn’t be in this situation. I can’t believe you want us to go be with her kids,” Simone cried. “We don’t even know them and they won't like us.”
Christian jolted his head upward from Olivia’s shoulder. “Dad, will we have to share you with them?”
“Um. Yes. We’ll make it fun. Some of the kids are the same age as you and Simone. You’ll have playmates in the same house. Their friends will be your friends, t-too,” Malcolm stammered. The confused expression on his face showed he hadn’t considered these types of concerns.
“But what if they don’t like us?” Christian asked in a panic.
“Son. Calm down. You’ll be fine. You’ve always been able to make friends. It will be the same in Miami. Everything is going to work out,” Malcolm consoled.
“No, it won’t,” Simone screamed and stood with her fists balled. “I hate both of you. I wanna run away and kill myself.” She stormed to her room and slammed the door.
“Simone,” Malcolm yelled. “What did I tell you about slamming doors?”
“Leave her alone, Malcolm. Let’s give her some space.” The fact Olivia allowed Simone’s behavior to go unchecked, made her realize her own state of shock.
Malcolm’s face softened. “Okay. I’ll check on her.”
“I think I better go now. We’ll discuss this later to figure this all out. They need an appointment with Dr. Hennings as soon as possible.” Olivia lowered her voice to change the atmosphere in the room.
“Yeah. Good idea,” Malcolm agreed.
Olivia reached for Christian’s hands. Her eyes darted back
