Family
Every sibling gets into an argument or altercation once in a while. Some more of than others, but most times, everyone is able to forgive and forget. At least, until the next family dinner when one says something the other doesn’t like, and then the history repeats itself all over again, but it’s what siblings do. It’s no big deal, right? But what happens if a sibling goes too far and crosses a boundary? Maybe calling your special needs child a moron? Could you easily forgive them?
Maybe your sibling would never do that, but our friend, “Agatha” can’t say the same. She and her twin sister always had a close relationship, being twins and all, but like many siblings, got into a pretty intense argument one time. And it only escalated further at her nephew’s birthday party. Perfect timing, right?
Many things were said and did that may have ruined their relationship forever. Some things can’t be forgotten, but let’s see if they can forgive each other.
~
Party Time! What Could Go Wrong?
The day was a big day. The family was getting together to celebrate the birthday of Agatha’s nephew, “Stevie” who just turned two years old. She arrived at her mother’s house just before the party started so she could help with decorations. It wasn’t long before her twin sister, “Angie” arrived with her husband and children, one being the birthday boy.
Agatha said cheerfully, “Happy Birt-“ But she was immediately cut off.
In a spiteful tone, Angie said, “What are you doing here?”
Before she could respond to that hasty comment, her mother stepped in. Giving Angie a look that could easily be read as “knock it off.”
She said, “Angie, don’t start. This day is about my grandson, not the two of you. So zip it, lock it, and put it in your pocket.”
Angie did exactly that until she found another reason to complain about. And that reason was one of Agatha’s in-laws, “Frankie.” She was married to his nephew and also was his children’s nanny. They were her second family, so she didn’t see a problem with them being there. He and his sons arrived at the house as they were setting up the tables.
Angie asked, “What’s he doing here? He isn’t allowed to be around my kids.”
Their mother had to remind her he was the one who was paying for the whole birthday party.
She continued, “You agreed to it, so why wouldn’t he be here? Just because the adults are fighting, doesn’t mean Stevie has to suffer.”
With not wanting to argue with her mother, Angie kept quiet. Thankfully, more guests were showing up to relieve the tension in the air and honestly, to distract Angie. As the party officially began, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves; the kids were playing, and Angie kept busy socializing with others. Then came cake time. The best part of a birthday party, right? Well at this party, that’s when the real drama came.
When everyone was getting their slices of cake, Agatha noticed her baby nephew waking up from his nap. Maybe everyone singing “Happy Birthday” woke him up? No big deal, it gave her a chance to hold him. Unknown to her, she was being watched.
As Agatha was trying to pick him up, someone behind her said, “What are you doing?!”
When she turned around, lo and behold, it was Angie who made that snarky comment.
Agatha responded, “Look, I understand you’re upset with me but I’m holding my nephew.”
And I guess, Angie didn’t like that response, because the next thing she did was going to have major consequences.
~
What’s Angie’s Problem?!
Rather than use her words to respond, Angie instead pushed her. And this wasn’t a small shove either; it was hard enough, Agatha ended up on the ground. By no means was this an accident, she didn’t even try to help her sister up or apologize afterward.
Instead, she picked up her baby and said in a sweet tone, “Auntie doesn’t get to hold you, because she won’t give us money.”
Now it all makes sense why the twin was so hostile from the beginning. And of course, it was over money. Agatha knew exactly what she was referring to. She took a deep breath and thought, “Just breathe. Don’t be stressed because of her stupidity. You’re pregnant. She’s not worth it.”
She picked herself up in hopes no one saw what just happened. It was her nephew’s birthday and she didn’t want any more chaos coming from this. As she was about to walk away, she heard, “Did you just push her?”
This caught everyone’s attention. All eyes were now fixated on that person, unfortunately, it was one of Frankie’s twin sons, “Caleb.” Agatha’s face immediately dropped. You see, Caleb and his twin brother, “Colbie” were the most indisciplined and yet protective children she ever met. No one messes with their family or ‘else.’ Being both their nanny almost to the point where they see her as a mother figure and family, she knew immediately what they were capable of doing and that was causing trouble. Their family even gave them the nicknames, “Chihuahua and Pomeranian.”
They were small yet aggressive.
In a matter of seconds, Caleb grabbed a handful of the cake and threw it straight at Angie’s face. Thankfully, at the moment, she wasn’t carrying the baby, but Agatha still quickly grabbed his arm before he tried to attack her anymore.
He screamed, “Let go of me! I’m going to get her.”
She could feel him getting out of her grip, so she yelled, “Frankie! Come get Chihuahua!”
At this point, everyone was freaking out and asking what was going on. As Frankie grabbed his son from Agatha, someone pointed out how she was bleeding.
She looked down and noticed there was blood coming from her hands.
Her mother approached her and asked, “What happened?”
Agatha said, “I’ll tell you later, mo-“
Struggling to get away from his father’s hold, Caleb yelled out, “See! She’s bleeding! It’s her fault!” Then pointed at Angie.
He continued, “She’s bleeding because SHE pushed her.”
The eyes that were once on him, were now fixated on Angie.
~
Oh No! He Let The Chihuahua Loose
Everyone else at the party grew quiet, not knowing what to say. They probably thought why would Angie push her own sister?
Looking at both sisters, her mother spoke up and asked, “Is that true?!”
Before Agatha could say anything, there was yet another screaming match, but this time it wasn’t coming from Caleb. It was between Frankie and Angie.
He screamed, “Are you crazy?! You pushed a pregnant woman?! You know she’s pregnant!”
Angie screamed back, “She’s a liar! She’s not pregnant, she just wants the attention.”
That was it. Agatha was tired of everyone speaking over her. She looked her sister in the eyes and said, “I’m pregnant! And I’m not going to sit here and listen to your lies.”
Just when she was about to walk away, Angie shouted in a condescending tone, “How’s Tommy?”
Agatha halted and looked back at her, who now had an evil grin plastered on her face. She knew exactly why her twin brought up “Tommy.” It was a touchy subject and in an effort to end the conversation before it got out of hand, she told Angie to shut up. But she did quite the opposite. Angie knew she hit a nerve, so she continued, “Where’s Tommy?”
You see, “Tommy” is Agatha’s fiancé, so no one understood why she was getting so upset when Angie was asking about him. Little did everyone know, Angie knew exactly what she was doing. Recently, Agatha confided in her twin sister about a certain family trip that ended up in an altercation between the engaged couple. Since this was a hush-hush situation, all Agatha could say was to shut up.
Angie now acting innocent, said, “What? What’s the problem?” Then she began laughing, while everyone else was still quiet.
Frankie walked over to Agatha and asked, “What’s going on?”
Tears were now forming in her eyes. She hadn’t told anyone in her family except for her sister what really went down on that trip.
So no one else could understand her, she said in Dutch, “Remember when I told you about what your brother did to me on the family trip? Well, she’s making fun of me.”
His once concerned face suddenly changed to straight rage. He gave Angie a long stare before looking at his son, who was still in his grip.
Frankie said, “Get her.”
He then let go of Caleb and he charged right at Angie.
~
Agatha’s Breaking Point
Anyone who knew Caleb would know just how powerful his plows were. Even for a small child. The nickname, ‘Chihuahua’ is making more and sense. As Angie saw him coming straight at her, her eyes widen. She had nowhere to go. Was she about to be attacked?
Luckily, her husband and older brother were close by to ‘capture’ the young boy.
Angie screamed out, glaring at Frankie, “How could you?!”
He knew darn well what his intentions were when letting go of Caleb, and he couldn’t care less. Then he glanced at Agatha’s mother, and she was also less than pleased with his actions. She stood there next to Angie, shaking her head at him while trying to comfort her daughter.
Frankie leaned in towards Agatha and asked, “Does your mom know?”
She sighed. It took a moment but she then shook her head. No one knew in her family, except for her twin sister, but what a big mistake that was.
Not wanting to cause any more chaos, as it was already too much for Agatha, he decided it was time for him and his sons to leave. When he went to Caleb from the men’s hold, he kept shouting repeatedly, “No! She hurt my mom! Let me go! I’m going to give her payback!”
Then to make matters worse, Angie looked back at him and said these dreadful words, “She isn’t your mom and once she has that baby, she’ll forget all about you.”
Caleb and his brothers saw Agatha as more than a nanny, she was a second mother to them, especially since their mother was in prison, but even before then, she wasn’t the greatest mother. So when Angie made that comment, it absolutely crushed the boys, especially the middle child, “Louis,” who was also nearby. He was more on the sensitive side, so as soon as he heard her, he ran off crying. Frankie went chasing after him and just when Agatha was about to follow, she heard Angie say, “Let the moron run.”
Realizing no one thought her comment was funny, she quickly started apologizing. But it was already too late, Agatha had enough. As the boys saw her as a mother figure, she too saw them as her own children; and calling them any offensive terms was crossing the line. She walked over to where her sister was sitting and slapped her across the face. Everyone was completely in awe, except for Caleb whose face lit up like he was shown a magic trick.
This time, she wasn’t going to let her sister off the hook. She could talk all she wanted about her, but not when it came to her sons. After a couple of minutes of telling her off, she then decided it was time for her to leave before things got worse.
She grabbed Frankie’s youngest son and told her brother and sister-in-law to put him in the car while she went to get Colbie from inside. As she was waking him from his nap, she overheard some commotion outside. And it didn’t sound good.
~
Forgive and Forget?
Just as it seemed like the drama died down, Agatha went outside to see Angie bawling her eyes out. ‘What now,’ she thought.
All she wanted was everyone’s sympathy, but in reality, she most definitely deserved that slap and humiliation. Who calls a child a moron? Agatha was done with her nonsense and just wanted to get the heck out of there. It wasn’t long until Frankie and Louis came back. Poor Louis’s eyes were bloodshot red and still sobbing.
He walked over to Agatha and gave her a small hug. He kept begging her to not forget them when she had her baby and how he would be a good boy, just don’t leave them. This broke Agatha’s heart. She hated how the idea was ever brought to his mind, but she assured him she could never forget him or his brothers, and they were stuck with her. It was a sincere moment and before Angie found a way to ruin it, Frankie and Agatha grabbed the boys and headed out, hoping she would never have to relive that day ever again. Unfortunately, that didn’t work.
It seemed like by the next day, everyone heard about the chaos at the birthday party. Some of her friends who were also friends with Angie kept asking, “What the heck happened?” Not wanting to go into great details, all she said was her sister’s true colors came out that day. What she did that day was completely wrong, but some were harder to convince. After a couple of days, Agatha finally had a conversation with her mother over the situation and Angie. How hurt, betrayed, and angry she felt towards her sister, but being a mother and not picking sides, all her mother advised was to forgive each other. Forgive her? How could she forgive a person that would mistreat her and her children? And to make matters worst, a person who is your twin.
Agatha said, “She hates me!”
All her mother said was sorry and how excited she was for her baby. Of course, let’s change the subject to something lighter and forget the whole ordeal until next time. Maybe she could forgive her sister in the future, but at that moment, all she wanted was to forget her.
~