And Again

Chapter seventeen

"What the fuck do you want?" Allie asked. She watched her mother's eyes look past her, into the living room...the living room that was full of Jenna's toys.

"When did you have a baby?" Cindy asked.

"Why are you here?"

"Why didn't you tell me you were pregnant?"

"What do you want?" Allie asked. She never told her mother about Jenna because she never wanted her mother to meet Jenna. She didn't care about answering Cindy's questions, she just wanted to know why she was there and how she knew where they lived.

"Daniel told me when Amber was pregnant" Cindy said. "He doesn't try to keep my grandchild from me"

"Cindy" Allie said.

"How old is your child?"

"Mother!" Allie snapped. Cindy stopped talking and just looked at Allie in shock. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to visit my daughter" Cindy said. "And apparently her child that I didn't know she had"

"Why is it so hard for you to understand that I don't want anything to do with you?" Allie said.

"You're so dramatic" Cindy rolled her eyes. "Cutting me out of your life just because I might not have been a perfect mother"

"Not a perfect mother?" Allie scoffed. "You beat me every day when I was growing up. You starved me anytime I did something you didn't like, whether it was talking back or not getting an A on a test. You let...you let your husband rape and beat me over and over, and you even told me that I deserved it. That isn't 'not being a perfect mother', it's being a terrible one. And if you really can't see why I don't want you in my life or in my daughter's life, then you're not only a terrible mother but you're also an idiot"

Just then they heard Jenna crying.

"Leave" Allie said.

"Not until we have a real conversation"

"I'm not talking to you and I have to go check on my baby" Allie said. "Leave"

"Just let her cry it out. If you go in there every time she cries, she's gonna learn that she can just cry to get whatever she wants"

Allie was gonna say something but decided that Jenna was more important, so she just turned around and went into Jenna's room. "Hi, baby" she said as she picked her up and kissed her cheek. Jenna laid her head on Allie's chest. "Did you have a good nap?"

Jenna pointed at the pacifier that was in her crib. Allie grabbed it and gave it to her.

"Are you hungry?" Allie asked. "Should we have lunch?"

"Nana"

"I don't know if we have bananas" Allie said. She'd gone grocery shopping the day before but forgot bananas and she wasn't sure if Nicky got a chance to go get. "Let's go see if daddy got some"

"Nanana" Jenna babbled as Allie carried her out of her room and into the kitchen where Cindy was now looking around. Allie didn't care, she wasn't talking to her, and she knew that if she ignored her mother for long enough, she'd just leave.

"Allie, she's beautiful" Cindy gasped and reached for Jenna but Allie slapped her hand away.

"Don't you dare put your hands on my child"

"I see we're sticking with dramatic"

"Say whatever you want about me, but don't even think about touching my daughter" Allie said. She put Jenna in her high chair and gave her half a banana to eat while she made her lunch. "Here, princess. Cindy, go home"