Unforgivable

Elaine was pacing around the treehouse that her father had built for her when she was younger. “Nothing makes sense!” Elaine said as she slid down to the floor. “Sis nothing has to make sense. I get it. Your upset that-” Rome said before Elaine cuts him off, “Why did Mom keep our grandfather a secret from us?! I get that he did horrible things but that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t see us! Right?”. Rome sighed. The twin teens were just thirteen years old and while they shared nearly everything they had moments where they had these little talks over adult subjects. Rome had their father’s build but their mother’s mindset, while Elaine was nearly just like their mother but with her father’s mindset. “Elaine, listen to me, Mom had her reasons for keeping Grandpa Ennis a secret. Maybe the horrible things he did just hurt her so badly that she could allow him to be in our lives? Did you think about that?” Rome said, his words while harsh was possibly true. “If that’s even remotely true then why didn’t she tell us about any of it?” Elaine said before hearing the back door of their house opening and their mother stood at the door. “Kids!? Come down. We need to talk.”

As the twins come down the ladder from the treehouse they could notice that their mother seemed stressed out and shaken up by everything. “Look I know you two are angry with me and you have every right to be but you need to let me explain why I didn’t want you to even know about your Grandpa Ennis. So just sit and listen to why I had never told you kids about my father and why he’s never been around you kids. It goes all the way back to me and your father’s wedding.” their mother spoke, her words shaky but the twins kept their opinions to themselves as they listened to their mother. “I had invited my father to my wedding and I told him flat out that I don’t want my step-mother to be there. He was outraged by my demand and told me that either she could go with him or he wasn’t going. This lead to a big fight between us and when the day of the wedding came I was full-on expecting him not to show up but instead, he not only brought her, he brought her daughters. You will never understand, and that is perfectly fine, but what he did, affected the wedding. Now we jump past our honeymoon, when I found out I was pregnant with you two I was overjoyed. We had been trying months after the honeymoon to get pregnant, so when I finally posted about it I got a lot of nice comments but my step-mother and her daughters made horrible comments saying that I will be a horrible mother and that your father would just treat you both horribly. Instead of taking my side and helping me with their horrible comments, he called me and told me that hed never love you kids and he wanted nothing to do with you, kids. Out of anger and spite a followed through with his wishes. I blocked him from my life, I blocked his wife and her daughters, and in return I still got support from your great-grandma Cobb who is you Grandpa Ennis’s mom. I still got support from your father’s side of the family and when you kids were born, my father tried to get in contact with me, however, I simply told him what he told me and how I would go through with it due to his kneejerk reaction. We argued over the phone again and again till I had it and blocked his number again. You will never know how much he hurt me and your father. Your father had to put up with so much garbage from my father because he was married to me.”. The twins remained silent as they had to hear about these horrible events that happened in the past. Finally after a bit of silence Rome spoke, “If all of that is true, then why is he trying so hard to be a part of our lives now?”

“To be honest Rome, he talked to me about it. He wants my forgiveness and wants to be part of your lives. I told him that he was absent for so long in your lives that I said it was up to you two to even decide on such a thing. Your choices, but keep in mind that I cannot shield you from his behavior if he treats you any way he did me when I was your age. He’s aggressive and can easily get angry if you purposely get on his nerves, or just be your Uncle Draven.”. She and the kids gave a nervous chuckle on that. Elaine was thinking about it all, all of what her mother said must have been true which explains a lot the more she thought about it. There were never any pictures up of her Grandpa Ennis, and then you got the fact that neither her mother or her Uncle Draven really talked about Grandpa Ennis. Elaine looked at her mother then she looked at her brother. “Was there any good times you had with your father, Ma?”, Elaine asked curiously. “I can say that there were good times amongst all the bad and unsavory. You know that I won’t make the choice for you but just understand that he is known for just doing fun things to gain someone’s love or affection.”, Their mother said before turning back to the back door of the house, she also mentioned that dinner was ready. “Sweet! Its taco night and ma make the best tacos. Come on Elaine!” Rome was waiting for his sister.

As dinner was being served and everyone was eating dinner the doorbell rang. Elaine watched as her father went to see who it was at the door. Angry yelling happened not even two minutes later between her father and another male, probably Grandpa Ennis. “God Damn it! Rose M’yLnn! Get out here!”, and her mother huffed. She went to the kitchen and grabbed something from the baking drawer, the rolling pin. Elaine knew her mother was mad, so she got up and got between her mother and her grandfather. “No! No fighting, Shes your daughter, and you chose to treat her so poorly, you chose to hurt her mentally, and above all you chose to not be a part of our lives when she had her first children! You are a jerk and you need to leave!” Elaine spoke just like her mother would, she had tears running down her face over the frustration of dealing with two grown adults arguing. The two were stubborn but Grandpa Ennis left. “Thank you Elaine. I love you kids.” The family has a group hug, but then Elaine speaks up and asks “So why haven’t we met more of Grandma Ennis’s side of the family?”