Nightshade: A SimLit | Chapter 42: The Decision
It was early morning, and Claire was up to the usual. She sat in the living room chair, her eyes glued to the television screen. Since Jeremy made a steady income, they had a lot more money to make some much needed upgrades to the house, and the fancy widescreen was by far her favorite. Jeremy was at work, Onyx and Amelia were up to their ears in household chores, the baby was crying... but as for her, she didn't have a care in the world.
"Onyx, can you hurry it up!?" She yelled over the loud volume of the TV. "I'm starving!"
Onyx was sure if his grip tightened any more on the wooden spoon in his hand, he would snap it in half. He didn't mind cooking at all. His problem was Claire, and he was convinced that there hadn't ever been a mother this careless. "It will be done when it gets done!" He growled loudly, regretting his harsh tone as soon as it came out of his mouth.
"Ugh!" he heard Claire groan. "Why does no one in this house have any appreciation for me? I'm doing my best! I have a young baby, and it's exhausting! So stop being jerks!"
Onyx only rolled his eyes and stabbed the spoon back into the pot. 'Speaking of the baby... Amelia's been up there for at least twenty minutes. Shouldn't she have calmed her down by now?'
"Come on, Tiffany... let's take a drink of some yummy milk, okay?" Amelia cooed, but her efforts were still to no avail. 'Why doesn't she want her bottle?' Exasperated, Amelia sighed and in one last effort, shoved the bottle into Tiffany's mouth.
Tiffany gave her an angry look, but finally caved and began to drink it.
"Why do you make things so difficult?" Amelia sighed. "You're lucky you're cute..."
When she was finished, Amelia placed her back in her bassinet and quietly left the nursery. "I'm so tired of this," Amelia murmured. She didn't mind taking care of Tiffany, but it made her angry to never see Claire or Jeremy do anything for their own child. It had to stop, she decided, and she stormed downstairs. She entered the living room with a frown. "Claire, we need to talk."
Claire didn't peel her eyes away from the screen.
Having already had enough, Amelia walked over and grabbed the remote from the arm of the chair, turning it off and standing in front of her with a menacing glare. "We need to talk now."
"Couldn't you see that I was watching that?" Claire snapped, meeting her gaze with an equally as unamused one.
"Yes, I could see that perfectly fine. The problem is that I don't care," Amelia's brows furrowed. "You need to be taking care of your baby."
"Why? Don't you enjoy doing it?" Claire asked nonchalantly.
Amelia sighed. "I do. But you're her mother, Claire. She needs you..."
"I get that I'm her mother, but it's not like I asked for her or anything. She was just an accident." Claire shrugged. "As long as she's taken care of, I don't see the problem."
Amelia could feel her blood beginning to boil.
Onyx stepped into the living room with a frustrated sigh. "Hey, breakfast is... ready..." his voice trailed off when he saw the situation. He could feel Amelia's anger, and he cautiously came closer, hoping it wasn't about to escalate into a full blown argument.
"You can't be serious!" Amelia snapped. "Maybe you didn't ask for her, but it's not like she asked to be here either! You need to take responsibility for her! She's your child, Claire! Don't you realize how much it will hurt her if she grows up without you caring!?"
"Just shut up!" Claire yelled. "Jeremy isn't taking care of her, so why should I!? If you really care so much about her, then you can have her for all I care! I'm sick of all her crying! I... I wish she had never been born!"
"You don't mean that," Amelia said, her voice growing quiet. "You don't understand. She needs a mother that loves her... do you have any idea how much it hurts not to?"
"I do mean it," Claire coldly replied, and Onyx finally approached.
Onyx glared. "You just don't get it, do you?"
"Stay out of this," Claire growled. "This doesn't regard you."
"Yes, it does," Onyx narrowed his eyes. "I'm not going to listen to you talk about Tiffany like this for another second. You don't want to take care of your baby? Fine. We will," Onyx said decisively. "But you'll regret it someday."
Claire rolled her eyes. "Okay, whatever."
As the room finally grew silent, Tiffany began to cry.
"Breakfast is on the table," Onyx said and headed for the stairs. "Come on, Amelia, let's go."
Amelia nodded and followed him, her anger finally beginning to fade.
As they entered the nursery, Amelia gave Onyx a confused glance. "Did you really mean that you're willing to do that?"
"Do what? Take care of Tiffany?" He asked, approaching the bassinet. "Of course... it looks like we're all she has. So what else am I supposed to do?"
As he lifted her into his arms and she grew silent, Amelia smiled, her decision finally made. "You're right... but it isn't just going to be you. We'll both be there for her, even when no one else is."
Ironically Amelia is adopted herself but she just doesn't know it.
ReplyDelete^^^^^^^ that exact same thing was going through my mind reading this. 😱
ReplyDeleteI felt so bad for Tiffany... even though she can't realize it yet, she will some day and that realization will be horrible. Am so, SO glad Amelia and Onyx are there for her and of course SO glad they'll be raising a baby OMG!!!!!! ...But I also just feel really, really bad for Tiffany. :'( The things Onyx said were so true, and it really tugged at my heartstrings.
(fig in case u didnt know already LMAO)
How sad for the wee one but I am glad Amelia and Onyx want to take care of her and love her. Amelia does know she's adopted it was mentioned in previous chapters.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, she does know. I'm glad that they're there for the baby too ❤
DeleteOh, so Amelia was adopted. That's why she had a name change. Anyways, I feel bad for the little one.
ReplyDelete