Chapter 28: Atonement

The clock read 6:45 PM, and Jane began her trip downstairs, and greeted her daughters happily, as she went on over to the stove, and began the process to make some soup of the noodle variety. Before she began however, Lee offered to provide assistance, in which she gladly accepted. With that, the two women began making the noodle soup; keeping an eye on the various ingredient measurements, temperatures, and many other aspects in regards to the proceeds of making the soup.

After around 35 minutes, Jane grabbed four medium-sized bowls from a kitchen cabinet, and after a quick taste test to confirm its quality, she poured some soup into each bowl, ensuring that there was a fair amount; but not to the point where the slightest movement on the bowl would result in light drips coming down. Jane then passed one bowl to Marie, with Lee passing another bowl to May. The two women then grabbed their own bowls of soup, and brought them to the table, as well as grabbing four spoons for everyone at the table. Once that was done, the Kanker family began their first dinner as an actual family for the first time in a long time.

Another 10 minutes pass by, and as they eat, Jane asks her daughters, "So, how is this soup? Does it hold up?"

"Yep! It's great! I'm sure the other two would agree!" responded May in a cheerful manner.

"You bet! Thanks mom, this hits the spot." said Marie.

"I'm happy to hear it." says Jane, "I'll tell you girls that this used to be something I'd make for you with Rod when you all were younger. You all were always excited for it. Of course, it was in smaller bowls, as I had to split the amount I'd usually make with you three, myself, and Rod, but we all had a good time while we ate."

Lee, out of curiosity, asks, "Where exactly is he now?"

Jane responded with, "Well, he's still doing his car mechanic job thankfully, as the money he earns from repairing is quite good in order to provide for himself, and deposit here, for emergencies."

"Is what you do enough or no?" asked Marie, appearing somewhat concerned.

"It depends on how you look at it. I can't say I'm able to make you all appear like some models on TV, but I am able to care for you three effectively enough. I usually save Rod's money for the future possibility of moving out, as I believe there a house in the cul-de-sac nearby that we can move into. Compared to this, I'm sure it'd be an entire upgrade and more!" explained Jane, sharing a small laugh with her daughters.

"But seriously, it'd be nice to have a place similar to what I had with mom and dad back then. Of course, everything shall be different, as keep in mind, you girls are no longer in need of me constantly being attentive to you, and we'll have different company this time around!" said Jane.

"But I still wish that he could come... what a shame." said Jane, adopting a melancholy expression.

"Can't you trying speaking to dad? You said he was a great man, so surely he'll want to listen?" May mentioned, recognizing that her mother was referring to Rod.

"While the thought certainly counts May, I'm afraid it's not as simple as walking up to him, wrapping my arms around his neck, and saying sorry." stated Jane, making a small joke. "But in all seriousness, I'm unsure if he'd even want to talk, as we couldn't have ended on a worse note if I'm to be entirely honest with you girls."

"You gotta at least try mom!" states Lee, "I know this ain't on the same level, but I had a bit of a problem with someone in our friend group then. What happened then didn't matter, but me and him talked it over, and voila, friends, or at least we respect one another!"

Jane glances at her oldest daughter, gives a small chuckle, before then saying, "I'm more impressed that you actually resolved the issue, rather than being all tough girl on whoever that was! But I get your point. Sooner or later, I'll try my best to talk to him... if he'll even want to talk."

"I'm sure he will, besides, he's still trying to help all of us out ain't he? So if anything, I'm sure he's a reasonable enough a man to listen." responded Lee.

"Don't you think he misses you too?" asked May.

"After what I did to him, I'd be surprised. But not to worry my daughters, I'll talk to him. I promise." said Jane, with a subtle smile.

"On a different note, I honestly wonder how the boys are doing. Hopefully they're doing whatever helps us out long term." stated Marie, accidentally speaking her mind.

"The boys you say?" asked Jane, curious.

"Yeah, our boyfriends!" responded May excitedly, causing her two sisters to feel embarrassment, while Jane couldn't help but chuckle a bit under her breath.

"Now that you girls talk about it, I must ask, did you force those boys to get together with you?" said Jane, with a smug expression on her face.

"Of course not!" exclaims Marie, "If we forced them, we wouldn't be in this current situation where we, or May, would even mention them!"

"That's good, looks like you've girls have softened up a bit eh?" said Jane, unable to control her laughter; as her daughters share a small chuckle of their own.

Jane added on, "Well, if you're gonna be softer with em, at least make sure none of them are doing any stupid stuff, such as any attempt to cheat or whatever. You should always have tolerance for anything silly they might do, but NEVER excuse them for when they cheat on you. If you do that, they'll starting thinking that there are no consequences for their actions. If they start believing that, they are in for a rude awakening."

"Don't worry mom, if anything they all hold each responsible to stay loyal." said Lee, "Especially Marie's man, heheh."

"That ain't a bad thing! He just wants to be safe, and I can appreciate that." responded Marie.

"Girls, please relax. As long as your boyfriends are caring, I'd say you three have nothing to worry about." commented Jane.

The trio of sisters shot a quick glance at one another, and ultimately came to the agreement that their mother had made a good point, with May stating, "Mom's right, but I wonder if that applies to Skylar and Chris."

"I'm guessing those are two friends of yours who are together?" asked Jane.

"Yep, but they're like... 'unofficially' together or something like that. I don't know the details, but let's just say those two want to take more time, and that they aren't exactly making out in front of us or whatever." said Marie, snickering a bit.

Jane rolls her eyes at her daughter's statement, after which she states, "Based on that, it seems as though they aren't too sure if they want to be together, so as you yourself said Marie, they want to spend more time together. That's respectable."

"In fact, in regards to our men, what do you girls think they've been doing whilst we've been here?" asked Lee, finishing up the small remnants of her soup.

"Double D said that he and the rest of the boys were gonna discuss some stuff in regards to who does what the best, so that's most likely what they've been doing." said Marie, her eye staring off into the distance.

"If you girls want to, perhaps you can pay them a visit tomorrow, ask them what their progress is in regards to figuring who this father could be." stated Jane, finishing up her soup as well.

Lee then asks her mother, "Mind if I take your plate?"

Jane nods her head in approval, as Lee takes both her mother's and her own plate back to the sink to wash them clean.

Meanwhile, May tells her mom, "It's quite a lot of people, are you sure it'll be okay with you?"

"Of course May, don't be ridiculous. Besides, I've told you girls that I'm more than interested to see these new friends of yours, so it should be fine, provided none of them are ridiculous aggressive punks or whatever." stated Jane.

"Trust us, none of them act even remotely like punks or whatever. Two of them might look all dark and gloomy, but they're actually nice and silly at heart, as Double D would most likely say." responded Marie.

Jane couldn't help but chuckle a bit, as she takes note of her daughter's very subtle yet noticeable daze at the sound of her boyfriend's name. She then breaks Marie out of the trance by saying, "So, how is this boyfriend of yours, Marie?"

"Well..." said Marie, as she looked down; a pink hue forming on her face, in which Jane could already tell that Double D had to be special in some way or another to make her daughter feel that way.

Jane then stated, "How about you all save the surprise for tomorrow?"

"Yea, you should be ok with him, after all he always goes out of his way to be all clean and organized, among other things." stated Marie.

"So a neat freak?" said Jane, sharing a laugh with Marie.

"Something like that." said Marie.

"Well, I'm sure he's someone special to you! What about you May?" asked Jane, staring directly at her youngest daughter.

"He enjoys being the funny one! And the strongest!" responded May, with a small pink hue also formed on her face, which Jane took notice of.

"Oh I can imagine he does all the heavy lifting. That sounds impressive!" stated Jane.

"They all got their specialities and whatever, you just gotta see them in action mom." said Lee, jumping into the conversation regarding their boyfriends. "Which I think you will tomorrow, once we invite everyone on over to here. If they are all even available."

"Not to worry, if they have stuff to take care of, it's all good, I'll try to meet them another time perhaps. I hope you girls don't mind aswell, but is it okay if I ask them some stuff about... whatever is going on?" stated Jane.

Each sister responded with a variation of yes.

"Thank you. Again, I'll try to assist with this in terms of figuring out which one of your fathers it could be, but there's no way it's Rod. He'd never go this far. Hell, the man wouldn't even harm a fly, he'd instead try to find a way to get rid of it!" responded Jane, the family then sharing a small laugh at that statement.

"It's interesting how two of them were originally our rivals, weren't they?" stated May.

"Who are you talking about May?" asked Lee, taking her seat back at the table with her family, wondering who the two people are that May is referencing.

"Chris and Cassie!" responded May.

Lee and Marie gave each other concerned glances, while Jane adopted an expression of interest.

"How did those two start are rivals to you three?" asked Jane.

"Are you sure you want to know?" responded Marie, with a slightly distressed expression.

"Yes. The time to hide the truth or whatever has stopped between all of us alright?" said Jane, "Tell me it the way it happened between those two."

"I'll explain how for Chris, he was just defending his friends from us basically, and even going as far as fighting us to defend them." explained Lee, "I must admit, trying to go toe-to-toe with him wasn't a smart idea, as he knows a thing or two about fighting. But that's all there is to know regarding how he was a rival originally."

"Yeah right, and what about when you and him basically never talked until like a week or something like that into school?" said Marie, poking fun at Lee, while also drawing an irritated expression from her oldest sister.

"Is he the reason why you looked as though you got hit by a battering ram?" asked Jane, with a smug expression while crossing her arms, as her oldest daughter seemed as though she was a deer caught by headlights.

"Alright alright, yes." said Lee, looking down at the floor.

"Now that explains a lot." responded Jane, still giving a smug look.

"Look, don't go up to him and start-" stated Lee, staring directly at her mother instead of at the floor. But to her surprise, her mother cut her off by raising her hand in a stop signal.

"I won't, calm down Lee. I merely wanted to know where, or who, you got those from." said Jane, with a small smile. "Just tell him to avoid conflict more often than not, and you quit causing drama, and it'll be fine."

Each sister took a sigh of relief at the outcome of the explanation; as they did not wish to reignite something that was resolved a while ago.

"It's good to see you three resolving issues maturely, I must say." stated Jane, "But let's move on, what about Cassie? How did she end up being a rival originally?"

"It actually started with the boys." explained Marie, "They were going to the candy store to go get some stuff, and then Cassie showed up, took Eddy with her to some nearby alleyway or something, and tried to get information regarding you. Chris, along with his friend Kenji, saved him from her, and then she became public enemy number one at that point."

"We need to figure who is behind all of this soon..." said Jane, staring off into the distance concerned. "But never mind that for now, how exactly did you resolve this one?"

"It wasn't really us, it was more us plus a lot of our friends!" said May, "All of us grouped up earlier today to go find her, and surprisingly, she actually came to talk to us and say sorry, and explained how her dad is coming for revenge with ridiculous methods!"

"Anyone else notice how Cassie seemed to trust Kenji a lot, or is it just me?" asked Marie.

"Nah, she's got something going I bet one hundred percent. Looks like Hilde has some some competition!" stated Lee in a joking manner.

"Calm your imaginations down already, my goodness. But is she going to be able to join us tomorrow?" asked Jane.

"Highly doubt it, as I think her father, along with the friends he brought along with him, will get somewhat suspicious. So she can't, mainly because we can't have her be in any danger, or else it could cause us." responded Marie.

Jane adopted a concerned expression at her daughter's statement, but decided to shake off the feeling for the time being.

"Okay then. But I think it's great to see the results that can happen when you don't resort to constant aggression, eh?" stated Jane, laughter being shared amongst the Kanker family.

"Mom, what about dad? Can you try to get him back here for tomorrow?" asked May.

"No; sorry May, I know you want to see dad right now, but tomorrow isn't the right time. I'll try to find another time within this week, but rest assured... I'll try to get Rod back into our lives. I promise." responded Jane.

May smiled at that statement, after which Jane then continued with, "Well my daughters, it's been... great, talking with you three finally."

"Trust me mom, we feel the same way. Are you going back up?" responded Lee.

"Yeah, I'd like to start my shower and everything. If you girls need anything, never hesitate to say it or ask it, I shall be upstairs for the time being." stated Jane with a small smile.

She then got up, and proceeded to give each of her daughters a 10 second hug, before she then made her way upstairs, feeling as though she had achieved reacquiring something that was left behind for so long; an actual connection with her daughters. Of course, Jane wouldn't deny it, she should've done this reunion much earlier than before, and she also didn't like the circumstances that she and her daughters were currently in that brought about this reunion. Among other things, while there's still more to be done, she couldn't have felt better about finally getting rid of the curse of complacency and carelessness between her and her daughters.

Meanwhile, the trio of sisters, seeing as it's 7:30 PM, decided to watch TV until they all felt tired. But whatever they were watching on TV hardly caught their attention; as they were still very much in an ecstatic mood regarding their restored relationship with their mother. Nevertheless, all three of them know that they had plenty of stuff to inform both their boyfriends and friends about tomorrow.