Happy Thursday, y'all! I finally got to watch Moana by hijacking my sister's Netflix account while she was out with my niece and I loved it. I honestly almost cried, but I couldn't because my sister was in the room so I just held it in. Anyways, this chapter is honestly kind of trash because it's mostly dialogue, but I hope you lovelies enjoy it anyway because it's honestly not my best work. Christmas is coming up in a few chapters and I'm excited for that. I've talked enough, but I hope that you peeps like the chapter. ~Shaymie

Alex's POV

"Couldn't you have named that cat… anything else? Literally anything else would be a better name," I tried to reason with my girlfriend. George and Martha had decided to let Lorin keep the cat she had found near the mall after seeing how attached she had gotten to it. She had cleaned it up, and now that it wasn't a mangled mess, it was actually kind of cute. There was just one glaring problem with it… Its name. For the past week and a half, I had been trying to get Lorin to change its name.

"But he looks just like you!" Lo said as she affixed a candy cane bell collar to the kitten's neck. She set him down and smiled as he started to chase Dumpling around the room. They were best friends already. Lo didn't want to split them up. "Alexander is the perfect name for him! And it's not like you use your full name. Everyone calls you Alex."

"That doesn't mean I want to share my name with a cat. Won't it get confusing?"

She shrugged and looked over at the pile of letters sitting on the counter. She started trembling as she sifted through the pile. She set them all aside except for one, which she swiftly opened and started reading. I led her over to a chair so she could sit down. I watched her face as she read it, but she had managed to keep her expression blank. I didn't know if what she was reading was good or not.

For the past week, every time the mail was brought in, she became a nervous wreck. She had sent a letter to her mother, telling her that she could visit for Christmas if she wanted to. I told her that she didn't have to invite her mother to visit if she didn't feel comfortable with it, but she said that she needed answers. I wanted her to never have to see that terrible woman again (she forgave people far too easily), but it was her decision to make. I couldn't make her decisions for her.

"...Mama's going to be here in a few days. She's probably on her way here now..." Her voice was barely audible as she set the letter down. She started chewing on her bottom lip. I sat next to her and ran a hand through her hair soothingly. She looked up at me, a tiny frown on her face. "I'm nervous, Alex."

"Me and Darcy will be here for you, Lo. Nothing bad will happen." She sighed and put her head on my shoulder. I had a feeling that she didn't believe me. I didn't know anything about her mother except what she had told me. I hoped that she had changed, for Lo's sake. It had been seven years since she had seen her mother. She had to have matured some and known that what she had done to her daughter was wrong. Why else would she have reached out to her?

Lo looked… A lot like her mother. They had the same freckles, the same sandy hair... I looked between them five or six times before Darcy nudged me harshly and glared at me. I bit my lip and grabbed Lo's hand. We had been sitting in silence for the past five minutes, since Lo's mother had arrived with her soon to be husband. Nobody really knew what to say, and I could tell that it was making Lo nervous.

"So, you're dating my daughter?" I looked up as her mother addressed me, noticing that she spoke with a slight southern accent. I nodded and took her hand as she offered it to me. "My name's Sophia."

"Alexander. But you can call me Alex."

"So, mother, what made you suddenly show up out of the blue?" Darcy asked bitterly, her green eyes narrowed. She leaned forward in her seat and looked at Sophia sourly. Lo looked confused. She'd told me that Darcy still loved their mother, so I could understand why she was confused. What had changed? Why was Darcy so suddenly hostile?

"...I wanted your brother to know his sisters…" Sophia murmured, putting a hand on her rounded belly. "And I wanted a chance to explain myself. I was young. I was confused. I didn't know what I was doing. I couldn't handle the stress of being a mother-"

"So you just let Jonathan do whatever the fuck he wanted to Lorin?!" Darcy was on her feet now, glaring at her mother with fury in her eyes. Lo curled into my side, softly crying. "Mama, you should have left that deadbeat the second he made her touch him! Anyone with half a brain would have done that! You should have told her that what he was doing to her was wrong! She thought it was her job to let her father molest her!"

"Darcy-"

"And then after that, you took her away from me! I'm the only other family she has! You brought her here… And then you fucking left her. On her birthday. You gave her up without any sort of explanation."

"I wanted her to have a better life!" Sophia shouted through her tears. She wiped at her eyes and turned to Lo, who still hadn't looked at her since she had shown up. Her chest was heaving as she struggled to control her breathing. She pushed me away when I put a hand on her shoulder and wrapped her arms around herself. Her mouth started moving silently as she trembled.

"Lorin, I'm so sor- wh… what are those on your arms?" Sophia's face paled as she looked at Lo's arms. Lo squeaked and tightened her grip on her body, digging her nails into her skin. Her eyes filled with tears.

"I… I… My old boyfriend and the, um… The girl he cheated on me with… They, um… They punished me for not following their instructions…" she whispered, the words coming out as a choked sob. She moved as far away from me as she could on the couch and took deep breaths. Sophia looked horrified. Darcy's face darkened as she looked at her mother.

"She spent a year in an abusive relationship because she learned from you that it's alright for her to let people hurt her if they 'love' her! She let her shitty boyfriend force her into a fucking threesome because she loved him! They both did awful things to her and you weren't here to stop it! We… We both weren't…"

The room dissolved into sobs then. Sophia's fiance and I shared an awkward glance. What… were we supposed to do? Neither of us wanted to really get in the middle of this. It was clearly something that the Haywoods had to get through by themselves. I hoped that they would be able to work through this, if not for Lo's sake. She had been through so much, and she deserved some closure.

"Lorin, words can't even begin to explain how sorry I am for everything. I wasn't much older than you are now when I got pregnant with you. Jonathan was in college. He said he'd take care of us. He said he loved us, but had a bit of a temper. I loved him, so I let him take his anger out on me. I tried to keep him away from you. I didn't want to have to deal with you father's rage.

"And when he started molesting you… Some stupid voice in my head told me to not do anything about it. It told me that he would only get angry with me. I used you as a scapegoat, and I'm so sorry… I was relieved when he got sent to jail, but then I was… terrified. I was so scared. I didn't have anyone to go to. My parents kicked me out when I got pregnant with you, after all. They only let me stay with them when I was pregnant with Darcy because I left her with Robert. I decided that I couldn't stay in Texas anymore. There were too many bad memories there.

"When we moved here, I thought things would be different. I thought we'd be able to have a happy life once and for all. But it only got worse. New York is a pretty expensive place, after all. So I started selling my body to pay the bills. It was the complete opposite of what I wanted. We grew even further apart and I could see you retreating further into yourself. I know how hard it is for you to make friends. I was the only person you knew and I was never there for you. You deserved better than that, so I… I gave up my parental rights. I wanted someone better suited to take care of you. I couldn't stand hurting you.

"I should have done more before I left you. I should have warned you about men like your father. I never dreamed that you would have the same mistake I did. But you're smarter than I was. You left him, didn't you?" Lo managed to nod in between her sobs. "I know how hard that must have been. Lorin. I know that this apology must mean nothing to you, but I'm truly sorry from the bottom of my heart. I don't expect you to forgive me, but if you give me a chance to… make it up to you…? I want to be here for you. I want to be in your life. Nothing can erase everything that I've done, but if you give me a chance… Please…"

"O-Okay…" Lo whispered after a tense silence, turning to look at her mother for the first time in years. She gave her a shy smile, but it quickly fell from her face as she started messing with the edge of her skirt. "I… I've missed you, Mama. I kept trying to tell myself that I hated you, but I think I just hated the fact that you left me with nothing. No explanation… Just nothing. I finally have what I've waited so long for…"

"I can't fucking believe this," Darcy spat out, looking between Lo and Sophia. She stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind her.