When Alastor showed Charlie the forged but very convincing marriage certificate that Angel had written up, she still had doubts. But it wasn't really the document that had her thinking this way. It was her feelings, on one hand everything Alastor said about their marriage and children felt wrong but everything else he described before those events felt right. It really was so strange.
"So are you convinced?" Alastor asked her after she had looked over the document countless times.
"I'm convinced that at some point in my life I must have lost my mind." She said.
"What do you mean?"
"How could I have possibly married you? God I had to have been drunk or high or something!"
"Now I think that's going a little too far."
"Oh no? Just look at you! Look at this hovel!"
"Hey pretty snotty words coming from someone who doesn't have any place better to live in!"
"Well I'm sure I could find a better place to live in! A damn pig farm would be a better home than this! And a damn pig would be a better husband than you!"
Alastor was getting really sick of this. She may have lost her memory but she still thought he was lower than dirt and he wasn't going to put up with it a moment longer.
"You know you really should drop the whole high and mighty act because you aren't exactly anyone's first choice either!"
"What is that supposed to mean? What? You're saying that you're the only man who would ever have me?"
"Actually I am. Oh yes you did have one other fine prospect interested in you at first. But once he got sick of that haughty attitude of yours, he dumped you!"
"I don't believe that!"
"You can believe what you'd like but it's the truth! So you can leave me if you'd like, try your luck with another man or a pig, but if you're still going to act like this then good luck! Because no man or beast in his right mind would ever put up with you! You're pushy and mean and ungrateful and ill-tempered! But worst of all, you don't ever think about anyone but your self! You don't think about other people or they're feelings! You just hurt anybody without any remorse! Including me!"
"Well if I'm so horrible then why did you marry me?"
"I probably shouldn't have! I probably shouldn't have had anything to do with you! I probably should have just left you there at that looney bin! You certainly didn't do anything to give me reason to take you back! All I ever did was love you! I loved you so much! You were the only woman I ever loved! And all I ever wanted was for us to someday have a happy life together! But you just treated me like I was trash! How can you do that to someone you once loved?!" He was almost on the verge of tears. This was no act, these were real emotions of pain that had come from the day she broke his heart worse than anyone else in his life. Including Mimzy. "It's one thing if you don't love me anymore and don't want to be with me, I can live with that! But to act like you never loved me at all...I never thought that you of all people could be so cruel!"
Charlie wanted to slap him. She wanted to scream at him. Insult him. Do anything to let him know that his words had no effect on her. But she couldn't, she couldn't do anything except stand there and become very quiet. Alastor waited patiently for a reaction but none came. So he just decided to grab his car keys and leave for what he said was a meeting at the bowling alley. He had already put the kids to bed so they wouldn't give her any trouble til tomorrow morning. In truth, Charlie was actually relieved that he was gone and that the children sleeping now, because they wouldn't be able to see her cry.
As soon as Alastor's truck pulled out and drove away, she slowly slid down to the floor and started to weep. She didn't remember exactly how she behaved before, but instinctively she knew his words were correct. Perhaps it was the memory loss that made her unable to think of anything else, but she realized that since she had first woken up from the fall in the ocean, she had been acting horribly. Not a single kind word had passed from her lips and it had all come naturally. As if she was used to behaving in such a way and if that behavior was natural, then maybe she was a horrible person. Maybe it was best that she didn't remember who she was before. Maybe it wasn't the shock of the fall or the cold water that caused the amnesia, maybe she had subconsciously blocked her memory because she didn't like the person she was.
"Mommy?" She lifted her face from her hands and saw Carrie staring back at her in concern. "Are you alright Mommy?"
Charlie stood up and wiped her tears away.
"I'm fine." She said not wanting anyone to pity her. "I've just got something in my eye. Don't worry about me, go on back to bed. Go on."
Carrie did go back to her room, but only to get something. It was a little flower she had picked earlier and pressed it into her coloring book. Vaggie had taught her that if you pick a flower the best way to keep it from wilting was to save it in a book. Carrie was saving the flower for herself but she began to think that maybe her "Mommy" needed it more.
"Don't cry Mommy." She said returning with flower in hand. "Here."
"What...What is this?" Charlie sniffed.
"A flower. It's to make you happy. Do you like it?"
Charlie slowly took the flower from Carrie's little hand. Suddenly she had a warm feeling in her heart and familiar image entered her mind. A little girl similar to herself, crying because she had fallen off her bike and skinned her knee, and a tall, beautiful woman tending to her and drying her tears by giving her a fresh cut flower from a garden.
"It's very beautiful Carrie." Charlie told her touched. "Thank you."
"Please don't be sad Mommy. Daddy doesn't mean it when he yells. He just had a bad day."
"Or maybe a bad wife." She muttered.
"Don't worry Mommy, all we have to do is love each other and everything will be alright."
"Is that so?"
"Daddy says that's what Grandma would say on bad days."
Carrie put her little arms around Charlie's waist, hugging her tightly. Charlie was still for a moment, not sure how to react. She had never experienced anything like this before. A happy child just embracing her regardless of what kind of person she was. How could this child even bear to touch her? Although, in the end Charlie couldn't stop herself from bending down and hugging the little girl back.
"Mommy."
"Yes?"
"Can you tuck me into bed?"
Without a word, Charlie lifted Carrie into her arms and carried her into the bedroom. She wrapped her up, all warm and snug in the blankets.
"There we go." She said. "As snug as a bug in a rug."
"Mommy what's that?" Carrie asked referring to the gold chain on Charlie's wrist.
It wasn't until now that Charlie realized that this whole time, she had been wearing a charm bracelet. It was a gold-pearl chain and the matching gold charms hanging from the chain consisted of a music note, a mask, a rose, a butterfly, a honeybee, and porcelain heart with a lily in the center. She had been wearing this charm bracelet the entire time, it had managed to stay on her wrist even when she fell in the ocean.
"It's a charm bracelet." She said. ""And I have no idea where it came from."
"It's pretty."
Charlie examined the each charm carefully and on the back of the heart, she found a small engraving.
Love Always, Mother
So her mother had been very loving. This bracelet proved it. Surely her mother must have been a wonderful woman who loved her, adored her, and raised her to be a decent person What would her mother say if she could see Charlie behaving this way now? She would no doubt be very disappointed.
"You know something?" Charlie said coming to a conclusion. "You're a very special girl Carrie. You've been so nice to me. You don't yell or destroy property or act crazy like everyone else. And granted maybe I can't fault them for that. I've been nothing but mean to you all."
"Auntie Vaggie says everybody acts a little mean sometimes."
"But I've been acting mean all the time. I'm sorry. I promise, from now on I'll try to be a better Mommy."
And Charlie was going to keep that promise. She was going to change, but so were some other things around here. From now on she was going to try to be more kind and sensitive but her children were also going to start respecting her and listening to her like they should. She was bringing up two boys and two girls, not a bunch of wild animals. So they very next day, when the kids came home from school, Charlie thought that a very important chat was in order.
"Aaron, Louis, Ella, Carrie, could you come into kitchen? We need to have a little talk." She called.
Only Carrie came in.
"Ella! Boys! I want you in here right now!"
"We're busy!" Aaron called. "We've got stuff to do!"
"You can do them later. This is important."
"We seriously doubt that!" Ella replied."
"Now I'm giving you all to the count of three to do as I asked or you'll be sorry. One...Two...Three." But the older children ignored her. "Alright, you asked for it."
"What are you going to do?" Carrie asked her.
"Oh you'll see." Charlie said walking outside, Carrie followed her.
"You're not going to beat em with a switch are you?"
"No but I probably should."
She grabbed a water hose and turned the well on the spout. Then she walked back inside, marched straight into the living room where Ella and the boys were between reading comics and trying to make crafts out of rock, sprayed all three of them with the hose. They screamed and squirmed about as the cold water splashed on to them, and Charlie couldn't help but laugh as she watched them try in vain to avoid getting hit.
"Serves you right you little stinkers!" She laughed.
"Hey that's cold!" Ella shivered.
"Stop it!" Louis shouted.
"Let's get her!" Aaron declared.
Charlie dropped the hose and ran outside, the children immediately chased after her.
"Hey where'd she go?" Louis asked.
"She's around here somewhere." Aaron said. "I think I saw her run into the woods."
"Do you think she jumped in the creek?" Ella said.
"No I don't think she'd do that. Hey Louis go search the bushes and Ella go check in that ditch over there."
"What can I do Aaron?" Carrie asked.
"Go home Carrie, you're too little for this."
"I am not!"
Charlie was hiding behind some trees and was trying her hardest to hold back her laughter as she watched the children look for her in confusion.
"Is she under here?" Carrie said checking under a rock.
Seeing that, Charlie couldn't hold it in any longer. She let loose a huge laugh which did not go unheard.
"There she is!" Carrie pointed out.
Charlie tried to run away but the children jumped on her. She fell down on to the ground taking them with her and they rolled around laughing with joy.
"No! Stop! Get off me! That tickles!" Charlie snorted. "You're a bunch of little bullies! There's only four of you and only one of me! It's unfair!"
They just continued to climb on top of her and tickle her for what seemed like hours. Soon Alastor came home from work and imagine his surprise to find Charlie and the kids rolling on the ground, just laughing and smiling like they didn't have a care in the world.
"Hey what's going on?" He asked.
"We're playing Dad." Louis said.
"That would explain why you guys are covered in dirt." He chuckled. "Good lord, you all are definitely going to need a bath tonight."
"So are you." Ella said.
"What do you mean?"
Charlie then snuck up behind him with the hose, spraying him while the kids tackled him just like they did to her.
"Oh you kids are gonna pay for that."
Alastor picked all four of them up and began to mercilessly tickle them. All that afternoon their laughter echoed all around outside until it got dark. Then he and Charlie carried their exhausted kids inside the house where they ran them a bath and put them to bed.
"Active bunch aren't they?" Charlie said observantly.
"Ya think?" Alastor said. "This is the first time all four of them fell asleep at the same time. It's been a long time since we've had a day like that."
"Really? We never played like this before?"
"No. Not really."
"Well we should do it more often. They're actually pretty nice to be around when they're not trying to drive me crazy."
"I could say the same for you dear."
That's when guilt suddenly became evident in Charlie's face. Out of everyone she had mistreated, he was probably the person she had been the most vile to. Always insulting him and yelling at him every chance she could. She had probably made him feel completely worthless.
"Oh Alastor, I'm so sorry." She said in a voice that expressed nothing but pure, sincere remorse. "I know that I've been horrible to you and I don't know why, but that's no excuse. And you're right, even if our marriage is getting strained, it was very cruel of me to pretend we never loved each other. I promise I'll make it up to you."
Alastor looked at her stunned. As if some kind of miracle had happened. Then it happened. She smiled. She smiled that same smile that she used to have when they were kids. The same smile that showed the real person Charlie was. The same smile he had fallen in love with.
"Oh no." He said when he felt his heart skip.
"What is it?"
"Uh nothing! I...I just realized I may have left my keys in the truck! Excuse me!"
He hurried outside, took handful of water from the barrel, splashed his face and shook his head.
"Oh no! No! No! No! I can't do this! I can't do this again! If I do it'll only make things worse when the truth comes out." He told himself. "No matter what! I can't fall for her again! I won't do that! That would just be too cruel to everyone!"
With that decision made, he regained his regular, dandy, composure and went back inside.