Siblings

15- Gwen.

I started playing with the ring around my neck. My therapist looked at it.

"It was his anniversary a few days ago, wasn't it? 4 months?" I slowly nod.

"Yep." I say, popping the 'p'.

"Why'd you schedule this meeting, Maeve? We don't have one until a few days from now."

"Because I want to do things." I whisper.

"Like harming yourself?" I nod. "What do you-"

"We're not playing that game, Emma. I need to talk so we're talking." I say, coldly. I stood up and started pacing.

She stayed quiet and let me do my thing. I was stressing myself out, again. I couldn't do that. Not when I had the gala to do and all of that.

"I'm hosting an event in a few days. Not even my siblings are coming. Well, they don't know about it so it's really my fault that they aren't coming." I say, shrugging. She frowned. "I wanted them to go to Angel's event. A fair or something like that. She may even get a scholarship. I was going to tell them about it, but it's fine. Didn't really affect me that much."

"Maeve-"

"Then his anniversary. Four months, Emma. Four months since I watched him die. I told Julian about it by accident. I didn't mean to, it just came out you know? We were only in that car because of me. I fucked things up." I say, frowning. I stopped pacing and looked at her. "He's dead."

"Eve, take a deep breath." Emma says, softly. I took a deep breath like she said. I slowly let it out. I started pacing again.

"The next week we were supposed to attend Adaline's third birthday party. We had plans." I ran a hand through my hair. "I loved him."

"Maeve, can I ask you something?" I look at her. "Is he Adaline's father?" I let out a breath.

"Yeah. He is." She nods. "We had sex, so what. He wanted in her life. I told him he could. Malcolm is supposed to be here. He's supposed to follow our plans like we were supposed to."

"What were the plans that you keep talking about?" She asks, softly. I didn't say anything.

"I'm gonna go." I grab my bag.

"Maeve-" I was already out the door.

Day before the ball.

"MAEVE?" Axel yelled up the stairs. I stood up from the spot at my vanity and walked down the stairs.

"Could've just texted, A. No need to yell." He sighs. "Need something?"

"Visitor." He says, nodding towards the door. I looked and slowly tensed up. The lady didn't meet my gaze. Axel's phone buzzed and he looked at it. "Shit. I gotta go. Nobody is here besides you. Angel may be here after school or she's sleeping over at her friends. I don't know. I have a surgery I have to be at. Be good, okay? And don't go on the goddamn roof."

"No promises." I mumble. He sighs and kisses my temple. He nods at the lady and leaves.

"The roof?" She asks, softly. I looked at her.

"I went on the roof a couple days ago. It's fine. I didn't fall or anything." She nodded and looked around. "You want tea or something?"

"Sure. I would like that."

I go out to the kitchen with her following. I put on the tea pot and wait for it to warm up. After a few minutes, it was ready. I poured it out and put a tea bag in. I set it in front of her and she took a sip.

"Gwen, why are you here?" I ask, after a while. She sighs.

"I know you're hurting, Maeve. I'm sorry for the way I treated you these past few months." I furrowed my eyebrows.

"It's fine. I got it. You were grieving over your son who just died. You just took your anger out on me and that's fine." She shook her head.

"That wasn't fine, Eve. You-You just lost the love of your life." She says, frowning. Tears welled up in my eyes. "I'm sorry, really sorry." I started playing with his ring that got the attention of her. I stopped.

"If you, um, want it back you can have it." I say, quietly. She shakes her head.

"Keep it." She grabbed her purse and pulled out a stack of letters. She put them on the island. "I uh, was going through his stuff. Anna wasn't home. I found these. Addressed to you." I grabbed one and looked at it. "The first few letters I read. I didn't mean to-"

"Where did you find these?" I ask, looking at her. She laughs, softly.

"Underneath a floorboard." I smiled.

"That was his hiding place."

"I know about the baby." Her voice was barely audible. I tensed up. She lowered her gaze. "I walked in on him talking to God once. I knew he wasn't that much religious but I knew if he talked to God about you, then you were the one." A lone tear escaped my eye. "He didn't know I was there until he said what he said. I dropped the laundry basket I was holding and hugged him so tight."

"Then the accident happened. Lost it and him all in the same night." I say, shrugging. She was about to say something when someone came into the kitchen. I immediately wiped underneath my eyes. She looked at the person and back at me.

"I should go." She says, getting up. I looked at Damien and Matt then back at her. "You can come over anytime, Eve. There's some other things that you should have."

"Like what?" I ask, looking at her.

"Things. Stop by whenever you want. I'm sorry, again." I smiled at her. A sad smile but it was still a smile. "I'll leave you to it. Goodbye Maeve."

She left the kitchen and I looked at the letters on the counter. I looked at the first one and put it with the others.

"What are those?" Matt asks, curious.

"Things that aren't addressed to you." I say, coldly. I grabbed them and went upstairs.