The Foster Girl || Harry Styles

- 27 -

“I believe it would be in your best interest if you were to see your mum.”

I could not believe we were back to this. First Molly, then Harry….I never thought Jamie would try to sell this on me too.  

“You know how I feel about that,” I remind her. “It’s not happening.”

“I understand where you’re coming from. I’ve respected your wishes of not communicating with your mother for your entire life. I’m telling you now that you’re almost an adult, and I think seeing her once wouldn’t hurt”

“Stop,” I say more sternly than I had intended. “What good could that create for me? The only thing that would possibly do is make me hate her more than I do now.”

“You don’t know everything about her,” Jamie says defensively. I had never heard her use this tone with me. It was strange to hear. “You only know the bad side to the story, Nicole. I knew your mother well. She’s a good person. I wouldn’t encourage you to visit her if she wasn’t.”

“What else could there possibly be?” I ask, crossing my arms. I couldn’t wait to hear this.

“First of all, your father didn’t leave.”

“Of course he did. He’s a terrible person just like my mother is,” I snap, rolling my eyes. She narrows hers.

“He is a terrible person because he abused your mother. You don’t know what she has been through. You don’t know how strong she really is. Maybe if you knew the whole story, you would respect her more than you do now. I think it’s time you learned the truth about your past,” she tells me. I remain quiet, waiting for her to continue. “Your father abused your mother. When he discovered she was pregnant, it only angered him. He beat her every night in the hopes of killing the baby. She was terrified of losing you and your sister, so she packed up her things and moved to my house for a while just to get away from him.”

I didn’t see that coming. Jamie was right after all. I knew nothing.

“Before you were born, she wanted to make sure your father had no way of ever coming into your lives. The only way she could do that was by leaving everything behind. She had no money, no job, and no future ahead of her. All she had was the clothes on her back. She ended up moving into a small shack in Cheshire. She still lives there now. After living in the neighborhood for a while with no way to pay rent, she began discovering other…sources of income.”

I knew exactly what she was talking about. This was the time period when my mother began getting involved with things she shouldn’t have. This is why my sister and I were taken away.

“She did it for you, Nicole. You and Melissa. She tried hard to get money to raise you two. She went a week without food once because she was trying so hard to save,” she says, her eyes watering.

 I tried to keep my stone expression unchanging, but Jamie’s words were getting to me.

“Anyways, after you were born when social services tried to take you two away, she fought. She fought harder than I’ve ever seen her fight for anything before. The last thing she wanted was to be separated from her daughters when she had worked so hard to try and make a better life for you. She gave up everything.”

“If she wanted us so badly, why didn’t she get her life back on track? Huh? Tell me that,” I demand.

“Your father found her and demanded to know where his daughters were,” she tells me. “She couldn’t leave or he would follow. He was watching closely, and he might still be today. He didn’t have good intentions. She was concerned for you safety and thought you would be better off in the hands of the government.”

I couldn’t even look at Jamie at this point. I stared at the ground instead.

“That doesn’t mean she didn’t want you. Oh, trust me. She would’ve done anything for you, Nicole. You and your sister were all that mattered to her.”

“That’s not what she told Harry,” I mutter. “She told him that she didn’t change because she didn’t want us growing up in poverty.”

“That was part of it. The neighborhood wasn’t nice, or safe for that matter. She was still broke no matter how hard she tried to earn money. She wanted you to get adopted. She wanted you and Melissa to be placed into a nice home together so you would at least have each other, but that didn’t happen. I tried hard to make that the case, but I had no control,” she explains. I didn’t even know what to say at this point. “I can assure you that your mother loved you very much. She loved you more than anything else in the world, and she would do anything for you.”

“I had no idea,” I whisper more to myself than to Jamie.

“Like I said, talking to her wouldn’t be a bad idea. You know where to find me if you change your mind,” she says, rising from her seat, dusting herself off, and fixing herself up before leaving the room. I was left there alone to think about what had just been told to me.

What else don’t I know? Is there more to the story? Maybe Jamie is holding back, but there’s only one way to know for sure.

I have to talk to my mother.

AUTHORS NOTE

hi c: this is getting pretty long and I'm not sure how long it will be, but it's not ending anytime soon so thats good. Not sure how exactly it will end, but I guess we'll wait and see! Let me know what you think will happen next~ drop a comment or a vote to let meknow if you liked it. Im actually fairly proud of this chapter (: You got to know the whole story behind Nicole's past :D  I didn't really proofread so sorry for mistakes or if something doesnt make sense. Thanks so much for reading and if you like this book you should check out my other stories too because they aren't getting as much attention as I would like them to xD recommend it to a friend if you want! Follow me too because if you do I dedicate a chapter to you c; I love you lots my pop tarts~ byee xx