Harlow's Mistake

79.

..........

Delano and Gia were sitting closely next to one another. His hand was on her thigh as Iyanla was speaking. You wouldn't even know that secrets were spilled the way they were together.

"Sickening!" Salem said.

"Excuse me? Miss Salem" Iyanla said.

She pointed to her parents "these two". Iyanla turned to both Gia and Delano "what about them?".

"This women clearly just does whatever she wants and he keeps taking her back! I don't get it! I must be missing something. She sat here and said that Harlow isn't yours. She got pregnant for someone else and he's there just holding onto her" she said.

"Salem mom and I have been through so much already" Delano said.

"Oh please! Mom has you under a spell" she said.

"Salem... even though I believe both of your parents are toxic for one another... somehow they fit. With the lengthy relationship... at this point I don't anything can pull them apart" Iyanla said.

"He can do so much better with someone else who would treat him with respect!"'she said.

"Enough!" Gia said.

"What? Truth hurts doesn't it?" Salem asked.

"Know your place! And stay out of our relationship. Maybe you should focus on your marriage than be all in mine" Gia said.

"You are no mother of mine" Salem said.

"Enough Salem!" Ryan warned.

Everyone turned to Ryan. Who was staring at Salem from across the table. Summer looked at both of them and back at Iyanla who seemed interested that Ryan finally joined in.

"Not you too?" Salem said.

"All you've been doing is bashing mom. We all get it! You feel like she wasn't there for you. But don't sit here and be disrespectful to her. At the end of the day she's still your mother. Whether you like it or not. Even Harlow wasn't this disrespectful to dad when he wasn't paying her any mind" he said.

Harlow nodded "true, I've never called dad out of his name".

"Ryan and you are always a team. So it's whatever!" Salem said.

Iyanla turned to Kai "Kai can you help me out with something? Do you think your mother treated you differently than Ryan or Harlow?".

"Nope. My mom and I always had a special bond" Kai said.

"Yeah cause you give her money" Salem chimed in.

"I don't give her money. She doesn't need any" he said.

"Yeah okay" she said.

"As I was saying... even til this day she is an amazing grandmother to our children. She comes over on her own to hang out with us. Bring gifts to our kids. She even cooked and brought it over when summer just had mason. So I can't relate to Salem" he said.

Iyanla nodded "so miss Salem it seems you are the only one who has an issue here".

"As always" Harlow said.

"Let's play a game... this is specifically for Salem and Gia" she said.

"Oh joy" Salem said.  Gia sighed "what type of game?".

"You two will face one another and I want miss Salem to tell you why and how she's hurting. Why she has so much hate towards you. I want you to listen to her. In take all she's saying" she said.

Gia raised her brow "and how is this a game?".

"Well it's a game for me to see how well this works and how well you are receptive to what she's saying" she smiled.

Salem sighed but sat across her mother. She just stared at the women whom she saw her for what she is. Everyone can be fooled but Salem isn't going to be that person.

"Miss Salem the stage is yours" Iyanla said.

Salem cleated her throat "what do I say?".

"Start out by telling her why you're hurt" Iyanla suggested.

"Oh... well I'm hurt because you don't share the same attention to me than you do the others. I get that there's so many of us but still one shouldn't be left out. You weren't there for me when I needed you most. Even at my wedding you wasn't so joyous for me. But when I saw how happy you were when Harlow has Bentley. How come I couldn't have that happiness?!" She said.

Gia was about to answer but Iyanla stopped her "let her continue".

"It's not fair. I'm not being a spoiled brat either. I'm trying to be an adult and figure out why I'm like this. The others don't share my story about you. And it's because you aren't there for me as you are for them. We have two parents. I feel like we all should get equal attention from the both of you. I think things should change" she said.

Iyanla nodded "are you finished?".

She nodded.

"Gia? Now you may speak" Iyanla said.

"Firstly, I don't support your marriage. I think the man you married is a predator. He knew you were weak and impressionable and took advantage of that. You didn't know any better... you were still healing from the past trauma. That's why I wasn't so joyous at your wedding. That whole relationship doesn't seem right. But at the same time I butt out of my children's personal lives. Letting you all make your own mistakes!... Secondly, I assumed with dad always paying you attention that you didn't need me to be on you. You were always with dad. If I made you feel any kind of way.. I'm sorry. Wasn't my intent at all. As a mom I try to be the best mom I know how to. I'm bound to make some mistakes down the line and I did. But we can try and build our relationship back to being mother and daughter. It may not happen today or tomorrow but it'll eventually happen".

Iyanla nodded but wasn't impressed.

"That was a cute speech Gia. But I didn't feel like it was genuine. I could be wrong. But for some reason I don't feel as if you feel empathy toward others. Any other person hearing that speech would be moved. But I didn't feel anything from it" she said.

Gia shrugged "I meant what I said".

"Okay..." Iyanla said.

*** YOU KNOW WHATS HARD?! WHEN YOU CALL OUT OF WORK TO RELAX. THEN YOU REALIZE YOU CANT POST NOTHING YOUR DOING ON IG CAUSE YOUR BOSS HAS YOUR IG ACCOUNT! SMH 🤦🏽‍♀️