The life and lies of Matty and I - J.Black

The nursery and a mis-lodged memory

VERONICA SWAN YEARNED for the full night of sleep she had prior to  Bella and Matthew moving in. As no matter how many talks their father had with Bella over the past few nights the older girl made no effort to tend to her son's needs when he awoke. Matthew had turned out to not be an overly fussy baby, at 7 months old he often did not cry out in the night but when he did. His cries would often go answered for a few minutes longer than they should have done as both Charlie and Veronica waited to see if Bella would get up to see what he required. Yet no matter what happened or what was said no changes seemed to occur. And it had caused the beginning of much turmoil to build between the residents of the house. 

And the horrible thought that perhaps the reason Matthew did not cry out as much as he was expected to at this age was due to his cries not being answered. But that was a horrible thought that Veronica chose to forget about and move away from instantly the second it had even crossed her mind. As she could not imagine her mother allowing that to happen. 

Charlie could see why his ex-wife had started to reach her end of the rope with their eldest daughter. He could see why she hoped sending her daughter to somewhere different would change things. But he also realised that change did not occur overnight, and a lot more would be needed to be done to change the outlook his eldest had and to get her to become more involved with her son. But he was slowly starting to see just how difficult it was going to be and he was starting to wonder just what would be needed to get some change occurring. He was aware that by stepping in as frequently as he was, was not promoting the idea that she should be doing more but he could also not allow his grandson to go without his needs being met because he was trying to get his daughter to step up and do more. He was also aware that as Veronica got more involved Bella would also not want to do as much. But he couldn't stop Veronica getting involved as he was aware she too felt the same. That if they were not the ones to respond and do something, nothing would be done. 

Veronica also had hoped that over the few days they had before School started up again, that the two sisters would start to bond. Yet they seemed to do the opposite. Veronica found herself completely unable to bond with her sister, the two either speaking little to no words to each other despite being in the same room, or arguing. She didn't think it possible to argue so much with someone after spending so little time around them. But the events of the last few days indicated otherwise. The two would argue over every little thing it would seem, whether it was about how much time either of them spent in the bathroom, to what they were going to watch on TV. To much larger things, the care of Matthew whilst their father was at work to the trivial regards of their bedrooms. 

Bella had hinted only two days after arriving that she didn't like the bedroom she was in, she felt it was too cramped and she did not have enough space. She wanted the attic feeling as though Veronica had been favoured and given the biggest room in the house. And Veronica, she loved her attic bedroom, she had spent so much time getting it the way she wanted but she also loved her peace. And she knew that if she did not cave into her sister's demand it was unlikely that peace would wash over the house any time soon. She knew it would not help their situation in the long-term giving into her sister, as Bella would be more likely to expect more things like it in the future, but it would help in the short-term. And that was all Veronica wanted. 

"Ronnie, you really don't have to concede into Bella's demand. You spent so much time on both of those rooms Bug, don't let her waste it." Charlie attempted to sway Veronica to stand her ground, he wanted her to not allow her sister to walk all over her. Not in an effort to make things a little more pleasant around the house, that was for him to sort out, not her. 

"I just want some peace, we both know she's not going to change overnight dad. If we give her this, maybe she'll listen more and see reason to what we're asking her to do." Veronica sighed, she knew she was going against her own wishes but she didn't know what else to do in that moment.