Recapturing Fate

Chapter 3

As she pulled up to her old house she felt tears threaten to fall yet again. She remembered playing in the front yard. Her parents were rich and a lot of people thought she had the best life ever. If only they only knew. She would have rather had that middle-class life most people in her life had but they were rich. Money tore them apart. She had seen that happen a lot beyond her own family life.

Most ex-couples fought because of money. In her life, she revolved around those fights and pain that she sometimes wanted to shout at exes for not thinking about their children. The poor kids sometimes didn’t know what was happening. It was heartbreaking. She pulled herself back to reality and started walking toward the door. Before she was fully at the door it opened. Maria Warner came out the door to greet her only child.

“Hello, Aurora.” She said coolly.

Aurora looked at her mom who looked as she did ten years ago. At forty-six, she would have passed as Aurora’s sister any day. That Brown hair they didn’t share was immaculately tied into a ponytail. Her brown eyes had a glitter of hope in them but quickly disappeared after seeing her daughter’s unhappy expression.

“Hello, Mom,” Aurora said halfheartedly.

Maria motioned into the house and Aurora walked in shivering slightly. Those memories flashed back to her mind but she pushed them down with fear of becoming vulnerable. Her mom hadn’t even bothered to re-decorate the house they as a family had decorated. Strange I figured she would. Maria walked in front of her and showed her to the kitchen.

They sat in silence for the first few minutes before her mom broke the silence.

“What brings you back to Woodland Park?” Maria whispered while playing around with her hands to distract herself.

“I wanted to see old faces. The city gets stuffy sometimes.” Aurora said monotonously.

“Oh well, that’s nice,” Maria replied agitated.

The air between them became hostile. Aurora had enough. It was time to say what needed to be said.

“Look Mom here’s the thing. I came back because I wanted to see you and Dad. I want a relationship with both of you since I never had one when I was younger. I want you guys to once be proud of me and understand that all I ever wanted when I was little was for you both to be active parents. I wanted you guys to stop fighting. I wished we could have been a family. I would have rather you guys divorced when you started having problems and be thrown from you to him. But instead of that you both shut me out of your life like I was the cause of this mess. You guys never said I love you to each other or me for that matter. Didn’t you ever think I was hurt by that? Did you ever think I wanted to be loved? Do you even care about me?” Aurora cried, pouring out all she had in her.

Maria was in tears. She didn’t know this was how Aurora had felt all her life. Guilt spread across her and she cried. When Maria gave birth to Aurora, it was one of the happiest days of her life. She had a baby girl that was made with love between her and John, the love of her life. She hadn’t known why their relationship had crumbled. One minute they were so much in love then the next they hated each other for so many reasons. She hadn’t known she was secluding her little girl from that love that evaded herself. Aurora watched as her mother cried her heart out. It pained her to see her as such so she stood up and hugged her mom.

“I do love you, sweetie. I was so happy when I gave birth to you. Your dad and I had been looking forward to having kids and being a family but things didn’t turn out the way we wanted them to. Your father and I started to have problems and then it was irreparable. He was the love of my life and then in a flash, he was gone. I’m so sorry. “Maria bawled into her daughter's shoulder.

Aurora shushed her mom calmly and finally understood why she treated her how she had. It was all because of love. Her only love had shut her out and so she had done the same to the people she loved too. Aurora understood that feeling. Tristan Alvarez was her first love and the only one she had loved so strongly. He broke her very soul. They were about to have their fourth anniversary, everything was set up weeks before but on that awaited night Aurora was left at the restaurant table without a date. That ended it. She tried talking to him about why and his only excuse was because he had forgotten and he had been busy with his friends. Her heart wouldn’t stop breaking over and over again as she thought of that moment.

After that, she had dated so many guys but the closeness was never there anymore. It was only he who struck that feeling in her. She wanted to feel that again. They hadn’t even said goodbye to each other. Aurora sighed. She would see him tomorrow even if she didn’t want to. She had to show all of them, she was still there and she was always there.

“Look Mom it’s okay. Don’t cry.” She said pained.

Her mom sniffled and wiped her tears away as Aurora sat down again.

“I’m sorry. I’m a mess.” Her mother spluttered while laughing slightly.

They spent more than an hour talking. As the time dragged on Aurora asked where her dad was.

“He lives at this address and he might be really surprised to see you. I’m not kidding; you looked like me when I was your age. Except for the eyes, you have your dad’s eyes; so blue and luminescent.” Maria said happily while passing her the new address of her dad.

Aurora stood up and headed towards the door. Before she exited the door her mom stopped her.

“Do you have somewhere to stay?” her mom questioned. Aurora turned around to face her.

“Actually no I don’t,” Aurora said.

“Well do you want to stay here?” she asked through the pouring rain.

Aurora smiled and nodded. She got into her car and headed off to her dad’s house. She walked slowly along the path and waited before knocking on his door. She heard a small noise behind the door and finally, a little girl answered the door.