“Yes, this is Dianne’s email, but she was not the one who sent it. She has already given her kidney to Rosette. Why would she bother with reporting her? Leo, don’t you trust your daughter at all?”
Leo gritted his teeth again. “It’s important that she owns up to her mistakes. If you keep protecting her like this, you are going to ruin her life.”
I could not stand it anymore and snapped back at him, “Is my daughter’s life not as important
1/2
as Rosette’s job?!”
Leo retorted, “All she lost was a kidney. That’s not the end of the world. Rosette, on the other hand, had her dreams ruined and can no longer reach her goals!”
“Leo, you are such a scumbag!”
While we were arguing, Rosette rolled the electric wheelchair forward in my direction. She turned to Leo with tears swelling in her eyes and cried out in an exaggerated, dramatic voice. “Please, both of you, stop fighting because of me! I’ll be fine. Maybe Dianne only reported me because she regretted giving me her kidney. At this point, I’m just glad I’m alive. I don’t blame Dianne for what she did.”
Leo was provoked again upon hearing this. “Rosette, you are too kind for your own good. We cannot spoil the child. It’s only going to ruin her in the long run.”
Then, he turned to me again and growled, “Clarice, you’d better hurry up and tell Dianne to get out here. I want her to apologize to Rosette. She needs to give her department at work a proper explanation. That’s the only way I’ll drop this entire thing!”
I snarled at him. “You are full of crap! Rosette, if you keep on mocking my daughter, it’s not going to end well for you!”
As soon as I said this, Leo angrily slapped the urn in my arm away.
When I saw her ashes forming a cloud above me before scattering away with the wind, I could no longer contain my emotions. I howled hysterically, “No, no!!”
Then, I felt a hand heavily slap across my face.
“Clarice, I have been too lenient with you over the years. That’s why you have become so shameless!”
This slap was so unexpected that I lost my balance and slammed into the table next to me. My momentum knocked over the table and sent all the cakes and fruits toppling over the floor. The scene turned into immediate chaos, just like the state of my mind.
I did not even bother to wipe the blood from the corner of my mouth. My mind had turned blank and my body would not stop shaking. My hands were empty. Dianne’s ashes were sprinkled over the carpet and even stung my eye.
Then, a gust of wind blew past and sent her ashes billowing into the lake next to us.
I crawled over the floor like a lunatic and desperately clutched at them with my hands in hopes that I could stop them from dispersing in the wind.
I could not stop crying at this point and screamed hoarsely, “Dianne, I’m sorry. This all happened because I failed to protect you. I am a failure as a mother…”
