Remodelling the Wreckage of My Past

“At what time do you think Mum will show up?” asked Aiden, fidgeting with his hands as he starred at Nathalie, hanging off Dad’s arm.

“No idea, she’s probably gone to see Billy in L.A, or he went to pick her up… Or I don’t know Aiden, she’ll come…” I assured him, running a hand through my hair.

“Angelina, I have a bad feeling about what Nat wanted to tell us…” he mumbled, biting his nail.

“Stop that Aiden…” I mumbled, swatting his hand away. I left him on his own as I crept behind my uncle and got on my tip-toes, screaming “BOO!” in his ears.

“Goddamn it!” he yelled as he glared at me but his face softened as he saw me and wrapped his huge tattooed arms around me.

“You should stop spending so much time with Ash and Jimmy, it’s not doing any good…” he said as he kissed my forehead and then looked over my shoulder.

“Jason! Danger, put her down!” boomed Matt as his son and Jimmy’s son were trying to throw Lily, Zacky’s daughter into the pool.

“That’s not funny kids.” He said, as he picked Lily up into his arms. “Jason, I was expecting more of you, knowing than you are going to big a big brother in a few months.” Said Matt. Jason and Danger looked at each others, before hanging their heads low.

“Sorry Daddy…” whispered Jason.

“Sorry Uncle Matt…” whispered Danger.

“It’s okay kids, just be more careful okay?” They both nodded and Matt smiled his trademark dimples smile and put Lily down.

“Why don’t you go and play with Celia and Aiden?” he suggested. She smiled brightly and ran off. Max (Johnny’s kid), Jason and Danger were chasing each others.

“So, where’s your Mum?” asked Matt as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder and looked at everyone single person gathered in Jimmy’s and Ash’s backyard for the BBQ.

“No idea… Aiden is stressed because she’s late and he has a bad feeling about Nat’s announcement or whatever…” I explained.

“I heard things got ugly between your mother and Nathalie?” he said, a smile on his face as he saw Val waving at him. He waved back.

“Yeap, Mum basically told her that she was a whore, with Dad standing in the same room. Cha, Ash and Jess want nothing more than Mum joining Perfect Nightmare again, seeing her kicking Nat’s ass out of the band.” I said, running a hand through my hair.

“Mum!”

I turned around only to see Aiden jumping off his sit and running towards Mum, engulfing her in a breath taking hug. Someone please slap me in the face, or pinch me or whatever… Did Aiden just run to Mum like his whole life depended on her at the moment? I blinked.

“Damn, it’s good to see Aiden so thrilled about seeing his mother.” Said Matt with a nod before he made his way towards Mum. I smiled widely and followed him.

“Hey Mum!” I said in a sing-song voice as I noticed the small stains of purple paint on her jeans. “You forgot the time, right?” I asked, as I engulfed my mother in a hug.

“Pretty much yeah,” she said with a chuckle. “I was in the middle of painting Celia’s room when the door bell rang and Billy was here, all ready and stuff…” she explained, running a hand through her hair as she looked over her shoulder to see Aiden and Billy hugging each other.

I briefly looked up at the cloudless sky and closed my eyes for a second, praying that the day would keep getting better and better.

“Hey Lyn! Took you long enough!” said Dad as he engulfed Mum in a one arm hug, holding a beer in the other hand, a silly smile on his face.

“Now that everyone is here, we have an important announcement to make!” said Brian, raising his beer up in the air, catching everyone else attention as Nat suddenly appeared at his side.

“Nat is pregnant.” He said, wrapping his arm around her waist and resting his palm on her stomach, kissing her temple. She smiled brightly as we all fell silent.

My guess was that none of us knew how to react to the sudden news.

“That’s great!” said Mum, forcing a smile on her face as she took a step forward and hugged both Brian and Nathalie. Everyone mimicked her actions, except Aiden who was standing aside, his face paler than usual and empty glass at his feet. His eyes glued on Dad’s hand that was resting on Nat’s stomach, his mouth was slightly open as he was obviously lost for words. Suddenly, his fist clenched and he hung his head low, sighing deeply. I walked away from the small crowd and went to stand next to my twin brother, wrapping my arm comfortably around his shoulder. I rested my head against his, knowing damn well what was going on through his head at the moment, since the same thoughts were running through my mind at the exact same time.

All our hopes of getting our parents back together just burned into ashes at our feet.
“I’m sorry Aiden…” I whispered, pressing my forehead against his temple, my hand squeezing his shoulder as I could feel him about to burst in tears.

“Come on, you need to congratulate Dad or something…” I whispered, letting go of my brother and taking his hand in mine, leading him towards Dad and Nathalie as they were talking with Mum and Billy.

“Congrats Dad…” whispered Aiden as he hugged Dad and then reluctantly hugged Nat who was smiling proudly. It took me a lot of self control to not just punch the bitch square in the face. If it wasn’t for Dad’s happiness and Mum’s warning glance, I would have… I swear.

That was all she deserved. A good punch in the face for definitively smashing all hopes of getting my parents back together.