“Alright, listen up. Either you help me strip Vicky of her parental rights, or I walkdeal with this mess yourselves.”
“Katie, for heavens sake! Shes your sister! My daughter!” Mum threw her hands up, then clutched her chest like she was about to have a heart attack.
“And what am I? Not your daughter too?” Hurt crept into Katies voice. “Sometimes I think you dont even see me as a person. Cant you see whats happening? Ive grown to love little Charlie like my own, and youeither you help me, or I do it alone. But I wont just let this go.”
Mum looked away, torn. Dad just scowled and poked at his dinner with a fork. Katie didnt need any more cluesshe stood up and walked to her room.
Clearly, her parents hadnt chosen her. Not even Charlie.
She started packing, which didnt take longshe didnt own much. Her chest ached, but she knew this had to be done.
Then came the hardest parta little boy clinging to her legs, sobbing.
“Mummy, dont go…” Charlie begged, watching her stuff clothes into a bag.
*Mummy*. That word stabbed her all over again. Katie sighed, knelt down, and forced a smile.
“Im not leaving *you*, sweetheart,” she whispered, hugging him tight. “Im leaving so things can get better. Ill come back. For good. I promise.”
Charlie wailed, not understanding why the aunt he called *Mum* was suddenly abandoning him. He clung to her jumper so desperately she couldnt leave until hed cried himself to sleep. Only then did she slip out, quiet as a mouse.
In that moment, Katie hated Vicky. She was the one whod forced them all into this nightmare.
…Vicky had started acting wild at sixteenlate nights out, then crashing at “friends” places, though everyone knew what kind of “friends” they were. Shed stumble home smeared with makeup, sometimes drunk or in tears. And Mum and Dad would fuss over her like she was some fragile thing.
A pregnancy was inevitable. At seventeen, Vicky got knocked upcouldnt even name the father. Just some “bloke from a party.”
Charlie was born. Vicky quickly realised motherhood wasnt for her. First, shed vanish overnight, then she disappeared completely.
“Im still young. Im not wrecking my life for this,” shed told Katie over the phone when pressed.
So the wrecking ball landed on Katie. Grandpa barely cared, maybe buying a toy now and then. Granny helped, but she worked full-time.
Katie was eighteen. She switched to part-time uni to care for a baby. She became his second motherliterally, since she was the one whod had him christened.
It was brutal. Night feeds, sleepless hours, dragging a pram up stairs, exams on no sleep. She studied when Charlie napped and kept the house running while her parents worked.
By six months, shed adjusteduntil Vicky came back, bawling, grovelling to their parents.
“I was such an idiot Ill change, I swear!”
They believed her. Even Katie wanted to. For a month, Vicky actually spent time with Charlie. Then the novelty wore off, and she vanished againthis time, nicking Mums jewellery on the way out.
“Shes just struggling,” Mum excused. “Shell come around. She needs time.”
Katie stopped believing. Once was chance. Twice? A pattern. But what choice did she have? Her parents lived in some delusion where Vicky deserved endless chances.
So Katie carried onstudying, raising Charlie, taking him to nursery and doctors visits. Hoping Vicky wouldnt return.
But of course she did. Four years later, there she was on the doorstep.
“I thought he loved me. Thought wed live together, take Charlie Then he used me. I was strandedno job, no friends, no money for a train ticket. Had to scrape by.” Vicky laid it on thick, batting her lashes.
“Funny how that didnt stop you piling on the pounds,” Katie muttered.
Mum shot her a glare, and she shut up. All sympathy went straight to poor, tragic Vicky.
The worst came when Katie brought Charlie home from nursery. Granny nudged him toward Vicky. He burst into tears and hid behind Katie.
“Dont be silly!” Granny cooed. “This is your mum.”
“Thats not Mummy! *Shes* Mummy!” He clung tighter.
“Katies just your aunt. Vickys your real mum.”
Katies heart shatteredfor Charlie, for her mums words, for knowing this would all repeat.
And it did.
Vicky leeched off them for two months, never job-hunting.
“Whod hire me with Charlie? Endless sick daysIm basically on maternity leave,” she scoffed when Katie asked.
Then she vanished again. No explanation. Just Instagram posts with some bloke twice her age.
*Another drunkard. Figures.* Hope diedVicky wouldnt leave them alone. But what could Katie do?
She finally confided in her best mate, Nina.
“Easy. Strip her of rights. Theyll check, see shes never here, and youll sort the rest.”
Katie froze. “What if they take Charlie? Mum and Dadll go spare.”
“Or you wait till Vickys back wrecking his head. Your call. And between us?” Nina lowered her voice. “Sis, parents, Charliewheres *your* life? Its time.”
“With who? Ive got Charlie.”
“And whatlive through him? Hell grow up and leave. Then what? Toms been asking after you, and you keep brushing him off.”
“When would I even date? Plus, whod want me with a kid?”
“If hes asking, he doesnt care.”
Katie *had* forgotten her own life. Dates fled when they heard she had a “kid”no time to explain he was her nephew.
Tom knew and still wanted her. After talking to Nina, she gave it a shot.
And it was easy. With Tom, she felt weightless. He listened. Helped.
So when she stormed out after her ultimatum, she went to himjust to vent. But Tom surprised her.
“Ive said it beforelets move in. Maybe nows the time.”
“I cant. Charlie”
“So? Well make it work.”
Katie gaped.
“Hes not even yours”
“Katie,” he cut in. “Im not thick. I knew what I was getting into. If hes family to you, hes family to me.”
Something in her thawed. Maybe life didnt have to be endless damage control.
The next six months were hellsocial workers, courses, paperwork. Worse, she couldnt take Charlie straight away. He cried, missed her, waited.
“Stealing your sisters childhow low!” Mum spat.
“Like she ever wanted him,” Katie shot back.
Her parents shut her out. Only Tom and friends stood by her.
But after the storm comes the calm.
Years later, Katie sat on a bench, watching Charlie teach his little sister, Emma, to kick a football. Tom wrapped an arm around her, and she thought*worth it*.
She hadnt heard from Vicky in ages. Didnt want to. Same old storyblokes and benders. Losing Charlie was just another sob story for their parents.
Speaking ofthey never forgave her. Fine. “If they want to coddle Vicky forever, let them,” Katie thought. “Ill take care of the ones who actually need me.”
