Swans Don't Quit

Mother

I was woken bright and early Sunday morning to the blaring of the phone as it rang. It woke not only myself, but Leah and Alex too. We had planned to sleep in after staying up late last night celebrating Leah's with both of our parents and Seth at the Clearwaters' and did not appreciate being woken up. Leah hurried to get Alex who had been startled awake and was screaming in his nursery while I rushed to answer the phone. The quicker I answered the phone and get rid of whoever it was, the quicker I could go back to sleep.

"Hello?" I answered annoyed, not even bothering to check the caller ID to see who it was that was calling. If I had checked, I might have been a little more ready for what I heard.

"Your mother's here." A bleak voice said on the other end of the line and I was immediately wide awake. I had known this was coming. The day I called to inform her of Alex's birth she had said she would come to collect Isabella and Alex. I knew she would come and I had prepared for this, everything was ready for me to fight her legally over Alex. She would not be taking my nephew to Florida with her.

"What do you mean my mother's here? She hadn't said anything the last time she talked to you." I said and took a glance at Leah as she walked into the room bouncing Alex in her arms as he calmed down.

"She called a couple of minutes ago from the airport in Seattle. Said she would be down in a couple of hours to collect her daughter and grandson and to start getting them ready before she hung up. You better hurry up before she gets here." Dad said and I quickly agreed before hanging up and rushing to get dressed.

"What's going on?" Leah asked as I rushed past her coming back down the stairs.

"Renee's in Seattle. I have to get to dad's to calm him down and be there before she gets there." I said and Leah pushed Alex into my arms.

"You get him his bottle while I get dressed and call Emily to see if she'll watch Alex while we deal with your mother." She said and ran upstairs to get dressed. Since we've had Emily watching Alex, Leah has gotten closer to her cousin again. They were by no means as close as they used to be, but it was better than the tense hatred that had come from Leah before and the extreme sadness and guilt from Emily every time they were near each other.

While she got dressed I started Alex's bottle, got him dressed and got his diaper bag packed to go. I had everything ready with the papers we needed to assert my guardianship of Alex waiting by the door. Leah came down and the two of us got everything in the tuck in record time to go to Emily and Sam's.

When we got there Emily rushed out and got Alex inside while I got the bags and brought them inside. She and Sam wished me luck as I left and I thanked them before rushing out the door to the truck. When we got to the dad's house he was in the kitchen pacing, running his hands through his already thinning hair and down his face. He nearly jumped out of his skin when we came through the door before letting out a relieved sigh.

"Do you have the papers? She's not going to take Alex and Bella is she?" Dad fired question after question as he grabbed me by my shoulders.

"I have the papers. She's not going to take Alex without going through all us first. But if Isabella agrees to go... there's nothing we can do. She's eighteen now and her decisions are her own." I said and dad took a shaky intake of air and nodded while removing his hands from my shoulders.

I could see the vein pulsing in dad's forehead and was worried about the stress this was putting on him. I got him a glass of water and a couple of aspirin and coaxed him into taking a seat at the table to relax a little. I had yet to see Isabella and assumed she hadn't woken yet or had submerged herself in her school work as she has taken to doing since she had returned to school. This was stressful for all parties involved and I hoped this didn't drag her further into that deep dark hole of her depression.