Mickey - The View From Here PART TWO - Gallavich

Merry F'n Christmas

“And where the fuck have you been?

Ian folded his arms defensively across his chest and agreed with me. He stared, furious at his little sister, who looked more like a streetwalker than a single mom with her own welding business. It was Christmas Eve, and it had been months since we last saw Debbie. “That’s a great question. Better yet, Deb, what the fuck made you abandon your daughter? You’ve been where Franny is and you still treated her like shit, just like how Monica treated all of us.”

“I did not abandon my daughter,” Debbie tried to defend herself. “I left her with family.”

“And didn’t tell any of us! You just expected that us to take her in, no matter our situations because you had to go live out some adventure fantasy!” Ian shouted at her.

I was angry for Franny as well, but only one of us needed to be hotheaded right now. If Ian wanted this one, I’d be the rational one…or at least as close to it as I could get. I stepped closer to my husband and lay a calming and supportive hand on his back.

“Don’t shame me,” Debbie snarled. “You did the same thing when you ran off to join the army. And you failed, ‘cause you’re fucking insane!”

“Hey,” I snapped at her. “Uncalled for.”

“Oh, fuck off, Mickey,” she sneered. “Don’t you fucking start in on me about parenting, ‘cause you’re a shit, absent father.”

“You know what, Deb? Get the fuck out of our apartment,” Ian requested firmly.

“Gladly,” Debbie seethed. “Where’s my daughter?”

Ian laughed disparagingly. “Now you care.”

“I always cared, Ian. I needed a fucking break. So sue me.”

“Maybe I will,” Ian threatened.

Debbie tried to calm herself, petting her long auburn hair in a self-soothing ritual. “I fucked up, alright? Who in this room hasn’t? I just miss my daughter.”

As conflicted as I was, I knew we had to let Debbie take Franny. The problem was, with Debbie in the wind and wild, I wasn’t certain my niece would be safe, or even a priority. Unfortunately, Ian and I had no right to keep Debbie from her daughter.

My heart ached as I squeezed my husband’s shoulder and gave him a knowing look. We were two ex-convicts, Debbie could make our lives hell if she saw fit. And keeping her daughter from her, that didn’t look great for Ian and I.

For a moment, the rage of betrayal glimmered in Ian’s green eyes, then he thought about it. Turning to his sister, he was stern. “I don’t trust you, Deb. Do you even have a place to take Franny?”

“Yes,” she replied, slightly offended. “My new girlfriend has a place here on the West Side. We wanted to spend Christmas with Franny.”

After an hour of back and forth, Debbie convinced Ian to have more trust in her. Franny was hanging out with her cousins at Lip and Tammy’s place, so we all piled into the ambulance and headed to South Side. As we stood at the precipice of relinquishing our temporary parental duties, we prepared for the worst. If Debbie couldn’t get her shit together, we both knew that Franny would be with us again, and for now, that was enough to allow us to let go.