Mickey - The View From Here PART TWO - Gallavich

Unbreakable Cycle

The moment the words escaped my lips, a tidal wave of shame crashed down on me. There was a reason I didn’t bring up Yevgeny, yet here I was, telling Ian that Franny had accidentally found Yevvy in that martial arts class.

Taken aback by my unexpected admission, Ian pursed his lips thoughtfully and sighed. “Wow.”

I shook my head as though such an action could rid my brain of the boy I thought of as my son. “Don’t be weird,” I requested, hoping we could drop the subject.

With a slight stutter, my husband inquired carefully, “a-are you alright? Do you wanna talk ab—”

“Now’s not the fuckin’ time,” I reminded him before walking out of the bedroom and away from the situation. Yevgeny couldn’t be a priority right now, not when our niece was being reclaimed by her now sketchy mother. Franny was here, now. Yevgeny wasn’t.

I wandered back to Lip and Tammy’s living room in time to see Debbie reuniting with her little brother, Liam. Clinging to her side for dear life was Franny, terrified Debbie would dematerialize if she loosened her grip.

“Where’d you go?” Liam asked her after a hug.

“Just needed to get away,” Debbie replied, glancing back at a restrained, yet pissed off Lip. “But I’m back for good.”

Liam didn’t seem convinced, too used to this kind of behavior from adults in his life. “Right.”

Debbie giggled and patted Franny on the head. “I see at least someone missed me.”

“That’s what happens when you ditch your kid, they miss you,” Lip grumbled before Tammy quieted him with a playful smack to the gut.

“I thought we were gonna be civil,” Debbie pointed out to Lip.

He shrugged, arms crossed over his chest. “I’m civil.”

Debbie crouched down so she was on eye level with her daughter. “We have a new home! You’re gonna have your very own room!”

“She already has a room,” Ian stated, emerging from behind me.

Debbie tried not to let her smile waver. “So she’ll have a place to play if she visits you.”

Ian tilted his head to the side at the sound of one word. If. “So, you’re not gonna let her visit us?”

“I never said that,” Debbie replied in a sweet, put on tone.

Looking to me, Ian scoffed at his sister’s audacity. We had cared for Franny for months at this point, yet I was sure Debbie wouldn’t even offer a sign of gratitude. Strangely, a picture of her as a 12-year-old popped into my head. Sure, Debbie was always a little intense and perhaps aimlessly overzealous, but she was a good kid that simply wanted a happy family. I had to wonder what had happened to her. Had it been her relationship with Sandy? Her father’s death? Or had this always been in the cards for Debbie Gallagher? Was she doomed from the start to become so much like her own mother? Glancing at my husband with his issues at the front of my mind, I had to wonder; were we all doomed to become just like our fucked up parents? And would Liam, Franny, and Fred grow up to be the same kind of shitty people? Hopeless, I couldn’t figure out how to stop the cycle other than being there for my niece, nephew, and young brother-in-law with Ian. They weren’t our kids, but we could still do our best.

“So, where are you living right now?” Tammy wondered with her son, Fred sitting in her lap. She was trying to be nice, but Tammy had an unfortunate lifelong case of resting bitch face. That combined with her dry wit and sarcasm made Tammy a difficult read and easy to dislike.

To aid in his girlfriend's attempt to be friendly, Lip said, “yeah, tell us about the new place. You said it was nice.”

“Yep,” Debbie agreed, maintaining a kind, civil front. “Great location. Close to school and a playfround. It’s a house my girlfriend bought, so it’ll be our house soon. Right, Franny?”

“Let me guess,” Ian grumbled, “you’re engaged.”

The wind was taken out of Debbie’s sails, leaving her in the doldrums. A spark faded from her eye and her shoulders slouched as she placed her hands on her hips. “Well, I was gonna tell you guys when I was ready. Thanks for ruining the surprise.” She turned to Franny and smiled. “You’re gonna have two mommies!”