Landed || Tori Kelly

The Other Room

continued

With a long eye roll, Tori slid from under her one year old and followed her mother to the office in the foyer of the house as Vera moved to the secluded hall. "What is going on? Is this a joke?" Laura asked. Tori folded hers and shook her head.

"Listen, I don't need you blaming me too. I get that enough from my husband," Tori mumbled, taking a seat in the swivel chair behind the desk as Laura leaned against the side.

"Blame you? Why would I do that? It's not like you forced her to do this," Laura asked. "No, I'm trying to figure out why the hell, she is so nonchalant about this? There was more fear in her when this wasn't her fault," Laura replied. Tori once again rolled her eyes.

"I don't know, mom!" She yelled. "I can't speak for her or her father about what happens in their minds! Ask her! She's the one that betrayed our trust numerous times to do what she wanted. And as much as I want to lay her out for her disobedience, which has now brought a bigger consequence that I have to take care of, I can't! So, if you want to, be my guest! And while you're at it, ask her if she plans on doing this again after this kid comes, because these surprises are adding up, quickly!" Tori frustratedly fumed. Laura watched her daughter unravel with sad eyes.

"You don't mean that. You love Fordy,"

"Yeah, I love Fordy. That's not a question. What I don't love, is the fact that Abiah is comfortable making mistakes that could cost her her future or her kids, because she knows mommy will swoop in to save the day. It's getting to be too much." Tori expressed, folding her arms and lying back in the chair.

"Victoria, do you hear yourself?" Laura asked. Tori gave her a weird look, then resorted to her automatic eye roll. "You're a mother and a grandmother. This is all apart of what you signed up for when you tacked your name on her birth certificate. You think that your father and I agreed with everything you did as teenager or now? You know we were very vocal about you and André trying for Jairus. But, you did what you wanted and we still supported you—"

"Mom, I was not 16 when I decided to have my second child!"

"Tori, what did you expect was going to happen? She's clearly sexual active and knows no boundaries, because you never set any! Did you see us letting you or Noah have boyfriends and girlfriends in the room? No, because even though we trusted you guys, we set boundaries," Laura recalled. A twinge of guilt hit Tori, thinking about everything she did as a teen, that her parents had no knowledge of. "Look, this is not what I came to talk to you about. I want to hear your plan of action now and for the future," Laura asked. Tori searched her brain but, came up empty.

"I don't know. André already made it clear that we can't punish her," Tori trailed off.

"Okay, punishing her is off the table. Next," Laura said.

"I, personally, am going to support her. I'm going to do what I have been, and help her as much as she will allow, while playing the fun Nona. I don't know about André."

—

In the hall, Vera paced back and fourth. "André, what is going on?" She asked, without context. André racked his brain trying to figure out what his mother could possibly be talking about. "André! You hear me?" Vera asked, over annoyed at this point.

"Momma, what are talking about?" André asked. His mother, terrible with technology, only had her forehead in the camera. "Momma! Put the phone up! I can't see you. What are you talking about?" André asked once again, this time through a chuckle.

"Abiah, she just said she's pregnant. André, how you let this happen?" Vera asked. A short sigh came from her son's lips.

"Ask Tori," he grumbled.