Then Lucia came in and sat next to my dad which made the evening even more bizarre and she was followed by the other maids who brought us the dishes, everything looked delicious. Then my daddy got up with a glass of wine this time in his hand and tapped his glass with a spoon to get our attention, we all turned to him and he started talking
"Thank you, you all for coming to this dinner which is very important for me because it will mark a whole new turning point in all our lives. If I have gathered you here today, it was to announce my engagement to Lucia. We will get married in 3 months and we will be very happy if you come to our wedding", Adam said looking towards Lucia's direction with a big smile on his face.
My mom took a sip of her wine and said "congratulations to you two" and then took another sip, followed by my sister who said "congratulations daddy and to you too Lucia, I'm very happy for both of you".
" Thank you so much Helene" , Lucia said, smiling at Helene.
" And how about you Ellie ? ", Adam asked.
"Ellie are you ok ? You look a little pale there", Helene asked.
I don't know what is happening to me but suddenly my glass slipped from my hands and I now had everyone's attention, they were all looking at me.
"What did you say father ?" , Ellie said,coldly, with no emotion in her face.
"I didn't hear very well, I thought I heard you were going to marry my old nanny" , Ellie said coldly.
" Ellie ?! ", Catherine shouted.
"Yes, that's exactly what I said, sweetheart" , Adam told her.
" Well, I don't agree" , Ellie shouted.
"What did you say honey?", Adam said with a raised tone.
"I don't agree with your marriage to Lucia, and I will not come to your wedding and I will add that you are making a big mistake by marrying her ", Ellie told him coldly.
"Excuse-me ?! ", Adam said , shocked and then he said : "I'm not here to ask for your permission sweetheart but only to bring you the good news, but it saddens me a lot that you don't make sure to come"
"Well what saddens me is that you did not even think of me before making your decision, you are selfish as always, you only think of you and of you alone", Ellie said with a raised tone.
" I beg your pardon, young girl. Watch your mouth Ellie, I'm still your father after all and I forbid you to speak to me in this tone", Adam told her with a raised tone.
I was no longer listening to him as I got up and left the table and then I ran. At this point I didn't know where I was going but I was just running and felt hot tears running down my cheeks as I ran.
Then Helene got up too and ran after me "Ellie please wait! Where are you going?".
I didn't listen to her and kept running until I ended up in the garden. I didn't even know how I got there but I was still crying for sure, after hearing Helene catch up with me. but I didn't care, I was there sitting on the lawn my tears were falling in great drops. Why was it? I was so naive to believe that my parents were going to come back together again, at every family dinner that's what I hoped for every time, but now I believe that is no longer possible.
Running fast enough, I was able to catch up with Ellie, she never knew how to run faster than me when we were little. I knew this news was going to devastate her. It's like the day our father left, she ran after his car crying when he left, she was inconsolable. I remember what my father said that day :
"Helene, honey, are you going to have to take care of your sister for me for a while. Ok? she'll need a lot of support and love to get through this ordeal", said my father and I replied "Ok, I'll do my best".
From that day on I had to be my sister's moral support, my mom would go out very early in the morning and come home very late at night, so it was me who had to help Ellie fall asleep, doing homework with Lucia's help.
I turned my gaze to Helene and said "why are you there watching me cry ? You already knew about this wedding, didn't you ? You and mom did you know? Answer me!"
And she replied to me " no, we didn't know that I assure you, he just told us two months ago that he had a relationship with Lucia that's all but I was far from suspecting that they were going to get married".
" And why didn't you tell me?", Ellie asked her.
"Well because of that?", Helene replied.
" Because of what ? What do you mean ? I don't understand", Ellie said as tears were still flowing from her eyes.
"I was afraid of your reaction, there you go, look how you reacted to the parents' divorce, and hearing that our father was with another would have devastated you" , Helene told her.
I stayed in the rain while waiting for my father at the gate that day for him to come back, but he never came back. I had a very high fever after that, Lucia came to bring me some chicken soup and Helene slept by my side all night. My mother only came while Helene was already sleeping and then gave a kiss on the forehead.
"Why doesn't this situation affect you?", Ellie asked her.
"What makes you think that it doesn't affect me ? Of course, this situation affects me and our parents' divorce too, but I have to be strong for you Ellie, one of us had to be strong" , Helene told her.
Then Helene came to join her sitting on the lawn in the garden and hugged her.
"You remember when we were playing in that garden with daddy on saturday, he made us swing and we were playing hide and seek all over the house," Helene said.
"Yeah, of course. That was a time in my life where I was really happy. How can I forget that" , Ellie told her.
We spent a few hours talking about all the games we played in this garden. I felt a little better after that
"Helene ?! ", Ellie asked.
"Yes", Helene replied calmly.
"Thank you" , she said.
"For what ?" , Helene asked.
"For everything. For always be there for me ", Ellie responded and then Helen hugged her tightly.
" I think we can go back now", Ellie stated while she was wiping her tears.
"Are you sure ? We can stay here a little bit more if you want ", Helene told her.
" No, it's okay. I'll be fine" , Ellie replied.