"You what??!" asked Margaret in harshness, her tone suggesting that she was not in any way taking this lightly.
"I expected more from you Dominic, I thought that your sister would be safe here, but I was unfortunately wrong." said Margaret as she heaved. None of them had ever seen her this angry. She was usually very calm and understanding, but not this time.
Dom looked down as he did not know what to say at all to make his situation lighter. He knew better than to talk back at his mother, it did not matter how old he was, she was still his mother, and she did not condone such disrespect.
"Mom, don't get angry at Dom, I didn't tell you as well." said Lulu as she had a sad look on her face.
"Well didn't he just say that you were not in the right mind to say anything? He should have been more responsible and done the right thing!" said Margaret.
"But Mom, if Dom didn't tell you anything that's because he didn't want you to worry." said Lulu.
"I am your mother! It is my right to worry over you." she replied vehemently as both Lulu and Dom felt extremely bad.
"Mom... I know I messed up, I should not have decided to hide anything from you, you are right, I should have done the responsible thing, I'm sorry." said Dom as Margaret was about to say something else when suddenly the front door opened aggressively and in came Grandfather and Ernest Jr.
"Louise!" called Ernest Jr as he sighed in relief as his eyes landed on Lulu.
"Oh my dear girl, thank God you're alive." said Grandfather as he walked to Lulu and hugged her.
"I told you to wait for us Margaret." said Ernest Jr as he turned to face his wife once he was certain that Lulu was alright.
"Wait for you? No way! The two of you took too long." she replied angrily as Ernest Jr knew that there was not way he could pacify her at the moment.
"Louise, how are you? Do you feel fine, do you feel any pain anywhere?" asked Ernest Jr as he looked at his daughter.
"I'm perfectly fine Dad." she replied with a sigh, she knew that this afternoon would be far from peaceful.
"Are you sure? Dominic has she been checked by a Doctor?" asked Ernest Jr as he looked at his son who seemed afraid to answer that question.
"Well no... she insisted that she was fine and there was no need for a Doctor." he replied truthfully.
"And you listened to her?!!" came the chorused replies of his mother, father and Grandfather.
"Well...yes..." he replied sighing, accepting his fate, there was no way that they would end this matter without everyone being angry at him.
"Unbelievable!" said Grandfather as he shook his head.
"I said that I didn't want to be checked by a Doctor." said Lulu as everyone looked at her.
"No, no, he should have known better than to listen to you Louise." said Margaret.
"You know what, this is the last straw, you're definitely not safe here, go pack your bags, you are coming back home with us right this instant!" said Margaret.
"What?!! No!" cried Lulu as Natasha was surprised that things had escalated this quickly, while Dom looked as if he had expected it.
"Don't you dare argue with me young lady, there is no room for refuting, go upstairs right now and pack your bags. God help if something else happens to you Louise, just do as I say." said Margaret as she shook her head.
"Mom, please, please I don't want to go." Lulu pleaded.
"Dad, Grandfather, say something, it's not that serious, I'm perfectly fine, I am safe here, please let me stay." Lulu said turning to her father and Grandfather for help.
"Well dear you don't—" said Ernest Jr as one malevolent glare from his wife shut him up instantly.
"Maggie, you don't have to go that far." said Grandfather as Margaret looked at him.
"Sorry father, but we all know that if it was Ernie, you would do the same, so everyone leave me alone and Lulu go pack your things!" said Margaret as Lulu felt like crying, she wasn't going to leave, her mother was going to have to drag her out of here, she didn't want to go.
Michael had just parked his car in his driveway and he was about to enter the house when he heard the familiar voices and shouts coming from inside.
He did not need anyone else to warn him that a serious battle was going on inside, so he quickly snuck away before anyone noticed his presence.
Natasha looked at Margaret, it was clear that she was not going to budge in her decision and everyone else truly had no right to demand that she change her mind and Lulu did not want to leave.
"Aunt, I think you need to calm down, getting this worked up is not good for your health." said Natasha suddenly reminding everyone of her presence.
Margaret replied with a sigh as she felt like she was going to explode, right now, she didn't care, she just wanted Lulu to do as she was told.
"Aunt, I'm being serious, we don't need another scare, how about you drink some tea to calm your nerves." said Natasha softly as she walked to Margaret and led her into the living room and surprisingly Margaret did not refute, she just followed angrily.
"Now you have five minutes to come up with ten good reasons why you should stay here, before your mother comes back." said Ernest Jr as Lulu frowned in sadness.
"My son, you're wife is really furious, I don't think we're winning this one, just go pack your bags dear." said Grandfather with a sigh.
"No I'm not going to do that, she needs to calm down and let me explain myself." said Lulu.
"Dominic what really happened?" asked Grandfather as Dom sighed.
...
"Here you go Aunt, this should make you feel better." said Natasha as she walked into the living room and handed Margaret a mug of tea.
Margaret sighed sipping the tea as Natasha sat down beside her.
"You all think that I'm crazily overreacting right?" asked Margaret as Natasha shook her head.
"No, not at all, I knew that we should have told you as soon as the incident happened, but if Dom didn't tell you, it's because he did not want any of us to worry." said Natasha as Margaret sighed, obviously calmer than before.
"Natasha, I get it, you're right in a way, and I know that I'm being too hard on Dom, but you don't understand." said Margaret.
"How would you feel if Joy started hiding things from you?" she asked as she looked at Natasha.
"Sure she's young now and at the age where she tells you every single things, but what will you do when she reaches the age where she deems that some things are irrelevant to you?" asked Margaret.
"Well I will try to be understanding..." said Natasha as Margaret laughed.
"I don't blame you dear, you will understand when you're older, the pains of a mother." she said.
"No matter how understanding you say you will be, when the time comes and your children start hiding things from you, it will hurt no matter how much you tell yourself it's part of growing up." she said sadly.
"Aunt, I'm really sorry for being insensitive, of course if it was Joy and no one told me what happened. I would react the same way you did or even worse." said Natasha as she hugged Margaret.
"It's fine dear, I get why you all decided to hide this from me, but it still hurts a lot, I mean I could have lost my baby, my sweet girl." said Margaret as tears began to form in her eyes.
"I can't ever imagine losing any of my children, it's just too painful, imagine raising them and loving them for their entire lives and something so cruel comes and takes them away from you?" Margaret asked as she cried.
"My heart goes out to every single parent that has to deal with the loss of a child, but all that is plain sympathy, it is much more different when it happens to you and you are faced with the harsh reality of losing a child you carried for nine months, a child you pushed out, a child you raised from day one."
"A child whom you taught their first words, you watched them grow up, I could never imagine the pain of losing my child, I would not be able to bear it, I would rather die." said Margaret painfully as she cried loudly, unable to hold herself any longer.
Natasha just tried her best to comfort her as she hugged her. She could not imagine what Margaret was going through right now, and she understood that she was only acting this way out of concern and love.