Disillusionment

[bookblather]

Author: Kat
Title: Disillusionment
Story: In The Heart
Colors: Fire opal 8 (zealous).
Supplies and Materials: Miniature collection, frame, brush (weltschmerz), oils (comfort and heal), modeling clay (impression).
Word Count: 500.
Rating: PG.
Summary: Hugh gradually comes to realize the truth about Yvonne.
Warnings: Child neglect and abuse.
Notes: Olivia is, in order, three months old, two, six, ten, and thirteen.


He came home to Olivia wailing upstairs and Yvonne on the couch downstairs, watching TV and drinking a martini.

She rolled her eyes when asked, said, "She just wants attention," and changed the channel.

Hugh believed her, but his daughter was crying. He took the stairs two at a time, snatched her up and cradled her against his chest, humming. She clutched at his shirt, and gradually hiccupped herself to calmness.

"You're spoiling her," Yvonne told him later. "She has to learn she can't always get what she wants."

He believed her, but the words sat uneasily in his chest.

--

"Olivia wouldn't eat her dinner," Yvonne told him before he'd even walked in the door. "She said it was gross." She sniffed. "After all my effort!"

Hugh glanced in the kitchen, but couldn't see his daughter, nor the offending dinner. "What did you do with it?"

Yvonne shrugged. "Threw it away, of course. She won't eat, she can starve."

"Yvonne!" He couldn't believe his ears. "You don't starve her! Make her sit at the table until she eats it if you must but for God's sake, don't starve her!"

"Oh," Yvonne said, and then shrugged again. "If you say so."

--

Olivia was sitting on the steps outside, hugging herself, when he got out of the car.

"Afternoon, Sunny," he said, and ruffled her hair. "What are you doing outside? It's almost dark."

She shrugged, not looking at him. "Mom locked me out," she said. "I guess I was being too loud for her."

"She locked you out?" He stepped up and tried the handle; sure enough, it was locked. What in hell had Yvonne been thinking? "Did you apologize?"

"I tried," Olivia said. "She doesn't listen."

No, she never listened, not to him or to their daughter. Hugh's heart sank.

--

He answered his phone absently, knee-deep in paperwork as he was. "Dr. Marhenke."

"Daddy?"

He straightened-- Olivia sounded upset, and a little scared. "Sunny? What's wrong?"

"I'm at the dance studio," she said.

Hugh frowned, and looked at the clock. Dance class had ended an hour ago. "Did your class go long?"

"No, I..." She sighed, and said, "I think Mom forgot to pick me up. Can you come get me, please?"

"Yes, of course," he said, and rubbed the bridge of his nose wearily. He was no longer surprised by anything Yvonne did. "I'll be there in fifteen minutes."

--

He daydreamed sometimes about divorcing Yvonne, getting custody of Olivia and moving somewhere else, far away. Olivia was old enough now to be largely self-sufficient. They'd be so much happier on their own.

But he couldn't. For one thing, he wasn't completely sure he could get custody, if Yvonne chose to fight him-- most courts still favored the mother. For another, divorce was complicated and messy, and he did not want to upset Olivia or disarrange her life.

He could manage Yvonne, and so could she. They'd been managing for thirteen years, hadn't they?

At least they had each other.

Comments

[isana]

Ugh, Yvonne. I'm guessing at some point she just did whatever she wanted, despite whatever Hugh said, because seriously, locking Olivia out and forgetting to pick her up after dance class? After Hugh telling her not to starve the kid? Damn.

(terrific job, bb. <3)

[bookblather]

My parents forgot to pick me up from a riding lesson once. SCARS. FOREVER.

Yvonne pretty much always just did whatever she wanted, it just took Hugh a while to realize it. Which is part of why he's so close to Olivia-- he's trying to be father and mother at once, to make up for her mother's neglect.

Thank you!

[subluxate]

Spoiling a THREE-MONTH-OLD? Yvonne. And, on that one, there's a little bit of Hugh. You can't spoil a baby that young!

Ugh, the rest. UGH. Yvonne, I strongly dislike you. Leave Olivia, but leave.

[bookblather]

No kidding! Hugh's still kind of in the "she's a good mother, she's a good wife, she's a perfect person and I love her" for the first two. So he trusts what she says rather than his instincts which are all, "wtf no."

Yeah. Door's to the left, Yvonne!

Thank you.

[malapropism]

THAT LAST LINE. MY HEART. WHICH IS A STATEMENT WHICH CAN BE MADE FOR KIND OF ALL OF THIS.

This is so well-written and heartbreaking. I really want things to turn out okay for Hugh and Olivia, but even without any foreknowledge I can see where this is headed. Yvonne is wicked. Fantastic work.

[bookblather]

They will turn out okay! ... eventually. After like fourteen years. *shifty eyes* BUT THEY DO TURN OUT OKAY. And then Hugh gets granddaughters to spoil ridiculously just like he always wanted.

Thank you!

[kay_brooke]

I have this horrified fascination with all the ways Yvonne just completely failed to be a mother. How could someone be that thoughtless and neglectful?

[bookblather]

By being so totally self-absorbed that she literally doesn't recognize other people as having needs and emotions too. She's a pretty textbook narcissist.

Thank you.

[clare_dragonfly]

Awwww :( No, Hugh, take her away! She needs you, and she needs to get away from Yvonne!

[bookblather]

He really, really should. And there's an AU where he does, actually. Things work out much better for Olivia.

Thank you!