Chapter Text
Mary-Sue Pleasant - Autumn, Year One - Pleasantview
As soon as both the girls had headed off to University, Mary-Sue had followed suit—leaving Daniel in their shared home of almost 20 years. The only home she'd known inside of Pleasantview, and she'd simply walked away. It wasn't worth the fight—not when Daniel had a big name and likely plenty of potential backers, and she was a disgraced politician, shamed out of her position by his misdeeds.
But she didn't have to stay. It certainly wasn't making anything better—at least not for her. To her credit, she'd tried. For six months, she'd tried. For the girls, for the last twenty years, for whatever feelings she still had for Daniel...
But it was just one fight after another.
How could he do this to her? How could he do this to his family?
And the rumors. Gods, the rumors might have been the worst part. They'd cost her her job, and she still didn't even know how many of them were true. Surely not all of the terrible things people said could be true—but there was no way for her to be sure, when Daniel could be lying about any of them. He'd proven well enough that he was good at that.
Did he care so little?
It still shook her that he was brazen enough that everyone in town knew before she did. And the worst part was, she should have known. Looking back—the late nights, the financial records... even Lilith.
Mary wasn't sure if Lilith had truly known, or just assumed, but all the fights her daughter had suddenly picked with Daniel suddenly made sense. All the little quips she'd spit at him—at the time, Mary had simply assumed that her daughter was lashing out, but now she could see that every argument had a distinct stopping point. As soon as Lilith made those snide little comments, the fights would fizzle out.
Mary really ought to have known.
What she never could have known—what she couldn't have expected in a million years—was that her relationship with Lilith would get better once both of them had left that house. She was sure it had started as pity—even she could see the look that Lilith gave her when she thought she wasn't looking, or when Daniel or her career came up, but she was willing to take whatever she could get.
She and Lilith hadn't seen eye to eye since her daughters had hit puberty. Having a conversation over pastries now was something she wasn't willing to take for granted.
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“Mom, you really do look like you’re doing better.” Lilith eyed her carefully between bites of the croissant. “Like, I know that’s a lame thing to say, but you look good.”
Did she? Mary wasn't sure, not really. But maybe she couldn't see the difference when she looked in the mirror, and only saw everything she'd lost. There were things she enjoyed more now, certainly, but she still wasn't sure who she was—who she wanted to be—not outside of who she'd been inside her family picture.
“I’ve been trying to focus on things I enjoy." She said slowly. That much was true. She wasn't really sure what she did enjoy yet, but she'd tried a few things, if only to keep herself busy. The small home she'd rented with her parent's help was quiet and lonesome—two things she hadn't been used to in 18 years. "I took up a pottery class, so I guess that’s as good a place as any to start.”
“Sounds messy.” Lilith made a sour face, “but if you like it…”
Mary nodded, and Lilith only shrugged. They fell into an easy silence—something else she wasn't sure she'd ever have with her first-born daughter. She couldn't help but notice how quickly her more troublesome child had grown up once she'd gotten out of their home. Was that her fault too? Had she not tried hard enough to foster... something more fruitful for her children? Had she been too quiet—too meek? It wasn't a word she'd ever considered for herself before... meek. But then again, she'd never considered herself someone who would allow her husband to cheat on her for months—maybe years—either. Was that why—...
“Lilith... “She started carefully,“...You know I love you, and I’ve been enjoying these visits. I don’t want to take away from them but...”
“You want to know about Angela?”
“I’m sorry," Mary apologized. Every complaint Lilith had ever thrown at the two of them resurfaced in her mind then. That she and Daniel preferred Angela, that they wished she'd never been born. It wasn't true—at least not for Mary. Sure, she'd never expected twins, but she'd been happy with the surprise. Daniel... he'd been happy too—once. She didn't know how he felt now. There'd been more than one time he'd called Lilith the 'evil twin' after one of their bouts.
“No, it’s okay,” Lilith said.“To be honest, her and I have been getting along a lot better too now.”
That too surprised Mary. The two of them had always been fiercely competitive, often at each other's throats.
“Does she hate me? For...” Mary trailed off. Whatever expression she had on her face must have been rather pathetic, because Lilith's eyebrows pinched together in the same subdued pity that Mary had seen before.
"No, mom. Gods, of course she doesn't hate you." Lilith mumbled. "She's not even... Well I guess I don't know if she's not mad, but I do know that she's furious at dad. This is his fault, she knows that. He's the one who ruined everything, not you."
“She doesn’t ever come with you though.”
Angela hadn't come to see her even once, even though Lilith had made the trip routinely. She'd barely even spoken to her outside of the absolutely necessary, or one word texts when Mary tried to reach out. She missed her other daughter just as much. And she couldn't think of another reason for Angela to avoid her—unless she was angry with Mary too.
“I don’t know mom. I asked her if she wanted to, she said she had a lot of homework” Lilith didn't meet her eyes. But Mary didn't need that to know that it was an excuse—a lie. “To be honest mom, I don’t think it’s you. I think she just… isn’t ready to face all the stuff that’s here yet.”
In the end, that was still her fault though, wasn't it?