The Quarrel
“Natasha, I forgive you! That argument was pointless. Stop sulking! Were not children anymore!” boomed Mary Edwards, dialling her sisters number for the first time in seven years. “Its time to grow up, Natalie! How long will this go on…”
“Sorry… but who are you calling? I’m not Natalie…”
The voice was unfamiliar. Young, a touch uncertain, but pleasant.
Mary stopped mid-sentence, which was a rare thing indeed.
“Excuse me, who are you?! How do you have my sisters number?!”
“This has been my number for over a year. Sorry, but I dont know you, or this Natalie youre calling about. Goodbye!”
Mary stared blankly at her phone, unsure what had just happened. The line went dead, and a strange dread settled over her.
Confused, she grabbed her glasses and checked the number in her tattered red address bookone she had kept for decades, a gift from her sister. Natalie always liked lovely things, and knowing Mary wasnt keen on spending needlessly on frivolities, would indulge her with little presents: a new purse, a fancy pen, a scarf. Small pleasures. Mary, in contrast, preferred grand gestureshefty gifts that made clear how much she cared.
Manually re-entering the number, Mary realised the trouble had come from an unexpected quarter. The voice that answered was the samegentle, melodic, but undeniably a stranger.
“Sorry, but Ive already told youthis is my number,” the girl on the phone sounded tense. “Please stop calling. Youre interrupting my lesson.”
“Wait!” Mary panicked, fearing a repeat hang-up. “Tell me, when could I call back? Its very important!”
“In half an hour. I’ll be on my break.”
Mary set the phone aside and began to think.
Why would her sister change her number and not tell her? Yes, they had argued, but that didnt mean she had to vanish entirely!
Mary started to fume.
“Always so hopeless, Natalie, never changing,” she muttered, wiping down the kitchen table for the hundredth time, checking the clock as she busied her hands yet again.
She loathed being idle. Never could relax, always needing something to do, a trait shed had since childhooddecisive, lively, bluntly fair. Her family had never quite approved of this, but Mary cared little; she was right, after all!
Natalie was her opposite: calm, affectionate, rather slow-moving. While Natalie dawdled over breakfast, Mary had already pressed both their uniforms, braided hair, tied ribbons, and paced impatiently. Natalie would linger, toothbrush in hand, doodling on the foggy bathroom mirror.
“Natasha, what are you doing?”
“Thinking…”
“Dont waste time! Well be late!” Mary would snap. “Thinking, she says!”
“Shouldnt I?”
“No! Let others think! Youbrush your teeth and get to breakfast!”
It had always been that way. Natalie lagging at the back, Mary already cresting the hill and charging down again to scold:
“Whats the matter with you? As if life itself barely stirs in you! Can one really live like that?!”
Natalie never took offence. She’d look Mary straight in the eye and even smile:
“Mary, not everyone can be as quick as you. Youre the family star! Just ignore me, Ill find my way…”
“Always at your own pace! Life will pass you by while youre dawdling! Get a move on!”
Natalie never held Marys words against her. She understood Marys restless energy needed somewhere to go. She waited for her sisters love to mellow over time.
How do you calm a volcano? Only with the sea. So it is with love. The fire rages inside until love arrives and something new begins to grow. And where the volcano once stood is an island, ringed by bluetrue beauty.
But Mary’s love was fire tooburning up anything that got too close.
She had four husbands. The first three didnt last a year.
“Couldnt get on,” was always her explanation.
With the fourth she stayed longerthree years. Still she left, even with a small daughter in her arms and nothing but disappointment in family life ahead.
“What sort of men are there now? Dont care about families, kids, wivesnothing!” she raged, visiting her sister. “How do you live with Anthony, then? Doesnt it bore you to tears?”
Natalies husband, Anthony, quietly set out the tea and scooped up his niece.
“You two have a chat. Ill put Mary to bed.”
Little Mary was nodding off, but her mother barely noticed. Why should she? Life was falling apart! Time to start over!
“See? Neither here nor there!” Mary clapped her hand on the table once Anthony closed the door. “How do you stand it with him?!”
“Im quite happy, Mary,” Natalie smiled, pushing over a biscuit tin. “Have some teabet youre starving.”
“Havent eaten all day,” Mary confessed, diving into the biscuits. “But just thinkIm alone again!”
“Maybe it’s time you softened a little? Why all the battles, Mary? Is it really worth it? Life goes by so quickly. One minute Mary will be grown, married, and gone with her life. Thats how it should be. But you? Will you always be alone?”
“Oh, Natalie! Dont be silly! Thats not the issue!”
“What is, then?”
“You cant trust anyone. Everyone lies!”
“Even me?”
“You too! Always pretending to love Anthony, but never having a child with himwhats that about? Means you never really loved him, not for a second!”
Natalie paused, turned to the oven, wiped her eyes, and softly whispered, “Sometimes its not about wanting, its about whats possible. I want to Mary… so much. But I cant. Ill never be a mother…”
Mary leapt up, hugging her sister. “Who says so?! The doctors? Dont believe them! Ill find you the best there are! Youll seeyoull have your happiness!”
But wanting was not enough. Even Marys persistence couldnt overcome fate.
Natalie did become a mother, but not as shed first hoped. No children of her own, but if anyone dared suggest her adopted son and daughterdistant relatives of Anthonys left orphanedwerent truly hers, they’d regret it. Even with her beloved sister, a sharp rift arose over this.
“You dont need someone elses, Natalie! Youll have your own!”
“Mary, Im nearly forty. If it were possible, it would have happened by now! What are we to doleave them in the care home?”
“So what? Anthonys got plenty of relativeslet them take the kids if they want!”
“I want to! Do you understand?! I!”
“Oh, Natalie! Who did you take after?”
“Who?”
“Stubborn and foolish! Its a burden!”
“Enough, Mary! Time for you to go,” Natalie replied, holding back tears and avoiding her sisters gaze. “Go home. Marys waiting.”
“Marys at camp. Shell be back in a week. Take my advice: dont come near me, and dont ask for my help since you wont heed my words!”
“Why so much anger in you, Mary?” Natalie called to her retreating sister, who charged down the stairs, still boiling that no one would listen.
Natalie never received an answer. Mary truly broke all ties. She stopped calling, never visited, never invited her sister over, even forbade her daughter from visiting her aunt. But young Mary paid no heed, loving Natalie and welcoming the adopted siblings without pausing, sneaking off to her aunts as often as she could, as they lived nearby.
Then, Anthony was offered a new job in another city. After discussing it with his wife and children, he accepted. Natalies family moved, but left Mary with their address, stressing she should come to them for help at any time.
“You never know what life will bring, Mary,” Natalie hugged her niece at the station. “Remember, youve got family. Well always help, whatever happens! And take care of your mum. Shes got a difficult nature, bless her. Besides you and me, theres no one else…”
Mary heeded her aunts advice. She tried hard to get along with her mother, though it was difficult, then impossible.
All because Mary grew up and wanted to marry. Mary did not approve of her daughters choice.
“Whos this weedy chap? Not the type I want here!” she barked as soon as the thin, bespectacled young man appeared at the door, holding Marys hand. “Couldnt you do better?”
Mary did not bother arguing. She squeezed her fiancés hand, turned around and walked out, ignoring her mothers shouts.
That “weedy chap,” called David, was not at all as Mary had assumed. He was skilled, worked in computer programming, and after some thought, suggested to Mary they move to her aunts city.
“There are more opportunities there, Mary. Ill sell my flat. Well buy something together. Nothing is holding us here.”
“Not anymore…” Mary cried, picturing her mothers bewildered face and angry words. “Natalie will understand. Shes kind.”
“Thats what matters! As long as youre happy.”
David loved Mary deeply. Enough to give up anything, go anywhere, to see her smile and never in tears again. With no parents left, all his love was now for this fragile girl with her tear-stained nose, who dreamed of a home, a family, two children, and “happily ever after.”
And so it was.
When Natalie heard of her sisters antics, she tried to call Mary, but she would not listen.
“Theyve run to you, then? Clear enough! Dont call me againI want nothing to do with any of you!” cried Mary down the line.
“Mary, stop it!” Natalie was finally angry. “Breaking things is easy! But have you thought what youre doing? Pushing your own daughter away! Its a blessing theres someone to take her in! What kind of mother throws her child out just for making a personal choice? Dont approve? Youre not the one marrying David! This is Marys life, and your job is to be there for your child. Who knows how itll work out? Where should she gostrangers? Because her own mum wouldnt have her?”
“But you” Mary tried to take back control, but Natalie wouldnt let her.
“Enough, Mary! When youre ready to talk sensibly and reconcile, youll find were here. But on our termsweve had enough of your temper! Think about it! When youve something wise to say, ring! Well be waiting.”
Mary sulked. Bitterness filled her, and she swore never to contact her sister or daughter again. Let them try “being clever” without her!
She tore up Marys wedding invitation and binned it. She stopped answering her sisters calls. Even a packet of photos from Natalie went straight into the rubbish. Her pride wouldnt allow a single thought of reconciliation.
Time moved on, but her family didnt look back. They lived well enough. Natalie raised the children, helped her niece with her first baby, while David and Anthony built a house for the young couple.
The “weedy chap” was now neither pale nor thinMary cooked for him well and with loveand he proved far more capable than anyone had guessed. Anthony sang his praises.
“Nicely done, David! How did you figure that out?!”
“Books, Uncle Tony. And the internet. If you want to learn, its all there.”
Mary was expecting her second son when they finally held their housewarming. At her aunts gentle suggestion to invite her mother, she answered with a sigh:
“Ive called her, Aunt Natalie. I always do. She wont answer, or hangs up right away. Doesnt want to speak to me.”
“Dont cry!” Natalie rushed to comfort her. “You cant!”
“I wont…” Mary sniffled, wishing her mother was there.
But Mary refused to thaw. Let time pass! Let them realise how theyd hurt herthen maybe shed consider forgiveness.
But eventually her patience broke, perhaps with age, perhaps something else. Alone yet again on New Years Eve, she dialled her sisters old number.
This time, anothers voice answered.
After the agreed half-hour, Mary dialled again.
“Yes?”
“No, Im listening to YOU!” Mary was, once more, her old selfa brisk boss who knew how to manage a company, but had never quite learnt to handle family. “How did this number end up with you?”
“Its simple. I bought a new phone, got the SIM card. If a number isnt used, the provider assigns it to the next person.”
“Absurd! So where is my sister, then?”
“No idea.” The voice firmed, and Mary saw shed get nothing by being blunt. She softened a little.
“This is all very odd. Could I ask a favour?”
A pause, then the girl replied.
“Ill think about it. Go on.”
“Could you ask around in your town? Ill give you her address. Maybe visit her and tell her to ring me? Of course, Ill cover any expenses.”
Silence. Mary thought shed hung up again when a quiet, “Alright. No need for anything. Just give me the address,” came through.
Mary did, and then waited for a reply. When it came, it was nothing she could have imagined.
“Your sister isnt here anymore. She passed away a year and a half ago. She was ill. Two years fighting, but her body couldnt manage. Her husband said hed be glad to see you if you care to visit. And also…”
“What?” Mary’s voice was hoarse and empty.
“Your daughtershes waiting for you, too. And grandchildren. You have two. She wanted me to pass on something from your sister. She wanted to tell you herself, but thought this might be better. Since you wouldnt listen…”
“Tell me!”
“Mary, dont be foolish. Everything that matters is here. Grow up. Theres still love here for you.”
The voice stopped. Mary sobbed, realising, perhaps for the first time, she had lost almost everything she could have possibly lost.
“Thats all?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you…”
“Youre welcome.”
The voice warmed a touch. “Come. You have a wonderful family, beautiful grandchildren.”
And then the tone rang in her ear and Mary wept more deeply than she had ever known. She couldnt put it right; she was left with nothing but regret at having chosen pride and bitterness over the love she could have had.
She cried almost all night, then composed herself and dialled a number she still remembered by heart.
“Mary…”
“Mum! Hello! Were waiting for you!”
“Darling, I…”
“Dont say a word! Just come. Well collect you!”
Something seemed different about her daughters voice, and only as she packed her bag did Mary realise what it was.
In Marys voice was everythingher own determination, the gentleness of Natalie, and, most of all, what Mary herself had lacked all these years.
Love. Unconditioned love, holding no grudges or spite. The very love Natalie had so naturally known, and Mary still had to learn.
And for the first time, uncertain but hopeful, Mary believed she might just discover it at last.
