**Diary Entry June 12th**
“Right then. Either you help me strip Vicky of her parental rights, or I walk away, and you sort this mess yourselves.”
“Nancy, for heavens sake! Shes your sister! My daughter!” Mum threw her hands up, then clutched her chest.
“And what am I? Not your daughter?” Nancys voice cracked with hurt. “Sometimes I think Im not even a person to you Cant you see whats happening? Ive grown to love little Alfie, and you Either help me, or Ill do it alone. But I wont let this go.”
Mum looked away, torn. Dad kept stirring his tea, scowling. Nancy understood then. She stood and walked to her room.
Clearly, her parents hadnt chosen her. Or Alfie.
Nancy packed her thingsshe didnt have much. Her heart ached, but she knew this had to be done.
But how do you stay strong when a little boy clings to your legs, sobbing?
“Mummy, dont go” Alfie begged as she folded clothes.
*Mummy.* That word cut deep every time. Nancy sighed, knelt, and forced a smile.
“Im not leaving *you*, Alfie,” she whispered, holding him close. “Im leaving so things can be better for us one day. Ill come back. For good.”
Alfie wailed, not understanding why his auntthe woman he called Mummywas abandoning him. He clung to her jumper so fiercely she couldnt leave until hed cried himself to sleep. Only late that night did she slip out, quiet as a shadow.
In that moment, Nancy hated Vicky. *She* was the one whod forced this horrible choice on them.
Vicky had started her wild ways at sixteen. First, late nights, then “sleepovers at friends”though everyone knew what that meant. Shed stumble home drunk, mascara smudged, lipstick gone. Sometimes in tears. And Mum and Dad would fuss over her like she was made of glass, coaxing and comforting.
Then, at seventeen, she got pregnant. Hardly surprisingshe didnt even know the fathers last name. Just some “bloke from a party.”
Alfie was born, and Vicky quickly realised motherhood wasnt for her. First, shed leave him overnight. Then she vanished entirely.
“Im still young. Im not throwing my life away,” shed told Nancy over the phone.
So the “throwing away” fell to Nancy. Grandad barely acknowledged Alfiemaybe bought him a rattle now and then. Granny helped, but she worked.
Nancy was eighteen. She switched to part-time uni to care for a baby. Became his second motherliterally, since shed even stood as his godmother.
It was brutal. Night feeds, sleepless hours, hauling a pram up stairs, exams on two hours rest. She studied after putting Alfie to bed, juggled choresher parents were always at work.
By six months, shed adjusted. Then Vicky returned, weeping, begging forgiveness.
“I was such a fool Itll be different now”
They all believed her. Even Nancy. For a month, Vicky played mumuntil the neighbours admiration faded. Then she bolted again, this time with Mums jewellery.
“Shes struggling,” Mum insisted. “Shell come back. She needs time.”
But Nancy stopped believing. Once was bad luck. Twice was habit. Yet what choice did she have? Her parents lived in denial, granting Vicky endless second chances. But Nancy couldnt just take Alfie and vanish.
So she carried on. Uni, raising Alfie, nursery runs, doctor visits. Hoping Vicky wouldnt return.
She did. Four years later, there she was.
“I thought he loved me. I was going to take Alfie Then he used me. Left me jobless, friendless, stranded” Vicky sniffled, batting her lashes at their parents.
“Funny how you never missed a meal,” Nancy muttered.
Mum shot her a look. The spotlight swung back to poor, tragic Vicky.
Worse came when Nancy brought Alfie home from nursery. Granny nudged him toward Vicky. He burst into tears, hiding behind Nancy.
“Come on, love,” Granny cooed. “This is your mummy.”
“Shes *not* Mummy! *She* is!” Alfie clung to Nancy.
“Nancys your aunt. Vickys your real mum,” Granny corrected.
Nancys heart shattered.
And it all repeated.
Vicky leeched off them for two months, jobless.
“Whod hire me with Alfie? Its like Im on maternity leave,” she scoffed when Nancy asked her plans.
Then she vanished. Again. No explanationjust photos online with a new “boyfriend” twice her age.
Nancy knew the type. Another drunk. Hope died then. But what could she do?
She confided in her mate, Lucy.
“Easy. Terminate her rights. Theyll check, see shes unfit, and youll sort the rest.”
Nancy hesitated.
“What if they take Alfie? And Mum and Dad will lose it.”
“Then wait till Vicky wrecks him again. Your call. But thinksister, parents, Alfie Wheres *your* life? Its time.”
Shed forgotten she *had* a life. Dates fled when they heard she had a “kid.”
Except Liam, her uni mate. He knew and still asked her out. But shed brushed him offuntil Lucys words sank in.
With Liam, she finally breathed. He listened. Helped.
So when she stormed out after her ultimatum, she went to him. Just to vent. But he surprised her.
“Move in with me. Maybe nows the time.”
“I cant. Alfie”
“So well be three.”
Nancy gaped.
“But hes not yours”
“Nance,” he cut in. “Im not daft. If hes family to you, hes family to me.”
Something thawed in her chest. Hope flickered.
The next six months were hell. Social services, paperwork. Worse, she couldnt take Alfie straight away. He cried, waiting.
“Stealing your sisters child!” Mum spat.
“Like she ever wanted him,” Nancy shot back.
They shut her out. Everyone but Liam and Lucy called her a monster.
But after the storm comes calm.
Years later, Nancy sat on a bench, watching Alfie teach his little sister, Emily, to kick a football. Liam squeezed her shoulder. She leaned into him, thinking: *It was worth it.*
She hadnt heard from Vicky in ages. Didnt care to. Same oldmen, parties. Losing Alfie was just another sob story for their parents.
They never forgave her. Fine. “If they want to coddle Vicky forever, let them,” Nancy thought. “Ill care for the ones who need it.”
**Lesson learned:** Blood doesnt make family. Love does. And sometimes, walking away is the bravest way to stay.
