In the guest room there was a battle taking place, at the end of the room my mother gripping a scissor on her hand and Mr. Henry with his hands on a vase.

"No Mr. Henry!" I said from the door.

"Then tell your mother to put the scissor down!" Mr. Henry shouted with already had some blood on him.

"Call the doctor Edna, and call Mrs. Miller as well to help us!" I said desperately thinking Mrs. Trudor and the nurse who were running down the hall might not be enough to secure mother.

"Lady Alice stay there, she has hurt me already, I do not want you to get hurt as well!" Mr. Henry said as I looked for the cut and found upon his arm that dripped blood on the floor.

"Mother stop this and come to me!" I stepped inside anyways to get her away from him before he decided to use the vase as self-defense.

"No! I told you I would make it alright! I'm going to send him on his way and free you of your burdens before I go Alice."

"Mr. Henry is not a burden, he cares for my safety, he is good mother!"

"He is a deceiver, a bad soul who will separate us if I do not stop him!"

"No he is only here to help us, please mother let him help you, please?"

"No, no, no, no, no! I forbid you to take his side! He is just like your grandfather!" She raised the scissor at me.

"Grandfather?"

"Your grandfather hated us, he made our life impossible and it was only when death knocked that he humbled himself, like I will humble Henry!"

"Mama stop it!" I wrestled with the scissor in her hand.

"Do not cry Alice for they are bad!" She got away from me and turned the scissor towards Mr. Henry to go to him.

"Mother! Grandfather was good, look at all he left us, we are taken care of, see?"

"Death! It is all death! Objects do not move!" She threw things on the floor breaking them, "This house is dead! Your brother is away, and you have brought into our house a doomed alliance!" She shrieked in a fit going round and moved close again to Mr. Henry.

"Mother please give me the scissors!" I went closer to her trying not to step on the pieces of things she had broken.

"Alice call for help before your mother murders me!" Mr. Henry shouted as mother got close to him when Lady Walker came in to watch in horror from the doorway.

"Oh Henry!" Lady Walker shouted and Mrs. Trudor and Edna got a hold of her.

"Mother!" He looked over at her.

"Get my son out of there! You get my son out of there!"

"Alice!" Mr. Henry questioned me as I looked at mother and wondered what would it take to calm her down. "Help me Alice!"

The vase in Mr. Henry's hand ready to be thrown at my mother and the scissors aiming to be used to hurt him and none of it helped me to make a decision.

"Let me do my job Alice! I must be your protector!" Mother shouted while Mrs. Miller rushed past me with the nurse and two others from our staff to engage my mother.

"Oh Lord," I sighed.

"No Alice! I have to do this!" Mother ran towards Mr. Henry and grabbed him by the shirt ripping it off his body as the staff got her away from him and took the scissors off her hand. Mr. Henry stared at my mother with such relief to see her taken away but I was not, I was filled with shame and disappointment with her reality.

"The doctor is almost here milady," Mrs. Trudor said before locking my mother behind doors and Edna wrapped Mr. Henry's arm while we waited for the doctor.

"Henry my Henry!" His mother rushed inside the room to hug him and he put the vase down.

"Mother," he said sitting on the floor and the doctor was rushed up the stairs to help him.

"What is this? How did he get this?" The doctor asked afraid of the cut.

"Is it bad doctor?" Mr. Henry asked him.

"Uh well no, it shouldn't be."

The doctor took care of it, stitched him up as he writhed in pain biting down on to a piece of cloth and I held his hand.

"How could you let this happen to him! You foolish, inconsequential girl! Look at what you've done to my boy! This is all your fault! All your fault!" Lady Walker shouted at me getting my hand away from Mr. Henry.

"Lady Walker..." I did not have much to say.

"Mother please let Lady Alice hold my hand."

"No! She shall never come near you again!" She argued with him.

"Mother I want Lady Alice here," Mr. Henry said as I was about to exit the room.

"Henry you do not know what is best for you, let her go please, you will find someone better suited," his mother insisted.

"Your mother is right Mr. Henry, I have an ill mother, one I hope with time you shall forgive."

"Yes I am glad you have seen it now, that she is a danger to others, and you cannot make her better on your own."

"No I cannot."

"Then please accept my help, my mother's help, you do not want this to happen to someone else do you?" Mr. Henry was laying on the bed with his arm immobilized in pain.

"What did you have in mind?"

Mr. Henry told me what he had sought out for my mother and Lady Walker did not look me in the eyes again after almost getting her only son killed, the only person who could keep their name alive after she'd gone.

"I will send a letter then, or rather mother please let them know?" Mr. Henry asked his mother to write on my behalf accepting the treatment for my mother.

"Yes anything for you son," Lady Walker agreed and walked out of the room leaving us two alone.

"Mr. Henry I am so confused..." I began to cry and he held my hand with the uninjured arm, "I do not wish to be parted from her, she is my mother."

"I know Alice, I know but you cannot afford to have her harm someone else, I may be forgiving but the next one won't."

"Still letting mama go off to some place far from me puts in great unhappiness."

"It must be this way, you have no more options," he kissed my hand with the moment alone we had.

"I wish it were not so," I cried, "sorry for crying."

"Everything has been a great pain for you hasn't it?"

"Yes."

"Well no more," he assured me.

Lady Walker, Mr. Henry and I had breakfast without one word of the previous night and it took the team of doctors only a day to respond with safe transport for my mother to their facilities.

Mr. Henry's mother was to go in my place to the institution to sign her over since I could not bear to make the entire trip without changing my mind to where they would take care of her. In the carriage was two nurses with medication ready to ride with them to Scotland awaiting my mother.

"Remember the doctors there make wonderful progresses there, she will be in a place with proper care and activities for her," Mr. Henry explained to me.

"Right Mr. Henry and how is your hand."

"Oh well the doctor is worried about my movements but he says to give it a day or so."

"Yes I'm sure it will be fine," I worried about Mr. Henry's arm.

"Alright son, I am ready to go," Lady Walker came down the steps.

"Thank you Lady Walker for going with my mother" I told her.

"It is better no one sees you so they may not speculate about you," Lady Walker replied.

"Right."

"And Henry you go to our country home today, stay there and wait for me to come back so we may head back to London together and arise no suspicions.

"Yes mother," he nodded.

"Excuse me then I must say goodbye to my mother before they put her to sleep," I said to Mr. Henry and Lady Walker.

"Right, Edna accompany her," Mr. Henry ordered her and I could see Edna did not enjoy it.

"Yes Mr. Walker," Edna followed me.

"Thank you Edna."

"Anything for you milady."

"So what do you think Edna? About sending mama away? Is it right?"

"I am no judge milady."

"Right."

"Milady I do not believe there would be any peace between your mother and the Walkers if she remained here."

"Yes there would be no peace so would you send your own mother away for treatment like I am about to?"

"If she had harmed the man who might become my future companion and I had the money there would be no other option milady."

"Then I guess it is time."

"It is," Edna opened the room and my mother sat on her bed whistling a tune.

"Mother?"

"Do not do this Alice, do not do this, do not let me be taken from you, no one else will make it better, no one!" She repeated as her hands shook.

"You will only be away for a little while, they say it is a beautiful place," I tried touching her shoulder.

"They say, they say lies, they disguise, disguise, disguise their words to cloud you my dear but he cannot fool me! No one can fool me!"

"Mother I tried but you have not gotten better and I need someone to make you better again, I need you to be better please."

"Better? There is no better in this world, not for me anymore, that trigger did not go off for no other reason than this!" Mother dug her nails into my hands.

"Ow mother, let go please!"

"No or that wretched boy and his family will cling to you and you are my daughter! My daughter! And I shall not let you out of my sight like I did with Joan," she kissed my hands, my face and brushed back my hair.

"Mama," more tears dripped and my shoulders shrugged a tired cry, "I am your daughter and I will be here waiting for you to come back. Let us go down the stairs now please?"

"No!"

"Mother please."

"No!" She yelled and the staff came flooding in the room to grab her as she ran and struggled from their embrace.

My eyes were focused on my mother, moving from side to side, screaming as I cried feeling the oppression of being torn from the woman who gave birth to me. Dear God knew how her love reached inexplicable depths when it came to her family and should this love really turn into illness for the rest of her days? No this love had to be redeemed, mother had to be made whole once again for the good of her children.

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No part, character, names, plot, setting, conflict or resolution, point of view, theme or symbolism of this story may be replicated.

Copyright: All Rights Reserved to A. Sena Gomes.