Holly and Fafa didn’t expect or even want to see her here. To be honest, they wanted almost nothing to do with her. Why would they, after she replaced them with her new stallion and even a new baby? Did they really mean that much to her at all? At this point, they didn’t want to even bother to find out. They felt they were better off creating more distance. Yet here their mother was, bawling her eyes out in their own living room, after a seemingly emotional tea date with their Momma.
 
”I’m such an idiot!” Mel sobbed, soaking the pillows of their couch with her tears. “Why’d I let this happen? Why am I so…so STUPID?”
 
Turq stood beside her, rolling her eyes. “Are you gonna sit there and feel sorry for yourself, or are you gonna make things right?”
 
”I wanna make things right!” Mel blubbered. “But I don’t know HOW!”
 
“Well first of all, pull yourself together!” Turq shoved a bundle of tissues into Mel’s hoof. “You’re not gonna accomplish anything if you keep crying!”
 
“I…I…” Mel took one of the tissues and blew her nose, using the others to dry her soaked face. “Okay…I’m okay now.” Yet her lip still quivered like there were more tears just under the surface.
 
”Good. Now,” Turq plopped her old phone onto the table, “Call Cursive.”
 
”W-what?”
 
“You heard me. Call him.”
 
”But what if he doesn’t wanna talk to me?”
 
”What’s the worst he’ll do? Hang up?” Turq scoffed. “Do you want him to know you’re ready to apologize or not?”
 
“Y-yes…” Mel took the phone in her hoof, slowly and reluctantly dialing in his parents’ number and waiting with baited breath for someone to pick up.
 
”Mrs. Coco? Howdy, is…Cursive Quill there? I’d like to speak with him.”
 
The whole family watched in silence, listening intently to Mel’s end of the call.
 
”No…? Well…if ya get the chance, tell him…I’m sorry. It don’t fix much, I know, but I feel absolutely awful about everything that’s happened. At the very least, I just want to talk to him. Can you give him that message? …Thank you.”
 
Mel hung up, holding her head in her hooves and beginning to sniffle and whimper again.
 
“He wasn’t there, was he?”
 
”No,” Mel took a shuddering breath. “He never misses a call from me! Was what I did really that bad that he’d…ignore me?”
 
”Do you really want the truth?”
 
Ring!
 
“Hold on,” Turq picked up the phone. “Hello?” A small smile appeared on her face. “Mel, it’s for you.”
 
”Quilly?” Mel grabbed the phone excitedly, before remembering the weight of the situation and growing sober. “Er, Cursive? Hello…It’s me.”
 
“I know I’ve done more than I can fix. I know I’ve bitten off more than I can chew, and a simple apology ain’t gonna fix my actions. I want to be honest, I didn’t think things through. Heck, it went better in my head than it did in reality.”
 
“From the depths of my heart, I can’t say sorry enough for what I’ve done. I don’t expect you to forgive me so easily, I don’t expect you to come home in a rattling minute for me.”
 
“…But you mean everything to me.”
 
“As yer wife, I truly want you to know that you’ve been my greatest treasure. You brought light into my world and I can’t thank you enough for that. I know you don’t see me as your love in your eyes right now, and I know right now that me setting an example has gone downhill.”
 
“I just want you to know, whatever happens, I support you. You mean the absolute world to me and I hate to see you upset. My heart is tarnished, but you are the silver lining I have left.”
 
“Quill, I know for a fact you ain’t scared of nothin’. You know when to set yer pace and I know what I’ve done caused havoc. You are my sunshine and I only wanted to bring us closer together…But I realize how selfish I was.”
 
“You don’t have to come back, you don’t have to forgive me if you don’t want to. I just want my family to know how much they mean to me. I haven’t let ya know…I haven’t let any of y’all know that the way I should have. I’ve taken y’all for granted. And I’m sorry. I’m so, so, sorry…”
 
With that, Mel broke down, sobbing and apologizing over and over with the phone to her ear.
 
Her daughters didn’t know how to feel. Their mother had apologized over and over for her insensitivity, yet kept repeating the same mistakes. They had no reason to forgive her yet again. But this time felt…different. Watching her on the phone, she seemed more sincere, more broken up over the consequences of her actions. Like she was actually sorry and willing to change this time. And while Holly and Fafa were not easily-forgiving, they could see how sincere she was.
 
Maybe, just maybe, they would give her another chance.