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To say Victoria had a rough relationship with her mother would be an understatement. In truth what she knew about her mother was more on the scale of a distant aunt than a mother. Eileen Shamsi didn't view her as a daughter but a prodigy and hasn't seen her as a daughter since Victoria was around 5. There was always some well-hidden resentment in Eileen towards Victoria. Eileen had gotten pregnant right at the beginning of the 3rd year of her residency and had to postpone part of her career due to the pregnancy and subsequent child.
Maybe Eileen wasn't ever a mother towards her, and some part of Victoria, buried deep in her heart, will always love her mother but she will never like her mother. In truth, Victoria was raised by her mother's surgical residents. Emery Walsh was a 2nd year resident when Victoria met her in 2009. Emery was 24 at the time, having skipped a few grades in elementary school, and Victoria was 4.
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September 2009
"Victoria, stand up straight. You're meeting a new surgical resident of mine; You must make a good impression." Eileen hissed at her young daughter just before the door to her mother's office
In stepped a woman with long dark hair in a braid down her back. Wearing street clothes, jeans and a band tee, she looked out of place in the bleakness of her mother's office. If it wasn't for the badge hanging from one of her belt loops, she might have be confused for someone who just walked off the street.
"Emery Walsh, I assume?" Eileen asked, getting up to shake the woman's hand.
"Yes, ma'am. you must be Eileen Shamsi then." The woman, Emery, said in return before she caught sight on Victoria standing next to her mother's chair. "Who's this?"
"My daughter, Victoria. The nanny couldn't make it, and my husband was at work." Her mother said.
That wasn't true. Her mother had been trying to sway her into surgery even then.
She had tuned out most of the meeting, it was just for formality as Emery would be starting at PTMC the following week. It wasn't until her mom's pager went off that Victoria zoned back in.
"MVA. Would you stay with her until the nanny gets her? Thanks." Was all she said before running out of the office.
Emery and Victoria just stared at each other for a few moments before Emery smiled. "You hungry, kid?"
They spent the next ten minutes going from vending machine to vending machine compiling a stock of snacks and eating them in record time, hiding the evidence in Emery's purse.
The nanny never showed up, not that Victoria was surprised, but that meant that she spent the next 6 hours her mother was in surgery hanging out with Emery and listening to her stories. In turn emery listened to her talk about whatever interested her at that point. Emery was also texting on and off and when Victoria asked she said she was "texting her fiancée." Who, as she later learned, was the new ED nightshift attending.
From that day forward emery always had a place in her life, just as she had always had a place in emery's.
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She didn't meet her aunt yoyo until she was 13 and had started collage, something she never forgave her parents for forcing her into.
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November 2018
Aunt Emmy's house was her safe haven. Whenever Victoria needed an escape from her parents she would ask to be dropped off at Emery's house 'to study' she said but in reality, Emery's house was one of the only places where she felt like a normal kid. so, imagine her surprise when she walked into her aunt's house and saw a mystery woman sitting at the island making Shrinky dinks with Emery's 6-year-old daughter, Lyra.
"Hey, kid what's up?" Her aunt asked, walking down the stairs with a basket of laundry on her hip.
Victoria just pointed at the mystery woman who was ignoring them.
"That is Yolanda Garcia. One of my new residents, well one of your mother's technically but you know what I mean."
"you're Shamsi's kid?" Yolanda asked, turning to look at them.
Before any of them could say anything Lyra, who had all but abandoned her Shrinky dinks, ran over and in all 6-year-old fashion threw herself into Victoria's legs while shouting. "Vicky!"
"Lyra Helene what did I say about shouting?" Emery chastised gently.
"Not to.' lyra whispered, still clinging to Victoria.
"Especially when your dad is trying to sleep." Emery added before turning to Yolanda, "This is Victoria. We do not mention either of her parents by name in this house."
Turning back to Victoria she added, "Yoyo here is on night shift rotation for the week and has some incredibly noisy roommates. So, she's camping out in the spare room for the week. And you Ms. Lyra need to go get ready for school." That last part was addressed to the 6-year-old as her mother pulled her into her arms.
As the mother daughter duo made their way upstairs Victoria had migrated to the kitchen, looking at the Shrinky dinks.
"Is that an atomically correct heart? did you do the from memory?" She asked.
"Yes, it's a heart and yes it's from memory." Yolanda said, still coloring the heart. "I have a bunch of bag charms that are body parts."
She then pulled her bag from where it was sitting by her feet. dozens of little bag charms were hanging from a chain attached to the outside of it.
"Did you make all of them?"
"Most of them. it's how I decompress after rough shifts." Yolanda smiled.
Lyra ran back down the stairs followed by Dr. Abbot. Jack had been in Victoria's life almost as long as Emery has. He is her husband after all and has been Victoria's uncle for that same amount of time.
"Lyra, your mother quite literally just told you not to run in the house." He said, dropping lyra's backpack on the counter and walking towards the coffee maker.
"Sorry." she smiled before turning to Yolanda. "Aunt yoyo, are you going to be here when schools over?"
Lyra looked so much like her aunt Emmy that it gave Victoria whiplash on occasion. They were near identical except lyra had her father's eyes.
Yolanda lifted Lyra up onto the counter next to the Shrinky dink mess before saying, "I should be. If your parents are fine with it." That last part was directed at jack.
"I know all about noisy roommates. you're more than welcome to stay here as long as you need." He said, checking his watch. "Lyra, time for school."
The father-daughter duo made their way out the door as Emery came back downstairs.
"Remember, Aunt Daphne is picking you up later. bye kiddo, love you!" She shouted.
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Aunt yoyo would stay in one of the guest rooms of Emery's house for another 3 months as she saved up for her own apartment in a decent part of town but that didn't mean that she wasn't found there more often than not.
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They say that mothers and daughters exist as wretched mirrors of each other. I am all you could have been and you are all I might become.
Except Victoria was surrounded by women who proved that you can be everything you want while still having a good, loving relationship with your family.
Maybe that's why, should she ever get married, she wants Jack to walk her down the aisle.