Heart is feeling sorry for herself, I'm to blame.
LONG VERSION:
I came home tonight under the impression that things were going well. However, shortly after I got home, I realized Heart was in a very bad place indeed.
Something about the mood sparked me, though, because I had been thinking today about something Heart had told me on the phone: I have enough time to mess with a Rubik's Cube while at work, but not enough time to work on my novel. Couple this with my mother chastising me for having enough time to "play stupid computer games" but not enough time to play with DS, put up a Christmas tree, take him out in the snow, or any other winter/Christmas-related memories, and you get a very single-minded KBeguile who 'realizes' that he needs to take charge around the house while Heart is on the mend.
Now, I tried to talk to Heart through dinner, and I didn't seem to have much luck. Then, I determined that I was just going to start doing chores -- washing dishes and clothes, mostly -- until I was tired or I was satisfied that I had done my part to pay for my transgressions today. I was angry, too ... at myself, for not realizing that I needed to do these things sooner ... that I was now in Heart's position as the only one capable of doing anything in the house and I now knew what she felt like for 6-7 years.
I stupidly voiced my anger at myself for being a freeloader and a siphon all these years (mind you, she was still in depressed mode as I'm saying this all), and I said that I felt it was now my sole duty and responsibility to get this house back into shape because she couldn't. I told her that I now know how she felt all those years that I didn't lift a finger, and that I deserved to feel this way for everything that I had done. Being in a depressed state, she took it all (understandably so) as a personal attack on her and her current capabilities and broke down crying.
Now I'm in twice as deep as when the night started. I still feel the need to get the household chores done, and I still feel it is my sole responsibility, but if I do elect to do anything it will be a slap to her face that she wasn't doing it. Furthermore, I still have Heart in a depressed situation where she feels useless, unwanted, and alone.
Help?