Four Decades

Mothers

June 13th,1987- Wordsworth Mansion, Central London.

Marine's 13th birthday started epically. As usual, she woke up early and a pack with gifts was waiting for her at the end of her bed. This was a normal present from her dad, especially if he wasn't going to be here during the day. She got three pretty dresses and two pairs of shoes, all signed by him, and she rushed to the big mirror to take a better look at them. Her room was the smallest one in the house and still was quite big, it was covered with pink and floral print, together with a set of victorian-furniture and a wall-to-wall mirror. The only big window in her bedroom faced the beautiful and well-kept garden of the mansion.

She held the dress she liked the best, the short blue one, in front of herself in the mirror and contemplated her figure. Marine was pretty disappointed with her looks at this point, 13 years old, still skinny and gangly, too white and pale and suddenly she got tall very quickly, which made her legs look longer than the rest of her body. Before this day, her chest had been flat, but now her breasts had just started growing at a very slow pace, meaning she had two badly-developed protuberances that looked funny wearing anything. Her face had also gotten longer and thinner, assembling her into a grey alien.

The only good part would be her straight teeth (her bracers had been taken off last month), her black and full hair, and her green eyes. Still, she wasn't that satisfied with her image, not knowing that she would become a very attractive woman, and she contained herself with what was there. Marine insisted in be happy that day; it was the best day of that whole year!

Her birthday was the best one because it was right at the beginning of the summer in London, which meant all her friends from Notre Dame hadn't travelled yet. Minerve had just arrived from her first year in Oxford and she and their nanny, Emma, had stayed up all night to prepare the house for Marine's party. She dressed up in her new clothes and went to take her breakfast.

The mansion was a big place, absurdly gigantic for a child, and now that Marine was getting older she could sense it. She understood that all the rooms, all of the windows, and changing of scenery, all had a meaning in the history of the house. Minerve always said they were in a modern Emma setting, but she only said that to be in their nanny's good grace.

The kitchen was on the first floor, on a smaller ambience, with a rustic table right in the middle of it. The walls were surrounded by cupboards, the big windows faced the reclusive part of the state, the one with the pathway to the Service house. Even though the kitchen was the most hidden place in the whole mansion and was supposed to be only enough to cook for the whole, it was Marine's favourite place.

When she got to the kitchen, the table was full of the food that would be served in her, saved by four spots at the bottom of the table, close to the oven and the cupboards. Emma had made her usual Birthday Breakfast and was finishing off some pancakes when Marine approached her. Her brother Arthur and Hurley, Emma's 9-year-old son, were already eating (on the disgusting way the boys eat).

Emma was a middle-aged woman, that always looked older then she was, for she worked so hard all the time. Her black hair was slowly fading away to a grey-ish colour and her white face had the marks of years of giving everyone her kind smile, she was always dressed in her uniform, her blue eyes were always warm towards the Wordsworth children and Marine could swear she always smelled like fresh baked cookies.

- Hello birthday lady, look at you- Emma left the kitchen counter to fix her clothes better- I made an entire breakfast for you, and here is your gift.

Emma delivered a small black box to her. When looking back to that day, Marine would always remember her deep and caring blue eyes looking expectancy as she opened her gift. Inside the box, there was a small, thin gold bracelet, adorned with 13 little stones of diamonds. It wasn't as big or expensive as some jewellery that Marine has seen but she knew it probably was too damn expensive for her nanny.