Raising Isla | ENGLOT AU

Chapter 9: Mosaic of a Family

Emery was clueless, she'd known that, but it took Marima pointing it out for her to realise Isla might struggle to use the fork she'd been given. Though she bravely started to try. It took them another few minutes of rummaging through the kitchen to find something appropriately chubby handled. Emery had to stop herself from kissing the top of the little girl's head as she apologised, setting down the replacement on the table in front of where Isla was propped up on a bundle of cushions.

Meena helped her in the sink afterward, watching as Marima and Heidi amused Isla with the gallery of tattoos over their skin. But her friend kept smiling beside her, and if she were trying to be inconspicuous about it she was failing miserably. Emery turned to her, raising an eyebrow in a near fed up question.

"You're in love." Meena said simply.

"What are you talking about?" Emery hadn't kept it a secret that she'd finally told Calypso, that wasn't new.

"Your face melts every time you look at her." Meena explained softly. "It reminds me of how you looked at Twiggy when you first brought her home, when she was still a stumbling, bouncing kitten. But multiplied by about a hundred."

Oh.

"And don't spend an age denying it this time Em. That little girl is besotted with you, and by the sounds of it, this is the closest she's ever gotten to experiencing what it's like to be part of a normal family."

"Normal families are overrated," Emery countered, but the conviction in her voice had turned gentle.

"I won't argue with that," Meena nodded, drying off the last of the plates before she met Emery's eyes again. Her expression attentive, honest, as she spoke. "Isla deserves this Em, and so do you and Calypso - whatever shattered mosaic version of family you can create for yourselves."

I know.

Meena seemed to read Emery's understanding from her eyes, the candor of it tying up Emery's tongue as she nodded faintly, watching her friend place the last of the utensils back in the drawer. "Good. Because you've missed out on the last three movie nights and I'm pretty sure Ma is gonna strangle you if you don't make it up to her." She said, pointing over to where Heidi had already commandeered control of the television, beginning to browse through the never-ending realms of Disney with Isla sat on her lap.

"What happened to going out?" Emery said, amusement raising her eyebrows.

"Going out is overrated." Meena gave her a cheeky grin, before tugging her out of the kitchen and towards the conversation in the living room.

"Isla definitely needs to meet Tommy." Heidi was saying. "Don't you think that would be so cute?"

"In theory yes," Marima began. "But unfortunately the little darling is going through what he's calling a 'grown-up' phase and now considers playdates with anyone younger than him to be an insult. At four years old he's finally found his abrasive side. We're trying to teach him out of it. But I think the transition to 'big kids school' has gone to his head and now if we left him in a room with a three-year-old he'd probably throw a tantrum."

"I'm three and a half," Isla interjected, holding up her counted fingers with as much indignancy as her little face could manage.

"My sincerest apologies Isla, I had no idea." Marima responded, and though her tone was lighthearted there was nothing mocking about it.

"What do you guy's think about Frozen?" Heidi asked, indicating to the screen she'd been browsing.

Marima cut in immediately. "Dee, if you value Em's soul you will keep that little girl a million miles away from that godforsaken film."