The "Proper" Girl Next Door

1. The New Neighbors

At the Montgomery residence, Aileen Montgomery was washing the dishes from today's breakfast while she hummed a happy tune. Her husband, Finn Montgomery, sat at the kitchen table and read the morning newspaper while he sipped on his second cup of coffee. Aileen stopped her humming for a bit and peeked out the kitchen window, as though something had caught her attention. Finn looked up from the morning newspaper and glanced at his wife. "Is everything alright, bonnie?" He asked, breaking the silence that the Saturday morning had to offer.
    Bonnie was the nickname that Finn always called his wife even before they got married. He had given her that nickname due to the fact that he viewed her as a beautiful woman. Anyone that had met Aileen in person would agree with Finn. For someone that was only forty years of age, she was a luscious garden of beauty with fair skin, black hair that was tied in a bun, and the same rose-pink eyes that two of her four sons had. But what made her beauty stand out the most was her personality; friendly, wise, loyal, lion-hearted, but took no nonsense from anyone.
"We seem to have new neighbors moving in next door to us," Aileen responded, turning her head to face her husband. "A small family that consists of a father, a mother, a son, and a daughter." She closed the curtains of the kitchen window and went back to finishing the dishes. "I wonder where they came from. They don't appear to be native to Scotland."
"I'm sure we'll know once we introduce ourselves to them," Finn said, placing the morning newspaper down on the kitchen table. He removed his glasses and wiped the lenses with a cloth that was in his shirt's front pocket. "For now, it may be best that we let that family unpack and get situated into their new home." He put his glasses back on. "I still found it hard to believe that The Campbells decided to move to America."
"Remember, m'eudail; Mr. Campbell got a job offer from there." Aileen wiped her wet hands with a kitchen towel. "So of course, the family would find it necessary to move to the United States. That said, I do miss them terribly. They were such lovely neighbors and our boys enjoyed hanging out with Mr. and Mrs. Campbell's kids. I hope that these new neighbors are friendly people. You should know how I am when it comes to disrespectful and rude individuals."
Before Finn could reply, the front door opened to reveal his two younger sons; Roy, and Ivor. His two older sons, Samuel and Elliot, were both attending college and no longer lived with them. Roy and Ivor were both holding two paper bags filled with groceries. The two boys entered inside, with Ivor closing annd locking the door behind him. "We are back from the store, Mother," Ivor said as he and his older brother immediately took off their shoes in the entranceway. "And we had managed to get the groceries that you needed."
    "By the way, did you and Father notice the family of four that just moved into where The Campbells used to live?" Roy asked.
    "We have learned of this," Finn replied, glancing at his sons. "They are still unpacking and getting themselves situated. In a while, we will all go over and introduce ourselves to them."

At the house next door to the Montgomery residence, the new family, known as the Gaillots, was bringing in the last of their stuff. The couches, the chairs, the end tables, the coffee table, and the bedframes have long since been brought into the house and placed in their correct locations. Now, the family was bringing in the home decorations which only consisted of framed family photos, a portrait of the Eiffel Tower, a box that held Mrs. Gaillot's white and red fine china, a box that held elegant vases and small flower pots, a gramophone, a box of vinyls, and four small lamps.
The Gaillots originally had lived in Paris for a long time. But as soon as their daughter turned eighteen, Mrs. Gaillot decided to buy a house that was bigger than the one that they used to live in. Why she made this decision was hard to say. Regardless, neither Mr. Gaillot, their son, nor their daughter dared argue with her. Mrs. Gaillot was pretty much in charge of anything she wanted to be in charge of. And the rest of her family had no say into it.
"Mére, where do I put the gramophone?" The teenaged girl, named Primrose Gaillot, asked her mother while holding the gramophone into her arms.
"Set it on top of the storage cabinet, fille," Mrs. Gaillot ordered. "And do be careful not to drop it, ma chérie. That is an antique, after all. It had belonged to your grand-mére since she was really young. She had given it to me upon receiving another one from your grand-pére on their wedding anniversary. One day, it will be yours to own." Mrs. Gaillot flashed a smile at her daughter before heading inside the house, carrying the box of vases and flower pots with her.
Primrose just nodded before she followed her mother inside. She carefully placed the gramophone onto the storage cabinet under her mother's orders. At the same time, her older brother, a young adult man named Vladimir Gaillot, came inside the house holding the portrait in both arms. "Where do you want this, Mére?" He asked their mother, taking care not to drop the portrait.
    Mrs. Gaillot snapped her head toward her son and frowned at him. "Just set it next to the chairs and don't you dare drop it. Your pére worked really hard to save up enough money for that, you know." Her tone toward Vladimir was icy, as though she was talking to a stranger rather than her actual child.
    Vladimir scowled at his mother before setting the portrait down next to the cream-colored chairs. As tempted as he was to smash it in order to spite his mother, Vladimir knew that she had a point. The portrait had been bought by his father and it was rather expensive. Resisting the urge to scoff, Vladimir went out to go help his father carry in the rest of the home decorations.
For as long as he could remember, Vladimir had a very...interesting relationship with his mother. And not in a good way, to be exact. For some reason, his mother preferred his sister's company over his. He never knew why, and frankly, couldn't care less. Vladimir had given up on trying to win his mother's affection long ago, after all. Especially since he had his father to be there for him. So he was able to have the happy moments that his mother failed to give him.
"Vladimir, my fils," Mr. Gaillot called from the moving truck, holding the box of his wife's fine china and the box of vinyls. "Think you can bring in the lamps for me? As you can see, my hands are tied at the moment." He gestured to the two boxes that he carefully held in his hands.
"Yes, Pére," Vladimir replied, rushing inside the moving truck. As he scooped up the lamps with care, he couldn't help but wonder what life had in store for him now that he and his family will be living in Scotland. Would he be able to make new friends in the Secondary School that he would be attending along with his sister?
Right now, all he could do was hope...

After finishing helping their parents put away the groceries, Roy and Ivor helped their mother clean up the entire house. Roy was in charge of dusting, taking out the trash, and vacuuming the floor. Whereas, Ivor was in charge of putting the dishes away, taking care of the laundry, and mopping the floor. Their father had gone to the bank to make a deposit, so it was just the two boys and their mother.
    Traditional Scottish music played on the radio that Aileen had turned on. The moment that her sons heard the bagpipes playing on a Saturday, it only meant that it was time for them to clean. Their older brothers knew this back when they were living with the family, so it wouldn't surprise the two younger brothers if Samuel and Elliot decided to take after their mother by playing Scottish music while cleaning.
    "Did I miss a spot, Mother?" Roy asked, turning off the vacuum cleaner and moving it away from the red rug for Aileen to see. Before Aileen could respond, there was a knock on the door.
    "Now, who could that be at this time of day?" Aileen asked, turning to face the door. She walked over and opened the door to see who was there. To her surprise, it was none other than the new family that moved in next door.
    "Bonjour, we're the Gaillots," Mrs. Gaillot said. "We're your new neighbors and we came to introduce ourselves!"

Madame Prim and her family belong to kaylohalo
Roy and his family belong to me.

Words And Translations
Bonnie — Scottish Gaelic term for "beautiful".
M'eudail — (Pronounced MAY-DOLL) Scottish Gaelic term for "darling".
Mére — (Pronounced MARE) French word for "mother".
Fille — (Pronounced FEE) French word for "daughter".
Ma Chérie — (Pronounced MAH-SHARE-EE) French term for "my darling".
Grand-Mére — (Pronounced GRAWN-MARE) French word for "grandmother".
Grand-Pére — (Pronounced GRAWN-PEAR) French word for "grandfather".
Pére — (Pronounced PEAR) French word for "father".
Fils — (Pronounced FEES) French word for "son".
Bonjour — (Pronounced BON-SURE) French word for "hello".