Reach out for me - TNN Story

Chapter 10 - Waves of Guilt

The Next morning Marjorie had thought her anger fuelled by Siobhan would have subsided, seeming as Her and Reece had quite a hot and steamy session last night.

But in the midst of putting in her makeup, she felt a wave of guilt wash over her and catch in the back of her throat. She felt so guilty that she had irrationally judged Charlotte, her longest serving friend, for apparently having an Affair with Mia - whilst still being married to her husband. Marjorie had only found out a couple of weeks ago that Charlotte and Her Husband had been separated for a long time. Marjorie kept rinsing from her mouth that she "Was utterly sorry" so many times to Charlotte that even Charlotte had to stop Marjorie and remind her it's not her fault.

And then her mind flicked back to the wave of anger that Sorscha had also agreed with Autumn, Winter and Charlotte about how useless Jodie is.
Marjorie felt so guilty that she kept Jodie on in the nursery, she knew Jodie wasn't any help but a part of Marjorie couldn't let Jodie be fired because she felt bad about Jodie's future.

When Marjorie looked up to her large vanity mirror, she stared at her reflection looking at her smallest of details around her face.
She noticed her freckles, she only had them on the bridge of her nose fading out to her cheeks, again and ran her fingers across them. Her and Maeve both shared the same freckles in the same spot. When they were younger Marjorie would always boast about having matching freckles with her little sister, she remembered how much she had failed Maeve as a child. She was supposed to have protected her, she should have known what her parents were doing but she was so blinded by them throwing money at her, she hadn't realised what they had actually done.

Words couldn't describe how guilty Marjorie felt about Maeve, a tear rolled down her face as she sobs, sat on the vanity stall wondering why she had failed at protecting everyone.
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Reece's POV:
I had given Marjorie a bit of space to make herself what she would call 'decent' which normally consisted of her putting on makeup and trying to look good. Which I knew she would always look more than perfect in my eyes.

It had been longer than it normally took for her to get ready so I call out, "Marjorie, gorgeous are you ready?" I say as I slowly ascend the stairs, making my way to our bedroom. "Gorgeous are you ready?" I lightly knock the door, small sobs echoed from behind the door.
"Oh.... I failed..." I hear Marjorie mutter between sobs. What could she have failed to me she's absolutely incredible and hasn't done anything wrong at all.

I had decided to go in, I lightly pushed the door open. Seeing Marjorie curled over her vanity desk made me ache a little, I didn't want her to be hurt. I gently wrap my arms around her waist and rest my head against hers, "Why are you crying gorgeous? What's wrong?" I softly speak pecking butter soft kisses into her head. She sighs and looks at me through the mirror, "I failed helping them Reece... I lashed out at Charlotte a while ago and I put Jodie in everywhere and it's been a mess..." she rambles as more tears fall down her face. "Don't get me started on Maeve as well.. how didn't I know what she was going through?!?" She angrily asks turning to face me and bury her head into my chest.

"Gorgeous it's not your fault okay?.. I understand your frustration and it's difficult to control. But you haven't failed them, you're amazing" I kiss her forehead and slowly swaying with her.

"How can I show them that I am there for them?" she looks up at me with blushed cheeks.
"Just be yourself gorgeous, honestly." I kiss her.
————— In the Knight Nursery —————
Reece had dropped Marjorie off today, giving her a kiss before she left his car, "i love you"Marjorie says giving him another peck on the lip, "You too gorgeous" he replies letting her out of the car. Marjorie always wondered why he never said 'I love you too' back at her. She shook it off and walked into the Nursery , leaving that conversation for another day.

Marjorie had kept in mind the conversation she had with Reece, just how would she show her staff how much they mean to her?

"Morning Autumn you alright?" Marjorie hadn't really thought about who she would try out her new tactic to be there for her staff. Autumn happened to be the first person other than Reece that she saw today. "I'm fine.....Marjorie what are you doing?" How attentive Marjorie was to her out of the blue. "What?" She shouts.
"This... it's.. weird." Autumn gags at the thought of Marjorie being nice to her.

Over the course of the day in the nursery, Marjorie had been trying to be there more for her staff. Though she thought she was being subtle with her actions, every staff member noticed the sudden shift in her attitude. Charlotte and Winter had wondered what had made Marjorie so perky? "Maybe she had a good..coffee" Winter mumbled at Charlotte trying to figure it out.
"No.. Maybe Reece Surprised her with something?" Charlotte added on.

Neither of them could agree on what made Marjorie much more... happy today. Marjorie entered the rooms again searching both again.
"Hiya my loves, no sight of Maeve anywhere? I've been trying to find..." Marjorie adds before she's cut off by Charlotte, "Marjorie what's been going with you today? You've been acting so different."
She exchanges a glance with Charlotte as if to say 'what are you talking about?' "Well everyone is noticing how different you've been today, I mean you triple greeted Autumn this morning. Is everything all good?" Charlotte asks her as she rests her hands on her hips.

"Yeah everything's fine... I just feel a bit bad.. I don't look after you all as much as I should" Marjorie says deflated, "I mean Reece treats his staff so nice and is always there for them.. it feels like I'm there as much for you guys" she looks at them worried to what they'll say. "I mean you're normally always there for us to talk to, I don't think you should change that." Charlotte smiles emphatically at Marjorie. Winter chimes in when Charlotte looks at him, "It's nice that you care about us" he says.

"You were looking for Maeve, Marjorie?" He adds back straightening himself.
"Yeah, I needed to tell her that I'll be there for her, you know like to help her?" She adds, rubbing her hands together nervously.
Silence refilled the three of them and the room with worry and guilt.

Charlottes mind traced back to last night, everyone had left and it was just Charlotte.. well Maeve as well but Charlotte was pleading for Maeve to come out the office. She thought whatever Maeve had gone through with her mum and a phone call that it shook her, so she had to call in Amelia hoping that she would help her. So she did.., but the car ride home was silent, Maeve had sat in the backseat picking at her hands.

"So where is Maeve?" Marjorie questions again, "Well she was in the office last time I checked" Charlotte hushed. She was worried, they were worried about Maeve. Char worried for Marjorie.
——————— In Maeve's Office ———————
Maeve's POV:
I still couldn't shake my head over that phone call and Laura's arrival, it hurt so much I don't know what to even do. That's when the door opened. Marjorie stood in the doorframe looking at me, "can I help you Marjorie?" I say quite bluntly.

She looks at me in confusion, "Well I want to let you know I'm always here for you. And if you want to talk about anything and that break up with Nick then feel free.." again Marjorie was interrupted, "Nothing was going on with my break up with Nick" I sigh get more annoyed.
She tried and tried to get information from me but it didn't work at all.
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Hours later after the Nursery closed, Marjorie found herself back in the same position she was this morning, hunched over her vanity, now made her face bare from makeup.

"Gorgeous you alright?" Reece comes behind Marjorie and again wraps his arms around her and she breaks, crying into him. "I don't know what to do... I don't know how to support Maeve.. I did the staff but Maeve.. it feels like she's hiding something about her break up." Marjorie sobs.
Though she hadn't had a proper conversation with Maeve, from Charlotte and the other staff she noticed that she was being much more reserved in work over the paths couple of weeks/months.

"Oh.." is all Reece could say, steering them both to the bed. She led her head on his chest as her ramble on about her childhood and how she had it compared to Maeve. She felt bad for unloading her sides of childhood to Reece, every so often she would check if it was alright to say more.

A/N - Sorry this took longer to come out, I had wrote half of the chapter and then was stuck and had to come back to it later on.
:)