Serendipity: A New Generation of Knights

Part 1: Ch 7. The Announcement

"Charlotte?" Marjorie called from the office as her employee walked by in the corridor.

"Hey, Marjorie," Charlotte beamed, stepping into the office as she adjusted her purse on her shoulder. "Everything okay?"

"It's great, actually," Marjorie replied, suspiciously avoiding eye contact with the other woman. She fidgeted with her hands just a bit as she continued to speak. "Um, I've made arrangements for you to be out of ratio for a long lunch today. Would you maybe wanna... go grab lunch together?" She shrugged, moving her arms about in indecision before finally meeting Charlotte's eyes with her own.

The manager was feeling a bit nervous asking, and the nerves were already causing some tears to well up in her eyes. She had important plans for a lunch outing with Charlotte, and after making sure the logistics of everything, the coverage in the rooms and all, would work out, her last step was to actually get her longest standing employee and old friend to agree to go with her on short notice.

Much to Marjorie's relief, Charlotte nodded in response. "I'd love that," she smirked. "Our usual place?"

Marjorie felt a small reprieve wash over her as the relief fueled her next words.

"Perfect, yes," she nodded sharply. "I'll drive us over, and I'm paying, so don't worry about that either."

"Alright," Charlotte shrugged, a huge grin across her lips and growing in her eyes. "I'll be back here around... 11:30 then?"

"Sounds great, my darling," Marjorie replied.

Marjorie watched as Charlotte tucked out of the office, down the hall to the baby room. She had spent the last couple of years mending and growing her relationship with Charlotte since they had a falling out over relationships of all things. Looking back, Marjorie couldn't even recognize the person she had been. She was so horrible to one of her oldest friends and dearest employees, all because of one person – Mia.

And even Marjorie's relationship with Mia had been getting better. It was never easy, knowing Mia's history with her husband and sister-in-law. But after Mia fully apologized and made amends with both of them, Marjorie was much more receptive to the fact that Mia had just been another pawn in the former owner's game. She lost a lot because of him, too. And Marjorie would be lying if she said she didn't appreciate watching her husband and sister rekindle their friendship with the person who had once been so important to both of them. They even regularly made time for the three families to spend more time together, especially on nights when they could all bribe young Carly to keep an eye on Charlotte's girls and watch little Benny for a few hours while they all went out for drinks.

Since Charlotte and Mia's wedding in March, however, Marjorie and Charlotte hadn't spent much time together. Most of that was due to Marjorie suddenly being a bit more reclusive, trying to hide her incredibly obvious pregnancy symptoms from everyone in the nursery. She had just found out she was pregnant less than a month after the wedding, and she recently realized that the nearness of the two events may have caused Charlotte to think that maybe Marjorie was avoiding her because of her marriage. That was far from the truth, and Marjorie was finally ready to explain everything and set the record straight.

"So..." Marjorie began nervously.

She and Charlotte sat across from each other at the pub, not far down the road from the nursery. It was a regular spot for the two of them to stop for lunch together over the years, but it had been a while, especially since just the two of them had been there.

"I've got some... important things to talk to you about."

Charlotte's face quickly turned from calm to nervous panic, causing Marjorie's to do the same, tears again forming in her eyes.