Slipping Through My Fingers

Honestly....

Amelia-Lily stood still patiently, waiting for her mother to plait her hair, finished off with 2 sky blue ribbons to match her school jumper. "Beautiful!" Janette said, tying the last bow, Amelia-Lily smiled, flipping her plaits from side to side, her little sister watched, jealous of her sister's 'princess hair' has a she called it, compared to her wispy shoulder length dark hair. Janette saw Sasa's look of disappointment and sweeped up her wispy hair, tying it with a baby pink ribbon, "and another beautiful princess!" Janette said, Sasa smiled back at her mother, running to look in the bathroom mirror. Angel began to whine, too young for ribbons. Holding her arms up her mother lifted her up, silencing the whine. "Ready to go?" Aljaz said, standing by the front door, kissing their mother goodbye they ran to the car, on their way to school...

Janette sat on the sofa in Karen's house, watching her baby daughter stagger about, learning to walk, like Bambi, gaining her balance. Karen handed her a cup of steaming coffee, making sure it was far away from Angel's reach. "Charlie said that Mils got into a fight with Ella," Karen said, taking a sip from her cup. Janette sighed, "yeah....apparently Ella pushed Charlie over so Mils took it upon herself to sort it out...a boy called her last night...James...she's invited him round next week when Ali's parents come," Janette said. Karen raised an eyebrow, "really? Looks like someone is growing up a bit." Janette rolled her eyes, "I don't think it's like that....they're just friends, that's what Mils said when the twins claimed that she had a boyfriend. She's only 8 anyway!" She protested, not wanting to think of her daughter like that yet...or ever, to her and Aljaz, Amelia-Lily would always be their baby. "Seriously Janette.....she's obviously not going to admit to having a boyfriend is she? Especially not to her parents or her brother and sisters," Karen said. Janette sighed again, "why wouldn't she tell me if she had a boyfriend? She tells me everything, we're really close," she said, Karen raised an eyebrow, not wanting to say anything further on the subject in case of upsetting her best friend. They swiftly moved on to the topic o Charlie and his treatment, leaving Amelia-Lily out of the discussion...

Later that day Janette sat at the kitchen table, Angel sat on her lap playing with a baby jigsaw puzzle, Janette was completely oblivious to this or any of her surroundings. Sasa and Leonardo were sat in the living room watching a film, Amelia-Lily up in her room. He conversation that she'd had with Karen running through her mind, "especially not to her parents", running like a clockwork. "Janette? Janette? Janette!" Aljaz said, gently tapping her shoulder. Janette looked up, "what?" "Are you okay? You look like in a trance or something....what's wrong?" Janette shook her head, "nothing....take Angel for me a minute," she said, passing the baby to her father and running upstairs. The 1 phrase which Karen had said whirling round her mind, like a train on a track....but this train was speeding up, as if it were to crash. Janette knocked on the door before opening it, her eldest daughter was sat on her bed reading a book, nothing unusual there. Amelia-Lily smiled up at her before continuing to read. Janette, shutting the door behind her, sat in he end of the bed. "So, how was your day?" Janette asked, in attempt to act casual. Amelia-Lily looked up from her book, "it was okay...nothing new or interesting happened....are you okay Mum? You're acting weird," her daughter said, chewing her lip. "I'm fine....we just don't really talk that much anymore....remember we used to talk all the time......you used to tell me everything, you don't really anymore....so I thought we could talk, like we used to," Janette replied. Amelia-Lily sighed and rolled her eyes, "you are acting weird, there's no denying that....and you don't have time to talk loads, you've got a baby to look after, remember? And there's nothing to talk about, nothing interesting is happening in my life to talk about....wait....you were with Auntie Karen today....what has she said?" Amelia-Lily said, folding her arms. Janette tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear, "I don't know what you're on about Mils....Auntie Karen hasn't said anything." Amelia-Lily raised 1 eyebrow, Janette sighed, why did her daughter have to be so stubborn and good at knowing when she was lying???? "Not much....she just mentioned something about how you wouldn't tell me or your Dad if you ever got a boyfriend....no, you especially wouldn't tell us...and it got me thinking...." She trailed off, looking into her daughter's big brown eyes, similar to Aljaz's. "So you think that I have a boyfriend??? Am I right? Wait.....oh not James?! Seriously? I ask a boy round and you suddenly think he's my boyfriend? Seriously Mum I thought you were better than that to assume stuff about me!" Janette ducked her head, she knew she was wrong to listen to Karen about this, "I'm sorry....it's just you'd never properly mentioned him before, I mean I've heard his name mentioned briefly before and he's been to your parties but that's it! And listening to you on he phone with him 2 nights ago you seemed so happy, I heard you laughing like you never do with Charlie or Sofia, and then you asked if he could come round when Nana cooked spaghetti, and that is considered a romantic dish isn't it? And when you denied the fact that he's your boyfriend to the twins you were blushing," Janette said, chewing her lip, waiting for her daughter's response. She sighed, "James only called to see if I was okay after mine an' Ella's fight because he thought I was upset after 'cause I thought you an' Dad would be mad at me....I invited him round because he loves food an' we were talking about food on the phone....Sofia says that he has a crush on me....but that doesn't mean that I have a crush on him!" She began to turn a rosy pink colour, Janette smirked, "Amelia-Lily Skorjanec I can tell just by looking at your face that you so do have a crush on him....see you've gone bright pink!" Janette exclaimed. Amelia-Lily turned away from her mother, burying her face in her pillow. "Shut up Mum! Don't you dare mention this to Dad or anyone ! Anyway, it doesn't matter because Sofia is completely and utterly wrong about James liking me in that way so you may as well forget about it, okay?" Janette realised then that she was right, her daughter really did like this James boy. She reached forward and placed her hand on her daughter's shoulder, rubbing it gently, "now why wouldn't he like you? You're definitely the prettiest girl in the whole of year 3, and I'm not just saying that because I'm your Mum....why don't you tell him that you like him?" Amelia-Lily shook her head furiously, her hair flicking form side to side over the pillow. "Mum I could never ever tell him that I like him....firstly he would never say that he liked me back...secondly it would totally destroy our friendship....and thirdly everyone at school would laugh," she said, muffled by the pillow. Janette sat her up, cupping her face in her hands, "that's what your father said before he asked me out on a date...he thought I'd say no, thought that it would destroy our friendship, and he thought that everyone would laugh...but he still asked me, and I said yes...James might say yes, and you said that Cara and Georgia both have boyfriends anyway." Amelia-Lily sighed, her mother was stubborn, but also right....if her Dad had never told her Mum about his feelings for her then they never would've got together and she would never had been born, neither would Sasa, Leonardo, Caleb or Angel. "What am I supposed to even say? He'll laugh at me....Sofia is wrong about him liking me....please can we drop it? An' please don't mention it to Dad....please?" Janette sighed, she knew that she had to let her daughter figure this out by herself. "Okay my darling...dinner in 10 minutes?" Amelia-Lily nodded, Janette kissed her forehead and left her be, returning back to he kitchen. She looked like she had really achieved something, like the cat got the cream. Aljaz looked at her puzzled, wondering what had uplifted her mood.

Aljaz climbed under the covers next to his wife. "So come on then...what's made you so happy? You seemed upset earlier but when you came downstairs you seemed really happy again," Aljaz said, shuffling up to his loved one. "Why wouldn't I be happy when I've got you?" Janette said with a smile. "Nice answer but I know it's another reason." Janette sighed, "I promised I wouldn't tell....it's nothing bad, honest...it's girl stuff," Janette said, hoping that he wouldn't continue to pry, she didn't want to keep stuff from him, but she didn't want to go against what her daughter had asked of her. "Girl stuff?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. Janette nodded, "yeah girl stuff...girl stuff, between mother and daughter...everything's fine though....well it will be." Aljaz looked st her directly, "you're plotting something." Janette looked at him shocked, "who me? I told our darling daughter that I would not speak of this and that I would drop it...so that is the end of the discussion." Aljaz continued to look at her, he knew something was going on and that his gorgeous wife who he loved dearly was up to something. "If you say so Janette...." Janette sighed and rested her head on his chest, snuggling into him, "everything is fine bučko...honestly, trust me," she gazed up at him, "I love you." Aljaz smiled and leaned into kiss her, "I love you more." Janette shook her head, "I love you more-er....and don't you dare say that it's not a word." Aljaz paused for thought, thinking how he get out of this one and leaned down to kiss his wife, distracting her from everything.....