Temptations

|| E L Y S I A N ||

Just as I had foreseen, we had returned home with full stomachs and to our bustling mother in the kitchen hurrying to plate dinner. Georgia had decided to go home early tonight, probably to hide away in her room and talk to Mark for the remainder of the night.

"Ah, there you two are," our father exclaimed upon seeing both Jackson and I walk in. "How was the first day of school kiddos," he's asked, taking his usual spot at the head of the table.

"Yes, do tell," Mum insisted, scurrying behind us to place the bowl of salad at the table.

The spread looked delicious, my favourite salad with mango and lentils, and lamb cutlets dad had cooked on the barbecue with a jar of mint sauce.

Jackson took his spot. "Good, I'm liking the way they set up the timetables this year," he replied, starting to serve himself from the plate of cooked foods.

As my mother finally took her spot at the table she looked at me expectantly for an answer to Dad's question.

"Yeah mine was good, though it's only going to get worse right?" I laughed, looking at Jackson who rose an eyebrow and bowed his head in agreement.

"Oh you and Georgia have uncle Steven this year right?" Jackson had asked, purely concentrated on the pice of meet he was attacking with his steak knife.

"Ah my little goaty, good to hear that you've got him, a great man he is," Dad replied, talking out loud as if reminiscing on something else entirely.

"Yeah he's nice, but I had no idea he was Jackson's godfather, yet alone the guy you call goat," I replied, laughing.

Dad laughed back too, "the origins of that name is a story for another day, one you'll hear soon enough."

I saw Jackson smirk to himself as I tried to fight one myself, things were starting to make sense know.

"Oh that reminds me," Mum had started, wiping away something from the corner of her mouth, "I saw them both at the grocery today and invited them over for dinner tomorrow night, it's a school night but I think it will be fine," my mother chimed with a grin towards both Jackson and I. Mum had a thing for us going to bed on time, it was something she was always conscious of, making sure her kids were in bed on time to make sure they had had enough sleep to carry on throughout the following day. She had eased up on Jackson since last year, so I was still waiting for the time came for her to loosen the reigns on me as well.

"Mum, how did that only just remind you now when we're like half an hour into a conversation about him?"

Mum rolled her eyes, another thing she hated - Jackson's knack for exaggerating the simplest of things.

"If I'm honest, it was a big day at work today. Guess I'm a bit frazzled," she chuckled off.

We continued the rest of the dinner with conversation on what Jackson was hoping to get in his final exams, the encounter dad had had today at work, and the new kid in mum's class of year sixes. I briefly mentioned how excited I was to finally be studying human biology, something I had been looking forward to ever since I'd seen Georgias older sister tucked away at the desk with a sprawl of notes all showing labelling to the heart and bones, notebooks filled with dot points on the functions of major bodily systems and elaborate answers to exam style written questions. I had always dreamed of being a surgeon when I was younger, saving lives and working hours on end to help other people. Dad told me that it was a lot of work, that my math and science needed to be up there along with my determination. I knew it to be true of my motivation to get into university and study medicine, but at the same time my love for English, reading and writing, questioned a different career path entirely. Nether less, I was convinced that this year would answer all of those questions, to really determine where I had belonged.

"Help me clear the table please Rachael," Mum had asked after all the plates of dinner had been finished with.

The two males had already started to get up, with dad going to the television and Jackson retreating to his room upstairs.

I did as I was told, stacking the plates on top of each other with the cutlery resting on top. As I had made my way to kitchen I was soon after joined by Mum who stood beside me at the the counter.

"You're beautiful you know that Rachael?"

Taken aback by the uncalled for comment I turned to face my mother as I peered at her own physical appearance. Her dark deep set eyes, broad nose, long eyelashes, all qualities that had remained from her youth and what could be seen so prominently in her only daughter. Jackson had tended to take after their father, with his strong jawline and sparkling eyes, though we'd both gotten the mixture of our parents skin, creating the perfect tan complexion.

I look at my mother who's age had defied her beauty, "I guess I got it from my mother," I smiled, putting down the plates so that I could pull her in for a hug. Her height and overall warmness created for an embrace that I didn't want to have to leave from.

"I love you," she replied as she burrowed her head into my hair.

We were interrupted by Jackson, who had entered the kitchen, pulling open the fridge door

"What's this? Mother and daughter bonding that I wasn't invited to?" He teased, pouring himself a favourable amount of milk into a glass.

"Oh come here you goof," mum laughed, outreaching her arms to her first born.

Jackson made a joke of looking hesitant first, with a questionable look on his face before walking over to join us in a harmonious hug. Jacksons height towered over the two of us.

That's when it had clicked. Mums quietness all day, her being late home from work. The wintering roses outside.

Today she would have been three.

A beautiful baby sister that mum had dreamt for a long time after getting settled with both Jackson and I.

As I remembered back to the day that my father explained what a still birth was, I hugged my mother tighter, resting my face into her chest, hearing her heart beat its smooth rhythm and mine came to match with it.