Her Last Plea✨

Chapter 30

"Lexi? Lexi, wake up."

Squeezing her eyes open, Alexis saw Mira peering over her, the girl's long raven hair hanging down. "Hey sweetie," she said, clapping a hand over her own mouth as she yawned. "Have you been here long?"

"A half hour or so," Mira replied. "Mom's downstairs with Nana, having pleasant conversations......and it's freaking me out."

Alexis sat up in bed, straightening out her top as she yawned again. "I'm sure your Dad told her to be nice. It's probably all it is."

"She genuinely looks like she's enjoying herself," Mira stated.

"That's.....unexpected. But hey, it's a good thing, Mira," Alexis replied, smoothing her own black curls a bit. Wrapping an arm around Mira's waist, the two of them walked out of her bedroom together and heard laughter from downstairs.
"Maybe she's in a good mood today?" Alexis added, noticing the slightly unsure look on the girl's face.

Mira shrugged. "She was just as miserable yesterday as she was Sunday night, and now she's all bloody sunshine and rainbows."

"Language, Mirabelle," Alexis minded as they walked down the stairs and through the halls. In the kitchen, they found Delphina and Faith drinking apple juice at the table, Ara sitting on Faith's lap as she showed off the pink, plastic rings adorning her dainty fingers.

"Alexis!" Faith exclaimed at the sight of her daughter. "Had a nice nap?"

Alexis nodded, stifling another yawn. "I did, actually. Delphina, you look like you're feeling better today."

"Much," Delphina replied. "Your mother is quite humorous, Alexis. For someone as quiet as you are, I hadn't really expected it."

"My Lexi has always been serious," Faith said, winking over at her daughter. "Always studious, always quiet....but always good at everything."

Alexis clicked her tongue, grabbing a bottle of water from the table. Snapping off the cap, she took a drink and sighed. "I'm not good at everything, Mom."

"Name one thing you aren't good at?!" Faith demanded. "You're brilliant; you had a successful business at the mere age of 24. You were also pretty wonderful at art, got stellar grades at school and you are incredibly accomplished at the piano as well."

Alexis smiled sadly at her mother's praise. "I wasn't good at being married."

"I think that might be the other way around," Delphina replied as the proud and happy smile on Faith's face deflated slightly. "You weren't the one that ruined it."

Alexis shrugged, hopping up on the counter where Mira had previously been sitting. "I should have been smart enough to avoid it all together. Let that be a lesson to you, Mira and Ara - never be too blind to not notice someone's faults."

Following suit, Mira hopped up next to her, linking Alexis's arm with hers. "I'm never getting married."

"Never say never," Faith countered.

"No really - I'm never getting married," Mira repeated. "All Mom and Dad ever did was fight, Drew Smith totally broke Lexi's heart and he was supposed to be the love of her life......that's just too much disappointment for me."

Ara climbed off of Faith's lap and walked over to Lexi, who picked the child up and placed her on the countertop as well. Delphina couldn't help but stare as her daughters had all but drifted towards Alexis as soon as she had entered the room. The girls, who were already much relaxed after they had entered this house, were now even more content as they sat on either side of Alexis. 

Faith picked up the empty glasses and shook her head as she walked towards the sink. "Listen to this girl talk as if she's seen more than her thirteen years on this Earth."

"Nearly fourteen, thank you very much. Also, what I'm saying is true!" Mira grumbled. "I don't want to get married. And I certainly don't ever want to be like Aunt Cordelia - showing off all that ugly jewelry she gets men to buy her. It's tacky! I just want to be me, and do what I want, when I want."

Mira blew her long, side swept bangs out of her face and looked at Alexis. "She showed up at the house this morning too, Aunt Cordelia did. I thought Dad was going to blow a bloody gasket."

"Language!" Delphina, Faith and Alexis all exclaimed at once.

"And what do you mean, Cordelia was at the house?" Alexis asked, grimacing slightly. She knew Cordelia from school and had last seen her at Mike and Delphina's wedding. And if she were honest with herself, Alexis had no wish to meet Cordelia McCoy ever again in her life.

"Mother and Father told her about my prognosis I guess, and she thought she'd come swooping in and....." Delphina trailed off, giving Alexis a pointed look as she twirled a ring on her finger.

Alexis rolled her eyes - much in the same way that Mira did when she was both annoyed and amused at something at the same time, Delphina noticed ruefully.

"Didn't know she was still carrying that torch," Alexis said with a small smirk on her face.

"Until her last breath," Delphina replied with a cheeky smile. "The biggest injustice in her life was not having her marriage arranged with the great Michael Watson."

"Well, I'm going to marry Prince Charming, and live in a huge castle, and go to big fancy balls every night," Ara declared wistfully after a beat. "I'm also going to have one dog, one hamster, and maybe a talking bird. I don't know about the bird yet. Karl says that parrots can talk without the help of Fairy Godmother's magic, but I don't know if I believe him."

Mira threw her hands up in the air and stared at her sister in wonder. "I'd give all the money in the world just to see how the inside of your head works for a day, Ara. I truly would."

"Oh yeah? Well I'd give all the money in the world to see the inside of Marv's head, because then maybe he'd learn how to properly say hot dog," Ara retorted, eliciting laughs from everyone in the room.

Faith pulled a stack of dishes out of the cabinet and walked them over to Mira. Holding them, Mira waited until Faith stacked the silverware on top. "I've been married to my husband for thirty-nine years now," Faith told Mira, reaching out to tuck the girl's long black locks behind her ears. "And you're right - sometimes, things don't work out. But unfortunately, that's life."

Faith looked over at Alexis and gave her a small smile. "Not everything goes according to plan, regardless of how hard one tries. But, I do believe that everything happens for a reason, and if you try to fight against that, you may find yourself missing out on something incredible."

Mira nodded slightly - although that stubborn, determined look still shone on her face. Delphina and Alexis shared a knowing smile as they shook their heads at the teenager - who behaved more and more like her father everyday.

Kissing Mira's cheek, Faith gave her arm a squeeze. "Now, my gorgeous, make yourself useful and set the table in the dining room."

"You mean you don't want me to just sit here and hold all of these plates?" Mira playfully replied, her previous expression vanishing quickly.

"Scoot!" Faith snapped playfully as Mira climbed off of the countertop, laughing brightly. "My beautiful Princess Arabelle, grab these napkins and set them on next to the plates, please."

"Yes Nana," Ara said, jumping off the island where she was snuggled under Alexis's arm. Retrieving the napkins, she pranced into the dining room, her shoes clicking on the hardwood floors.