[PI] A Mother’s Love - Poetic – 2,516 Words

[PI] A Mother’s Love - Poetic – 2,516 Words‘Goodbye darling. I am so looking forward to seeing you,’ said Susan, ‘and oh, by the way, Millie – Amelia are you still there?’ She had already disconnected.Susan’s daughter Milly (also known as Amelia, when Susan was annoyed) had been married seven years and they had not spoken since the wedding. After all this time, Amelia had phoned out of the blue to say that she and her husband, and their young son were coming over to Susan’s house for Christmas eve dinner. Susan could hardly believe that she would be seeing her daughter again. And she had a grandson!Susan replaced the handset in its cradle and a smile crossed her lips as she contemplated the reunion. She had resigned herself to being alone at Christmas this year, again. After seven years it was still not easy, but at her core she was a positive person and she lived her life in silent acquiescence. In her youth, fuelled by puffed up ideas of ambition she had wanted it all – a waterfront mansion, career, family, annual overseas trips. But then her husband had suddenly died of a heart attack and her daughter had fallen in love, and Susan had lost all contact. Now in her final chapter, it was ironic that she was beginning to realise the true meaning of happiness, with the two people whom she had loved most, goneHer daily yoga practice helped of course. In front of the east-facing window, bathed in the glow of the morning sun she would roll out her yoga mat and begin with breathing exercises. Her face was a picture of serene calmness as she focused on twenty rounds of inhalation and exhalation. She continued with sun salutations to warm up her body and increase the blood flow and then there were stretches for the side, the upper back, the lower back and twists. She continued her routine until every muscle, every tendon had been massaged and stretched and caressed. Susan had first started attending yoga classes because in her neighbourhood it was seen as the fashionable thing to do. Society ladies approaching middle-age dressed in lycra leggings with colourful rolled up yoga mats tucked under their arms, dreaming of the coffee and gossip, before they had even chanted their final namaste. She had returned home after six months studying yoga therapy on the banks of the holy Ganges River and now she preferred to practise in solitude. Her suburban friends did not quite understand the need for Susan’s time of introspection, but they knew better than to interrupt her morning ritual.With only two days to prepare for the unexpected visit there was no time to waste. Susan leafed through her old recipe books, as she set about planning the Christmas dinner menu. She felt inspired reading the neat handwritten recipes and decided that she would spare no expense in hosting this feast. The next forty-eight hours were joyously spent dusting, polishing, shopping, cooking, baking, wrapping and decorating. Yes, she had even decided to buy a live potted Christmas tree as a surprise for her grandson.Susan glanced at the clock. It was half past five and the family would be here in less than an hour. She scrutinised her reflection in the full-length mirror and admired the way the black pant suit accentuated her flat stomach and small waist. She spun a three quarter turn on her Italian gold metallic stilettos to view herself from the back and the long pearl rope around her neck made a soft clinking sound. The gold shoes definitely had to go, Susan thought as the cliché mutton dressed up as lamb came to her mind. She quickly changed for some conservative black kitten heel pumps and studied her reflection again. All in black now she appeared as though she was ready for a funeral. Susan returned to her wardrobe and took out the cotton shirt with the tiny baby pink and lavender flower pattern. On inspecting her appearance she thought the shirt made her look old and she dropped the long rope of pearls over her head, once again. It was not always like this. She used to have more confidence. With the indecision of what to wear and the nervousness of the visit, Susan could feel a headache.Susan returned to the kitchen where she had prepared a banquet of mouth-watering delicacies. At least the food was going to be spectacular. The roasted turkey now a beautiful golden-brown colour, had been stuffed with apples and dates. On a large silver platter was a poached pink salmon garnished with green dill and lemon. Piled high in individual bowls and in a riot of colour were honey-glazed carrots, button mushrooms, mounds of roast potatoes and zucchini generously smeared with butter and spices. Resting at room temperature on a large wooden board was an extravaganza of cheeses, dried fruits, pâtés and artisan breads. Dessert featured a traditional Christmas plum pudding with fruit marinated in generous lashings of brandy and creamy saffron custard sauce. As she put the finishing touches to the meal the nervousness that she had felt earlier faded and she became absorbed in a feeling of love.It was a warm evening and would not be dark for another hour. Susan had left the French windows in the dining room ajar and the scent of the evergreen fir tree wafted in the gentle summer breeze. The oak dining table covered in a white lace table cloth, was set for four people. Susan had retrieved her best elegant crystal glasses and the polished silver cutlery was carefully arranged on the folded crisp linen napkins. The room was perfect and would not have looked out of place in a Vogue decorating magazine. Everything matched. Everything, including Susan, was clean and tidy and orderly. All that was missing now were the guests.She had so many things to tell Amelia. The family had lost all of their wealth in the stock market crash and the humiliation had been too much for her poor husband. It had been a long time since they had seen each other and she hoped that they could re-kindle the trusting mother and daughter relationship, they once had.Susan glanced at the clock. They would be here any minute now and in her imagination she rehearsed her welcome for when her family would enter the front door. She would look casual, but not aloof and definitely not too expectant, nor eager. She caught her reflection in the hall mirror. Damn, that floral shirt. The black top really did look more sophisticated, but it was too late to change now. Instead she went to the fridge and took out a bottle of champagne. She popped the cork and poured herself a glass. When they knocked in a few minutes she would open the door with her glass in hand. It would give the impression that she was already in a festive mood, nonchalant and not at all worried that they were late.‘What a perfectly grand idea,’ she thought.Susan stood close to the door taking small sips of champagne whilst she anticipated the knock. She would wait fifteen seconds before opening, about the time she calculated that it would take if she were to walk from the kitchen to the front door. She felt the warm glow of alcohol and then she emptied the glass.It had been agreed that they would arrive at six thirty, it was now twelve minutes past seven. Susan tried to calm herself with her yogic breathing, but with all the excitement of the last two days and the effect of the champagne, she was not in the mood. It was Christmas only once a year and consoling herself, she poured another glass of bubbles.The phone rang.In her best telephone voice she said, ‘Hello, Susan Wagner speaking.’‘Hello mama.’ It was her!‘Millie, where are you? I’ve been so worried. Are you alright?’‘Mama,’ her voice sounded nervous. ‘Mama …err, I am really sorry. We can’t make it to your place for Christmas.’Susan’s heart was beating so hard and fast she could feel it rising up in her chest. She could say nothing in response and so she waited for Amelia to continue.‘Mama, Andre has been called out to emergency last minute and we can’t leave.’Susan’s whole body started to shake, but she would not let her daughter sense her disappointment.‘Amelia, that’s absolutely fine. We’ll see each other another time.’‘I am so, so sorry, Mama.’Susan crumpled into the chair. With the intense sorrow of loss reawakened, it felt as though there was an electrical storm in her brain. Her inner dialogue was whispering to her, ‘Why? What did I do wrong? What was it all supposed to mean?’ She ripped at the chain around her neck and hundreds of pearls clattered to the floor and rolled over the herringbone oak parquetry. She took a Valium and poured herself another glass. The combination of the tablet and alcohol turned down the volume of the endless loop of thoughts, but still memories seeped into her brain like water pouring into a sinking ship. After she had emptied the champagne bottle she was numbed of all sensation and her soul was buried once more. There was no husband to mourn and no lost daughter.Susan sat in that chair as night turned into day and the morning sun filled the dining room with silver shafts of light. On all fours she crawled on the floor and picked up the pearls which had scattered across the room. Then suddenly, she knew what she had to do.Amelia looked at Andre as he lit his cigarette with a slight tremor. Her husband with his broad, intelligent face had once been quite handsome, but now with his ruddy cheeks, red nose and fat neck he looked more like bulldog. He was still a big man, but Amelia thought since his termination he appeared smaller as though someone had sucked the air out of him. He looked a shadow of his former self in his light blue cotton v neck nurse’s tunic. Six years ago, Andre had lost his job as a surgeon at the hospital and along went his confidence. The incident had not been his fault, but the humiliation had been too much and he pretended to those who were none the wiser, that he still held his position as a doctor.With the cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth and a stubby of beer in his hand, Andre returned Amelia’s gaze with a smouldering stare. From his expression she could not read his thoughts. It was not disapproval, nor contempt, nor malice, nor any of the sentiments she had come to expect, but there was something in her husband’s eyes that made Amelia uneasy.‘You’re home already,’ she said as she finished preparing dinner.‘They said I could leave early.’Amelia wondered why, but did not dare to ask. Christmas was always the most captious time for Andre and to say anything to upset him would be like fire to a fuse. She was relieved that the season was almost over. It had started promising when Andre had said they would visit her mother, but he had made her cancel at the last minute. For her it had been terrible. She knew her mother was alone in that house with nothing to look forward to but her morning yoga ritual. Andre’s behaviour was irrational when he drank too much and there was nothing she could do about it.‘Are you hungry?’ she asked.He shrugged his shoulders in apathy and answered with a question, ‘Thomas gone to bed, yet?’Amelia nodded, ‘He’s exhausted from his first week of school. After his bath he went straight to sleep.’She placed a plate of macaroni cheese in front of Andre and a bowl of salad. He dropped the end of his cigarette into the empty stubby and got himself another one. Stabbing a piece of macaroni with his fork, he picked at his food and after a couple of mouthfuls he pushed his plate away.‘I have something for you,’ he said and slid an envelope across the table. On crisp, good quality paper and handwritten in confident, symmetrical strokes it was addressed to ‘Mr and Mrs Andre Taylor’. Amelia turned the envelope over. There was no sender but she suspected from the way the seal buckled, that it had been opened. She read the first few lines and her face lost all its colour. Tears welled in her eyes and the writing became so blurry that she found it impossible to continue.‘It’s from Mama’s doctor. Something terrible has happened.’Andre took the letter and looked at it silently.‘It says that we should come by tomorrow evening to discuss the inheritance and sort out the stuff in the house.’A barely detectable smile, more like a snarl, passed his lips. He lit another cigarette and went into the loungeroom to switch on the television.Amelia was inconsolable. She put her head in her hands and sobbed and sobbed with muffled sounds, so that he could not hear her. She was afraid of Andre. Very afraid. He wasn’t a bad man, working day and night shifts now in some menial job to make ends meet. But the weariness of it all and the humiliation and the drink had changed him.The family parked in the driveway. The house was shrouded in darkness, but the door was unlocked so they went in. They crept down the hall like burglars and opened the door to the dining room. There they stood transfixed under the glow of three candle flames, in the centre of the table. As their eyes adjusted to the light they saw the table was set for four guests.Amelia looked at Andre, but he did not return her gaze, instead standing with his mouth open as if gasping for air. Andre was the first to see the apparition in the darkness. A figure stood on the opposite side of the room in the doorway. Andre moaned. It was Susan.Poised and confident, dressed very elegantly in a black pant suit under the hem of which a subtle hint of gold metallic shoe could be detected. A rope of pearls around her neck glistened like a sun-kissed ripples on a lake reflecting the amber glow of the candles. She looked gorgeous, a magnificent handsome woman.Amelia was overcome by emotion and said, ‘Mama, I thought … she could hardly get the words out. ‘The letter? I thought …’Holding her son’s hand very tightly, Amelia moved forward a few paces whilst Andre remained a sullen, smouldering silhouette at the opposite end of the room.Susan smiled and her voice could hardly contain the love and joy she felt.‘How else would I get to see you?’Beautiful daughterNow I am whole once againMy life is completeWords: 2530 via /r/WritingPrompts https://ift.tt/30nroeA