‹ Prequel: Purple Hearts
Hope
Purple Fairy Lights
The Present Day
“Mom!” I could hear from outside my bedroom door. “Mom!”
She was insistent; I give her that, my beautiful daughter with her green eyes and wild hair that she just hated. She hated it so much and always had, as far back as I could remember she’d wanted long golden hair, shiny, golden, dead straight hair just like Charlotte had but that wasn’t to be for she was blessed with dark hair, almost black but not quite, thick dark hair that had a life of its own.
Thank goodness for straighteners.
“Mom do you know where those purple fairy lights are? I can’t seem to find them anywhere.” She said, her voice loud.
“You can come in you know, instead of shouting outside the bedroom door.” I said back to her but I couldn’t help but smile.
She came bounding into the room, full of life, full of energy, my girl who I loved so much and luckily for me she’d never been a problem, she’d been great company as she’d got older, she was open with me, sometimes telling me things that I wished perhaps she hadn’t told me, stories about what her friends got up to, how they drank, smoke, slept around. Sometimes, yeah, sometimes I just wish she kept these things to herself. I was her mother after all.
“Yeah, Mom, those purple fairy lights that we bought a couple of years ago for Grandpa Tre’s party, your favourite ones. Do you know where they are?” She said.
“Have you tried the attic?” I asked her. She looked so grown up today, she was blessed with good skin and had never suffered from spots. She’d just had her braces removed, the one and only thing that she moaned about constantly and now, her teeth were beautifully straight and white. I could only imagine what she’d look like at her party tomorrow, utterly gorgeous I supposed.
“I didn’t think of that.” She said but I knew she had thought of that, she’d just wondered where I’d got to, wanting me to help out.
“Come on, let’s go and see if they’re there.” I said getting up from my sitting position on the bed, collecting the photographs up and opening the bedside drawer to put them back.
“Hey what are those pictures?” Said Hope coming straight over.
“Just a couple of old photos from way back.” I said handing them to her.
“Oh my god, you had a purple streak in your hair. It looks so cool, you look so young.”
“Well I was only 14,” I said looking at her face as she scanned the pictures.
“14! You were 14 and you were allowed to have a purple streak put in your hair?” She said in a high-pitched shocked kind of voice.
“Yes, my parents said it would be OK, in fact, your grandmother booked me in to get it done as a surprise and she let me have a second ear piercing.”
“Grandpa Tre and Grandma must have been such cool parents.” She said.
“I suppose they were.” I said remembering my mother. She was younger than I was when she died and it sickened me still that she was taken away from us. Dad wasn’t the same for years, it had affected us all so terribly but now he seemed happy, apart from that one glitch with Julia which none of us could quite believe.
“Oh my god, look at everyone in this one. Is that me as a baby? I don’t remember seeing this one before,” she said staring at all the faces in the picture.
“Of course you must have, I’ve definitely showed it to you before.” I said but she was onto the other picture, the one of her, myself and Billie.
“You both look so young here,” was all she said again. “Right, lets go and get these fairy lights and then hopefully we’ll be finished soon.” She said.
But the phone rang then before we could leave the bedroom, I saw her eyes roll as if she wanted me to leave it or hoped that someone else, somewhere in the house would get it.
“Hello,” I said into the phone. My eyes followed Hope as she went over to the window. She wore a tight black tee-shirt with dark jeans, the tattoo that she’d recently had done on her wrist visible.
As soon as she knew who I was talking to she turned to me, her eyes expectant, listening into what I had to say.
I finished off my conversation then placed the telephone back into its cradle on the bedside and turned to her.
“I can’t believe they’re coming, I really didn’t think they would be able to.” Said Hope, she was beaming and I knew why.
“Well, they are, they’re flying in early tomorrow morning.”
“All of them?” Said Hope.
“Yes, all three of them, it seems that Ed and Hannah have made up their differences and are back together. Again.”
“I don’t believe those two, they’re always splitting up and getting back together,” she said.
“It always seems to have been like that,” I said remembering all the times over the years that Hannah had called up to tell me that they’d broken up and that this time it was definitely over.
“Its been ages.” She said but it wasn’t that long, Hannah and her son Eddy had visited only two months ago and I’d noticed how Hope and he had got on, just like when they were younger before Hannah and Ed had taken him away to live on the other side of the country. They now lived in New York and had moved away quite a long time ago but it wasn’t a surprise after some of the situations that members of Hannah’s family had got into. They’d caused a lot of trouble and I think Hannah was embarrassed about the whole thing.
I’d missed Hannah; it had been great having her around when Hope was young. She had Eddy and the two of them just got along so well, we shared so much in those early days.
It would be great to see her again.
“You can’t wait to see him can you?” I said to her. They were great together, so alike, shared the same interests and laughed together constantly, I knew she was keen on him, he seemed a great boy and a little bit of me hoped something would develop between them but then…then there was Jared. I knew he loved her, I think he always had but to Hope he was just a friend and tomorrow, I had this feeling that someone was going to get hurt.
“Come on,” I said, “lets go and fetch these lights.” I said to her.
**
The attic was huge and it took us ages to find the lights because we were distracted by other things, books that Hope had said she was finished with she was now flicking through, a huge bag of soft toys were brought out, each and every one of them named by Hope at some point were brought out and looked at and then, just as before I decided we’d better call it a day she saw the white trunk that belonged to my mother and insisted on opening it up.
“Oh Hope, we haven’t got time, Grandpa will be wondering where we’ve got to.”
“Oh please, we haven’t looked in it for ages,” she said. “Just one little look, I want to see the wedding dress again.” She said. I knew this would happen, every time we came up here she got it out, my mother’s old wedding dress, the one I always promised myself that I’d wear to get married in.
The Past
At Hope’s coming home party I started to get anxious because my Dad had gone to Billie’s to see where he was and I hadn’t heard anything. Two hours had gone by and still nothing. I’d fed Hope again and she was settled in bed, some of the guests had left and Ramona, Julia and Emily were clearing up downstairs.
Where the hell was he? What was the matter with him? Was he OK? All these questions were going over and over in my head.
But then I saw Dad’s car pull up and my heart missed a beat as I took a better look out of the window.
My stomach fell.
Because Billie wasn’t with him.
“Mom!” I could hear from outside my bedroom door. “Mom!”
She was insistent; I give her that, my beautiful daughter with her green eyes and wild hair that she just hated. She hated it so much and always had, as far back as I could remember she’d wanted long golden hair, shiny, golden, dead straight hair just like Charlotte had but that wasn’t to be for she was blessed with dark hair, almost black but not quite, thick dark hair that had a life of its own.
Thank goodness for straighteners.
“Mom do you know where those purple fairy lights are? I can’t seem to find them anywhere.” She said, her voice loud.
“You can come in you know, instead of shouting outside the bedroom door.” I said back to her but I couldn’t help but smile.
She came bounding into the room, full of life, full of energy, my girl who I loved so much and luckily for me she’d never been a problem, she’d been great company as she’d got older, she was open with me, sometimes telling me things that I wished perhaps she hadn’t told me, stories about what her friends got up to, how they drank, smoke, slept around. Sometimes, yeah, sometimes I just wish she kept these things to herself. I was her mother after all.
“Yeah, Mom, those purple fairy lights that we bought a couple of years ago for Grandpa Tre’s party, your favourite ones. Do you know where they are?” She said.
“Have you tried the attic?” I asked her. She looked so grown up today, she was blessed with good skin and had never suffered from spots. She’d just had her braces removed, the one and only thing that she moaned about constantly and now, her teeth were beautifully straight and white. I could only imagine what she’d look like at her party tomorrow, utterly gorgeous I supposed.
“I didn’t think of that.” She said but I knew she had thought of that, she’d just wondered where I’d got to, wanting me to help out.
“Come on, let’s go and see if they’re there.” I said getting up from my sitting position on the bed, collecting the photographs up and opening the bedside drawer to put them back.
“Hey what are those pictures?” Said Hope coming straight over.
“Just a couple of old photos from way back.” I said handing them to her.
“Oh my god, you had a purple streak in your hair. It looks so cool, you look so young.”
“Well I was only 14,” I said looking at her face as she scanned the pictures.
“14! You were 14 and you were allowed to have a purple streak put in your hair?” She said in a high-pitched shocked kind of voice.
“Yes, my parents said it would be OK, in fact, your grandmother booked me in to get it done as a surprise and she let me have a second ear piercing.”
“Grandpa Tre and Grandma must have been such cool parents.” She said.
“I suppose they were.” I said remembering my mother. She was younger than I was when she died and it sickened me still that she was taken away from us. Dad wasn’t the same for years, it had affected us all so terribly but now he seemed happy, apart from that one glitch with Julia which none of us could quite believe.
“Oh my god, look at everyone in this one. Is that me as a baby? I don’t remember seeing this one before,” she said staring at all the faces in the picture.
“Of course you must have, I’ve definitely showed it to you before.” I said but she was onto the other picture, the one of her, myself and Billie.
“You both look so young here,” was all she said again. “Right, lets go and get these fairy lights and then hopefully we’ll be finished soon.” She said.
But the phone rang then before we could leave the bedroom, I saw her eyes roll as if she wanted me to leave it or hoped that someone else, somewhere in the house would get it.
“Hello,” I said into the phone. My eyes followed Hope as she went over to the window. She wore a tight black tee-shirt with dark jeans, the tattoo that she’d recently had done on her wrist visible.
As soon as she knew who I was talking to she turned to me, her eyes expectant, listening into what I had to say.
I finished off my conversation then placed the telephone back into its cradle on the bedside and turned to her.
“I can’t believe they’re coming, I really didn’t think they would be able to.” Said Hope, she was beaming and I knew why.
“Well, they are, they’re flying in early tomorrow morning.”
“All of them?” Said Hope.
“Yes, all three of them, it seems that Ed and Hannah have made up their differences and are back together. Again.”
“I don’t believe those two, they’re always splitting up and getting back together,” she said.
“It always seems to have been like that,” I said remembering all the times over the years that Hannah had called up to tell me that they’d broken up and that this time it was definitely over.
“Its been ages.” She said but it wasn’t that long, Hannah and her son Eddy had visited only two months ago and I’d noticed how Hope and he had got on, just like when they were younger before Hannah and Ed had taken him away to live on the other side of the country. They now lived in New York and had moved away quite a long time ago but it wasn’t a surprise after some of the situations that members of Hannah’s family had got into. They’d caused a lot of trouble and I think Hannah was embarrassed about the whole thing.
I’d missed Hannah; it had been great having her around when Hope was young. She had Eddy and the two of them just got along so well, we shared so much in those early days.
It would be great to see her again.
“You can’t wait to see him can you?” I said to her. They were great together, so alike, shared the same interests and laughed together constantly, I knew she was keen on him, he seemed a great boy and a little bit of me hoped something would develop between them but then…then there was Jared. I knew he loved her, I think he always had but to Hope he was just a friend and tomorrow, I had this feeling that someone was going to get hurt.
“Come on,” I said, “lets go and fetch these lights.” I said to her.
**
The attic was huge and it took us ages to find the lights because we were distracted by other things, books that Hope had said she was finished with she was now flicking through, a huge bag of soft toys were brought out, each and every one of them named by Hope at some point were brought out and looked at and then, just as before I decided we’d better call it a day she saw the white trunk that belonged to my mother and insisted on opening it up.
“Oh Hope, we haven’t got time, Grandpa will be wondering where we’ve got to.”
“Oh please, we haven’t looked in it for ages,” she said. “Just one little look, I want to see the wedding dress again.” She said. I knew this would happen, every time we came up here she got it out, my mother’s old wedding dress, the one I always promised myself that I’d wear to get married in.
The Past
At Hope’s coming home party I started to get anxious because my Dad had gone to Billie’s to see where he was and I hadn’t heard anything. Two hours had gone by and still nothing. I’d fed Hope again and she was settled in bed, some of the guests had left and Ramona, Julia and Emily were clearing up downstairs.
Where the hell was he? What was the matter with him? Was he OK? All these questions were going over and over in my head.
But then I saw Dad’s car pull up and my heart missed a beat as I took a better look out of the window.
My stomach fell.
Because Billie wasn’t with him.