Helena Bennett reached both hands out to her side, grasping onto her little sisters' hands. To her left stood Astrid, wary and somber, and to her right was Laura; sad but brave. Leading them forward, Helena barely kept herself from wincing at the sound of her heels clacking on the walkway. Taking out an antique skeleton key from her pea coat, she quickly maneuvered it into the knob before pushing the door open. The eldest sister took one step inside before looking over her shoulder.
"Welcome home," the redhead invited her younger sisters inside.
Dust danced in the light as the sisters tore sheets upon sheets off the furniture, breathing life into the Johnson Estate once more. It had been ages since they had last visited their Grams, and already six months since her funeral. It had been held in Boston and the servants had boarded the house up before their dismissal.
"I think that's enough for now," Astrid turned to appraise their work. "I'll go check to see the kitchen appliances are up and running. I'll cook dinner while you prepare our rooms."
Laura was up in an instant and running up the grand staircase. "I call dibs on the master," she yelled. Her older sisters rolled their eyes and Helena confided to Astrid, "I've already prepared the master for myself and the nursery for Laura. I left the bridal suite for you."
Astrid let her gaze drop to the floor before wiping a tear from her eye. "That was mom's room."
"And now it's yours," Helena hugged her little sister. Hearing a set of feet trampling down the stairs, both sisters pulled away and found Laura leaning over the banister.
"Hey, no fair," she whined. "How come I got stuck with the nursery?"
"Because you're the baby," Helena smiled and started to chase Laura up the stairs.
"What am I going to do with the two of them," Astrid joked and headed off to the kitchens.
The three sisters settled into the nursery; a bar cart sitting on the side of the settee as they enjoyed a blazing fire at the hearth. It was filled with hot cocoa and marshmallows, licorice and sweets.
For their first day back at the Estate, the sisters had done pretty well cleaning it up after it had sat unattended for six months. Still, even with their rooms prepared, the three did not want to spend their first night home apart.
The girls knew they were fortunate; their house was the first one built in Nahanten, Massachusetts back when it was first colonized in the 1600s. It had been renovated and added onto many times before officially being announced a historical home in the early 1900s. Their family had continued to live there over the many generations and the only time the girls were away from home was when they were away at boarding school.
Helena and Astrid sat at either end of the settee while Laura rested her head on Astrid's lap and her legs over Helena's. "He left not long after I was born. Do you think they were happy here?" Laura pondered her parent's brief marriage, which had ended sixteen years ago; less than two years before her mother's death.
"For a time," Astrid played with Laura's long blonde hair. "I remember Christmases and picnics on the beach," the brunette reminisced. "Still, I don't have too many memories of them."
"You were only four when mom died," Helena finally joined in. "It was three months after my eighth birthday. You wouldn't be five for another four months and Laura was a month away from turning two."
"What were they like?" Laura's gaze was lazar focused on her eldest sister.
"Fun," Helena smiled. "Mom was always dragging us to the beach for a picnic or to the city to visit museums. She was always snapping a ton of pictures and then we would scrapbook them to keep the memories alive. They have to be around here somewhere."
"Do you remember where she kept them," Laura was giddy at the prospect, bouncing up and down with excitement.
"No," the redhead replied glumly. "I don't even know if Grams kept them. After dad left she cut him out of most of the photos."
"She never got over the fact that mom took his last name," Astrid tucked an arm behind her head.
"I wonder where he is," Laura shared with her sisters and Helena frowned. "Where ever he is," the eldest responded, "I hope he stays there. It's been sixteen years since I saw his back walk out that door. I might have needed him then, but I don't want him now," Helena said and made her way to one of the three twin beds set up in the nursery. "Good night."
Laura and Astrid shared a pained look before following suit, turning off the lights and retiring for bed.
The lights flickered briefly in the downstairs parlor; a slight humming sound ringing through the Estate. It had waited six months for life to inhabit its walls once more and it wasn't disappointed. The antique cuckoo clock chimed three times before finding silence again. The witching hour was upon them.