A/N: Just a little idea I came up with, enjoy.
Money DOES Buy Happiness
Esmerelda cleaned the coffee table aggressively, even though she had already done this three times already and Ethel rearranged the cushions on the sofa as she watched her sister knowing she was nervous, over the last year her sister had picked up the habit of cleaning everything repeatedly when she is nervous.
"Esmie you have cleaned it already" Ethel told her sister to try stop her cleaning.
"I need to impress Grandma, I can't have her thinking you are not being looked after" Esmerelda replied as the doorbell rang and she gasped, throwing the cloth she had been using across the room and rushing to the door, taking a breathe and opening it.
"Grandma" Esmerelda said happily with a smile as the woman stepped towards her, kissing her on each cheek, the girl was older now so their greetings were normally more formal.
"Grandma!" Ethel shouted throwing herself at the woman and hugging her as she was also kissed on each cheek. The woman beamed at them.
"You are both getting so big, stop it please" the woman said gushing at how big they were now.
"Good flight?" Esmerelda asked her with a beam. The woman nodded.
"Not bad thank you" the woman smiled at them as she walked into the small flat looking around.
"Do you want the tour grandma?" Ethel asked her grandmother as she stepped into the flat.
"Sounds perfect darling" she told her as Ethel excitedly started to show her around.
"Well this is the living room" Ethel commented as the living room was right there as you walked in the flat. It was small with purple walls and one small two seater lilac sofa with a TV, a DVD player and the walls plastered in pictures. Grandma Josephine walked over and started to look around the room interested. She smiled as she came across the photos of the three sisters and the framed awards Ethel had won.
"And this is the kitchen" Esmerelda told her Grandma as she noticed the cloth in the sink she had thrown earlier and hid it in a cupboard. The kitchen was even smaller than the living room and it had an oven, a fridge, a kettle and a microwave as well as a small sink. It was a typical kitchen nothing special.
"Bathroom" Ethel told the woman. A toilet, a sink, a shower and a bath, a bathroom to a T.
"And of course our bedroom" Esmerelda told her grandmother proudly.
"You share a room?" the woman asked them. She was shocked as neither girl had shared a room in their whole lives. Being rich they had grown up with a huge bedroom each.
"We had to, it is a one bedroom flat" Ethel replied as Grandma Josephine stepped into the most personal, most interesting room in the flat.
The small bedroom was painted in the same purple shade as in the front room and had two wardrobes, one spelling Esmerelda out on it and the other Ethel. There was bookshelves upon bookshelves where the girls kept their precious books and a small desk with various things on it. In the corner was one bed and over it in purple lettering it said 'Esmie". The bed was freshly made and neat. In the other corner was another single bed. This one had purple lettering saying 'Ethie' over it and was also neatly made. The woman smiled stepping in and looking around.
"You have done a marvellous job of decorating this place" the woman smiled as she looked around. After a few minutes she walked back to the girls and smiled at them.
"Thanks Grandma, Esmie is great, she let me make everything purple" she told the woman who chuckled knowing Ethel's addiction to said colour.
"By the way grandma, would you like to go out for breakfast? We know you must be hungry after your long flight" Esmerelda told her and the woman smiled.
"Sounds lovely" she told the girls.
Not long after, all three of them were tucking into a lovely cooked breakfast in a local cafe.
"How is school darling?" Josephine asked Ethel interested.
"Good thank you" Ethel replied "I am getting the best results in my class still" Ethel replied smugly.
"Ethie remember grades aren't everything" Esmerelda told her sister who sighed at her.
"She is right Ethel, there is things much more important than grades, love and family and doing the best you can" Grandma Josephine replied with a bright smile as she switched her gaze to the eldest.
"How is college?" Josephine now asked her eldest granddaughter as the girl took a drink of her orange juice and dabbed her mouth before replying.
"Mmm" Esmerelda replied as if telling her not even to ask about it. With the workload she had and her responsibilities as a surrogate mother the entire concept stressed her out. Josephine nodded deciding to drop the subject.
"Okay what about work?" Josephine asked her
"Mmm" Esmerelda replied again. She had three jobs in horrible places for low money and hated them all. She did it for survival no other reason. Josephine nodded and fell silent not wanting to force her to talk about it.
The girls did not have much money to blow so they decided to go to the local museum which was free entry, it was interesting to look at history, something both girls were interested in and the three of them had a great time looking around. Although Ethel was fourteen now though she still had a habit of touching everything and was just about to try and touch a mummy, or at least the tomb of the mummy as Esmerelda was looking at something further away.
"Don't touch Ethie" the girl said keeping her back to her and Ethel cursed their telepathy.
"Strange to think how old this stuff is" Ethel replied looking at everything with interest.
"Isn't it?" "To think about what life was like in them times" Josephine replied looking around interested.
Josephine brought each girl a mug and a bookmark from the gift shop and brought a mug for herself before they left.
The woman was visiting from Australia, where she had lived since the year before Esmie started school, and was here for two weeks. Esmerelda and Ethel would not be seeing her everyday, sometimes she would be go to Sybil and be seeing their parents (which she was not looking forward to) so they really did not have to do much all in one day. They returned home and had something else to eat as they had not ate since their breakfast and then Esmerelda walked into her bedroom excusing herself, leaving Ethel talking to their grandmother on the sofa.
A few minutes later Esmerelda walked out of the room, dressed formal in an ugly uniform that was yellow and brown, and she had put her hair up in the style she had normally wore in school. The girl grabbed her keys of the table before speaking.
"Sorry I have to work...I really did try to get out of this, I got out of all my other shifts but my boss wouldn't let me out of this one" Esmerelda told her grandmother who nodded sad she would not get to spent much time with the eldest but she understood, money was tight, Esmie could not run the risk of being fired.
"That is okay darling" the woman told her with a smile.
"Do you mind watching Ethie?" Esmie asked her as she picked up her things to get ready to leave.
"Of course not, we will have fun, what do you normally do with her?" Josephine asked curiously.
"I usually take her with me but in the library there is a book club I can sometimes leave her at if my shift is at the same time" Esmerelda explained to the woman who nodded thinking that was sensible. She knew Esmerelda would not leave her sister with babysitters or childminders, she didn't trust them and if she was honest she didn't either.
"Can we go to the cinema Grandma?" Ethel asked the woman already growing excited.
"Ethie I don't have money for the cinema" Esmerelda told her sister sadly. Josephine cuddled the young girl and smiled.
"My treat, of course we can go" she told Ethel who beamed with happiness.
"What time do you finish?" Josephine asked her granddaughter.
"Seven" Esmerelda replied as she walked over to Ethel and kissed her head. "Be good" she told her before leaving the flat.
Esmerelda walked through the flat at half seven, clearly exhausted by the way she threw her keys on the table. She walked over to her family with a smile, kissing Esmie on the head again and Ethie smiled at her.
"Good time?" Esmerelda asked them wondering if they had had a good time together.
"Amazing, the film was great and Grandma got me food!" Ethel told her sister. Esmerelda smiled happy she for once did not have to cook straight after work.
"Fantastic, thanks Grandma, I will get changed and then join you" Esmerelda told them both as she went to change out of her uniform.
They spent the rest of the night watching some films together and some TV shows, time went fast and Ethel soon yawned, tired.
"Right, have a quick snack then bed" Esmerelda told her sister jumping up and walking to the kitchen. She cut up an apple, poured a glass of milk and walked over to Ethel with her snack.
"Thanks Esmie" Ethel replied as she started on her apple slices. She finished yawning more and Esmerelda took her glass and put it in the sink.
"Go get ready for bed" the girl said as Ethel nodded and jumped up going in the bathroom, after a few minutes she walked out in her pyjamas and into her bedroom and Esmerelda followed her in, and Josephine did as well.
"Night darling" Josephine told the girl as she pulled her covers back and she kissed her on the head.
Ethel smiled getting into bed and Esmerelda pulled the covers up on her tightly before kissing her head.
"Night" she told her sister and Ethel smiled in a tired way.
"Night" Ethel replied as she snuggled down. Josephine knew some people might think Esmie was babying her to much but then again Ethel had lacked affection for a long time.
They walked out of Ethel's room, switching of the light and closing her door and going back to sit on the sofa together.
"She is still a sweetheart" Josephine replied loving the girl just like Esmie did. She knew some people struggled to understand Ethel but she was not one of those people.
"Yes she is" Esmerelda replied simply hiding a yawn clearly exhausted. Josephine was staying at a hotel considering it was a one bedroom flat so the woman was wondering why Esmerelda was waiting for her to go to bed. Esmerelda and Josephine made small talk for half an hour until Esmerelda jumped up.
"I am just going to check she is asleep" she told her grandmother telling her the reason she had stayed up so long. The blonde walked into her bedroom and came out a few seconds later.
"Is she asleep?" Grandma Josephine asked her.
"Out like a light" Esmerelda replied walking back to her grandmother "We don't normally do that much in a day" Esmerelda replied as she sat down.
"Well I will leave you dear, I best be going to the hotel" the woman told Esmerelda.
"Oh ...well be careful, goodnight Grandmother" Esmerelda told her.
"Good night dear" the woman said kissing her head as she left, Esmerelda closed the door walking to her room and was asleep within minutes.
This routine carried on. They would spent time together during the day and Esmie and her grandmother would speak for a while before she would retire for the night, on the last night they were doing just this when the woman started to speak seriously.
"Esmie I want to give you something" Grandma Josephine told her and Esmerelda looked at her curiously.
"Oh what is it grandmother?" Esmerelda asked as she took a sip of the coffee she had just made herself.
The woman waved her fingers and produced a large brown envelope before handing it to Esmie, the girl lowered her mug and then opened it pulling out a handful of money and nearly spitting her coffee everywhere in shock.
"£10,000, tell me if you need more" the woman commented with a smile. Esmerelda put it back and monitored her grandmother to take it.
"We don't need money, we do fine on my wages, true we can't afford to treat ourselves much but we are fine" Esmerelda told her grandmother.
"It is not for that dear, I am giving it to you for Sybil...you do want Sybil don't you?" Grandmother Josephine asked.
"Of course but you know what mum and dad are like they will fight me with everything they have, Ethel wasn't a problem luckily" Esmerelda told the woman with a sigh.
"Exactly, this money is so that you can fight them, you can afford to fight them with this" Josephine explained to her, it was actually the main reason for her long visit, to give this to Esmerelda.
"Oh there is no point, they are on the council, I have no chance" Esmerelda replied.
"No, not with that attitude, you have to try darling, Sybil needs to be with you and Ethel, your parents will destroy her" Grandma Josephine told her granddaughter. She knew this was going to happen if they didn't get Sybil out of that house soon.
"I am saving up" Esmerelda replied honestly.
"Darling you want your sister before her eighteenth birthday or there will be no point" Grandma Josephine pointed out, knowing she would never save up on her wage. "Please darling" the woman told her. Esmerelda looked down sadly.
"You are amazing with Ethel, she had already changed so much, she doesn't lash out anymore, you need to look after Sybil to before it is to late" the woman told her seriously. Esmerelda knew her grandmother was right.
Esmie took the envelope back from her grandmother and hugged the woman with a smile, for once feeling like getting Sybil will not be impossible. She hugged her with a smile, already dreaming about Sybil joining her and Ethel.
"Thank you for looking after my babies so well, you are an amazing person and I can not wait to hear about Sybil moving in" the woman told her with a smile.
Esmerelda smiled back at the woman. She knew her chances of getting Sybil had just increased and if she really had trouble Josephine would happily help. Money and richness had stopped being important to Esmerelda long ago but in that moment she was so grateful for her grandma's generosity and kindness. She hugged her grandmother again catching sight of her favourite picture of Ethel, Sybil and herself on the mantelpiece as she did so, knowing that dream of them all together was about to become a reality.