The Price of Love
Chapter One:
Alma carefully slipped off her black, leather heels and placed them neatly at the foot of her bed. She walked, now barefoot, towards her vanity and took a seat at the wooden chair there. One by one, she took out the several hairpins keeping her hair up and picked up her hairbrush to start brushing it out. With each brush, her black hair loosened up and started to fall in waves down her shoulders.
Satisfied that her hair had no hairpins or knots left, she stood up and made her way to her oak wardrobe to find some clothes for bed. It was a little past two in the morning but that didn't bother her. She was used to going bed in the early hours of the morning- especially looking after eleven children.
She stopped before her wardrobe that had a long mirror on one of the doors and opened it up to reveal mostly black and dark blue clothes. It was no secret that dark blue was her favourite colour, but she had only started to wear black after poor Victor's death. She would mourn her lost child's death until the day she, too, died.
Rummaging through her clothes, she eventually found a navy jumper and on the shelf that was at the top of the wardrobe, she found the matching navy trousers. She slipped out of her current outfit and threw it in the hamper, replacing the clothes with her pyjamas. She decided on also putting on some socks due to the cold tempratures and thunder of the night of Semptember 3rd 1943.
Once dressed, she quickly combed through her hair again and went to the small en suite that merely consisted of a walk in shower, sink, and toilet. There was a towel rack and cabinet on the wall, too, but that's all that existed in the small bathroom.
Alma crossed over to the sink and picked up her white toothbrush along with the tootpaste. She squeezed some toothepaste onto the toothbrush and wet it before starting to brush her teeth.
Now feeling a little tired, Alma reentered her bedroom and swiftly walked over to her inviting bed. Just as she pulled her duvet back there was a clap of thunder followed by panicked knocks on her bedroom door.
With a sigh, Alma moved away from her bed and headed in the direction of her door. She opened up the door with little effort to be greeted instantly by two of her children wrapping their arms around her waist, the third child stood in front if her, holding her beloved teddy in her arms as a frown donned her face.
"Now what are you three doing up at this time?" Alma questioned, though she already knew the answer to that. They were afraid of the thunder and couldn't sleep. It was the same thing almost every night. "We couldn't sleep, Miss Peregrine. We're sorry," Claire whimpered, hugging Miss Teddy closer to herself. "You have nothing to be sorry about, Claire. Come on," Alma whispered and pulled away from the Twins to stand to her full height.
She took one of each Twins' hands and pulled them into her room, waiting for Claire to enter, too, before closing the door behind them. Letting go of the Twins' hands, she trailed over to her bed, trying to be light footed for fear of waking any of the other kids, and pulled back the duvet fully.
She got into the bed, sitting in the middle and resting against the head board and allowed her children to get into the bed. All three got in, the Twins on either side of Alma and Claire curled up against her front.
Alma wrapped her arms around her children without making it too uncomfortable and held on tightly when they jumped a little in shock when a loud clap of thunder made its way to their ears. It was in moments like these that she realised she would do anything to protect and make her children happy, even if it was just protecting them against mere thunder and lightning.
The next morning, Alma awoke to an empty bed. For a brief moment she was confused as to where the Twins and Claire were, but the sound of plates clanking downstairs solved the question. It seemed that either her eldest children had come to get them for breakfast or the children had left of their own accord for the same reason.
It was only when Alma made to get up that she realised she had a cramp in her neck from the way she had been lay all night. As much as she loved her children, allowing them to sleep in her room had its cons. Such as; cramps the next morning, little sleep, lack of room in the bed.
Alma swung her legs over the bed slowly got out, mindful of her stiff joints. When she was stood up, she stretched her arms, back, and legs to try and get a semblance of relief in them.
With a glance at the clock near her bedroom door, Alma noticed she was running behind schedule. No wonder her children had started making their own breakfast. They should have woken her, yet they decided to leave her be and make their own food.
Alma went through her morning routine of making her bed, getting dressed, brushing her teeth and washing, and doing her hair and makeup. Once she was ready to leave, she opened her bedroom curtains and window, and left.
Miss Peregrine made her way down the stairs and through to the kitchen, her heels clacking on the wooden floor, and spotted her eldest charges washing up. She tutted loudly to grab their attention and made her way further into the kitchen.
Enoch, Emma, Olive, and Jake all looked away from their tasks of washing and drying the dishes to look at their headmistress. "Good morning, Miss P. Sleep well?" Enoch was the first to speak, only a hint of his usual sarcasm present. "I did indeed, Mr O'Connor. Now, if you'll all kindly leave the dishes to me, you can go and do something else until it's time to do your own chores," Miss Peregrine replied and shooed them away from the sink and cupboards.
"But, Miss P, you just woke up. Surely we can finish these few dishes?" Emma inputted. Miss Peregrine shook her head and continued shooing them until they were pouting as they left the kitchen.
Miss Peregrine finished doing the last few dishes and put them away after drying them. It only took a few minutes so when she was done she was caught up with her schedule. She checked the time on her golden pocket watch and saw it was time to start preparing lunch.
With a slight smile, Miss Peregrine turned on the stove and filled a pot with cold water, placing it on the lit stove. She walked out to the backyard and made her way slowly over to Fiona's garden. Her ward was already there using her peculiarity to grow a large carrot for her.
"That'll do, thank you," Miss Peregrine said when the carrot looked large enough. Fiona stopped growing the carrot and stood up, wiping the dirt from her knees. Just in time, Bronwyn ran around the corner and started pulling the vegetable from the dirt. "Thank you, girls, you did well," Miss Peregrine praised, and Bronwyn started walking away with a smile on her face.
As Miss Peregrine was walking away, Fiona called out to her, "who's that, Miss?" She turned around to her ward and followed the direction in which she was pointing. At the end of the garden, by the pond, was a tall-ish man talking to Claire and the Twins. "I don't know..." Miss Peregrine replied and started walking in the direction of her children and the man.
When she reached them, they'd already noticed she was heading in their direction and had stopped their conversation to wait for her. "Good morning, Miss P," Claire greeted, along with the Twins' special way of saying 'hello'. She returned the greeting before turning to the stranger that had been talking to the three.
"Hello," she started off, unsure of what to say. She could have started off by asking who he was or why he was there, but she'd been taught to never be rude.
"Good morning, Miss Peregrine," the man replied. Miss Peregrine furrowed her brows and gave him a once over in confusion, trying and failing to recognise him.
"I'm sorry, do I know you?" She asked.
"Oh, no, sorry. I've heard about you, though," the man said.
"From who?"
"No one in particular, mainly from other Ymbryne's in loops. They speak highly of you."
"I'm sure they do. And why are you here? How did you find my loop?"
"By pure coincidence really. The Ymbryne's mentioned you lived on a small island in Wales with your children, and, well, here I am," he chuckled.
"'Pure coincidence'?" She laughed. "Who are you?" She then asked, hoping to finally satiate her curiosity.
"Charles Ray," he introduced and held out his hand for her to shake. The Twins chittered beside her, but she ignored them and shook Charles' hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Charles," she said with a smile, unable to resist his own contagious one. "Would you like to come in for a cup of tea? I was making dinner but that can wait for a few more minutes."
"If you don't mind. I'd hate to intrude."
"Nonsense. Come along," she said and made a gesture with her hand, inviting him to follow her. The Twins and Claire shared a look behind her, but let Miss Peregrine go so they could play with their toys.
