"Have a good day at school Emily," I say as I kiss her cheek and she is out the door. "Goodbye mother," she calls back a huge smile on her face. I walk into the kitchen and sit down on a stool by the counter. I sigh, she is getting so big, and it feels like not long ago I could still hold her in my arms trying to rock her back to sleep. I think back to this morning when I went in to see if she was up yet. She scared me half to death when my lazy child wasn't in her bed. And she scared me even more when she jumped out from behind the door. I jumped and scooped her up tickling her sides until we were both laughing; such a cutie. But she won't stay this little forever and already it's written on her face; she's going to do great things.
"Hold still Emily, just one more picture," I grimace apologetically at the photographer as I try to get my stubborn daughter to sit down. "But mother we got pictures last week," my daughter huffs; sitting down and crossing her arms, flashing me a frown. "I know darling but you will thank me for it one day. You used to love having your picture taken." She snorts and I shoot her a glare of my own, "Emily," I warn. "Yes mother, but I was like three. I'm almost ten years old." I sigh, "Just one more picture, please, and then you can go play." She nods her head and I move to stand behind her a hand on her shoulder. The photographer counts off, "Okay… one, two, three… smile." Click
"Breakfast was delicious mother," these are the first words she has spoken to me all day as we sit at the table. "Thank you Emily," I say politely back. I glance up at her from my seat and watch as she pushes her food around her plate. We used to be so close and I want to be able to wonder what happened but I know the answer; work. I always promised we'd go somewhere on vacation, somewhere she wanted but it never happened. I break the silence with a question, "Do you remember how you wanted to go to Rome?" She looks up at me her eyes meeting mine, "yes, for vacation. Travel the cities or what not." The she looks back at her plate resuming pushing her food around. "Well I know how you wanted vacation there but I was offered to be posted there and I accepted." She looks up at me again, but she looks angry, "I should go pack then," she says and she gets up her fork clattering on the table and her chair scraping against the floor. I watch her as she leaves and I am disheartened by her cold demeanor; where did I go wrong?
"Mother? Did you need something?" For a moment I can't speak, was she really expecting me to need something to call? I clear my throat, "No Emily, I don't need something. Is it inappropriate for a mother to call her daughter to just see how she is?" I can hear her mutter something under her breath before she answers me, "I guess not." She sounds hesitant. "So how are you?" I ask sincerely, choosing to ignore the heat in my throat. "I'm good mother, how are you?" I sigh; apparently I wasn't going to get much out of her, "I'm good dear. I was thinking we could go out for lunch next Thursday?" She pauses, "Sure that would be great." I smile, "wonderful, I will pick you up at noon." We both hang up, and for an odd reason I'm now excited for next Thursday.
"Oh Emily," I say as I stand at her grave. "What happened to us?"
…
Spoilers Below, don't read if you don't want to know
A/N: BTW, I'm fully aware she is alive and well, however…it doesn't matter. This is Fanfiction; I can do what I want so there. So how are you lovelies? READ AND REVIEW PLEASE
~Ali