Effie's Special Day

Throughout her life, Effie had received a great many presents from an array of different people; her parents, her grandmother, her cousins, her admirers, her lovers and her friends. There were always presents for her birthdays, anniversaries or simply just.

She used to love all the fuss. She loved the attention. She loved being showered with gifts and being loved.

Her outlook on life now was a little different. Now, she looked for meanings behind the gifts, not that she received many but they were far more important to her.

For someone who hardly ever gifted her with anything, the best present she received was from Haymitch. He gave her the twins, and when he agreed to her adoption, he gave her Ari. Of course, there were also the jewelry box he bought with her name engraved on it and a simple necklace for their ten years anniversary. That was the thing with Haymitch, she mused to herself. He seldom made it a practice that when he did buy her a gift, it was novel and momentous.

Some of the best presents she received came from her children. She had been thrust into this maternal role for fifteen years now. Ever since the boys started school at the age of seven and learnt about occasions such as Mother's Day, she had been celebrating it. This meant that she had been collecting nine years' worth of presents from the boys and their little sister. Nine years of gifts from three children. The gifts grew and changed as the children matured.

It started out with drawings; stick figures of their family from Ethan, the sun with a smiley face shining down on her with a halo over her head from Tristan and a drawing of the beach where she and Haymitch had first told Ari that they would take her home. There were poems from Tristan, sculpted vases, flowers and handmade necklaces. There was a musical box, breakfast surprises in bed and when they were old enough, a lunch meal prepared by the children. There were beautiful candles and shawls and clothes.

She would always look forward to all the little handwritten Mother's Day cards in their sloppy handwriting, and adorable messages. She read it all in their little voices and she smiled at all the misspelled words. Sometimes, when she read it, she could hear a bit of Haymitch in the messages which meant he had helped them craft the message.

Effie kept it all; gifts, poems and cards. She displayed their drawings proudly and put up the cards on a shelf in the kitchen where she would read each morning as she get them ready to start their day.

If Effie found Mother's Day to be enjoyable, Haymitch's stress level increased exponentially. The children made him swear to keep their plans a secret, they made him help them with gift hunting and they made him help to create their gifts. He was made to wake up early so he could supervise them as they prepare "mama's favourite breakfast" which changed year after year, and she was beginning to wonder if her children actually knew what her favourite breakfast even was but she appreciate the thoughts and the efforts all the same.

When Ari was too young to have the money to buy gifts or too young to be able to make a gift of her own, Haymitch helped her along.

"I want mama to look pretty," she declared.

And so Haymitch went to town and bought beads. He sat down with the girl one afternoon and helped her arrange the beads into a necklace, an activity he never ever imagined he would ever partake in.

When Tristan was ten, he was the one who helped the boy with the designs for his vase sculpture while Peeta helped to paint. Haymitch brought Ethan to the meadow to pick flowers only for the boy to change his mind and declared he wanted wild flowers instead so Katniss had to take him to the woods. But when he returned with the flowers in hand, it was Haymitch who helped him arrange the flowers in the vase his brother made, and it was Haymitch who set the necklace and vase of flowers at an appropriate place for Effie to find.

She knew all this because at the end of the day, she always made him tell her what he had to do that year to help his children.

"When did the planning start?" she asked with a smile as she snuggled up to him on their bed.

"Three days ago. Had to break up a fight between the boys. They couldn't decide who'd do the vase and who'd pick the flowers," he rolled his eyes.

Effie laughed. "I'm really surprise about the necklace you and Ari made. How you managed to keep it from me…."

"The shed," he mumbled, his eyelids growing heavier by the minute. "We did it in the shed, away from the house."

Effie ran her fingers though his hair and kissed his cheek. "Thank you for making me a mother," she whispered.

She no longer cared about pearl necklace or expensive clothes. None of those would ever be comparable to the thoughts and the love that went into the gifts her children gave her. They might have little monetary value but they were meaningful to her, and Haymitch's effort to make sure that she would have a good Mother's Day celebration year after year by quietly helping his children meant a lot to her.

Being a mother changed her life and that was bond that could never be broken. No matter what happened she would be their mother now and forever. Tristan, Ethan and Ari would always be hers.

because today is mother's day :)