Sorry it's been so long. Hope this is okay though :)
"Happy Birthday my big girl" Maria said as she walked into Grace's room with pancakes on a tray. Grace opened her eyes and smiled. She wasn't often in a good mood in the morning but today was different. Her mother got into bed with her and Liam came running through as well.
"You are old now Gracie" Liam said as he jumped on the bed. Grace laughed.
"Oh am I, well I was going to let you share my pancakes with me until you were mean to me" Grace said.
"You aren't old, I was only joking" Liam said as he was clearly desperate for pancakes.
"Come on then, I suppose you can help me" Grace said and Liam quickly helped himself to one of the pancakes.
"Oi, I have one for you in the kitchen" Marie said.
"But these ones are Gracie's, they taste better" Liam said causing both Maria and Grace to laugh.
"Right we better let your sister eat in peace and then she needs to get up because she has school today" Maria said standing up.
"But mum this is my first birthday with you" Grace begged.
"And we will still have the evening to spend together" Maria said kissing the girl on the head before leaving. She didn't even get Grace a time to reply.
Grace finished her breakfast and got dressed. She disappeared to the bathroom and came out just before she needed to leave.
"Is that makeup?" Maria asked. Grace shrugged.
"I'd rather you asked me before you put makeup on. You are beautiful just the way you are, you don't need it" Maria said and Grace shrugged.
"Can't I just stay off school today? It's only one day. You've never even spent the day with me on my birthday" Grace said trying to guilt trip her mother into allowing her to have the day off.
"Grace don't turn this on me. I'm not working so we will have a fun afternoon, but you are going to school" Maria said sternly. She knew that she needed to stand firm on this one or it would just show Grace that if she pushed, she'd always get her own way. Maria wasn't going to have that.
"I HATE YOU!" Grace screamed before storming out the house. Maria sighed, she hadn't even giving the girl her presents yet but she knew to leave the girl. She would pick her up after school and hoped the girl would be in a better mood.
Maria worried about Grace the whole day, she knew that the girl was just a teenager and their moods were always up and down but Grace had never snapped at her like that before and it was the girl's birthday. Maria had just wanted the day to go perfectly and now it was ruined.
Soon it was time for them to leave, Maria had planned to tell Grace that she was picking her up from school and they would be going to Grace's favourite dessert place for some ice cream and waffles but Grace had left so unexpectedly that Maria hadn't had time.
Maria and Liam both waited for Grace just around the corner from the school, they knew better than to go right up to the school gates. Grace would have been mortified. Maria messaged the girl to make her aware that they were waiting for her.
Less than 5 minutes later, Grace came around the corner. She picked up Liam and gave him a hug but completely ignored her mother.
"Why are you even here?" Grace moaned.
"I thought we could go to that waffle place you like" Maria suggested, and Grace just shrugged.
"Grace, do you want to go or not?" Maria said. She had just about had enough of the girl's attitude.
"I do, sorry" Grace said but she didn't really sound like she meant it. They arrived at the waffle place and quickly found a table. It wasn't too busy which they were grateful for. They all busied themselves looking at the menu. Grace glanced nervously at her mother, but Maria didn't notice her.
They ordered their food and then sat awkwardly in silence. Maria wasn't used to this. She was used to having a bit of a fall out with her friend and then the friend apologising. It wasn't like that with her daughter and she didn't know how to deal with it.
Once they had finished, they walked home, and Grace locked herself in her room. Maria watched the girl go but didn't follow her. She knew the girl needed some time anyway.
Maria waited almost an hour before going to check on Grace. She knocked on the door before walking in. Grace wiped her face free of tears as Maria sat down on the bed.
"I'm sorry" Grace admitted. "I've ruined the day"
"You haven't sweetie, I'm sorry. I didn't deal with it properly. I should have made clear from the start that you would be going to school. I shouldn't have been so cold to you after school today either" Maria said moving closer to the girl.
"It's still my fault" Grace said holding back sobs and still not processing what her mother had said. She was used to thinks being her fault.
"No it's not" Maria said as she leant towards her daughter and allowed the girl to fall into her arms. Maria got comfortable with the girl and they lay back on the headboard of the bed. Maria held the girl until she had calmed down and played with her hair.
"I hate myself" Grace admitted.
"What? Why?" Maria said shocked.
"Because I ruin everything. I have you, I have a family but still I am mucking up" Grace admitted.
"Baby girl, no. You have not ruined anything; you are a teenager. Teenagers make mistakes. Come on, I think I know about that" Maria said. Grace held on closer to her mother.
"I love you; I love you so much. I don't have words to explain how much love I have for you. I wanted today to go perfectly but I became too set up. I wasn't concentrating on you and I'm sorry for you" Maria said, and Grace shook her head.
"You do everything right, you are my mum and you are amazing at it" Grace said and Maria smiled.
"I just want to be there for you" Maria said kissing the girl on the top of the head. They stayed like this for a while until Maria suggested moving.
"Do you want to come and get your presents?" Maria asked and Grace nodded. She clambered off of her mother and waited for Maria to get up as well. They walked into the living room where Liam was.
"Gracie, are you happy now?" Liam asked and Grace smiled.
"Of course, I am, especially because I am seeing you" Grace said before tickling her brother. Liam giggled. Maria took this as her opportunity to get the presents. She brought them into the living room and they opened them together. Liam loved helping his big sister. Maria had gotten Grace a new more up to date phone which the girl loved and some clothes.
"This is so pretty" Grace said as she opened a lovely silver necklace.
"Being fifteen is hard, and I don't want you to go through what I did when I was fifteen. I want you to know that I am always there for you and will help you as much as I can. I'm your mum" Maria said as she put the necklace on her daughter. Grace smiled and glanced up at her mum. She threw her arms around the woman. She was annoyed with herself for this morning but felt better now from speaking to her mother.
They had an enjoyable evening, none of them were hungry after the waffles so they just had beans on toast for tea. Shortly after tea, Maria got Liam read for bed and asked Grace to get something up on the TV for them to watch.
Maria quickly read Liam a story before going to find her daughter. Grace was sat ready for Maria.
"What did you decide on?" She asked. Grace held up Dirty Dancing and Maria smiled.
"I love this film" Maria said as she snuggled up with her daughter.
"I've never seen it" Grace admitted, and Maria snuggled. She knew that her daughter would like it and she was correct. Grace loved it and wanted to watch it again.
"Can we watch it again tomorrow night?" Grace asked as soon as it was finished and Maria laughed.
"Maybe, if you aren't too tired" Maria said.
"I won't be. I'm not a baby" Grace said and Maria laughed.
"Of course you aren't, you are basically an adult now that you have turned 15" Maria said.
"I know, it's only a year until I turn 16" Grace boasted.
"Just because you turn 16 though, it doesn't really make you an adult. You still have a lot of learning to do" Maria explained.
"I know but still you can move out, leave school, have sex" Grace started naming all the things she could do when she turned 16.
"16 is still too young to have sex trust me" Maria said not happy about how careless her daughter was being just now.
"Like you can talk, you must have been 14 when you had sex" Grace said and Maria nodded.
"I was and I was way too young, I definitely should have waited. I wasn't aware of the implications" Maria said and Grace just shrugged. She didn't really want to have this conversation just now.
"Did it hurt having me?" Grace asked and Maria nodded.
"It was very painful" Maria admitted "But it was worth every minute of it"
Grace smiled.
"Who was sorer, me or Liam?" She asked.
"I actually had another child" Maria admitted "He was stillborn, his name was Paul"
"I'm sorry" Grace said but she didn't actually know what stillborn meant. But she could see that it upset her mother. She guessed it meant that he died when she was pregnant with him, she thought that was called a miscarriage though.
"I'm so lucky to have you and Liam now though" Maria said pulling the girl into her arms. She wasn't ready to speak to Grace about Paul yet but she knew it was important that she did at some point.
"Did Liam and Paul have the same dad?" Grace asked and Maria nodded.
"They did, Liam" Maria said and Grace nodded.
"Where is he?" Grace asked.
"He died" Maria said bluntly again not ready to speak about it.
"Oh I'm sorry" Grace said. She hadn't realised what a challenging time her mother had had and instantly felt bad about it all.
"Don't worry about it, right let's watch an episode of say yes to the dress before bed. It's your birthday, I don't want you being all loom and gloom" Maria said wanting to change the atmosphere. Grace nodded but still she had so many new questions going around her head now.
So what do you think? Sorry for the delay, I've found it really hard to write during lockdown but hopefully I'm over that now :)
