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Chapter Thirty
The sisters pulled away from their grandmother, beaming from ear to ear. Esmerelda was the first to get over her shock of seeing the woman in her house.
"What are you doing here?" Esmerelda asked still smiling as she looked at her grandmother.
"I heard that Ethel had had an allergic reaction and was in hospital so I got on the first flight that I could, I was so worried about you honey" the woman said stroking the middle girl's hair. Ethel smiled, touched she had come all the way from Australia for her.
"It is okay Gran, Esmie and I helped her, and the doctor said she is going to be okay!" Sybil said proudly, glad she had managed to help Ethel along with Esmerelda.
"I never heard the full story, what actually happened?" the woman said looking at her three granddaughters.
"And so that when when she started choking and Esmerelda did the heimlich manoeuve on Ethel and I used the epipen on her" Sybil said, explaining exactly what had happened with Ethel's allergic reaction. When they had finished explaining, Grandmother Jo gasped.
"It is lucky both of you were there or things could of being much worse" the woman said, hugging her granddaughters tightly.
"It is thanks to you gran, you were the one who made sure we were aware of what to do and taught all three of us the heimlich manoeuvre, I wouldn't of known how to do it if you had not made sure we were taught it" Esmerelda explained as she smiled, cuddling happily into their gran's chest.
"You are all very brave" the woman told them kissing each of them on the head happily.
"Why were you fighting with mum and dad?" Sybil asked innocently as she was still shocked by what she had witnessed.
"That doesn't matter honey, the main thing is you are all okay" the woman said not wanting to involve a child with things adults should be concerned about.
"You said that mum and dad never told you Ethie was in hospital and Sebastian had to tell you, is that true Gran?" Esmerelda asked not prepared to let the subject drop.
The woman sighed, all three girls had the Hallow family curiously trait and she knew they would keep asking questions if she didn't answer.
"Yes it is true, but I was wrong for being angry, it wasn't there fault, they were worried about Ethel and didn't remember to contact me" the woman said, not wanting to talk badly about their parents to the girls even if she knew that they had not stayed at the hospital.
"They weren't worried" Ethel replied looking at the floor sadly "They didn't stay at the hospital, they came back home, Esmie and Sybie stayed with me" Ethel said smiling at her sisters gratefully.
"The nurses let you stay?" the woman asked surprised as she didn't think they would be allowed.
"No, we stayed hidden, we couldn't leave Ethie alone in a hospital all night" Sybil replied, hoping they didn't get told of for what they had done.
"You are all lucky to have each other, many siblings don't have the same bond as you do, never take it for granted or let it change" the woman told them, she was so happy even now her three girls were so close and loved each other, many siblings would have gone home with their parents, saying it was not their place to stay, but Esmerelda and Sybil knew Ethel needed them.
"You aren't mad?" Esmerelda asked surprised
"No darling you did the right thing" the woman said until she realised this meant that the girls had been out all night and their parents had not cared. When she arrived they told her Ethel was still in hospital and Esmerelda and Sybil were sleeping, they either didn't even know or couldn't care less their three daughters were out by themselves, granted they were in a hospital and couldn't of come to harm but that wasn't the point, they were still out by themselves.
"What time did you get back home?" Grandma Jo asked biting her lip, trying to refrain from showing she was furious.
"About ten" Ethel replied, wondering why their grandmother was asking.
"And we got caught in the rain, luckily Esmerelda learned a drying spell at school so she was teaching us how to do it when we heard noise downstairs and came to investigate" Sybil commented, the causal way only a young child could.
"Sorry about that noise darlings, your parents were not happy about me just turning up and wanted more notice" the woman told them, knowing they had properly heard the fighting in full blast anyway so she must as well tell them the truth.
"Did they want you to leave?" Ethel asked knowing that her parents and grandmother did not get on with each other, whenever they were together they fought constantly, that was another part of the reason that Josephine Hallow had up and packed and moved to the other side of the world. When her husband, Milo, was alive both of them were very involved with their granddaughters lives, they were childhood sweethearts and had only ever loved each other. One day however the man had suffered from a sudden stroke and had passed away suddenly, it had rocked the whole family but no one more so that Josephine who had lost her husband in the space of an hour, she had wished he had being ill, she could of prepared herself, but by how suddenly it was what made the woman unable to grieve or comprehend it properly. Once he had died Jo and her son and daughter in law had started to fight more than ever and the woman was unable to cope with it, everytime she went over to see her granddaughters they would bicker, even if they were left alone for a few minutes. That was when the woman knew she had to get away, the place she lived held to many memories for her, she couldn't grieve when everything reminded her of her late husband, she needed a fresh start where she could grieve in peace, she didn't want to leave the girls but she knew that she was in no fit state to look after them when she needed to sort herself out, the plan had being to come back for them after a year or so, but it didn't work that way as Triton and Ursulla refused to give up their parental rights and Josephine tried to fight but at the time they said she wasn't well enough to have the girls, she still planned to take them with her at some point, but she was not getting any younger and it was becoming more difficult as the years when on.
"But you refused to go?" Sybil asked, thinking she had realised why her parents and grandmother had being fighting.
"To right I did, I am not leaving until I see my granddaughters, that is what I told them, that is why they were trying to scare me of by using magic" the woman told the young blonde girls.
"But it is against the code, you aren't allowed to use magic against another witch unless it is for self defence" Esmerelda told the woman, she was so angry her parents had tried to hurt her grandmother.
"I know darling, but don't worry I am fine, I am just happy I get to see my three favourite girls" the woman said, smiling and cuddling all three of them.
"How long are you here for?" Ethel asked, knowing it properly won't be long.
"Why don't I stay a week?" We can spend some of the summer together" the woman suggested, she didn't have to rush of straight away so she wanted to spent as much time as possible with the girls.
"YES! "Ethel shouted, once again beaming from ear to ear.
"Oh gran that will be brilliant!" Esmerelda replied, also beaming.
"Yes please gran!" Sybil said, wanting to spend time with her gran.
"Well why don't we start with getting you all something to eat? You must be starving if you didn't eat at the hospital" the woman said, knowing they were not allowed to snack and had to wait for a meal and had missed breakfast so wouldn't be eating until lunchtime.
"OH YES" Sybil shouted, jumping up and down.
"Great, go get your shoes and coats on" the woman told them watching them all run off happily to get ready for their day out with their gran.
She smiled and watched them knowing she was going to have a good week, she only wished she did not have to go back home again, but she had to as she had a business there. With a sad smile she followed the girls to the hall, ready to start of their day. Today was not a day to be sad but a day to be happy, she only wished her husband was here to see just how amazing his granddaughters were turning out to be.