Five sleeps.
"Mum, there's no granola."
"There is honey, look again."
Abby rolled her eyes, the container wasn't even there. Instead she grabbed a banana and made herself some Weetabix. As she sat down there was a knock on the door before Tom stuck his head in.
"Morning."
"Ganda." Zara zoomed over.
"Someone's wide awake." He looked up as he saw his daughter enter. "And someone's not. Rough night pumpkin?"
"And morning. We've had outfit issues." Imogen indicated at Ava.
Tom regarded the pouting three year old. "You look beautiful princess, what's wrong with what you're wearing?"
Ava pursed her lips tightly, "I wanted my pink jumper with the star, the one Granny made me."
Imogen poured her third coffee of the morning. "It's in the wash, you can wear it tomorrow."
Abby ruffled her sister's hair before grabbing her schoolbag. "I love your blue jumper. Bye, see you all this evening."
Seeing that Abby's compliment had done what she couldn't and reassured Ava, Imogen sat down to put her trainers on. As she did she was vaguely aware of something crunchy under her feet but didn't realise what it was at first. Not until she tried to put her shoe on.
"Ugh, what is that?"
'That' was the missing granola, complete with milk for added flavour.
Zara giggled as she saw her Mummy's disgusted face. That had been fun.
Luckily for Imogen she had multiple pairs of trainers and she hopped past her children and father to get another pair from the bedroom.
"We'll discuss proper kitchen utensils later. Ava, have fun at nursery. Zara,be good for Granddad. I'll see you at lunch." Imogen kissed the girls then ran downstairs to brief the other teachers before Assembly.
Thirty minutes later she was standing on the podium addressing the students.
"Girls, I know that while Miss Hardbroom is away you will remain focused and work hard. All that's left for me to say is… is." Imogen lost her train of thought as she saw the door to the Great Hall open and a blur coming towards her at a rapid pace.
A completely naked blur.
"Zara Florence Drill, WHERE are your clothes?"
While the Cackle's students laughed loudly, their acting principal flushed and tried to catch her daughter who was busy dancing across the stage for her audience.
"Get back here." Imogen pulled off her hoody before scooping the little entertainer up and wrapping her in it. As she did so Tom jogged to the top of the room.
"I'm so sorry. I turned my back for a second and she ran out of the staffroom. She lost these along the way." With a sheepish look he handed over Zara's jumper, leggings, slippers and underwear.
"Oh really? I hadn't noticed. Can you re-dress her please?" Imogen stood up and fixed the girls with a look. "Joke's over. Third years, wait at the end of the hall. Everyone else, get to your class or study groups."
"Are you alright?", Davina was trying to hide her sniggers as she walked past but it had been very funny.
"Marvellous, my child just streaked through Assembly. What a start. Come on girls, let's go."
Although she was exhausted Imogen still put the third years through their paces, She jogged through the woods alongside them and felt some of her tension disappear. Once class was over she showered then made a start on some of the endless paperwork that seemed to come with running a school. Before she knew it it was lunchtime. Both Zara and Ava were full of chatter as they ate their lunch in the staffroom with Tom and the other teachers and Imogen was feeling great as they kissed her goodbye again before she went to play tennis with the next class.
Her good mood continued as she went back upstairs at the end of the day. Things may not have started well but they were definitely improving.
'Hey honey." She bent down to kiss Abby who was sat reading her English book. "Good day in school?"
"No, not really." Abby didn't even look up as she responded.
"Do you want to talk about it?", Imogen asked kindly.
"No."
Knowing not to push too much Imogen made a start on dinner. It was just ready when Tom brought Ava and Zara back upstairs but despite her hard work it seemed that not everyone was interested in eating.
"Sorry, I'm just not hungry." Abby explained when asked what was wrong with her meal.
Imogen was instantly concerned, pasta with tomato sauce was one of Abby's favourites. She hadn't made it any differently so there was no reason for her not to like it. "Can I make you something else?"
Abby shook her head. "No thanks."
There wasn't time to dwell on the moody behaviour. With the help of Tom before he left, Imogen cleaned up, made some more granola, that was put out of Zara's reach then got the younger girls ready for bed. She had decided that seeing as Constance was planning to read them their bedtime story, it would be better for them to be ready for bed straight away afterwards. Whose bed was still up for debate.
"And they lived happily ever after." Constance smiled at her family as she finished telling the fairytale Ava had requested. "I hate to say goodbye but you two need to go to sleep and I must go back to my lecture. I love you all very much."
"Love you Mama." The girls blew kisses towards their mother.
"I love you Sweetheart", Imogen felt a glow at the love she saw reflected back at her before her wife vanished from the screen.
Abby got up and gathered her books before kissing her mother and sisters. "Night."
"Don't you want to stay up with me for a while?" Imogen had been looking forward to having someone to chat to before bed.
"I want to look over my maths book before the test Wednesday and I'm already wiped. See you in the morning,"
Imogen watched as the door closed, she knew it was silly but she definitely felt a little hurt, something Ava was clearly picking up on.
"Do you miss Mama lots like we do?", she asked as she climbed into her Mummy's lap.
"I do poppet but I have you with me and that's a big help. Are you sleeping in your own beds?"
Two voices responded, "No."
"I thought not. Come on, let's clean our teeth and turn in."
"Are you going to bed too?", Ava was shocked.
"May as well, I don't have anything else to do. And if you're lucky you might even get another story."
"Yay. Will you sing us a song too?"
"Oh, Mummy songs." Zara put on her best begging look.
"How can I refuse those faces? Come on babies, we'll have a nice little snuggle, just the three of us.
Rest didn't come easily for Imogen that night either. Even after the girls nodded off she couldn't relax and lay awake for hours watching them sleep, just as she and Constance had done so many time since they had been born.
Eventually she fell into a light doze that was broken every time Zara moved.
"If Mama was here she'd make sure you couldn't get out of bed. I don't have any magic but I can still look after you so you stay in dreamland and I'll be here. I love you girls." Imogen resigned herself to another largely sleepless night but decided it was worth it. Besides, there was always coffee to keep her going the next day.
Four Sleeps.
"Aghh. Have you moved my Maths book?"
Abby was frantically pulling out cushions looking for the missing item as her sisters ate their breakfast.
"Is it still upstairs?"
The search stopped as Abby remembered where her book was. "Maybe, oh I'm going to be late. See you later."
"Bye Absy." Zara waved but her sister was already gone.
"Abby didn't kiss us." Ava dropped her soldier as she looked sadly at the closed door.
Imogen crossed over and crouched between her two girls, "Will Mummy kisses do for now?", she laughed before kissing them both several times. There was still laughter as she picked her ringing phone up from the table.
"Hey Dad."
"Pumpkin, I really hate to do this but I'm not feeling well. It's just a bug but I don't think me taking the girls is a good idea."
"Don't worry about the girls, I'll sort them out. Are you okay? Can I do anything?"
The last thing Tom wanted was for his daughter to get sick too. "I'm fine, I'm going to go back to bed and sleep it off. I'll text you later."
After saying goodbye Imogen glanced at the clock, she needed to find a way to get Ava to nursery and someone to look after Zara while she took the first years for P.E. All in the next thirty minutes.
"Oh Imogen, I would but one of the students has asked to speak to me and then I have a meeting to go to. I'm so sorry." Elizabeth felt awful that she couldn't help. In addition Davina and Gaby both had classes at this time.
"That's okay. If you can just keep an eye on Zara for twenty minutes I'll drop Ava down to nursery before class."
"What will you do with Zara during your class?"
Imogen shrugged as she picked up Ava's little backpack and helped her into her coat. "Bring her with me."
The first years all squealed with delight when they saw their special guest sat in her stroller at the top of the hall. Maybe this class wouldn't be so bad after all.
"Okay everyone, follow my instructions. Ready? Lunges."
Zara's book could only capture her attention for so long and Imogen wasn't very surprised when she unstrapped herself and ran over to join in the fun.
"You said you'd be good."
"Am good. Jump." With that Zara decided the best thing she could do was join in with the jumping jacks, along with every other move the girls were making much to everyone's amusement.
When it came to floor exercises Imogen made sure everyone had their hand weights before laying down on her own mat with Zara on her stomach. "You can be my weight Sweetpea. One, two, three" As the girls lifted their dumbbells, Imogen lifted her squealing daughter in the air as she often did in private and enjoyed these extra moments together.
"That was a great class Miss Drill. Will you bring her again?"
Clearly Zara had gone down a storm, and for a far better reason than the previous day.
"We'll see. Great work girls, run along and get showered and changed for the next class. See you later."
While she didn't have another class right now Imogen had a lot of paperwork to get through and really wasn't sure how she'd keep Zara entertained while she did it. Luckily for her the cavalry had arrived.
"Dad called me, I have a couple of hours free so I can take this one and collect Ava from nursery. I have a farm visit to make later so I need to be gone by three." Stephen bent down to pick up his niece. "I saw you doing your exercises, I hope you're not too tired to take Shep and Wendy for a walk?"
"Shep!" Zara's dog preference was still clear.
"I owe you." Imogen hugged her brother. "If you can give them lunch upstairs I'll work through so I finish everything. My next class ends at half two so you'll be gone in plenty of time. Thanks."
The hours flew by as Imogen completed her reports and followed up on the correspondence that had come into the school.
"We're a tiny witches school, how is there so much paperwork?"
Regardless it had to be done and with only a brief stop to grab some lunch from the school kitchens, she powered through her work and was ready and waiting for the fourth years to go for their run. Five miles later she said goodbye to the tired group of girls. After a quick shower in Abby's bathroom where she wouldn't be disturbed, she went to relieve her brother.
"I honestly don't know how this happened."
The sitting room looked like a tornado had hit it. There were toys, books, and art supplies everywhere.
"Maybe it was because you let them play with everything at once?" Imogen sighed as she looked around. As great as Stephen was with the kids, he did tend to indulge them.
"I know, I'm so sorry. I'll clean up."
"No, you have to go. It's fine I'll do it. These two will be helping me won't you?"
"Yes Mummy." Ava knew the fun was over and was putting her toys back in the chest. Meanwhile a paint covered Zara sat under the table giggling.
"You too Picasso and that had better not be your sister's painting stuff." To Imogen's relief it was the washable paint that the girls shared which was lucky for everyone considering the mood Abby was in.
Stephen scarpered while his sister carried Zara into the shower. "Blue hair is not your look Sweetpea. I think you look better blonde don't you?"
"Yes."
"Good. Let's get you dried off, then I believe you still have some putting away to do. I'll help you and then I'll start tea. Hang on, where are Morgana and Pixie?"
On hearing their names the feline mother and daughter made their way out from behind the cupboard.
"You two had the right idea, I'd have hidden from that chaos as well Hey, what's this."
"Fairy cat." Ava giggled, "Pretty fairy cat."
Morgana was indeed a fairy cat with wings, that Imogen knew came from Ava's favourite fairy toy, attached to her collar.
"No decorating the cat we promised Mama we'd look after her. And don't even think about trying to get her to fly."
It was clear that Morgana was missing Constance, she had spent the last couple of days wandering around their rooms looking for her mistress.
Imogen bent down to detach the wings, after taking a picture of course. "She'll be back soon sweetie, I promise."
Morgana stretched and purred happily before moving into the corner to groom Pixie. Her favourite human might be away but the ones who were left were very nice. Even if one of them ` had made her look ridiculous.
Ava and Zara were slightly more subdued as they continued to put their things away before setting down to watch cartoons on Imogen's computer. It was cheating somewhat but she figured it was the only way to keep them occupied while she cooked their evening meal. They were still watching Fireman Sam when Abby arrived home.
"Is Granddad okay?" She had just heard that Tom was unwell.
"He's fine honey. He's going to stay in the cottage and just have something light to eat. How about you? Am I going to get some time with you this evening?
Abby sighed, "I wish but I still need to study for my Maths test, Elizabeth said she'd help me after we've talked to Mama. Is that okay?"
"Of course." Imogen knew Abby wanted to do well at school but she was still planning on having a chat with her about her moody behaviour once the exam was over.
Once dinner was over and the dishes were done it was time to call Constance and Amelia.
"I've spoken to Tom and he's absolutely fine but he'll probably rest again tomorrow morning." Amelia wasn't too happy that she was away while her husband was ill but she also knew that he could look after himself.
"We had some free time yesterday evening so we explored the area. It's very pretty even though it's terribly cold." Constance told them. "I may have even bought a couple of presents for some very good girls."
Imogen laughed when she saw the excited reactions from the children. She decided not to mention anything, including the streaking incident until Constance arrived home. And they were good, for the most part.
"You just have to wait a couple of days more and then I'll be home with your presents."
Imogen held her girls and smiled at her wife. "Four nights and three days and then we'll have you back Sweetheart, that's the best present we could ask for."