Chapter Sixteen: Gabrielle's Discovery
Constance was giving Star her first real bath, steering clear of the umbilical cord. Star did not like it. She did not like the sensation of being soaking wet and it scared her. Like everything else, it was new to her. Her cries reverberated off the walls.
"Mummy's not going to hurt you." Constance said in a low voice. "It's just water, see?" Constance tain the cloth gently along Star's chin. "It's nice."
Star kicked her little feet in the little tub and stopped, shocked.
"You splashed." Constance explained. "That's what happens when you move in the water." She took Star's little hand and ran it along the water, making a small ripple within. "Look." She did it again. Star still wasn't used to it. she wanted to be out of the tub. This was only continuing to scare her.
Constance lifted Star out of the tub, wrapping her in a fluffy black towel.
"Who's a clean girl, then?" She asked, She zapped the tub and it disappeared and reappeared again, bone-dry. "Let's get you into a dry nappy and pyjamas, hmm?" Constance told the baby. "Some nice warm clothes will make you feel better." After Constance finished dressing Star, she brought her into the Staffroom.
Amelia, Davina, Imogen, and Gabrielle were sitting at the table when she walked in.
"She just had her first real bath." Constance explained. "She didn't like it."
"Is she all right?" Asked Imogen.
"It scared her." Constance replied, dreading what Davina was going to say yet again. "Are you all right now, Star? The bath scared you, didn't it?" Davina asked. Star let out a tiny cry,making everyone in the room flinch.
"Miss Gribble, may I try something? Star is only calm around my family and Ethel Hallow, but Ethel and Mildred suggested I try a little experiment. If you wear one of my shawls and hold her, you'll have something with my scent on. If she doesn't cry, then I will have someone to look after her when I return to work." Constance said.
"All right, let's try it." Gabrielle agreed. Constance draped one of her shawls around Gabrielle's shoulders. She laid Star in Gabrielle's arms. Star snuggled up against Gabrielle, picking up on Constance's scent as she stopped crying.
"It's working..." Constance said in amazement. "That's right, Star. Just stay nice and quiet. We don't want you getting upset, no." She said in a soft voice. "Let's show Miss Gribble how you can hold your head up, hmm? I know you can't do it for very long yet."
Gabriel placed her hand behind Star's head, supporting it. Star lifted her head up briefly and held it for a moment. She flopped back down.
"Very good, Star." Gabrielle said. Star began suckling on her tiny fist.
"She's due for her next feeding." Constance said, taking Star into her arms with the shawl. "If you will excuse me. Could you send Mildred to my room? She called the lactation consultant from the hospital. She was told exactly how to help."
"All right, Constance. I didn't know you were having trouble. Is everything all right?" Amelia asked, concerned.
"I have found that nursing can be extremely painful." Constance replied.
"Is Star getting enough nourishment?" Asked Amelia.
"Not always, Headmistress. She doesn't always get enough in her." Constance said. "I really must go before Star's hungry cries bounce off the walls."
Constance went to her room to nurse the baby. She did exactly as she had been told to do. She still had to stroke Star's throat to help her to swallow. Amelia came in after knocking on the door.
"Would you still like me to get Mildred?" She asked.
"I may not need her." Constance said, triumphantly. Star clamped her tiny jaw down.
"Ow!" Constance yelped, then paused. "I can do this, I can do this." She placed her pinky finger in the corner of Star's mouth and broke the latch, getting her to latch on again. Amelia watched quietly. At the slightest problem, she would get Mildred. It wasn't that she didn't trust her Deputy, she just didn't like to see her in any pain.
Constance breathed a sigh of relief a moment later.
"Is she all right now?" Asked Amelia.
"She's perfectly all right." Constance smiled. Amelia liked when Constance smiled. She didn't smile often so it was nice to see her happy.
Star nursed peacefully with the help of her mother. Constance switched sides.
"You know, Miss Cackle, I would have thought it absolutely rubbish if someone where to tell me how my life would change two years ago. But now that it has, I wouln't take back one thing. My life is perfect the way it is. I have the most gorgeous baby daughter and a beautiful niece." She told Amelia.
"It warms my heart to hear you speak that way." Amelia smiled gently at her Deputy. "Constance, I can't help but worry about Mildred. She's been taking better care of herself but not for very long. I'm concerned that she still has not dealt with grief properly. Her anger is now directed at Mistress Broomhead. Do you think that it could cause her to have another seizure?"
"I can't be too sure, I've warned her about what the paremedic said, but I feel she may not be listening." Constance heaved a sigh. "She is Mildred after all."
Constance looked down as Star finished her meal and let out a squawk. "Like mother, like daughter." She chuckled. " Time to bond with 'Auntie Amelia'.She hasn't had a chance to hold you yet. Perhaps you won't cry, hmm? She is like a mother to me. She is more of a Grandmother than Mistress Broomhead has ever been. But if you don't cry, Miss Gribble will still be the one to look after you when Mummy returns to work, because Auntie Amelia has a very big job, yes she does. She is the Headmistress of this school."
She laid the baby in Amelia's arms. Star was quietly looking around. Amelia rocked her gently and began to wind her. Star's small body curled against the winding cloth. After a while, she burped with such force that it stunned even her.
"Excuse you, Miss." Constance smirked.
As Amelia was bonding with little Star, Constance went to find Mildred. Mildred was sitting outside in front of a single gravestonewhich bore the names of both of her had requested that Persephone and Arthur be buried on the Academy grounds so that they would be nearby. Constance walked up beside her niece.
"I thought that I would find you here. Miss Cackle is still worried about you. Were you honestly listening to what you had been told, Mildred? I am still worried about you... What would your parents say if they were still alive today and found out that you had not been taking care of yourself to the point of having a seizure?" Constance asked, reaching her finger under Mildred's chin and tilting it to look her in the eye.
"They would be very disappointed." Mildred said.
"I can urge you to take care of yourself until I am 'blue in the face', I believe the saying goes. But only you can act on that and do the right thing. I can't force you to do anything that you do not want to do. Plead with you, urge you and coax you, yes. But force? No." Constance told her.
"I can't tell you why this happened, because I don't really know why myself...but sometimes, these things happen for a reason... I don't know what that reason is."
"I...I have to go, Aunt Constance. There's something I need to do." Mildred said.
"Where are you going?" Constance asked.
"I can't tell you right now...I'm sorry." Mildred said and left the Academy.