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Chapter Twenty-Six
My Universe
Esmerelda walked into the bedroom wiping her tears and found Ethel, Sybil, and Mildred sitting on one of the beds looking distraught. She could tell by the look on their faces they must have heard her conversation with Julie.
"How much did you hear?" the girl asked afraid of the answer.
By Sybil bursting into tears Esmie knew they had been listening at the door and heard everything.
"We heard everything...well enough" Mildred replied looking at the floor.
"Mum and dad hit you" Ethel said also crying as the reality that her sister had being slapped around and had taken beatings for her and Sybil hit her.
"It is okay..." Esmerelda said with a shrug. Trying to pretend she didn't really care about what they had done.
"No it isn't!" Ethel shouted in response "They abused you how the hell can it be okay?" Ethel said rubbing her bump as she cried.
"Please don't be angry at me" Esmerelda sighed not wanting to be fighting with her sisters about this.
"We are not angry, we are upset" Sybil sobbed as she stood up and threw herself at her sister, hugging her.
"Oh Sybil...I couldn't tell you, I didn't want you to ever know" Esmerelda told her stroking her blonde locks gently.
"We could have helped you, taken some of the beatings" Ethel replied but Esmie shook her head.
"Over my dead body would I let them lay a finger on you!" Esmerelda replied. She would not let her parents near her sisters for anything.
"It makes sense why you have been so harsh on my mother" Mildred pointed out and Esmie glared at her at Mildred for saying that. It was not the right time for her to say that.
"I am sorry" Esmerelda said hugging Sybil and moving her gaze of Mildred "I am going to try harder to be nicer to Julie, yes?" Esmerelda asked knowing her sisters were already bonding with her. Ethel smiled and stood up and hugged her, well hugged her sideways as her bump was in the way.
"You are silly Esmie" Sybil suddenly said as she clinged onto Esmerelda.
"What do you mean?" Esmerelda asked not quite understanding what she meant by that.
"Well it is true we love Julie" Ethel replied knowing what Sybil meant. They knew Esmerelda felt she was been pushed out.
"Yes I know" Esmerelda replied with a sigh.
"But not like we do you" Sybil said honestly and sweetly.
"You are our whole universe, without you we would have nothing, we never would have gotten as far as we did or known we had someone loving us, I wouldn't of gotten through the rape without you, I probably would have given up on my life but I have you, we will always love you most" Ethel told her sister who looked at her with her hazel eyes brimming with tears.
"You have being the best sister and mum we could have ever asked for, us living here doesn't change that, we can love Julie and you too, we can have two mums, we are lucky we do" Sybil then said and Esmerelda squeezed the girls tightly, well Ethel not to tight as she was scared of hurting the baby but she held her sisters tightly and let tears fall down her face, not caring Mildred was in the room watching her cry.
"Thank you. You two are my universe, I have loved you since the moment I saw your baby scans" Esmerelda told them and Ethel turned red with embarrassment.
"Esmie!" she said blushing as they spoke about it.
"I knew from the moment I set eyes on you I couldn't live without you" Esmerelda told them as they kept hugging, Ethel still with red cheeks.
"You always wanted a sibling then?" Mildred asked butting in. She felt like they had forgotten she was there and felt left out.
"Yes but only sisters, I never wanted a brother. I always wanted to be a big sister though, I wished for it all the time, my parents gave in in the end obviously" Esmerelda told Mildred as she held both the younger blondes in her arms.
Mildred smiled in response. She knew currently her and Esmerelda were not the best of friends but Mildred would never deny the fact Esmerelda was born and put on this earth to be a big sister. She could not be an only child like most witches, she needed someone to nurture and care for and she was bloody brilliant at it.
"Are you sure you are okay?" Sybil asked her sister sending Mildred out of her thoughts as she fussed over Esmerelda now it had come out she was a victim of abuse.
"I am fantastic Sybil, I promise" Esmerelda told her just holding her sisters in her arms, feeling the magic she felt at that which had nothing to do with her magical powers. It was magic she felt around her baby sisters.
Mildred was just about to say something when all four girls suddenly heard a shout.
"Ethel" Julie shouted for the girl and Ethel untangled herself from her sister's embrace and headed out of the bedroom with the other girls behind her. Julie was standing by the front door going through the mail.
As the girls were living with Julie right now their social worker delivered any mail to them that had been sent to Cackles. Normally, the girls did not get anything as now they did not live with their parents there was no-one that had a need to send them letters so Ethel eyed Julie confused.
"A letter has come for you, it looks important" Julie told her foster daughter monitoring to the table where there was already some mail on as she sorted through the rest in her hands.
Ethel picked up the white envelope and saw it was from the hospital and knew it must be something to do with the baby. She unfolded it and read the letter to herself before smiling.
"My next scan is next week!" Ethel said happily excited about seeing her precious baby again.
"Oh that is great Ethel! What day is it?" Julie asked her curiously.
"Friday" Ethel answered before sighing as she remembered something. Her, her sisters, and Mildred all returned to school on Monday. They would not be in the flat they would be at school. The foster placement would have ended and Cackle would be escorting them there.
"I will make sure to book it off" Julie told the girl with a smile.
"What do you mean?" Ethel asked not understanding what she was getting at.
"I wouldn't miss the scan for the world" Julie told the girl as she hugged her "Just because you are not here doesn't mean I am just going to forget about you, I will love to take you if you will let me" Julie told the girl who seemed shell shocked but nodded.
"T….thank you" Ethel said rubbing her bump happily.
"I wonder if it still looks like an alien!" Sybil commented making everybody snort by how casually she said it.
"I don't think so Sybil, it will be more developed now" Julie said stroking her hair the same way Esmerelda was doing not long ago "But Ethel this is the scan when you can find out the gender so you will have to decide whether you want to or not" Julie told her knowing she should take time to decide instead of deciding when she is having the scan.
Ethel bit her lip. She had no idea whether she wanted to find out or wait for it to be a surprise and she knew she might regret either decision.
"Did you find out with Mildred?" Esmie asked seeing the look on her sisters face and thinking the advice might help her. The fact Esmie was talking to her for once warmed Julie's heart and she hugged the elder gently in the same arm as Sybil and hugged Mildred in the same arm as Ethel, not wanting any of them to feel left out. Esmie stayed in the hug.
"No, I wanted it to be a surprise, of course I had both a boy and girl name ready but it was a magical moment being told I had a little girl when I heard her cry" Julie said fondly as she looked at Mildred. "But it is your choice Ethel, a lot of people want to know, don't let anyone talk you into either decision, it is what is right for you" Julie told her as she rubbed her back. Julie knew it could be hard to decide this, but she knew this time Ethel had to make her own decision about it, no-one could make it for her.
Ethel rubbed her bump and sighed. She didn't know whether she wanted to know or not and she knew she had a week to decide but it was a hard decision.
"Why don't we have dinner?" Mildred suggested. She was really hungry and she could tell Ethel was already trying to decide and would be worrying about it all day if there was not some distraction.
"Good idea" Julie said winking to Mildred to give her thanks as she knew she had done it to distract Ethel "Let us all eat" Julie said as the family all sat down for their dinner.