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Chapter Forty-Eight
Fears
A few months passed and Prue was now four months old. Ethel could not believe how fast the time had flew by as she dressed the baby that morning of the anniversary. Despite the fact Prue was only four months old she wanted to be everywhere and explore everything so she wiggled.
"Just like her mother, never wanting to stay still" Esmie said with a laugh as she came into the bedroom from the bathroom with her hair wet as she had just showered. She did a quick drying spell and her hair was bone dry again.
"Well what can I say, she learned from the best" Ethel told her sister as Prue giggled. There was a knock on their bedroom door in that moment.
"Come in" Ethel said knowing it was probably only Sybil but she was shocked when Mildred walked in.
"Hi Mildred are you alright?" Esmie asked as she started to brush her hair to get ready for school and Mildred nodded.
"Mum wants to see you Esmie, don't ask me about what" Mildred told her foster sister who nodded and started walking to the door.
"Try not to kill each other as I go see Julie" Esmie told her foster sister and Mildred not trusting them. She walked out the room and Ethel and Mildred stood in silence not knowing what to say.
"HB first thing, you are so lucky you get to stay here with this cutie" Mildred said as she tickled Prue under her chin who giggled.
"Can I give her a cuddle?" Mildred asked and Ethel nodded slowly as Mildred took the baby into her arms kissing her and Prue laughed happily as she looked at Mildred.
"You are so beautiful yes you are, gorgeous little Prudie" Mildred said as she held the baby in the air and Prue laughed.
Ethel watched Mildred and could not help the pang of jealously she felt in her chest. She didn't know why as she knew Prue was her baby and she loved everyone but to Ethel it hurt her to see Prue enjoying herself so much.
"People at school keep asking when you will visit again, they want to see her again" Mildred said as she smiled at Ethel but then caught sight of her foster sisters face.
"Are you alright?" Mildred asked as she had lived with Ethel for months and months now and knew when her, or her sisters, were annoyed or upset because they made it so obvious.
"I am just fine" Ethel replied not wanting to get into what the problem was as she knew Mildred would not understand.
"Yes and I am the best flier at the Academy" Mildred said sarcastically as she knew Ethel was lying. Ethel sighed and held Prue's hands, not wanting her jealously to show as she knew this time she was being stupid.
"I just…." Ethel said before stopping as she said the rest of the sentence in her head and realised how bad it sounded.
"You just what?" Mildred asked not understanding.
"I am not used to people liking me, everyone loves you but most people hate me, what if Prue likes everyone better than me?" Ethel asked looking heartbroken as she voiced her concerns.
Mildred held Prue in debelief. She couldn't seriously believe that could she? She knew Ethel had a lot of issues but it was as clear as day Prue loved her mother.
"Oh Ethel don't be silly, Prudence adores you" Mildred told Ethel knowing her words were true.
"What if she hates me as she gets older and she realises I am a bad person?" Ethel said then as she knew that day would come. The day would come when Prue would find out somewhere her auntie had been tricked into giving away her powers by none other than her own sister, her mother. Prue would be told the other stories too about all the bad things Ethel had done to other people and when she is old enough she would be able to form her own decision about her mother. With all the bad things Ethel had done it would not be long until she started to think the same way as everyone else.
"You are not a bad person Ethel, you have made mistakes but everyone at some points have made mistakes, yours are worse than others but you have made up for them" Mildred told them having seen Ethel grow as a person and thinking it was unfair she was still judged, Ethel had grown up a lot after all.
"To little, to late" Ethel said knowing it was always going to be there in the background and no-one will ever fully trust her after had past actions.
"Ethel you are not a bad person, you have grown up so much, you care and love Prue, bad people can't love anything or anyone but themselves, that is the thing that has always made you different from Agatha" Mildred said seeing Ethel flinch by the name.
"What do you mean?" Ethel asked not fully understanding Mildred.
"You care about other people and love other people and when you mess up badly it doesn't take you long to realise you have made a mistake, but you learned from them, you are not a bad person, you never were really, just troubled" Mildred told Ethel as she touched her shoulder gently. Prue saw her mother was upset and her face screwed up sadly before she started to cry.
"Aww baby don't cry" Mildred said trying to comfort her but Prue looked at her mother and cried more.
"Do you want mummy is that it?" Mildred said passing her to Ethel. Prue looked at Ethel and kept crying.
"Baby girl it is okay, mummy is sorry don't cry" Ethel said to her as she kissed her cheek and rocked her to try and calm her down.
"See Prue loves you, she only started crying when she saw you were upset" Mildred told Ethel with a smile.
"I am sorry...it just is at the back of my mind sometimes" Ethel told Mildred as she had never been good with other people.
"Of course it is, but you are an amazing mother and the past is the past, you can't change it, you can only try to be better in the future" Mildred told Ethel logically knowing Ethel regretting things she had done would not change them.
"Do you really think I am not a bad person?" Ethel asked clearly still worried she was.
"I don't think you are a bad person, you have changed for the better, you have a child now, I promise you that you are not a bad person" Mildred told her.
"Not everyone agrees with you, some people still think I am" Ethel told Mildred as Prue started to calm.
"Ignore them, they don't know you not really, Prue is not going to grow up hating you, she will grow up loving you and even when she finds out about everything you have done she will still love you because she will realise you came through that bad patch and made up for your mistakes and that you were the only one brave enough to help Esmie get her powers back, she won't hate you, we won't let her, we will talk to her about it once she is old enough" Mildred told Ethel who smiled, feeling better. Mildred had no reason to lie as they had never being best friends.
"Thank you Mildred" Ethel said smiling at her.
"I only speak the truth Ethel" Mildred told her foster sister happily. Ethel had no idea why but she found herself hugging Mildred. Prue giggled and clapped happy they were being nice to one another. They hugged until Esmie walked in to finish getting ready.
"I think I must be dreaming" Esmie said in shock as she saw them being nice to one another.
"Ha-ha you are so funny" Ethel said as Esmie walked furthur into the room to gather her school stuff.
"I am glad you two love each other but maybe you can let go off each other, I don't think HB will use hugging Ethie as an excuse for lateness, actually I know she wouldn't" Esmie said the last bit quietly looking at the floor. Mildred and Ethel laughed.
"Don't tell me you actually tried that once!" Ethel said looking at Esmie in amazement.
"Well...I was late once as I got distracted by hugging you so I told her the truth and she was fuming" Esmie admitted and Ethel and Mildred laughed more.
"Yeah yeah, you can pick on me later, if we don't get going soon HB really will be fuming" Esmie told Mildred and Mildred nodded and kissed Prue before leaving. Esmie kissed Ethel's head and then Prue's.
"Stay out of trouble" Esmie told them.
"No promises" Ethel said and Esmie smirked at her as she left the bedroom. Ethel feeling so much better after her talk with Mildred.