Hello everyone! So as you see I'm back from my holidays so I will be able to send some chapters. I already have a few written. This is the longest one that I've written so far!

Can't wait to have your impressions!

…

"Which one of you chose that movie?"

Elsie was sitting on her sofa, with Sybil's head on her lap and Anna's head on her shoulder. The three of them were crying their eyes out.

"I really don't know…"

"Oh, you …" Elsie blew her nose and passed her hand through Sybil's hair. Anna had wanted to watch a movie for their first afternoon together; Sybil had searched in their mother's library and had chosen a classic one. In fact, she had chosen her mother's favorite: Children of Paradise, Les enfants du Paradis, a very old French movie. Elsie had watched it a billion times. Unfortunately, Elsie would never be prepared for the ending.

"Anna and Sybil are young. They can cry over a movie like this, about a love story like this… But I'm far too old for that…" Elsie thought.

Suddenly, the first notes of Earth, Wind and Fire turned on.

"Hello?"

"Sybil, are you crying, sweetheart?" Charles panicked.

"No, yes… But don't worry, Dad. I was just watching a movie with Anna and Mum." Sybil blew her nose.

"Oh, you didn't do that to you mother, did you?"

"What?"

"You didn't make your Mum watch HER movie?"

"Well, we…" But she couldn't finish because Charles had interrupted her.

"You did! Not nice of you young girls…"

Sybil laughed through her tears.

Charles remembered the very first time that he and Elsie had watched this movie.

They were sitting on their old sofa, in their new flat. Anna was not here yet. He had opened a bottle of wine while she switched on the TV. Charles had bet that she would be crying before the end; she was arguing, telling him that she would not. But Charles knew her… At the end of the first hour, Elsie was lying against Charles's side. He had his arm around her shoulders and was playing with her hair. Elsie tried to hide her tears by wiping them with her hands. Charles felt her quiet sobs, but he didn't want to say anything about it. Teasing or not, he hated to see her crying. Carefully, he stretched his arm behind him and caught a handkerchief that he gave to her.

"Don't tease." She warned after she had blown her nose.

"I didn't intent to, darling." He kissed the top of her head and put his hand in her hair again. Till the end of the movie, Elsie didn't hide her tears and cried into Charles's chest. He didn't mock her; he didn't want to. So he just held her close and kissed her from time to time.

"I know…"

"Well, I'm sorry to disturb you. I tried to call Anna but she didn't answer…"

"Yes, I think her phone is in her room. Do you want to talk to her?"

'Yes, please. I have a question to ask her about John's new case."

"Alright. Bye, Daddy."

"Bye, sweetheart."

Elsie's heart was beating fast and hard in her chest. HER phone was in her bedroom. Did Charles want to talk to her? But Elsie's hopes were destroyed when Sybil passed the phone to her sister.

"Hello, Dad."

Anna stood from the sofa and went into the kitchen. She came back only a few minutes later.

"What did he want?" Sybil asked.

"Oh, he had a question about John's new case, but I didn't know the answer. So I gave him John's number."

"You're lucky that Dad likes your boyfriend."

Elsie looked up from the magazine that she was looking at, but before she could make any comments, Anna answered.

"Well, they are both lawyers, so it helped a little… But don't you remember at the beginning? Dad was overprotective and very anxious about the fact that John is older …"

"Sybil? Did you meet someone, sweetheart?" Elsie asked gently.

Sybil looked at her mother and bit her bottom lip, in a habit much like her mother's…

"I did."

Elsie smiled and closed her book. Sybil and Anna both smiled back. Their mother was comprehensive. They could talk about absolutely everything, even embarrassing things…

"A name, maybe?"

"Tom."

"Tom." Elsie repeated. "And you think that your father won't like him?"

Sybil looked at her sister.

"Well, it's just that Sybil thinks that it will be hard for Dad to accept Tom, harder than John."

Sybil mouthed an "Oh, yes!"

"Well, hard or not, if it's serious your Dad won't have the choice… Is it serious?

"Yes!" Sybil answered.

Elsie looked at her daughters and bent a little closer to her.

"Do you love him?"

"Yes." Sybil blushed but didn't look back.

Elsie smiled and turned to her elder daughter.

"I imagine that you have met him?"

"I did. John, too."

"And what did you think of him?"

Anna grinned at her sister before answering.

"Nice, very nice actually. Very polite and funny. He is very in love with Sybil. He looks at her like she was a candy… And he is very handsome."

The blush on Sybil's cheeks came back, and the three of them laughed.

"Okay, so if you love each other very much, which is apparently the case, you must tell your mother all about him!" Sybil laughed. "And you must tell me why you're thinking that your father will dislike him."

"Well, first at all, he is not English…"

Elsie arched an eyebrow at her daughter. Anna was smiling.

"Hardly a crime, sweetheart. I'm Scottish and your father married me. And he seems to enjoy other cultures at the moment anyway…"

"What do you mean?" Anna asked.

"Nothing…"

"Tom is Irish… And I'm afraid about his job…"

"What about his job?" Elsie asked a little panicked.

Sybil bit her lip again. "He is a musician."

Elsie laughed gently.

"Oh, I see. That's why… Sybil, your father played in a band to pay for his studies, and bad things happened to him during that time. But that doesn't mean that he won't like Tom because he wants to be a musician all of his life. Is he good?"

"He is extraordinary…"

"Anyway, you seem happy, so I'm happy, and your father will be happy for you too. Tell me, how did you meet?"

"Well, he played in the bar just in front of the hospital one night. We talked, and… Well, I won't say it was love at first sight, but, almost." She turned to her sister. "Like you and John." Anna nodded and Sybil turned to her mother. "Or like you and Dad."

Elsie opened her eyes wide. Not because of the comment, but because it was absolutely wrong.

"Excuse me? You think you're father and I had a 'love at first sight' love story? Well that's wrong… Who told you that?"

The sisters looked at each other.

"Violet, I think…" Anna answered.

Elsie laughed.

"I see. Well, no, it was not love at first sight. When we first met he found me touchy and vain, and I found him very self-confident and selfish."

"Daddy?" Sybil asked very surprised.

"Yes… Daddy." Elsie teased.

"Could you tell us how you met? Unless you don't want to." Anna asked gently.

"No, no. I can tell you. It's a good memory now." Elsie smiled.

"Beryl, I really don't know why I came."

"Elsie, you promised me."

"Yes, but I don't know why I did it. You're going to see your future boyfriend… I should not have come."

"But you did. And if you're bored, you could always watch the cricket match."

"I don't know the rules, Beryl, and anyway I…"

But before Elsie could finish her sentence, she bumped violently against someone.

"Shit!" Elsie looked up at the man in front of her. He was tall, very tall, with curly black hair. He had very bright brown eyes, and his white shirt was now brown with coffee.

"Oh, Charles! I'm sorry." Beryl apologized.

"Baby, are you alright?" the tall black-haired girl who was hand in hand with Charles asked. He nodded in her direction before turning to Beryl. Elsie was about to make her apology when he spoke.

"That's not your fault, Beryl… But you, you could pay attention to where you're going. You ruined my shirt and burnt me!" he said angrily to Elsie.

"What! Excuse me, but you, too, could watch where you're going. I've ruined my dress and burnt myself, too, alright!" Elsie answered, her accent strong with anger.

Charles turned to Alice, who had her hands on his arms, before asking, "Alice, could you go and try to find me another shirt, and a warm, wet towel? Because Beryl's friend probably wanted to kill me."

"My name is Elizabeth!" If a look could have killed, Charles would have been dead.

"Whatever!"

Elsie was shaking with anger, but before she could answer, the well-dressed, well-coiffed and well-manicured girlfriend spoke.

"Yes, no problem, my Charlie. Don't move."

She kissed him on the cheek and was gone. Elsie rolled her eyes.

"Don't do that!" Charles said angrily to Elsie.

"Don't do what!" She snapped back.

"Roll your eyes at her!"

"Yeah, why should I? She seemed happy to be your maid! Well done, Charlie boy! You've trained her well. You snapped your fingers, and she is running to fetch you a clean shirt with a kiss and a smile!"

Charles took a step closer and pointed a finger in Elsie's direction. He was red with anger. Beryl was watching the scene with interest but said nothing, afraid to be the next subject of anger. Elsie snatched Charles's finger away.

"Who the hell do you think you are? I've never even seen you here before! And you attack me and my girlfriend with your bloody shitty accent !"

"Fuck you!" Without thinking, Elsie threw what was left of her coffee into Charles's face and walked away, Beryl on her heels.

Charles wiped his face with the sleeve of his very ruined shirt and went searching for Alice.

"Ouah!" Why did you two never tell us that story?" Anna asked.

"Yeah, that's an amazing story when you consider how the story ends." Sybil added.

Elsie arched an eyebrow at her youngest.

"No, not the divorce. Your wedding, I mean."

"I know. Well, if your remark is that your father and I were absolutely not made for being together in the first place, then you're right."