Just twenty-three years old, the eldest Bennet sister sat in her home office. The young woman was already graduating with her masters degree and was waiting on news regarding her application for the doctoral program she wanted to attend. Her grand-mère would expect nothing less of her protege and her sisters deserved so much more.
Remembering the night before caused her to clench her hands tight. All Laura had done was made a simple and understandable statement. "I wonder where he is." God, how many times had Helena thought the same thing. Guilt gripped her heart. She was responsible for her sisters' wellbeing and Laura had been brave enough to be vulnerable with her and what had Helena done? Closed her out.
The truth was, the three sisters had barely spent more than summers and school breaks together. Grace Johnson hadn't known how to handle three little girls, having barely raised her own. In truth, nannies had done most of the parenting when it came to Brianna Johnson, which had probably led to her elopement when she was only eighteen years old. Their family wasn't close and stories of their family dysfunction went as far back as the settling of their island, along with their wealth and privilege. Helena didn't want that to be her sisters' legacy. She didn't want it to be her own.
Sitting at her desk in her office, Helena decided to do what she did best. Chart a course for the future of their family. Not just the financial well-being; Grand-mere had taken care of most of that, but their emotional well-being. Picking up her pen and grabbing a notepad, she began jotting down notes. After several minutes, she removed her glasses and sat back. Checking the time, she decided to join her sisters for lunch, taking the notepad with her.
CHARMEDcharmedCHARMEDcharmedCHARMEDcharmedCHARMEDcharmedCHARMEDcharmedCHARMEDcharmedCHARMEDcharmedCHARMED
As she walked past the formal dining room, past the butler's pantry into the kitchen, Helena could hear her sisters laughing and joking around but as she crossed the threshold the conversation toned down and she just knew they were trying to avoid any hot button issues from the night prior.
Grabbing a plate and a spoonful of macaroni and cheese, barbecue chicken breast and seasoned greens, Helena then pulled out a chair and sat.
Astrid grabbed the pitcher of iced tea and poured a tall glass for her older sister. The middle sister, Astrid had the barest of memories of what it had been like to be a whole family but she had flashes of baking in the kitchen with her mother and listening to her father read her a bedtime story. The nineteen year old wanted nothing more than to be a part of another family. At school she had focused on home economics and culinary arts, along with business courses. It was her dream to take over the family business, a roadhouse, where she could cook good old fashioned home cooking and comfort food, but her biggest dream was having a chance to have a real relationship with her sisters.
Sipping, Helena smiled at her sisters, hoping to ease the left over tension. "I've been thinking a lot about what we're going to do now that I've graduated and am able to take over your care. But," she glanced from sister to sister, "I realized that if we want to really be a family, not just people who live in the same house when our schedules allow it, that I need to give you both the opportunity to build this family with me. So, I have some ideas but I want to know what you two are thinking."
Laura choked on her food for a second and Astrid smacked her back. "Thanks," the blonde coughed and gave a dirty stare to the middle sister.
"What do you mean?" Astrid asked.
"I mean, you finished boarding school and you just finished finishing school. You're as much of an adult as I am. What do you want to do? Do you want to go to college, or get a job? And Laura," Helena faced the teen, "do you want to go back to boarding school? I mean, it's a great school but you have options. You could always go to a school here on the island if you want to."
"I hadn't thought about it," the young girl said. "I didn't really think I had a choice."
"You didn't. Before. But grand-mere isn't here anymore. It's us."
"She wouldn't like this," Astrid said, unsure if they should entertain making new plans. Their grandmother had always planned their every move and now that she was gone it was scary to think about changing her strategic plans for their lives.
"She didn't like us,"Laura said.
"Don't say that!"
"It's alright, Astrid. Laura's right to feel how she does," Helena intervened. "Grand-mere loved us in her own way but she didn't like children very much in general. That's why she sent us off to boarding school and passed Laura off to a nanny."
"Still, we know what we're supposed to do," Astrid said and stood, clearing away her plate before returning.
"But now we have a choice. We've inherited the house, the businesses and I have my trust fund. We're old enough to figure things out for ourselves until you both inherit yours. We don't have to live our lives the way grand-mere wanted."
"We can live how mom would have wanted us to," Laura piped in. "I found her scrapbooks last night, after you guys went to bed. Mom started one for each of us and she wrote letters for us."
"She did?" Helena was surprised. She didn't remember the letters and she had spent so much time looking at them and helping her mother put them together; but it had also been years since she'd seen them.
"What'd she say?" Astrid wondered.
"Do you want to see?" Laura stood and led her sisters to the bridal suite.
"You found them in here? I don't remember seeing them when I prepared the room for Astrid."
"They were hidden behind a false book shelf," Laura scrunched her shoulders up at her sisters stares. "What? I hide all my treasures at school to make sure no one gets their hands on them. I thought maybe mom did the same thing and I went looking and voila, there they were," Laura pushed on a false book and the shelf fell forward, projecting a hidden wall of books.
Each sister grabbed one and traded until they had the one that was made for them. Moving to the bed, they sat and began reading the letters and cherishing the pictures that had been lovingly arranged. Sadly, Laura's book was the shortest and ended several pages in. The others also ended abruptly, demonstrating how their mother hadn't been able to finish them due to her untimely death.
"Every time I've made a wish," Laura said, "I've wished for more time with mom.I know that's never going to happen," she said and gave a sad little half-smile, "but I can have more time with you. We've never really had the chance to be sisters. I mean, two of us might have had a couple of years at the same boarding school before aging up, but we've never all been together. I want to stay here and be with you two."
"Me, too." Helena glanced at Astrid. "I'm not going to pursue my doctorate right now. I want to stay on the island and manage our family assets until you both come of age. It might help me figure out what it is I want to do later. I know I could step right into grand-mere's position at the museum, but I don't know that I want to do that forever. She never gave me a choice and she never gave either of you a choice."
Astrid sighed. Her cheeks were red and ruddy from the tears that her mother's letters had incited. "Grand-mere wanted me to be a member of society; a politician's wife or a doctor's. She wanted to ensure that our family stayed in good standing among society; that we'd always be in a position of power on this island." Grabbing onto her sisters' hands, she continued. "I don't care about maintaining our family privilege or the status quo. I love this island, but I want to be an average citizen, not a local celebrity. This island has been stuck in time since the town was established. I want to be a normal person, on a normal island, with a normal family. I want to take over the roadhouse and make it so much better."
"So that's what we'll do. I'll take over running the museum and the accounts, Astrid will manage the restaurant, and Laura will finish school on the island."
"And all of the 'social commitments' and council seats?" the middle sister wondered.
"We will announce our intention to give up our chairs and begin looking for candidates to replace us."
Laura bounced with excitement. "We're really going to do this? Stay here and be a family?"
"Yeah," Astrid said. "We're going to do this."
"Alright. It's been decided." Helena grabbed her scrapbook and headed out, ready to get back to work.
Laura and Astrid looked at each other. "Last one there has to do dishes?" proposed Astrid, taking off like a shot.
"No fair!"