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A story about mothers and daughters.
Once upon a time, there was a girl. She smiled easily and her eyes were bright with love for all that surrounded her because she was blessed. All the women of her line were magic users and had been for as long as the oldest among them could remember. She learned her inheritance when she was ten and spent many a day practicing spells in her bedroom. Her mother would read to her at night, and braid her long brown hair, weaving a protection spell around her.
“I give you starlight to light your way when you think it’s too dark, a sweet voice to soothe the bad times, and my love to guide you always.”
Then she would press a kiss against her forehead and the girl would sleep soundly.
Even when the girl became a young woman, her mother would still perform their nightly ritual.
But all that changed when the young woman left her home to venture out into the world.
She left behind her mountains, the blooming magnolias, and the comforting creak of the porch swing.
It would be difficult, she knew. She would have to keep her magic hidden until she met someone who would understand her gift. Her friends thought she was a lovable eccentric and the boys she dated were brief detours before she found her One.
Her mother cautioned her not to set her expectations too high, that there may be many others before the One came into her life. It had taken her mother seven summers after her twentieth birthday before she laid eyes on the girl’s father.
“It is fine to dance and dream and love without thinking this is your ending.”
The girl just smiled and nodded. “Yes, Mama.”
The first night she cried, curled up on the motel’s scratchy sheets. The sounds were all wrong, it was too quiet. It was alien darkness that surrounded her and she desperately wished to go home. Her mother’s words came to her suddenly, and her mouth formed the familiar words - “I give you starlight to light your way when you think it’s too dark, a sweet voice to soothe the bad times, and my love to guide you always.”
My love to guide you always.
She uncurled and rolled onto her back. She breathed out and concentrated on the ceiling.
Little points of light blossomed above her until she was looking at her own personal constellation. She smiled and closed her eyes.
At every town she stopped at she bought a postcard and sent it to her parents, reassuring them she was safe and healthy. She picked up waitressing jobs along the way and spent her free hours exploring the new place.
Seven towns later in an unremarkable diner, she delivered a round of breakfast platters to a laughing young man and his friends.
His eyes widened when he saw her face and she felt a warm tingle through her body.
The young man waited for her after her shift was over. He held out his hand and grinned. “Hello miss. My name is Titus Maclay.”
His voice was a warm drawl and she felt her cheeks blush in response.
His grin grew wider. “And what’s your name?”
“Audrey.”
“Like the movie star?”
“She was my mother’s favorite.”
“Well, Miss Audrey, can I walk you home?”
This time she ignored the wanderlust that called to her to pack up and move on. Titus brought her flowers and walked her home every night. He was studying to be a preacher, he told her. There was so much sin in the world and it was his calling to help keep his fellow man on the path of the righteous.
“And what of the women,” she teased him. He laughed. “The ladies are included, but they give me less trouble than men.”
She met his parents, and they were a direct contrast to Titus’ open demeanor. Mother Maclay, as she preferred to be called, was a taciturn woman who rarely smiled. She only came alive in the kitchen and she taught Audrey her recipe for biscuits and stood over her approvingly as she kneaded and formed the dough.
When she wasn’t looking, Audrey whispered underneath her breath and the biscuits shimmered briefly. After she took them out of the oven, she watched as Mother Maclay bit into one. The woman’s eyebrows raised. “These are delicious, Audrey,” she said in surprise. “Very light and fluffy.”
Titus took a bite. “They’re perfect,” he said. “Sorry, mama, but I think they might be a little bit better than yours.”
Mother Maclay pressed her lips together and then she nodded. “They are very good. We’ll serve them for supper.”
Mr. Maclay was the opposite of his wife, loud and hearty. He did something in the City, but Titus was vague about the details. Audrey felt uneasy around the man but held her tongue.
She’d been doing more of that lately, keeping her thoughts to herself. With Titus, it was easy to talk about her day, and they would spend sunny days in the park, her head nestled against his shoulder as he read aloud from the Bible. He smelled like clean laundry and fresh biscuits and she lost herself in his voice.
Seven weeks later, she stood next to him as the preacher asked if she would take this man to be her husband. It was the easiest thing in the world to say, “I do.”
She felt like she was floating, and when Titus lifted her veil and kissed her, it almost made up for the fact her parents weren’t there.
Her father had called her earlier that week and admitted her mother had come down with flu and wouldn’t be able to travel. He, of course, could not leave her and told her to carry on without them.
“We’ll come to visit once your mother feels better. She wanted me to tell you she loves you and she can’t wait to meet her new son-in-law.”
“He can’t wait to meet her too. And you, daddy.”
She could feel her father’s smile through the receiver. “Love you, sweetheart. See you soon.”
“See you soon.”
Soon became much later as there was so much she had to do as a new wife. They moved into a house of their own, conveniently in the same neighborhood as Titus’ parents, and then one morning Audrey woke up and vomited into the kitchen sink after cooking Titus a breakfast of ham and eggs.
Then Audrey’s world tilted once more, in shades of pink and gold as she gazed down at her new daughter’s sleeping face. “My little Tara,” she crooned. “I give you starlight to light your way when you think it’s too dark, a sweet voice to soothe the bad times, and my love to guide you always.”
Tara gurgled and grabbed a hold of her mother’s finger.
Once upon a time there was a little girl with eyes of blue and ash brown hair that lightened in the sun. She was her mother’s only child and she loved her to the moon and back. She would follow her everywhere like a kitten, peeking behind doorways as her mother pretended to search for her.
Mornings were for baking and afternoons for reading and running in the park. Daddy sometimes took her into town and bought her ice cream, but mostly he was busy in the Church.
It was just Mama and her, and Mama was magic. She told Tara she was magic too, but she had to be careful. Magic was for special moments only, and she had to be mindful or else the magic would sneak out and do mischief.
“What kind of mischief, Mama?”
Her mother leaned against the counter and tapped her chin. “Well, the milk will sour and the goats will say naughty words and the wind will blow away all our clean laundry off the line. And your hair will turn green.” She tweaked Tara’s nose.
Tara squealed. “It will not!”
“All right. Purple then.”
Her mother leaned down and hugged her around the middle. “But you’ll always be Mama’s favorite, no matter what your hair color is.”
“Because I’m your one,” Tara sing-songs.
“That’s right, dear heart. You’re my one.” Her mother swung her around and the house filled with their laughter.
There was only one iron-clad rule. No magic in front of Daddy.
“He doesn’t like it,” Mama said to her as Tara got ready for bed. She brushed her hair and waited until Tara snuggled underneath her sheets and arranged all her animals so they were comfortable. “Daddy is not magic and I think it makes him uncomfortable. He believes in other things.”
“Like God?”
Her mother sighs. “Of a sort, yes. I think he wants to do right and that’s how it comes to him.”
“But?”
“I think there is something else, that makes the world move and dance and guides us,” her mother said. “And that you don’t necessarily find it in church.”
Mama hated going to church, but she dutifully did it every Sunday and made casseroles and cakes for the potluck supper and cleaned up with the other wives.
Tara didn’t like it either because she had to get dressed up in itchy dresses and stiff leather shoes and sit next to her cousin Beth, who was prim and always looked like she smelled something bad.
“Church is yucky,” she said solemnly and her mother’s eyes crinkled up and she laughed. “Better not say that in front of Daddy.”
“I can keep a secret if you can,” Tara said.
“Of course I can. Pinky?”
She held up her pinky. Her mother curled her pinky with hers. “Now be a good girl and let’s read our story tonight.”
“Alice?”
“Yes. Now she’s just met the Queen of Hearts…”
Tara fell asleep clutching her rabbit doll, and her mother smiled as she closed the book. She leaned over and pressed a kiss on her forehead.
“I give you starlight to light your way when you think it’s too dark, a sweet voice to soothe the bad times, a strong heart to know the truth, and my love to guide you always.”
no subject
Date: 2019-11-30 09:37 am (UTC)From:I like the hair braiding with protection spell.
Oh no, go away, mister Maclay! :D
Poor Mother Maclay! It's not her fault her cookies aren't magical. Titus was insensitive.
Hi, tiny Tara! <3
"She would follow her everywhere like a kitten, peeking behind doorways as her mother pretended to search for her."
That's adorable.
AND THE GOATS WILL SAY NAUGHTY WORDS :D
"You’re my one."
I love this twist on Finding the One.
"I think he wants to do right and that’s how it comes to him."
I like this line a lot. The way she believes in the best of him and recognizes that there may be good intentions behind... whatever mistakes he's making there. But also it's clear that she doesn't love how he's doing things.
thank you for reading!
Date: 2019-11-30 10:17 pm (UTC)From:And yes, the goats would say naughty words. The geese even worse.
Tara is her mother's one, it was very clear that she loved and was loved by her, and I was playing around with that fairytale assumption that it's always about a romantic love that is the heroine's happy ending.
thanks for leaving me a comment, i really appreciate it!