𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐲 • 𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘱 𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘵𝘰𝘯

France

Y/n had similar interests as her father.

She loved studying, reading, writing, politics, and everyone who knew her knew she had quite the way with words. Yes, she was loud, rebellious, and free-spirited, but all that society disapproved of her was made up with Y/n's kindness towards every living being. Stranger or not, slave or free, women or men, Y/n always showed kindness to those who deserved it.

Many people who knew the Jeffersons would say she was the spitting image of her mother. 

Y/n's older sisters, Patsy and Polly, took care of her as much as they could. The trio of sisters was inseparable. They would walk down the streets and people would say, "Look! It's the Jefferson sisters!" and soon men were lining up to court the ladies.

Patsy, the oldest sister, acted as a mother to Polly and Y/n. She would teach them about society, manners, politics, and the four different languages she knew. She would also tell them about their mother, someone who unfortunately didn't live long enough to see Y/n grow. For this exact reason, and also since Patsy was the oldest, she was determined to teach the young girls all the things her mother had taught her, such as kindness, patience, and selflessness.

Martha Skelton Jefferson (née Wayles) was the three lovely girls' mother. They were supposed to be seven siblings, but only Patsy, Polly, and Y/n survived in the end. Jane Jefferson died at the age of one, in 1775; Their brother—who didn't live long enough to be given a name—died 17 days after his birth, in 1777; And Lucy Elizabeth Jefferson I died at the age of five months, in 1881. 

The saddest death of all, though, was of Lucy Elizabeth Jefferson II, Y/n's twin sister. 

They were both born on the 8th of May, in 1782, and the family was incredibly happy. Their mother, Martha, had gotten frail by then and passed away that 6th of September. The whole family mourned her death. 

Polly was sent away to live with her aunt, Elizabeth Wayles Eppes, and Thomas Jefferson became distant and cold, often locking himself in his study, leaving a ten-year-old Patsy to take care of the newborns.

Two years later, Lucy grew ill with whooping cough. She died on the 13th of October, in 1884. Y/n still couldn't quite understand, by that age, what had happened. As her family held sorrow in their hearts, a two-year-old Y/n sat on her bed, waiting for her sister to wake up from her "nap", so they could play together.

"Uzy," she would call. "Uzy, ake uh!"

"Lucy's not going to wake up, Y/n/n," Patsy would tell her, teary-eyed.

"Uzy?" Y/n looked at her twelve-year-old sister. "No ake uh?"

"No." Patsy's voice cracked. "Come on. I'll tell you a story."

That's how it went every single night until Y/n was able to understand what had happened. Patsy would tell her stories, sing her songs, and play with her, to keep her little sister distracted. 

When Y/n was four, Polly finally came back home to France. The last time both girls had met, Y/n was only a baby, and Polly was four, so obviously, it was a huge event for both.

"My God!" exclaimed Polly. "Is that Y/n?"

The little girl nodded excitedly. "You're Polly, right?" she said, not being quite able to pronounce the "r", due to being four. "My sister?"

"Yes!" the eight-year-old cheered. "She remembers me!"

"I told her all about you," intervened Patsy. 

"Oh, thank you, Patsy! You've both made my day!"

Polly engulfed both of her sisters in a hug, and Y/n had never felt more complete in her life. Thomas Jefferson said, "Hey! I wanna hug too!" and soon all the Jeffersons were hugging. Y/n was happy, the Jeffersons were happy, they were a family again.

Thomas Jefferson and the Marquis de Lafayette shared a singularly extraordinary friendship. 

Jefferson first met Lafayette in 1781, yet, their friendship truly began when Jefferson, a newly-appointed diplomat, moved to Paris three years later, speaking little French and in need of a partner.

That wasn't the only extraordinary friendship between a Jefferson and a Lafayette, though. 

Anastasie de Lafayette and Polly Jefferson immediately hit it off from the moment they saw each other. Their friendship was stronger than ever, and even though Y/n was too young and naive to notice, Patsy wasn't. She saw the way her sister and the de Lafayette looked at each other, love, and passion in the young women's eyes. She noticed how sad Polly got when she in fact realized that she was supposed to love men, and Patsy witnessed the moment her little sister's heart broke. 

Patsy couldn't care less about society and what they thought. As long as her sisters were happy, that was enough.

Not only that, but another friend had blossomed along the way too. Y/n and Marie Antoinette were inseparable, even in pregnancy. When the twins and Marie Antoinette were born, both mothers knew it was the last one. The Lafayettes and Jeffersons comforted each other when the two women of the house died, along with Lucy's death. 

Y/n played the piano (taught by her sister, Polly), while Marie Antoinette played the violin. Soon enough, both girls were composing melodies for unwritten songs. They would play them to family members and friends, who would marvel not only at the music but too, at the talent coming from such young girls.

Patsy didn't mind being alone. She hated admitting it, but from all the pressure of being the oldest sister without a mother to help her out, being alone was calming. She would stay in many rooms, where people were chatting, discussing, and playing, and she would become invisible behind a canvas, painting all around her. 

The paintings were later displayed to the de Lafayettes and the Jeffersons, and Patsy would help her father hang them in his study. She thought poorly of the paintings, while her father thought his eldest may just be the next Leonardo da Vinci.

"Dad, stop!" Patsy would say, effortlessly. "Way too much-unwanted attention."

"My daughter's a genius!" Thomas Jefferson would shout in the streets. "I did something right!"

She would chuckle and hug her father so tight until he squealed. Those were the moments Patsy was happy, and luckily those moments were the ones she remembered most vividly.

In September of 1789, the Jeffersons moved back to the United States of America. 

Y/n and Marie Antoinette were extremely sad to let each other go. They cried and begged and even planned an escape plan, but nothing worked. Before the Jeffersons parted on their boat, Marie Antoinette and Y/n hugged for a longer time than ever before. For the last time in a long time.

Patsy pretended not to see her sister's first kiss on the side of the Château de Chavaniac (aka Lafayette's house), being stolen by none other than Anastasie de Lafayette. Patsy was horrified at first, women were supposed to love men, and vice versa, but her horror quickly faded after witnessing her younger sister's growing grin.

"I will miss you, Ana," Polly whispered as she pressed her forehead against Anastasie's.

"I will miss you too, my dearest, Maria," the de Lafayette whispered back, interlacing their fingers.

Patsy smiled, and her whole view of love shifted.

As the ship departed, the Jefferson sisters had one thought in mind.

"I will miss France."