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May 15, 2017
"Philip James!"
Jaclyn leaps up from the vanity, turning in time to spot Kate carefully pulling the fascinator she's supposed to be wearing from her son's mouth. How the fascinator got mixed up with his toys on the play mat in the corner of the master bedroom Jaclyn doesn't know.
Nor is she entirely excited to pin it into her hair now that there's a soggy spot with baby saliva slipping off it.
She gives PJ a disapproving look, but her almost one year old son has popped the next closest item into his mouth and gurgles, "I wuv you mwah." The blanket is soft under her tight clad knees as she drops down to his level. His helicopters and planes are spread out, and he chews on the ring his favorite red plane soars right into her cheek.
She kisses his dowdy blond hair, brushing it out from his eyes. "I love you too, buddy." At least this time it's a rubber ring on a rattle that's made to be in his mouth.
"It's still going in your hair," Kate sighs, plucking at the drool on the navy fascinator with a grimace. "I put too much thought into this outfit."
Jaclyn couldn't argue there. She was going on her first engagement with The Royal Air Force as the new Honorary Air Commandant of the Air Cadets. Kate went all out, making sure to use mostly items she already owned from the navy Catherine Walker coat that looks military inspired, to the boots and Diana's sapphire earrings. The only new accessory is the fascinator which Kate bought because it resembled the berets the cadets wore.
The Queen's RAF brooch is new too, but new to Jaclyn, and as Kate pins in the fascinator she pins the brooch on.
"Mummy!"
Jaclyn sights but turns to face her open door just in time for Amelia to burst in and run into her arms. Her hair is tightly coiled in too messy pigtails, and dirt is sprinkled across her dress and pressed into her cheeks. For a second Jaclyn can't connect her mind and body together, gaping at her four year old daughter while PJ runs over.
"What you do, sissy?"
"What happened?" Jaclyn asks, reaching out and stopping her son without turning to see him. The position twists her shoulder forward, holding it at an angle that sears in the socket.
"And where's Caroline?" As if being summoned Caroline pops out from behind the door, and if Jaclyn thought Mia was dirty than the other four year old is a disaster. Kate blanches, hands lingering in the air but stuck in a state of shock.
Caroline is a spitting image of Kate with a sweet and shy smile and long glossy brown hair, but her usually polished hair is tangled with chunks of dirt, and there are handprints stamped into her pink dress.
From where he's being restrained PJ cackles, hands smacking his chest, and Jaclyn has to grab Amelia again as she tries to dart for her brother. "Amelia, what happened?"
