CHAPTER SIXTEEN

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For several moments, Margaret appeared at a loss for words

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For several moments, Margaret appeared at a loss for words. It wasn't the first time that Eleanor had come to her requesting information regarding her father, she had done so many times when she was much younger. However, back then, Margaret had merely brushed her off with the excuse that she was too young to discuss everything. Clearly, she couldn't use that excuse anymore, if Eleanor was already looking at her own career path, surely, she was old enough for the discussion of her father.

"Please, Mum," Eleanor begged quietly, "I just want to know something about him. I heard you discuss him with Grandma and Grandpa years ago. Even if he's not in my life, he's still a part of me. I'd like to know something...anything about him."

Setting her mug down, Margaret turned her body to face Eleanor, her nerves more than evident on her face as she began rubbing her hands together. She had always dreaded the moment where she would have to explain that there wasn't much to talk about Eleanor's father because he had practically been a stranger.

"I don't know what to say, Eleanor," she said softly. "I could tell you how he looked. He was tall, lean, very handsome in my opinion. His hair was a bit messy when we met, looked a bit tired sometimes, but it worked well for him. And he had this smile, it was contagious in a way. Whenever he smiled, I found myself smiling, and I'm so happy to say that you have his smile."

"I do?"

"Oh yes," Margaret nodded her head, "you take after him in a lot of ways. You tend to laugh like him, it's a soft laugh and you don't just hear it, you can see it. The way the laugh carries to your eyes. That's another thing, you have his eyes. Not the eye colour, but the way that little spark appears when you're excited about something. You look so much like him, Eleanor, I used to laugh to myself because it was like you didn't take after me in any way. You even talk like him sometimes."

Eleanor leaned closer into her mother for warmth before resting her head on Margaret's shoulder.

"I wish I could have met him. The way you talk about him and me, it sounds like we would have gotten along."

"I wished the same thing, but sometimes, sweetheart, things work out in ways we don't understand but for the better."

She gently stroked Eleanor's hair as the two fell quiet for a few moments, but just when Margaret thought the conversation had come to an end, Eleanor wasn't quite finished.

"Why do you think he left?" she questioned further. "Did you two have a fight or something? Did he leave because he found out you were pregnant with me?"

"I don't know why he left," Margaret admitted, "it certainly wasn't because of you and we didn't fight. He was just here one day and gone the next. That was it. No contact afterwards, nothing."

"Did you love him?"

Margaret shook her head. "No, I liked him quite a bit during the time we spent together. But I didn't have nearly enough time to love him. But I do love the person he left me with. Even though I haven't been the best mother to you, Ellie, I promise I'm going to try harder to be better. I know so much time has passed but I want to be there for you in the way that you need me to."

Tightly Knit ⟶ Fred WeasleyWhere stories live. Discover now