I awoke to Claude's gentle touch on my shoulder. He slightly shook me awake. It took me a few moments for my eyes to adjust to the morning sun. Claude had my clothes already prepared and set out on the vanity for me when I woke. He kissed my forehead and helped me out of bed. I looked around, but Widow was nowhere in the room. I looked at Claude and asked, "Where is Widow?"
"Don't worry my love." He kissed my head and sat me down at the vanity. He gently brushed my hair, kissing the ends of my hair every time they came near his face. His touch was calming and soothing. He looked at me through the mirror before me, and said, "She woke up an hour ago and is now playing with the triplets in the garden before school. Like she does every morning."
Claude helped me dress, which seemed like a pretty hard job for him. It took us a good twenty minutes to lace up the back of my dress, for he felt the need to kiss up my back and neck as seductively as possibly. I smiled and would playfully slapped him so I could dress. Widow had chosen my clothes for that day, and how could say no to her on a day like today? She had picked a dark red dress for me with three quarter length sleeves. At the ends of my sleeves were off-white ruffles that matched the trimming of the skirt. It was a tighter corset then I was used to and made my breasts look about twice as large as they were. Claude kept telling me how he felt I needed to wear the dress more often. I rolled my eyes and walked into the garden to get my daughter.
When I came into view of the four, all of their mouths opened in awe. Did I really look that good? I approached them with Claude at my side. The triplets stood up and politely bowing to me before saying in unison, "Good morning Madam Faustus."
"Good morning, Timber, Thompson, Canterbury," I nodded to each of them with a polite smile. I noticed that they were all having breakfast picnic style in the garden. Widow was in a red dress that looked rather similar to my own, only hers didn't have a corset. The dress complimented her black hair and golden eyes. I sat down next to her and said, "Good morning sweetheart. I love your dress."
"Thanks," she giggled and said, "dad made it for me while you were in Italy. That way I could kinda see you. He said when I pin my hair up I could almost pass for your twin." She felt so proud of the comment and began explaining our similarities. It was nice to see that she still loved me, even though I was hardly home. We ate our breakfast and loaded into a carriage to bring us to school. Claude was the driver for today, which made me extremely happy.
We pulled up to a very ordinary school house. Claude kissed us both good-bye and left us alone. There were four rooms in the school house. One room was for middle and high school, one was for kindergarten and down, one was the cafeteria, and then there was the elementary room where we were headed for. There were kids from ages of five to eleven. The teacher came and greeted us with a smile. She took my hand and said, "Hello you must be mrs Faustus. I am miss Patty, it's nice to meet you."
"The pleasure is all mine, miss Patty." We shook hands and I took my seat next to Widow's desk. There were fathers, uncles, aunts, and mothers with their students. I only recognized a few people from some of my master's old balls.
Widow and I were making paper flowers during arts and crafts when a little boy came up to us. He had longer blonde hair that was pulled up into a ponytail with light blue ribbon. He wore light blue trousers and a simple brown day coat. He came up to widow and began pulling her hair out of the bun I had put in her hair. He was saying, "Where is your special person Widow? I thought your mommy was going to come and show us how we should learn our places."
"Stop it Keith. That hurts." She yelled as she tried to get her hair back. As the boy kept pulling more little boys started crowding around widow.
With hesitation I grabbed his wrist forcefully and pushed a pressure point that made him release my baby girl. He yelped in pain and I tossed his hand onto the floor. He fell backwards and looked up at me in horror. I smiled an evil smile and said, "I am her mother." I ran a finger across his cheek and asked in a maniacal tone, "Are you the boy who keeps bullying my Widow?"
