Lauren opened her eyes early Saturday morning while the room was still dark. The first two nights after seeing the picture she had woken with the sheets wrapped tightly around her body. It had taken her hours to fall asleep each night, and once she had, her dreams had caused her to toss and turn. They were more upsetting than any others she had ever remembered having in a long time.
She pushed the pillows up against the headboard and sat up. At least this morning she didn’t have to unwind the sheets, she hadn’t been thrashing around last night. Lauren looked around and saw Abigail wasn’t on her pillow but was sitting on the valet. She gently coaxed her friend over and idly stroked Abby’s soft fur; it was a calming and reassuring gesture.
Even though she hated to admit it, Lauren had been rattled to see that picture of herself and her mother. She had stood there staring at it. She just couldn’t pull herself away from that image.
“What the hell?” Then taking out all of the others from the shift robe, Lauren had arranged them on the bed, side by side. It was an array of mothers and daughters through the generations; eerie in their similarities. This is crazy, I can barely distinguish myself from any of these other girls. What the hell is going on? She then gathered them and put them into the shift robe, hoping that once out of sight, they would be out of mind.
But that image of Lauren and her mother stayed with her. She even knew when that picture had been taken and it brought back a memory that she had pushed deep inside herself:
It was Lauren’s twelfth birthday. They all had been laughing; enjoying a rare good family experience with ice cream and cake on the back patio.
“I know I’m too old for this now, but I wish …” Lauren closed her eyes, waited a few seconds and then blew out all the candles, except one.
“Lauren you ruined your wish, you didn’t get that last candle out!” Danielle laughed at her.
Lauren bent over and blew the lone flame out. “Did too … but it doesn’t matter anyway. Who really believes that ol’ tale anyway!” But she did want it to come true, she did want everyday to be just like this one. It had to come true.
Their mother interjected. “Girls, come on. Let’s not start up.” She cast a quick worried look at her husband, but he was busy digging up the ice cream and she visibly relaxed. “Honey, why don’t we get some pictures in before the girls get all messy?”
“Yeah, sure. We need to get this historic event down, her last year before she turns into a rotten teenager!” Conrad smiled and picked up his camera.
“Let’s get all of my girls together … that’s right … closer now. Danielle get those rabbit ears down from behind your sister’s head … Mom get in the middle.” SNAP … SNAP.
“Okay, now only the girls together … Lauren stop fidgeting … no faces now.” SNAP … SNAP.
“Mom and the Birthday Girl up next. You look really great.” SNAP …
Lauren looked at her father and started to shake. He had this quizzical look on his face as he stared at the camera, and then back at them. She could feel her mother tense as she put her arms protectively around her.
“What the hell?! This is it, isn’t it? This is what our entire marriage has been about the entire time!” Conrad’s face was a vivid red as he stared down his wife.
“No Conrad, please … the girls. We can talk about this, let’s go inside …”
“To hell with you, to hell with your family, to hell with everyone. I’m not going to go down this path, no, not me. You keep, this, this …” He threw the camera onto the picnic table where it slid into the cake. Conrad turned and stormed off; they heard the door slam and then the car screech out of the driveway.
YOU ARE READING
An Inheritance
General FictionLauren heads to Louisiana to attend to her grandmother's 'estate' ... she had never met her and in fact, none of her relatives had even known she had still been alive all of those years ... as Lauren unravels her grandmother's past, she begins to un...
