The CBB :: View topic

#1: Angel Author: Lulu, Location: Staffordshire, UK

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 12:56 pm

Angel

There was a slight cough from the hallway. Joey, the only member of the household still awake, whirled around in shock, brandishing the door key.

“Who is it?”

Cecil, now standing in the doorway, coughed again. “It’s me, Mamma, it’s just me.”

“Cecil?” Jo chuckled to herself. “I’m sorry, chickadee. I was locking up; I didn’t expect anyone else to still be awake.” A fair enough statement, after all, it was nearly midnight.

“I didn’t realise you were here,” Cecil replied. “I didn’t mean to worry you, Mamma.”

“Mothers do worry, it goes with the territory. See all these grey hairs? One of you brats has put each and every one of these in my head!” Joey teased her fourth daughter, who laughed weakly.

“Surely some of them come from growing old?”

“Brat,” Joey laughed, administering a gentle pat on the head. “Why are you up, anyway?”

“Oh… I wondered if I might have a drink of water and some Disprin?” Cecil ventured.

“Oh, my girl. Is your throat bothering you again?” Joey asked, concerned. Cecil had been suffering with tonsillitis for nearly a week now – suffering far worse than Jo could remember with her other children. Then again, Cecil, at fourteen, was the last of her siblings to have it. Jo had considered the possibility of tonsillitis being like chickenpox, getting exponentially worse as one aged.

“A little. It’s just a dull ache, but it hurts to swallow, and hurts more when I’m lying down – and I can’t very well sleep standing up.”

“You could prop yourself up on more pillows,” Joey suggested, nevertheless heading to Jack’s study, where he kept the medicines locked away – originally away from little hands and mouths, now just out of habit.

“I could,” agreed Cecil. “If I had any more pillows, anyway. Geoff and Phil were having a pillow fight earlier and took all but one of mine.”

“A pillow fight?” Joey repeated, astounded. “How did I manage not to hear that, then?”

“I think you were out seeing Auntie Nancy and Kathie’s new house.” Cecil gulped down her tablet and water, wincing slightly.

“And that’ll teach me to go out and leave those two here, won’t it?” Jo steered her daughter out of the study, before pulling the door shut. “You sit on this comfy chair for a few moments, and I’ll finish locking up and tuck you in.”

“Mother, I’m fourteen!” Cecil protested weakly.

“You’re never too old for Mamma to tuck you into bed.” As Cecil still looked mutinous, Joey tried another tack. “Well, at least allow your worried, ageing mother to see you into bed and make sure that you’re okay.”

“All right, if you have to.”

“I have to.” Jo tucked a blanket around Cecil’s feet, and hurried off to finish locking the doors – and ground floor windows, because nowadays, crime was even touching the idyllic Platz.

Cecil was almost drowsing when her mother returned, but was alert enough to ask, “What about the front door?”

“Papa isn’t home yet. Do you want to lock him out?” Jo demanded.

“I don’t know. Do you?” Cecil asked.

Jo’s hand hovered over the lock and key for a moment, her eyes dancing, before she remembered that, no, a woman in her late forties should be above such pranks. “It’s tempting, but I shouldn’t.”

Cecil giggled infectiously. “He would rage, Mamma!”

“I know. That’s why it’s so tempting,” Joey confided. “But no more of this. Bed, my girl.” She led the way up the two flights of stairs to Cecil’s room, occasionally checking that she was still being followed. “Right, I’m going to get you another pillow. You get in and comfy.”

When Jo returned, Cecil was nestled down in her bed, lying on her side. Joey smiled, and motioned for her daughter to lift her head up for a moment so that she could slip the pillow underneath.

“It’s Felix’s, I’m afraid, not your own. I found him still awake, reading, and he had a spare. I confiscated his book, too, he can have it back tomorrow morning,” Jo added.

“Thank you, Mamma.” Cecil’s voice was quiet now, and her mother could tell that she was on the verge of sleep.

“I remember the day you were born, you know,” Jo said softly, the sight of her daughter almost asleep invoking memories of the beautiful baby she had been.

Cecil looked up at that.

“It was unusually cold for that time of year, and when Matey—Matron, that is came to visit me, she said that it was such a horrible day. I couldn’t have agreed less. It was a beautiful day… I got you.”

“Oh, Mamma, you’re getting sentimental.”

“It must be my old age,” Jo replied, smiling. “You were the most beautiful baby I’ve ever seen. I thought that you were an angel, come to me from Heaven.”

“How much medication did they give you?”

Jo paid no heed to her. “That’s why I named you Cecilia Marya, you know.” She paused. “After the nearest to an angel I’d ever known.”

“Oh…” Cecil’s eyes shone as her mother administered a kiss to her forehead.

“Sleep well, my angel. If the pain is bad, then come and find me.” Joey got to her feet, and slipped almost silently out of the room.

---

Constructive criticism is welcomed Smile

#2: Author: Eilidh, Location: Macclesfield

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 1:04 pm

How lovely. Thanks Lulu.

#3: Author: Le Petite Em, Location: Cheltenham

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 1:17 pm

Awww I love this LuLu- thanks very much!! Very Happy

#4: Author: Kat, Location: Swansea

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 1:21 pm

I don't have any criticism Lucy! I liked it because it's simple and very sweet Smile

Thank you for posting it!

#5: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 1:41 pm

Thank you Lulu - that was beautiful!

Liz

#6: Author: Alison H, Location: Manchester

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 1:51 pm

That was lovely, Lucy.

#7: Author: Identity Hunt, Location: UK

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 3:52 pm

This was absolutely delightful; thank you Smile

#8: Author: francesn, Location: away with the faeries

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 5:01 pm

Awwww that was so sweet - but one minor niggle. Surely Cecil was her 5th daughter, not her fourth?

Unless there's something you're not telling us Wink

#9: Author: Lulu, Location: Staffordshire, UK

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 5:04 pm

You got me there, I think I overlooked Felicity! Then again, everyone did keep saying how much F&F looked like Peggy as a baby, so maybe not ;)

Thank you!

#10: Author: Mia, Location: London

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 5:05 pm

That was lovely, such fantastic interaction! Thank you

#11: Author: Chair, Location: Rochester, Kent, England

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 5:26 pm

Thanks, Lulu. That was so lovely. It was really nice to see the relationship between Cecil and Joey. Thank you so much for writing it.

#12: Author: Lyanne, Location: Ipswich, England

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 7:06 pm

That was lovely.

#13: Author: Ally, Location: Jack Maynard's Dressing Room!!

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 7:07 pm

Thank you Lulu that was lovely Very Happy

#14: Author: Chalet_school_lover, Location: Gloucester

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 7:32 pm

Awwww that was really beautiful! I loved the connection between mother and daughter! Thank you for posting that! Very Happy

#15: Author: Lesley, Location: Allhallows, Kent

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 8:37 pm

That was lovely Lucy - thank you.

#16: Author: Cath V-P, Location: Newcastle NSW

Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2006 12:11 am

Thank you Lucy. That was beautifully balanced and very moving - especially the mention of seeing the baby that was in the child that now is. It's a moment that always knocks you off balance.

#17: Author: Rosy, Location: Gloucestershire-London-Aberystwyth

Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2006 10:14 am

Nice to see Joey actually connecting with her children. Thankyou, that was lovely in it's simplicity.

#18: Author: Josie, Location: London

Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2006 6:19 pm

Aww, how gorgeous! I really liked that.

Thanks Lulu. Very Happy

#19: Author: leahbelle, Location: Coventry

Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2006 8:53 am

This was lovely. Really nice to see Jo and Cecil communicating and interacting so well.

#20: Author: Jennie, Location: Cambridgeshire

Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2006 10:21 am

Thanks, Lulu.

#21: Author: Lulu, Location: Staffordshire, UK

Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2006 5:17 pm

I'm glad that you like it Smile

#22: Author: RuthY, Location: Anyone's guess

Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2006 12:46 pm

That was great, Thank you.

#23: Author: Gabrielle, Location: Near Paris, France

Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2006 7:43 pm

Lulu that was lovely. Very Happy

#24: Author: Kathy_S, Location: midwestern US

Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2006 7:58 pm

Thank you, Lulu. Beautiful scene! Very Happy

#25: Author: Kate, Location: Ireland

Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2006 8:22 pm

I really liked this, Lulu - it's beautiful. Thanks.

#26: angel Author: Tara, Location: Malvern, Worcestershire

Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2006 1:18 am

Lovely, Lulu. All the things the others have said, and I also liked the humour in Jo and Cecil's longing to lock Jack out - and the fact that Jo actually restrained herself!

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