» In the Dark, Private

[Olivia Pendergast]

Olivia Pendergast was very much in her element.

Planning events was an area in which the witch excelled like no other, and it had been some time since life had afforded her an opportunity to do so. First there was the birth—and loss—of her first grandchild, and her daughter’s reaction which had made social affairs something of a challenge. Then, when Regan had been married, he and the younger Mrs. Pendergast had decided on a small (miniscule, if one were to ask Olivia) affair, depriving her of the joys of planning a large wedding. Finally, Olivia could bear no more of her feelings of uselessness, and had searched the calendar with gusto in order to find a suitable occasion—and a date no already occupied, for while any such competition would be won, she refused to challenge her peers (if they could be called that) for attendees. From there, it had been an easy matter to secure the venue; though it was the Lestrange country home, Lucius used it little enough that his sisters might utilize it as they wished.

With an eye for detail that any bird of prey would have envied, the witch strolled—patrolled, really—throughout the garden, ensuring that each and every detail was as she wished it to be. She said the necessary hellos, a feat that was hardly a trial for her—her guest list was always a bit on the exclusive side, ensuring she seldom had to rub elbows with anyone to whom she was opposed—and such idle chitchat, on occasion, grew to full-fledged conversation. Though the latter did distract her from her supervision, it was generally welcome; anyone under her employ, Olivia knew, was well-trained in how to keep things the way she liked them.

It was on one of her rounds that she spotted her eldest daughter, the younger witch’s husband conspicuously absent from her side. It was not often, of late, that Olivia encountered Linaeve in public or in private, but even from some yards away the hostess could tell that something was decidedly different about the reluctant Mrs. Wilkinson’s bearing. A bit more briskly than the matter called for, Olivia approached her daughter, a hand resting lightly on the girl’s—for no matter how many years Lina saw, she would always be a girl in her mother’s mind—forearm as she tugged lightly, but firmly, to the side so as to assure her daughter’s undivided attention.

“Lina, my darling!” she greeted, her smile forced but not obviously so, her tone friendly but strained. Olivia had never liked remaining in the dark. “I am so glad to see you have decided to come; I was not sure that you would offer me a chance to see you today, and I am quite pleased to see you looking so...well.”

471 words • linaeve • mother/daughter...bonding?

like a stone template by null moon

[Linaeve Wilkinson]

Last year Lina would've enjoyed such a perfectly planned event. She would've taken mental notes of her mother's cleverness and supplanted them into her own events down the line. Things were very different last year. It was before Wesley was even a thought, before Jorah once again became a large part of her life again, and before Leander took on more hours and began avoiding his wife for the majority of the time. Linaeve visibly winced at how carelessly she thought of her son. Olivia was around here somewhere, Lina couldn't afford to be looking as she did a few moons ago-insane.

This was her first major event since before Wesley was born. Most people were still under the impression to walk away quickly if they saw her coming, not that Lina blamed them much-she would avoid herself too. But with the way she was now, and how much she felt the need to defend herself, Lina wished people would stop walking away when she approached.

The party was in full swing, by the time Lina became completely comfortable. Her stomach, loosened slightly from her previous pregnancy, was protected by a corset that had been tied together loosely. With Wesley she had always tied her corsets too tight, she wasn't taking any chances this time around-not with Jorah's baby. The thought of their unresolved issues pained her. She wanted to run off with him just as much, if not more than, he wanted to, but they couldn't. He had his family to protect, and no matter how much Lina resented her husband, at the end of the day he was her husband and she had to love him a little bit. Well, she didn't have to love him, in a way Lina wanted to love him.

Lina had just begun talking to Aoife when she felt a hand on her forearm dragging her away from the conversation. One glance down at the hand and she realized she had somehow angered her mother. As far as she knew, no one knew of the situation with Jorah, if they did no one commented on it. What could she have done?

Olivia pulled Lina into a secluded corner and Lina began to see her life ticking before her eyes as it always did whenever she was reprimanded by her parents. "Yes mother." She replied, her own voice strained but as light as she could keep it, "It is wonderful to see you as well." There were times in life when you lied about your emotions, and others when you told the truth. This situation called for a lie, lots and lots of lies.

[Olivia Pendergast]

Had her daughter’s companion been anyone outside of the family, Olivia might have hesitated before dragging her away—very briefly—but Aoife was another Mrs. Pendergast now, and Olivia had little doubt whatever it was could wait. She did, though, make a mental note to corner that daughter later; Regan’s news had caused joy to bloom within her, and she would not let the day come to a close without properly congratulating Aoife. That excitement, however, had to be temporarily shoved to the side as more important issues were on the table: her eldest daughter and the secrets she appeared to be hiding.

Firmly linking her arm with that of Linaeve, Olivia offered, “I trust you are enjoying yourself? Only I have not seen you happy in some time, but you do not appear particularly averse to current circumstances.” It was as close to motherly interest in the younger witch’s mental state that Olivia was likely to get; problems of a personal nature had never been much up her alley, and her daughter’s mere presence had been troubling to her of late. By all accounts, though, Linaeve had finally come to terms with her son’s death—at least, she had not heard report of Mrs. Wilkinson discussing the boy as if he still lived and breathed of late—and that was enough to ease Olivia’s discomfort around the eldest of her four daughters.

Truth be told, Olivia had never been one to tip-toe around anyone; even within society, her politeness had often been mixed with subtle cattiness so as to suit her personality. To not be harsh when her daughter was quickly falling off the rails had been a challenge too much even for the great Olivia Pendergast, and so she had chosen absence instead. With Lina apparently willing to re-emerge into society once more, however, this tactic had to be altered, and so the witch chose the path most familiar to her: heavy-handed parenting.

“That is not to say you look quite...yourself, mind,” Olivia quickly amended, stopping to look her daughter from head to toe. “In fact, I worry that you may have put on a deal of weight—I know that you have been unwell of late, dear, but that is really no reason to let yourself go so drastically. If anything, it is incentive to continue looking your best, so that others might see you have regained your, for lack of a better phrase, former glory.”

Olivia knew womanhood as well as anyone, and there were really only two reasons behind her daughter’s weight gain: she truly had let herself go, or she was once more with child. While under any other circumstances the latter would have sent Olivia into an unbecoming tizzy, that Linaeve would seek to hide it from her—if Olivia could notice, the younger woman must be well on her way indeed.

479 words • linaeve • mother/daughter...bonding?

like a stone template by null moon

[Linaeve Wilkinson]

Growing up with a mother like Olivia caused Linaeve to be more keen on her mother's subtle hints. Her mother had never once inquired of how Lina was feeling following Wesley's unavoidable death. There were never any letters, nor any visits. In Lina's mind, she was lucky enough to have said a few words in front of her mother at Christmas. So when Olivia began hinting at how Lina was 'feeling', she immediately felt as though she had to be on the defensive. What ought to have been a joyous conversation had the potential to become dangerous.

"You've arranged a lovely party, Mother" was all Lina had to say on the matter. She didn't want to get into her current state of mind (which was foggy at best) nor did she believe her mother truly cared. When you're born into the Lestrange-Pendergast family everything revolves around appearances, and if things worked out the way Lina sometimes dreamed them to she would no longer have to care for such things.

Shifting on her feet as the baby's small pitter patter of kicks began, Lina began to count the stones on the manor's wall just past her mother's head. Her mother was venomous, a snake even. And Lina herself was still harboring a deep secret. 'Haha Mother,' she thought maliciously, 'looks like Mommy's little daughter turned out to be quite the opposite'.

At her mother's comment about her weight gain, Lina's eyes quickly shifted from the wall and landed in Olivia's own eyes. Surely Olivia couldn't of known Lina's secret? Jorah and she, although they hadn't been too discreet about it, spoke in hushed voices, and Olivia was no where to be seen in either account. "Pregnancies cause you to gain weight mother. I thought you would know that. I didn't want to announce anything after what happened to Wes." Somehow, she managed to keep her voice level and her gaze unflinching, even though her nerves had been shot to hell.

[Olivia Pendergast]

Her suspicions were confirmed, though Linaeve’s tone—and earlier misfortunes—prevented Olivia from reacting with the joy that Regan’s announcement had blossomed within her. Linaeve was lucky to have made it this far in her pregnancy; when Olivia herself had been having problems birthing healthy children, it had taken years for the twins to come screaming into the world. That her daughter was bouncing back from the loss of her own child was quite astonishing to the witch, though the lack of pleasure in it that Lina seemed to be taking was somewhat worrying.

“It is one thing to announce it to the public, Linaeve,” she offered tersely, “and your hesitance in that regard is understandable. The Blacks, for example, kept their last child—God rest his young soul—from the public until his birth, and no one thought anything of it. Family, however, is not public—and after your...reaction to your last birth, it is in everyone’s best interests that we be kept aware of such developments.” This, in Olivia’s mind, was a fair request; it seemed as if her eldest daughter relied little on one Mr. Wilkinson, and so, at least with Wesley, it had been left to the Pendergasts to minimize the damage. Knowing that Lina was pregnant would allow them to ensure she, and her babe when the time came, received the utmost of care—as well as give them warning, should the worst happen once more.

241 words • linaeve • mother/daughter...bonding?

like a stone template by null moon

[Linaeve Wilkinson]

Linaeve scoffed and stifled a highly inappropriate laugh. "My reaction? You mean how I believed him to be alive? Everyone knows, Mother. Everyone knows your child went insane. That is a mark against your name, isn't it? Olivia Pendergast couldn't raise her children well enough, and so one of them went bonkers. Wesley is dead. I didn't want to have to explain to my family double over if it happened again." Perhaps Lina should've kept her voice down to a more reasonable-more socially acceptable-level. Perhaps she should've respected her mother more than she did. But Olivia, in Lina's mind, did not care for her children, only for the family name.

"By the way, Olivia. My pregnancy is not a 'development'. It's not a construction project to erect a new monument for the bloody minister. It is a deeply personal thing, something you of all people should be remotely capable of understanding."

[Olivia Pendergast]

God, but Linaeve vexed her! Though the girl’s actions had been ridiculous in the past, Olivia could not recall a time when her daughter’s tone—in public, no less!—was so downright disrespectful. If Olivia had ever had sense, she would have actually disobeyed her husband’s insistence that the younger of the twins be permitted to play quidditch; clearly she had been allowed too much freedom in her youth, a freedom not offered to any of Olivia’s younger daughters—daughters who did not insist upon embarrassing the family so.

“Olivia Pendergast had nothing to do with it,” the witch hissed angrily. “If anything, my presence should have been a beneficial one. Do not for one moment believe that I did not teach you how to behave in such instances, Linaeve.” Olivia would go no further on the subject; her own losses on that score were neither public nor something she cared to delve in to, but Lina certainly knew of them—and saw firsthand that Olivia herself had not plummeted into madness after such misfortune. That lunacy was Linaeve’s and Linaeve’s alone, and Olivia would not be held accountable.

It was precisely for that reason that she had stayed away after Wesley failed, to allow Lina to find her own footing without the added pressure of performing for her mother. Apparently, such pressure had been necessary, and Olivia would not make that mistake again.

“You will address me, Linaeve, as ‘Mother’ or ‘Mrs. Pendergast’. You are my daughter, not my equal; you presume too much familiarity if you will distance me in such a fashion. Your pregnancy is a development in your life; even your brother saw fit to inform me of his news, and Aoife has not even begun to show yet. It is not in the least personal; it is for the continuation of your line, the benefit of your family—both Pendergast, Lestrange, and Wilkinson. It is to be praised, celebrated, not kept secret like some sort of leprosy.”

332 words • linaeve • mother/daughter...bonding?

like a stone template by null moon

[Linaeve Wilkinson]

"I will do no such thing, Olivia. You were not a mother to me, nor do you deserve any of my respect. I do not care that you birthed me, if such an act commands for such respect, then I wish you have never conceived me." Lina knew she was over stepping her boundaries. There were some things you said, and others that should have stayed quiet. Telling her mother that she didn't respect her, well that was a horse of another color that Lina had never even seen before.

At the mention of her twin's name, Linaeve felt rage build up inside her. Regan had betrayed her all those months ago. He was the one who turned the family against her, yet he was the one who witnessed her anguish. He saw her pain, and yet he still turned his back on her. "Regan is not of my concern. He hasn't had the same troubles I have. He got to marry his childhood love, and I hope that they never have to feel the grief that I have felt. His news is nothing but joy. Mine is nothing but fear. We're different people."

Benefit of the family. What was 'the family' anyway? A name that held a certain group of people to a higher standard than others. A group of people who shunned others at the slightest sense of disagreement? Lina long ago discovered she had no desire to take part in any of the madness that came with 'the family'.

[Olivia Pendergast]

Her daughter’s words cut into her chest like a knife, though Olivia’s expression did not reveal it. For the first time, she realized how truly damaged Linaeve was, as if two good, whole people could not grow within a womb together and she had been the one with the deficit. A bigger person might have acknowledged some fault in this, in how their child turned out, but all Olivia Pendergast saw before her was the odd one out, the black sheep, the hateful, ungrateful little bitch among five other respectful, (mostly) well-behaved children. After all, one could not fail as a mother if only one child was so deeply marred, and Olivia was, frankly, aghast at how she was being treated.

“A mother’s role,” she remarked coolly, “is to give life to her children and ensure they have the tools they need to succeed in this world. I have given you life, I have given you tools, and you have chosen to discard both.” Olivia glanced away, to where various guests were chatting happily amongst themselves, the sky slated to darken soon. “I shall not waste my time on you any longer.” With that, the witch turned to return to her party, the smile on her face showing how exquisite an actress she truly was.

215 words • linaeve • mother/daughter...bonding?

like a stone template by null moon