The Crystal Kitten
“Three sisters by the window…”
“Mum, that’s just like you, isn’t it?”
Vera sighed. “Almost. Are you planning on sleeping at all tonight? I’ve still got work to do, and youll be nodding off at your own birthday party tomorrow.”
“Oh! Right, I’m sleeping now!” Little Polly burrowed under the duvet, but her button nose soon peaked back out. “Will there be balloons? And is Millie coming? And…”
Vera bundled her daughter up in the duvet and smothered her in kisses, laughing off her protests.
“Get some sleep! All shall be revealed tomorrow!”
She handed Polly her favourite teddy and left the room, switching on the nightlight. Polly still hated sleeping in the dark, so Vera always left a trail of light throughout the house.
Downstairs, Vera closed the kitchen door behind her and opened her laptop. Work awaited, but before starting, she sat quietly for a moment to gather her thoughts. Tomorrow was going to be busy, not just with Polly’s birthday celebrations to organise, which she always enjoyed, but because the whole family was coming. That part she looked forward to far less. Vera shook her head, flicked on the kettle, and reminded herself that it was best to tackle problems as they came. Now, the annual report deadline dominated all others. She set her tea by the laptop, pulled a folder of paperwork from her bag, and couldn’t help but be thankful she’d listened to her nan’s advice and become an accountant. Had she stubbornly chased her early dream of marine biology, life would be very differentno doubt more romantic, but with far less certainty. Vera allowed herself a brief smile, imagining the sea, then shook the daydream away. Just a little longer, and she and Polly would be off on holidaybarring a new disaster, of course. She exhaled, opened her eyes, and got to work.
Vera was born to Linda and Bernard Kirklanda child much anticipated and adored by all. Grandmas were euphoric, and her parents doted on the rosy-cheeked baby.
“You need a second straight away! Always better to have company,” the grandmothers bossed, and Linda paid heed.
So, Vera’s middle sister, Natalie, arrived soon after. The girls grew up as close companions and rivals, pushing each other to soar higher. Each wanted to better the other’s triumphs but always celebrated too. Linda worked hard to keep the peace, telling them that nobody in the world would ever be closer. She persuaded their headteacher to put them in the same class, and on the first day, they tapped each other’s new shoes under the desk. “I’m here. Right with you. Don’t be scared.” Really, Vera was the nervous one. She was always too responsible, while Natalie would happily ditch a half-done maths problem to count sparrows on the window ledge. Vera, meanwhile, wouldn’t leave the desk until every task was perfect.
“Vera! Where’s your maths notebook? Have you finished? Hand it over, then we can go out to play!”
“Do it yourself,” Vera snatched the folder back. “Otherwise Mrs Galbraith will separate us again, like last test. Want help with the topic?”
Natalie would sulk for a while, but not for long. Soon she’d be tugging at Vera’s sleeve, urging her to the park or to feed the ducks at the pond.
When Vera was in year six, their youngest sister arrivedLucy. Linda hadnt planned on a third child and greeted the news with weary resignation.
“Bernard, Im not a young girl any more, I cant start from scratch!”
“But you have two helpers, love. And what if its a boy this time? Imagine the surprise!”
The surprise never came. Little Lucy appeareddemanding, tempestuous, so unlike her two older sisters that Linda felt lost at first. But once she settled in, it was clear: Lucy became the centre of everything.
Linda quickly saw the difference between young motherhood and caring for a child later in life. Shed struggled for peace and quiet with her older girls, but now she poured her whole heart into Lucy, pushing aside anything and anyone who got in the wayher elder daughters included. The result was inevitable, though Linda never saw it: a wedge slipped between sisters.
That “wedge” was named Simon. He lived on the next street and meant nothing to the girls until Vera turned sixteen. Rushing home from athletics practice, she met Simon near her house.
“Vera, can I talk to you?” He fidgeted under the calm gaze of her grey eyes.
Vera considered him for a moment, then smiled softly. “I have to go. Mum’s expecting me. Six oclock, at the entrance.”
Simon beamed. “I like you!”
“I gathered,” she laugheda silvery bell under the lime treesbefore dashing off.
There was nobody to share these new feelings withthe first flicker of affection for a boy who’d been a stranger a moment before. Her first date, her first nervous, sweet kiss. At first, Vera kept quiet, but Natalie soon noticed something was up and pressed until Vera confessed all about Simon.
Even Natalie never quite understood what came over her after that. Why she became determined to catch Simons eye, though she didn’t even like him. Suddenly, she wanted nothing more than to take his attention from her sister.
Vera was confused for a while, but soon enough, she found them kissing by the swings and walked past without a word. She locked herself in her room, ignoring Lucys protests outside.
“Vera! What’s all this? Let Lucy in this instant!” Linda knocked firmly, but when Vera finally opened the door, Lindas heart stuttered. She gently pushed Lucy back and closed the door.
“Vera, darling, what happened? Please tell me.”
“It hurts, Mum,” Vera wrapped her arms around herself. “Why? Why would Natalie do that?”
In time, Linda pieced it together and hugged her eldest close. “My love, how can I help?”
But Vera stared dry-eyed out the window, unable to put her pain into words.
“Help me pack, Mum. I want to stay with Grandma for a while. I can’t be here right now.”
Natalie bounced through the door, pink-cheeked from the cold, and nearly ran straight into Vera and her suitcase.
“Where are you off to?”
Vera just brushed past. That day, she never looked back. Later, while wiping away tears, Linda gave Natalie a fierce slap.
“How could you?”
Natalie clutched her cheek and watched her mother disappear with Lucy, the slammed door rattling the chandelier pendants.
But sulking was never the Kirkland way. Within a week or two, Linda broke the silence with Natalie. It took Vera two years to forgive, and only their mothers serious illness drew the girls together again.
“Im sorry…” Natalie wrung her shaking hands in the hospital garden as they waited for the operation to finish.
“Whats past is past,” Vera replied, turning to her sister.
And Natalie understoodshe might be forgiven, but Vera would never forget.
Bravely, Natalie reached for Vera’s wrist, surprised her fingers didnt fail her. Vera didnt pull away, but nor did she respond. They sat side by side in silence until their father Bernard came to say all had gone well and it was now a waiting game.
The sisters divided the time between them, Vera visiting often to help care for their mother and watch over Lucy. Thats when Vera realised how wild and willful the youngest Kirkland had grown. Lucy recognised no authority, doing exactly as she pleased, and nothing their parents or sisters tried made any difference.
Linda eventually recovered, and life split the sisters apart again. Vera moved to Bristol to care for her paternal grandmother and stayed on after her passing, inheriting the spacious flat.
“Live your own life, love,” her gran had said. “And always trust your own judgement. Even family, when their interests are involved, can sometimes feel like strangers.”
Vera smiled wryly. As if she didnt know that already. But she didnt burden her gran with the details of her personal turmoil.
A few years later, Vera quietly married Andrew, inviting no one to the ceremony. It was a registry office affair, simple and sweet. Andrew had no family, and Vera didnt want her own there.
Married life was goodpeaceful and kind. Only one sadness lingered: they had no children, though both longed for one. Doctors could find nothing wrong.
“So, we’ll wait until a child comes to us,” Vera said, determined as ever.
But years went by, and nothing changed. They began considering adoption, but fate had another plan.
Vera and her family kept in touch only through the odd letter and birthday card. She and Andrew visited Linda and Bernard once or twice, but Andrew never fit in, and Vera nipped any attempt at interference in the bud.
“I chose him, and youll have to live with that, Mum.”
“Of course, dear, but still With your education and looks, you couldve done so much better…”
Vera could never make her mother see that Andrew was perfect for her. Despite Veras position as head accountant for a major company and Andrews job as a driver, there had never been questions about ‘who wore the trousers’. They were happy. Vera knew Andrew would stand by her through anythinghe nursed her through illness, helped at home uncomplainingly, didnt mind cooking tea or doing the washing-up.
“Youre lucky with your man,” Natalie would sigh, chasing her cheeky eldest boy around, her youngest on her hip. “Wish I had someone so helpful. I have to do everythingmine just complains that I didn’t tidy here or forgot to clean there…”
Vera ignored the moaning, knowing Natalie was quite content. The real trouble came with Lucy.
Lucy grew into a beauty, almost too striking. Her older sisters were lovely too, but next to Lucy, they faded.
“Our Lucys a real queen,” Linda beamed as her youngest slouched in the armchair, watching her older sisters set the table for their parents’ anniversary do. Lucy hated any family gathering. After the obligatory ten minutes and all the expected compliments, shed simply leave, no matter that her parents took offence. She didnt care.
After finishing school, Lucy decided her studying days were over.
“Im going to be a model!” she announced to her stunned parents, and set out with real enthusiasm.
She hadnt factored in that the work would be just as relentlessor morethan any other job. Lucy soon grew bored of the punishing routine. When the first businessman who crossed her path offered her a flat, she moved in without much thought. She knew perfectly well he had a family and children but wasn’t troubled by it. She batted off her mothers attempts to intervene.
“Dont meddle, or Ill cut you off entirely. I’ll live as I like!”
She wanted a great deal but got hardly anything. Trying to secure her lover, Lucy became pregnant but didn’t foresee that the fairy tale might end thereand it did.
Lucy stormed and threatened, even confronted the mans wife. But the woman just looked her up and down coolly.
“You’re hardly the first,” she sniffed. “Hes had and will have dozens like you. But I’m the wife. Hell never leave me.”
“So you’re certain then?” Lucy bristled. She felt nothing in common with this plain, pale woman. Where did her confidence come from? But it wasnt confidenceit was something else Lucy couldnt understand.
“Of course,” the woman said. “It baffles me how naive you can be. Think you’re the first to come to me with demands? Ha!”
“But Im having his child!”
“As many as you like. Hes got his legitimate children with meyours is your business. Have it if you want, but dont expect anything. Thats the legal view.”
That was the end of the conversation. Lucy raged round her flat, waiting for her lover, but when he arrived, it was a disaster.
“Youll have to deal with this yourself. Ill provide the flat and payments, but I wont be seeing you again. The child – your responsibility. If you bring it near my family, dont expect more. My words final.”
Lucy stared at the door, not comprehending how she, who always got her own way, could have ended up abandoned like this.
Caught up in rows and drama, Lucy barely noticed the time passing before Polly was born. From the moment Lucy came home from the hospital, Linda had to take over. Lucys mood swung wildlysometimes she smothered the baby, never letting anyone near except her mother. Other days shed vanish for days, leaving Bernard and Linda frantic. Her disappearing spells grew longer and longer, and Linda finally had no idea how to talk to her daughter or help her. Shed never known how. And when tragedy struckLucys wild party lifestyle ending in a crash one nightit tore Lindas life to pieces.
Linda retreated into grief, unable to care for Polly, and Bernard was left running between his broken wife and his lost granddaughter. Overwhelmed, he tried asking Natalie for help.
“I’ve enough on my plate, Dadcan’t take on another,” Natalie refused.
Bernard sighed and called Vera.
She needed no convincing. Without a single question, she took leave from work, moved in, and within a month, all paperwork was done and Polly was hers. Only Veras parents and Natalies family knew the trutheveryone else in Bristol thought Polly was Veras daughter. While Vera collected the paperwork, Andrew sold their flat and sped up the renovations on their new house.
“Andrew, youre wonderful! Everything just as I wanted.” Vera wandered through the rooms, thinking that life was finally starting anew for them all.
Little Polly brought light and laughter where it was most needed. Bright, lively and full of song, she filled their lives with meaning and happiness. Nine years flew by like one day.
During that time, Vera hardly saw her family. Holidays brought them together, but she always felt scrutinized. Linda, still lost after Lucys death, was impossible.
“Youve been trusted with her! Well see how you cope. You took her awaythink about your mother and live closer!”
Vera tried to let the barbs slide, feeling nothing but pity for her mum. As hard as it was, she knew Lindas grief would never be so deep for herself or Nataliebut for Lucy, it was unbearable.
Linda thawed a little with time, especially seeing so much of Lucy in Polly.
“Such a beauty, that child,” shed sigh, blinking away tears and giving Vera a stern look, “Dont hold her backlet her be happy!”
Vera would gently squeeze Andrews hand, stopping him from saying something sharp.
“Let it go,” shed plead with her eyes, and the storm would pass.
“Why, Vera? Wouldnt it be better to clear the air?” Andrew would ask.
“I feel sorry for Mum. All that anger comes from hurt.”
“But why should you have to put up with it?”
“Because Im the only one left here for her?”
“And what if she says something to Polly?”
“She wouldnt hurt Lucys childnot deliberately. Im sure.”
Vera was right. When it came to Polly, Linda was stone-faced and silent. She saw how happy Polly was, and though it hurt that Polly called Vera Mum, Linda said nothing, knowing the childs wellbeing must be protected.
Vera powered off the laptop and stretched. Past midnight! She sipped her cold tea, gazed out at the garden, and wished Andrew was home. His business trip couldnt have come at a worse time, but hed be back in the evening. He was bringing something special for Pollya surprise! He’d only laughed and refused to tell Vera what it was.
“Youll see! Youre both going to love it!”
Vera smiled, once again feeling so lucky to have him, and headed to bed.
“Mum! Happy birthday to me!” Polly bounced onto the bed and smothered sleepy Vera in kisses. “And to you! Congratulations on having me!”
“Thank you,” Vera laughed, hugging her daughter. “Happy birthday my darling girlwishing you health and happiness!”
Polly nestled in close and yawned into Veras shoulder. “Am I grown up now?”
“Of course! Ten already! But you know what?”
“What?”
“For me, youre still just a little bit little,” Vera winked, and Polly giggled.
“Let me stay little then! Everyone loves the little ones!”
“Who says no one loves you here?”
Vera tickled her daughter until Polly squealed with laughter.
“Right then, time for presents!” Vera pulled open the bedside drawer. “Ive got something for you.”
She handed Polly a tiny box.
“Be careful!”
Polly opened it slowly. “Mum…” Her eyes shone with delight. “Its the one, isnt it?”
“It is,” nodded Vera.
Polly gently lifted the little crystal kitten from the boxthe one that Bernard had given to Vera long ago.
“For my eldest girl… Was that what Granddad said?”
“Exactly.”
“Thank you! I wanted it so much. But, Mum, Im your only daughter…”
Vera smiled, and Polly searched her mothers face with wide eyes.
“Really?” she whispered. Vera nodded, and Polly leapt up, clutching the kitten. Shouting at the top of her voice, “Im going to be a big sister! Mum, who is it?”
“We’ll have to wait and see, love.”
Vera watched her daughter bounce around and felt tears prick her eyes. Theyd waited so many years for this.
Suddenly, Polly stopped and turned to Vera.
“This is the best present you could have given me!”
Vera tossed back the covers and stood.
“Ive got something else too.” She fetched a big box from the wardrobe.
The beautiful dress inside made Polly spin with joy. “Mum, when is everyone coming?”
Vera glanced at the clock and gasped. “Weve overslept! Quick, darlinglets get ready!”
They just managed. By noon, Pollysparkling in her new dresswas greeting guests with laughter that filled the house.
“How are things?” Linda asked wearily, settling into an armchair and fixing Vera with a searching look.
“Were doing great, Mum. Polly finished the school year with top marks. Same in music. Shes a joy, honestly.”
“Be grateful for hera completely unearned happiness.”
Vera sighed. Talking to her mum got harder every year. Fortunately, Natalie appeared with news about her own children, and Vera listened absently. It turned out Millie had finished top of her yearjust like Pollyand Victor had become the local amateur boxing champ.
Suddenly, Pollys frightened wail rang through the house, sending Vera running. She burst into the bedroom to find Polly sobbing her heart out, her pretty dress now covered in stains. Vera knelt and gathered her in her arms.
“Natalie! First aid kitquick, theres a bandage inside!”
Everyone rushed about in a panic except Millie, who sat sullenly in the corner, glaring at Polly.
“What happened, Polly?” Vera asked anxiously.
“Shes lying! Lying!” Polly sobbed.
“Who, sweetheart?”
After checking Pollys minor cutsnothing seriousVera bandaged her up and changed her dress. She carried her to the quiet of her bedroom and sat her on her lap.
“Will you tell me what happened?”
At first, Polly just buried her face in Veras chest. Then she lifted her grey eyesso like Vera’sfull of sadness, and began to speak…
