THE BRACELET

It was the morning after the engagement party and Emma could feel all the stress and fatigue of the last few days catch up with her.

She groaned, moaned and stretched before getting up.

It was a good thing that her parents had decided against staying back in Millbrooke and instead they had gone back to Chicago last night.

If either of the prim and proper Burns would have seen Emma still in her pyjamas at 9 in the morning they would have surely thrown a fit.

She went into the washroom and got about her usual morning routine.

While brushing her teeth, she wondered about all that she had heard last night about the childhood Alec, Jade, Julia all of them had spent here.

Everyone she had been introduced to had recollected stories about the absolutely notorious kids that Alec and Jade had been.

It sounded so much different than what her days growing up in London had been like.

She had attended tea parties with her mom, she had been dressed in perfect dresses and her mom had perfected her posture ever since she was 2.

As a kid she had never known what it was like to play pranks on her teachers, she had never had ice cream eating competitions.

No midnight snacks. No picnics at the bottom of the backyard.

She sighed. Her childhood had been controlled and thought out. Hell, her adulthood was also planned by her parents.

She splashed water on her face.

What was the use of thinking all this?

She showered and changed into a fresh pair of pants and a shirt.

Even her dressing sense was influenced by how her mom liked her to dress.

She went down with hopes of breakfast and a cup of tea. With all the stress from last night, she had ended up skipping dinner.

"Good morning, Emma!" Susan said cheerfully when she entered the kitchen.

As per her daily morning routine, Susan was making breakfast for all of them.

Even though it was almost 10 in the morning, except for Emma and Susan no one else was up as yet.

"Good morning, Susan!" Emma said and took a seat on one of the chairs near the kitchen island.

Susan flashed a smile at her, "What do you want for breakfast?"

"It's okay... You don't...." But before she could complete her refusal, her stomach gave a loud growl of hunger.

"I can hear." Laughed Susan, "I'm making eggs. Want some?"

"Sure." Laughed Emma, and she poured herself a glass of orange juice.

Susan scrambled some eggs and put them in front of her on a plate with a slice of toast.

"Thank you, Susan." Emma said and started gobbling the eggs.

Susan sat opposite her and took a sip of her coffee.

"Emma, I wanted to talk to you." She said.

Emma looked up, "Yes?"

"Well come with me to my room once you're done with breakfast."

Emma's curiosity was piqued she quickly finished her breakfast chasing the last bite with a large gulp of orange juice.

"In the Sheridan family, Sheridan is my maiden name, there had always been a tradition." Susan said as they walked together towards her room. "When a girl is going to become a bride, the eldest the mother or mother- in- law gives her a bracelet."

They entered the room. It was decorated beautifully in light colours of peach and beige. The room was neat and had loads of sunlight pouring in through the windows.

"A bracelet?" Emma asked.

"Yes a bracelet. A charm bracelet to be precise. You must have noticed me wearing mine." Susan went to her cupboard and took out a box from inside.

"Yes I did actually."

Emma took a seat on the edge if Susan's bed. She remembered the pretty bracelet on Susan's hand.

The charm bracelet she had been wearing had about 10 different charms on it and was jiggling while she worked.

Susan sat next to Emma and opened the box she had taken out of the cupboard, "So to keep along with the tradition I got something for you."

She took out a small box from inside the bigger one and handed it to Emma.

Emma opened it. There was a delicate, silver bracelet lying inside it. It shone against the blue velvet background.

"It's beautiful!" She gasped taking it out.

There was one small charm hanging from it. On closer inspection Emma noticed that it was a bird. It too was silver in colour with small blue gems instead of eyes.

"When my mom had given me my bracelet two days after I said yes to Jackson, it had only one charm. A dog."

Emma furrowed her eyebrows and gave a laugh.

"I know. It doesn't sound very sentimental and canines don't have as much emotional meaning as maybe a butterfly or a heart.... But mom used to always say it is necessary to be as faithful and loyal to whoever you have relationships with. Whether it's a relationship with a friend, spouse, family, everybody. So a dog."

Emma laughed, "That's sounds sensible."

She had a smile on her face but there was a terrible feeling of jealousy in her stomach.

She envied this relationship girls had with their mothers.

The little tips and lessons mothers gave their daughters. She had never been lucky enough to get any of those.

The only tips her mother had ever given her were about how she could get married to someone rich and get settled.

No special bracelets. No marital tips.

"I filled my bracelet up in the years to come. One charm for every significant event in my life." Susan continued, bringing Emma out of her thoughts. "When Julia was born it was a small doll. For Alec it was a little car. When Jackson died I put a J so he would always be close to me. I kept adding to it till now my bracelet is so clustered that you can't see one charm properly."

"It's your whole life in one charm bracelet." Emma said with a smile. She wished she could be like Susan. Spend her whole life and not regret a thing.

"Yes. Like a personal scrap book. Maybe that's what the Sheridan women wanted when they started the tradition."

Emma looked at the bracelet in her palm, "It's beautiful and I love it. It really means a lot to me."

And she meant it. Her own mother had never got something of this sort for her while Susan had just met her a few days back.

"You know, it took me quite some time to decide which charm to get for you. I decided to get you a bird yesterday morning."

"So that's where you went!" Exclaimed Emma.

"Yes. I went to get the bird charm. There's a simple reason behind it. A bird is the best way to remind yourself that sometimes freedom is necessary. Sometimes everyone needs to spread their wings and do what they want to do. What they feel like doing."

Emma knew why Susan was saying all this. She had been the only one who had noticed that Emma's behaviour changed around her parents.

"Should I put it on?" Susan said, breaking the silence which had followed her little speech.

Emma extended her hand so she could put it around her wrist.

The bracelet looked beautiful, slinking against her thin wrist.

"It looks really good." Emma said admiring the effect.

"I never thought my Alec would get married so soon. And I had thought that he would marry someone who was.... I don't know a little more like him..."

"Like Jade?" Emma interrupted the older lady.

Susan smiled, "Yes, I had always thought that they would end up together. But as long as he loves you and love him, how does it matter?"

Love?

The word had never been mentioned between Emma and Alec.

Emma cared about Alec and she knew that he cared about her too. But love...?

"And what if I say that we both are not in love with each other?"

If Susan was surprised by Emma's words she didn't let it show in her face. Her pretty face remained with a small smile on it, "Then I will say that it's better you both learn to love each other. Marriage is a big step and I atleast believe that love is necessary for it."

Emma thought about this. Maybe in a few years she would end up, not loving him, but atleast something which was pretty close to it.

But would Alec ever be able to fall in love with her?

"Life is very small Emma. And we're allowed to live it only once. It would be foolish of us to spend it without people who we really want to spend it with." Susan continued speaking, she held Emma's hand in hers. "In this life the best thing that you can do for yourself is spend it with the people who you love. I have spent my life. Alec, Julia, Amanda, Jade they have been there with me always. And of course Jackson. We had less time together. But it was good times."

Susan turned to look at the photo of her husband which was standing on her night table.

Emma wanted this.

She had never been a romantic person. Paula had never let her be one. But she wanted this in her life.

She wanted to spend her life with people who she loved and not regret a minute of it.

And Alec?

She wanted that for him too. And she knew marrying her would be the biggest mistake he could ever make.

She got up suddenly.

Surprised Susan also followed suit.

The first time when Emma had met Susan, she had been hugged. A very uncomfortable hug.

But this time when she initiated the hug she felt happy and relaxed.

"Thanks Susan. For everything." She said.

Susan placed a hand on Emma's cheek and smiled, "Don't thank me, honey! Just remember that you're a very sweet girl. You are!"

Emma smiled and ran out of her room she had to talk to Alec.

Before she could even take a step towards Alec's room her cell phone started ringing from it's place in her pocket.

She took it out and was surprised to see that the call was from her mother.

Instead of going in the direction of Alec's room she ducked into her room and answered the call.

"Hi mother." She said.

"Hello Emma. I just wanted to inform you that we are going to take the next flight back to London." Her mother's controlled voice came on.

"So fast?"

"Yes dear. Your father has some work pending. So we are leaving. How's everything over there?"

"Good.... Mother I wanted to ask you something."

Emma took a deep breathe. What she was going to say would take a lot of courage.

"Yes?"

"Mother.... Do you think it is necessary to be in love to get married and have a happy life?"

Emma anxiously waited for the outburst which was surely going to come and she was not disappointed.

"What is this about? Have you had a fight with Alexander? Give him the phone I will talk to him." Paula's voice sounded like she was speaking through gritted teeth.

"No mother. I didn't have a fight with Alec." Emma took another huge gulp of air, "It's just that... Just answer my question."

She heard her mother sigh into the speaker, "Well that is not what I believe. I didn't love your dad when we got married. And I had a happy life, didn't I?"

The life which her mother had lived was not the kind of life Emma wanted for herself.

Paula and Mark Burns were married only because the marriage certificate said so.

They slept in different bedrooms as soon as she was born. They never spent time together.

Her father was too busy with his work, whiskey and colleagues.

While her mom kept herself occupied with gossip, tea parties and shopping.

Neither disturbed or interfered in the other ones life.

"What is going on Emma?" Paula asked when her daughter didn't say anything.

"I think.... I think I'm going to break off this engagement."

"What?" Her mother almost screeched, "Have you gone mad?"

"No mother. Mother, I don't love him. And he.... He doesn't love me. What is the use of getting married?"

"Emmaline Maeve Burns, the use is that you can live a happy life. Imagine you can leave your job, you will be financially secure. You would do whatever you want to do."

"I love my job and about being financially secure, I don't need to married to be financially secure. I can take care of myself." Emma said, "And anyways I think Alec is in love with someone else."

Emma would not have believed what Paula next said if she as not heard it with her own ears.

"So?" Her mother asked.

"So? So I don't think we should get married. We both won't be happy. Why to trap him in a marriage he doesn't want to be in?" Emma sat on the bed.

Speaking to her mom was always infuriating. She just refused to understand.

"If he wants someone else, he can have a relationship with her. What is the need of breaking the engagement for that?"

Emma stood up. She couldn't believe her ears.

"Did you just say that? Really?" She asked in disbelief, "Is that the kind of life you want me to have mother?"

"Emma listen..."

But Emma didn't let her mother explain, "I don't want to listen. And I really don't care what you think. For the first time I'm going to take a decision for myself and not listen and agree to do every single thing you and father tell me to do. Bye."

She kept the phone before her mother could say anything more.

And in that moment she felt a sense of peace instead of the guilt she had expected.

Never had she ever done something like this before in her life.

Her conversations with her parents had been polite to the point of formal.

This was not the first time her mother had said something which had made her angry or hurt her. But this was the first time she had stood up to her.

The phone which she had dropped on the bed started ringing again. She looked at the screen and was not surprised to see that it was her mother calling.

She knew what the conversation would be like.

You're a disgrace on the Burns family.

Is this the way I taught you to speak to your parents?

We do so much for you and what do we get in exchange?

She didn't want to hear all these words which had been repeated over and over again every time she had done something wrong over the years.

She let the call go to voice mail and then switched off the mobile.

She needed time to talk to Alec and think.

She got out of the room looking for Alec.

But his room was empty. He was not there in the living room and not in the courtyard either.

She looked in the kitchen. Alec wasn't there but Steve stood with two cups of coffee in his hand.

"Good morning!" He said in his cheerful voice.

Emma smiled, "G'morning. Have you seen Alec anywhere?"

"No. Well not since he left." Steve replied.

"Left?"

"Yeah... He had some work at the construction site. He left about 20 minutes back."

When she had been talking to her mother.

"Is there a problem?" Steve asked noticing the frown on her face.

She shook her head, "No everything is fine. I just wanted to talk to him. I'll let you go. Julia must be waiting for her coffee."

Steve grinned and walked away with the coffee.

Maybe it was not such a bad thing that Alec was not at home. It would give her some time to think about what exactly did she want to do.

With this in her head, Emma made herself the cup of tea she had been dying for since morning and took it to her room.

.....................