I've had no time for my social media in the past few years. I apologise! Between my job, children, and partner, I've hardly had time for anything.
J and I are in slight disagreement at the moment. He wants another baby, whereas I'm happy to stick with two children. Balancing the accounts is sure to turn my beautiful hair grey soon as it is, without the stress of having another child. Besides, he doesn't have to carry it in his stomach for nine months, as I recently snapped at him.
It's not that I don't love my children. I do, of course. It's that I can't manage having a toddler in the house while pregnant, and I'm happy with the amount of children we have.
Thora is a sweet-natured little girl, and we redecorated her nursery recently to be slightly prettier, in an old fashioned style. It reminds me of my old nursery, in fact, so I like to spend time there with my baby girl.
But while Tempest loves her sister, this kicked off a bout of jealousy. She said her room was too babyish, and demanded we redecorate it. This meant she had to sleep in with Thora while we did so, in time for her birthday.
I wouldn't have done it if J hadn't agreed for the both of us. He's being too reckless with money recently, and I can't talk to him about it because I don't have time, as mentioned above. I keep getting a stress headache, and an ache in the back of my neck.
Tempest's new room is nice enough, but it seems less girly than she used to like. I suppose she's developing a more sophisticated taste, but I look back wistfully to when she used to prefer bunnies and Kittencat - who has now been stuffed into a drawer in Thora's room. Thora doesn't play with her.
Tempest has even changed the way she dresses, to match the girls at school. They still don't hang out with her much, but she just blusters about it being the fashion. It's neat, and nice, but it's not the way she usually dresses. She even styles her hair differently.
Thankfully, one thing that hasn't changed is her love for her little sister. She'll spend as much time with her as she can, even if she no longer spends as much time as she did with me and J.
J has been spending the spare time he gets painting, and fashioned a beautiful portrait of me to hang up in the tiny room I've set up to the side of our bedroom.
When he handed it to me, you could have knocked me over with a feather.
"You told me that all the other people in your family had portrait rooms, right?" he said, smiling in that charming way he's always managed. "Will this do?"
I think he must have referenced a picture from his phone, but it's gorgeous. I kissed him, and forgot (mostly) about the money troubles he's brought on our accounts.
And yesterday, my world lost that peaceful balance that the portrait briefly brought. A letter, addressed to Tempest, arrived in the mail.
But I was the one to check the mailbox, and I will always recognise my mother's handwriting.
Dear Tempest,
I know you have most likely never heard of me; or if you have heard snippets, they won't be in a favourable light. However, I recently found out about you via a relative of yours - one Janine Huntington, who moves in the same circles as I, and who asked if I knew of another Zodiac family, given that her cousin's partner was also named Zodiac, with a young girl named Tempest. As your mother is the Aries of the Cycle, and my husband is the Ophiuchus, I knew that you must be its Taurus. And thus -
Dearest, I am your grandmother. Your mother, Astrid, left our house a long time ago - a decade, in fact - and I didn't think she would be back in contact. She never told us about you, and I swear that if she had I would have rescued you from the dreadful, dreadful house I have been told about. I am so sorry that I have not been able to bring you up as properly as your mother ought to have done, and that she has not used her wits to take a well-paying job. The rumours insist it's little more than a shack!
Dearest, write to me using the return address. You have only to say the word, and I will be there.
Oriane Zodiac (formerly Summersdream)
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