Serendipity [By Elandri]

Belle D’ath’s grey eyes widened considerably, hardly daring to believe what her adopted mother had said. “You’re going to meet your mother tomorrow,” Lynn had told her with eyes sparkling in amusement, as if she was looking forward to Belle’s reaction. The phrase ran around in Belle’s mind like a loose car doing donuts… anyone could have said it and nobody would think much of it, but this… this… she didn’t think she would ever hear that phrase.


“H-how did you-?” was all Belle could say shakily. Her mind was like quicksand: information took a long while to sink in.


Rob, her adopted father, grinned boisterously. “Lynn has been corresponding with your mother, and they set up a meeting for you. I really have no clue how they met, and Lynn refuses to tell me for some reason or other.” Rob glanced at his wife, elbowing her playfully in the shoulder. “All I’ve been told is that it was serendipity that your mother lives near this area. She lives in the country, in the outskirts of the city, to be exact.”

Belle was ecstatic. She hadn’t seen her biological mother since she was two years old; she didn’t know what she looked like, she didn’t even know her name, and now all of a sudden she was meeting her.

It was true; her mother had surrendered her to an orphanage when she was scarcely two. This was after Elandri’s
husband, that is, Belle’s father, had died in a freak car accident, but Belle didn’t care. She didn’t even stop to consider that detail. All she wanted wasto at least have a friendly conversation with her and hopefully have a good relationship.


* * * * * * *

Sooner than she knew it, Belle was sitting in a booth in The Quick Brown Fox, a small café in the upper part of town, not far from her apartment block which she, Lynn and Rob called home. She was too nervous to even touch the glass of sweet orange juice presently in front of her, a complimentary serving for first-time customers in the shop. Belle put her hands on either side of her head, and checked her wristwatch for the fifteenth time that morning, tugging a long strand of her mousy brown hair all the while. It was eleven in the morning, the time that her mother was to arrive.

Belle almost jumped when a woman of around thirty-five entered the café with a jingle of the bell at the entrance. Belle gawked at this distinct beauty… her mother. Her mother. Lynn had told her Elandri was her mother’s name, and Belle thought it was beautiful.

“Belle?” Elandri said, more of a statement than a question, sitting down gracefully, opposite her daughter in the small booth. She had copper red hair, flowing down her back to her waist in artistic curls, lily white skin, and what Belle found the most striking: beautiful, bright emerald eyes. She had a slim figure, and wore a flowing peacock patterned skirt and a red top trimmed with lace. Belle stared in envy, wondering how she, mousy little Belle with boring brown hair, dull grey eyes and olive skin could have been born to such a beauty.

Belle managed to jerk her head into a nod, biting her lower lip apprehensively.

Elandri sighed inwardly, wondering just what she had gotten herself into by agreeing to this meeting. She’s a skittish little thing… Elandri thought less than tactfully.

A pregnant silence filled the air, each person examining the other intently. “Well?” Elandri said, breaking the pause. She tossed a wave of copper locks across her shoulder, looking hard at Belle. Belle felt like squirming under her mother’s sharp gaze, but resisted the urge and began to speak.


“Shouldn’t we get to know each other?”

Elandri gave a curt nod in reply, and Belle took this as license to begin.


“I’m Belle, my favourite colour is grey, my favourite food is onigiri which is a Japanese rice dish and my favourite flower is a tiger lily…” Belle trailed off. “What about you?” she asked her mother.


Elandri shrugged, cocking an eyebrow, reluctant to speak, but she hadn’t come all the way from the outskirts of the large town for nothing. “My favourite colour is green, I like to read and correspond with others in my
spare time, I like the scent of lavender and I’ll eat just about any food,” she offered.


They conversed about their lives, their hobbies, and just things in general for a time, with Belle bobbing her head up and down in a nod after most things that Elandri said, before offering her own thoughts. Belle smiled wistfully, glad that her mother seemed sufficiently interested in her, but this feeling died down after Elandri checked her wristwatch swiftly and opened her mouth to speak. “I should leave. I have other business to attend to and don’t want to be late,” the other woman said shortly. Belle had no time to protest before her mother promptly left without another word.

* * * * * * *

Belle sat on the small bed in her spacious room, eyes puffy and red from the tears she had shed. She leaned into Lynn while she stroked her adopted daughter’s hair, murmuring calming words to her while Belle’s tears turned to repressed hiccups.

When Belle had calmed down, she told Lynn the full story, how her mother had seemed indifferent, like she didn’t care about her daughter…


Lynn nodded, understanding evident in her eyes. “Shall I speak to your mother, Belle?” was what was suggested by Lynn, hoping she would be able to lift the girl’s spirits. Belle nodded, letting a hoarse ‘yes’ escape from her mouth slowly. Belle was still hopeful, despite the newly arisen problem, that she would be able to have a good relationship with her birth mother.

* * * * * * *

Two weeks later, Belle stared out of the large, rectangular window set in the back wall of her large, well furnished room, glassy eyed. She still hadn’t heard from either Lynn or her mother about the ordeal, and was beginning to give up on having just an average life: laughing, having fun and even fighting with her real mother like any thirteen-year-old girl would do. Anyone but me…Belle thought dryly.


Belle weighed up the two possible outcomes. Either my mother will change her mind and we’ll live happily ever after, just like the story books that I used to love so much… Belle thought, or my mother won’t change her mind and
forget about me for the rest of her life.


Belle bit her quivering lower lip, ready to burst into tears at the thought that had only just crossed her naïve mind. How would she deal with the loss of her mother after being so eager to meet her? How could she have been through this whole ordeal for nothing? Belle just couldn’t comprehend this. If it didn’t turn out the way she dreamed it being, what would happen then? Would she lock herself up in her room forever, brooding over the past, or would she just go back to the life she had always known?

Belle sighed deeply, off in another universe. She almost jumped as she was pulled back to reality by two sharp knocks on the closed wooden door leading to her room. This was unexpected: she didn’t let anyone except Lynn into her room, and
this was rarely since she preferred nobody hanging in her room and taking order out of her pristine, organised belongings. It was unlikely to be Lynn, since she was out, having left for work earlier that morning. “Come in,” she said grudgingly, not having the energy to protest. To Belle’s clear dismay, it was her mother, Elandri, who entered the room.

“Belle…” Elandri began, taking long strides to reach said person who wassprawled out on the bed and trying to arrange herself presentably for her unexpected guest. Belle cocked an eyebrow in reply, waiting for her mother to continue. “If you would like to make a new start, I have been persuaded to at least try by your madly insistent adopted mother.” Belle opened her mouth to speak, but Elandri held up a silencing hand. “I’m not promising anything, Belle, but I’ll try. That’s all that has been asked of me, and I don’t intend to do more unless we do develop something between us.”

Belle nodded weakly, slightly disappointed, but she decided that trying was enough for her at that stage, and was certainly better than nothing. An idea hit the young teen’s mind then and there, and a wide grin spread across
her face. “You don’t suppose we could finish our meeting at The Quick Brown Fox, then?”

“I suppose that we could,” came the blunt reply. Belle smiled, face beaming and Elandri laughed, something that she hadn’t done in some time.

Aw, thank you. Heh, I'm pretty proud of it, seeing I got a good mark for it and I enjoyed writing it.

I love it. Extremely good work El!

Aw, thank you to all who commented.

Welcome-you should write more soon.