Symphony

Murdered with Words

Two years later, Jack and Nikki had managed to keep their ship sailing with their four daughters. Life was better than it had ever been for the couple, Nikki had finally been offered a professorship in London while working at the Lyell Centre, close to home and closer to her children.

Poppy is now eight, Maddison is five, Freya is four and Orla is three. The family had just finished celebrating Orla's third birthday, but over the weekend Nikki had been showing signs of being run down, Jack himself had put this down to the extreme workload the Lyell suddenly had undertaken in the past two weeks.

Over the past few days, Nikki had not gotten any better with the symptoms gradually getting worse leading Nikki to believe something is seriously wrong with her. Jack had naturally booked her a doctors appointment to put his wife's mind at rest.

The morning of the appointment had come round and Nikki is currently rushed off her feet getting the four girls ready for school, she had fought hard to keep her dizzy spells at bay while preparing her four daughters for their day.
"God sake, Maddison pack it in... it's just a red bowl!" Nikki snaps at the five-year-old who is currently having a breakdown over the colour of her bowl changing as she usually eats from a blue cereal bowl each morning.

Over the past six months, Maddison's autism diagnosis had been confirmed and the school had action plans in place to help the young girl proceed with a somewhat normal life. This autism diagnosis had been a godsend to Jack and Nikki who now knew how to deal with their daughter instead of thinking she was just being difficult.

"Here, Maddie look!" Poppy speaks up as she gets down from the breakfast table with the blue bowl she had and carries it over to her younger sister. Placing it on the table she then takes the red bowl away and sits back in her place. Poppy is a Mini version of Nikki and had adopted a very mothering attitude with her younger sisters especially since they always had a nanny with them when Jack and Nikki were working awkward hours.

"Poppy, don't do that. You don't even like that cereal..." Nikki huffs as she turns around with Orla against her hip and sits her at the breakfast table also.
"It's okay Mummy, I want Maddie happy..." She responds cheerfully and grimaces at the cereal before her and then takes a spoon full.

"I told you not to do that! You're a silly girl for doing that... you won't eat all of that and Maddison will never learn," She hisses in a raised tone.

Poppy looks at her mother in shock, Nikki had never been that harsh with her in a very long time not since she broke one of Nikki's most favoured vases. Jack had heard Nikki yelling from upstairs and comes downstairs thinking he was going to have to break up two of the girls arguing or pulling each others hair but instead he is met by Nikki angrily glaring at Poppy, and Poppy staring back at her mother her eyes glazed over with tears ready to fall.

"What is going on?" Jack asks stepping into the kitchen.
"I've told Poppy time and time again not to let Maddison get her own way with the cereal bowls, but she never ever learns..." Nikki speaks her tone still harsh.

Jack looks across at Maddison happily eating from her blue bowl and smiles happily at her, "She is content... leave her be Nikki, You know as well as I do she has a meltdown if we break her routine," Jack responds.

Nikki frowns and turns her back as she turns the kettle back on, "You know you really need to take it easy Nikki. You haven't been one hundred percent recently..."
"And like I keep telling you, Jack... it's probably early onset menopause," Nikki explains her face still holding a frown.

"Fine... whatever you say. You turned forty and your moods have taken a dive," Jack smirks.
"Cheers Jack, remind me how old I am. Don't you worry, when you are forty in January I will keep constantly reminding you of that!" She says her tone still harsh.

"Chill out woman..." He huffs.
"Yeah chill out Mummy," Freya speaks up with a giggle in her tone.

Jack chuckles to himself at his daughter's response he couldn't help but agree with the four-year-old as she happily munches on her toast. Nikki's jaw drops she didn't know Freya had it in her to be so sassy at that age but then again Poppy and Maddison had a way with words too and had probably picked it up from them.
"Just go to your appointment, get whatever it is that is wrong with you sorted. Then we can live out our lives without you murdering one of us with your words."