Prompt by thiswaytoomuchfame "Have them celebrate Mother's Day/ Father's Day (I feel like it would be cute bc they haven't had a real mom or dad for 5 years)"
Say less sis...
(Keep in mind that this was supposed to be posted before the latest chapter of the main story😬)
Chloe was glad that nobody was in her room right now. She didn't want anybody to see the warm tears rolling down her face.
Mother's Day. It could have been so much different.
She could've been with her birth mother, could have been talking to her, seeing her own eyes reflected in the woman's face. She wanted to see her bright smile. The smile she would only ever see again in pictures. She wanted to hear her laugh. Oh, how she desperately wanted to hear her laugh. She no longer heard her mother's screams. Screams that she used to hear in her dreams. Screams that, on a day like this, she was grateful to be free from the ringing in her ears it used to leave. This should be a happy day. Not some day spent in bed mourning what was and what will never be again.
Her sobs filled up the silence of her room. Her tears felt like they were falling directly from her heart. They shook her whole body and it seemed as if the tears would never stop, but there was something therapeutic in their endlessness. It was as if she was washing away some of the toxic thoughts that wouldn't allow her to move on. Chloe thought about how ungrateful she was being. She might not have had her birth mother but she wasn't a motherless child. Not anymore at least. She had a family. With them, she felt safe and happy and loved. That's what a family was, right? A group of people who loved you so much, and you loved them back with such intensity that it didn't matter if you were related by blood or not, because your hearts were already connected?
Okay you've planned this day out for over a week. Why are you acting like this, she asked herself. Chloe stopped her useless crying and sat up in bed just to flop back down and stare at the ceiling. She realized there was a void. There was still a little opening for her birth parents, because that small, stupid, naive part of her heart still believed she could see them again. That part of her heart couldn't be convinced by all the logic in the world that her birth parents would never be coming back. So her heart still left that opening, in hopes that one day, Lisa and Boris Bailey would have room inside of her, and she would be whole again. Because of that part of her heart, she would never be whole, because there would always be that emptiness that could never be filled. And she hated herself for it.
—
Halle felt so stupid with these tears rolling down her face, because she wasn't supposed to cry. She was supposed to be mature and act her age. Shawn and Bey would be so ashamed of her. Maybe it would've been acceptable in her early childhood, to feel so low and to want to bury her head in her mother's shoulder. And by mother she meant the still sleeping blonde woman down the hall.
Beyoncé meant mom. She couldn't even picture anyone else when she heard the word.
She thought back to the first time she could remember someone asking her who her mother was. She and Chloe had been at the park by themselves and Halle had been playing a little too rough with some of the neighborhood kids and took a nasty fall. It was a woman. Older, with graying hair who had picked up a crying Halle and asked. Her eyes grew wide from her answer.
"Um um my my mom?" She said it as a question.
The woman's frown was so big the eight year old couldn't pull her eyes away from the deep set wrinkles that covered her face.
"The woman who takes care of you?"
"My sister takes care of me," Halle pointed to the swing Chloe sat on as she stared at her loose shoelaces that barely grazed the wood chips. The woman's face became uglier. Maybe that wasn't what she meant. At the time, Halle hadn't had a mother in a year and as for a father? Well, he was too depressed to get out of bed and brush his teeth sometimes. Chloe was her go to for pretty much everything.
"That's a child. A mother births you, they protect you, pick you up when you fall..." The lady had pushed on. She kept getting louder and her wrinkles grew tighter as she spoke. At least that's how Halle remembered it.
She wasn't stupid, of course she knew what a mother was, but she didn't know how to answer the question as it related to her. She didn't know how or didn't want to say that she no longer had one. She simply stared up at the woman.
"Bless your heart," the graying woman tapped her shoulder with a look of pity. The woman took a seat on a nearby bench and looked over to the slides to watch her grandchildren, leaving a confused Halle standing and staring.
Halle remembered feeling so deprived of love that she went home that day and made up an imaginary mother. She still remembered holding her own hand, when she was scared, pretending it was her mother's hand reaching down to reassure her. When she was sad, she would sit in her room and stroke her own hair, pretending it was her mother wanting to comfort her. When she was happy, she would wrap her arms around herself in a hug, pretending it was her mother's embrace.
Chloe told her people would come and put her in the crazy house if she continued, but the child didn't care. When she was months older and placed into her foster home, the blatant fact that she was indeed motherless had finally been realized, and she grew more solemn and sad. It was times like those that she so desperately wanted her mother's care.
That's why she was crying. The guilt. Guilt from her forgetfulness. Guilt from actually forgetting she had a mother before Beyoncé. A mother who loved her, cherished her. How could she forget that?
The tears came down faster. No matter how many times Halle called herself irrational, weak, stupid, and immature, the one fact didn't change:
She wanted her mommy to hold her hand through this.
Then, like a miracle, her hand was squeezed. She looked up to see the worried eyes of Chloe. Her hand was reached out, grasping hers.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
She buried her face in her sister's shoulder, letting the tears flow freely, unbridled. "I didn't mean to forget her." She choked, holding back another sob.
"It's okay," Chloe soothed, knowing exactly what she meant.
Halle finally pulled away, hiccuping. "I feel bad for calling mama 'birth mother' because I know she was more than that but it's like. Sometimes those memories fade and only show up when they want to and I can only see mommy as our mother, you know?"
Chloe sat on the bed and threw her arm over her sister's shoulder. Halle welcomed the tight embrace. "I mean I can't relate with the whole forgetting thing but I can understand. I can empathize with you. Bey, she's...We've had this conversation before." She really didn't know what to say. She had her own problems with this day.
Just then, Halle's door was flung open revealing Blue clad in green dinosaur pajamas and matching slippers. "Come on, we have to hurry before mommy wakes up!" She exclaimed.
"Blue, how many times do I have to tell you to knock before just going in somebody room?" Shawn sidled up at his daughter's side.
Blue's face contorted in confusion. "It's Mother's Day," she deadpanned.
"That don't mean nothing," Shawn shook his head before turning his attention to Chloe and Halle. "Y'all ready to get started?" He asked.
Halle felt another pang of guilt for actually being excited to get started on today's festivities. Still, she hopped from her bed and rushed towards the door. "Let's go!"
Chloe peeled herself from the bed and followed behind everyone else down the hall.
—
Shawn pointed to some formless blobs, browning in the pan. "Lil Bit I think those two done," he guessed, not quite sure what peanut butter and chick-pea flour pancakes should look like when done. They seemed sufficiently cooked through, and judging from Blue's willingness to sear her own fingers to try and see what the delightful smell was, not entirely unappetizing.
"Get back Lefty," he warned as he turned the little girl in his arms away from the stove. "They gotta come out and cool down first."
"I wanted to take them out!" Blue whined.
"I know I keep asking, but do you honestly think she'll like this?" Chloe asked, referring to the fuss they were making over a holiday she had long ago stopped thinking about.
"Dang y'all cooking skills that bad?" Shawn joked, nudging his daughter on the arm, wanting to lighten her mood a bit.
Halle removed the first pancake from the pan and placed it on a plate. "Her cooking maybe...not mine," she quipped.
"I'm serious, guys," Chloe responded, anxiety etched on her face. "What if she doesn't like it?"
Shawn moved in closer and put his free hand on his daughter's shoulder. He had always admired Chloe's strength and capacity for compassion, but he also understood the reasons for her sullen demeanor today. He had picked up on a subtle but growing sense of unease in her about a week ago after they sat and discussed today's plans.
"Of all the things you should worry about, I don't think this is one," Shawn said, earnestly. "Your mama would like anything y'all give her because it came from the ones she loves most. I know this day is difficult for you two with your birth mom being gone, but Sweetpea you know we're celebrating both of them today. There's no need to feel guilty. You just one of the lucky ones who got the chance to have two loving mothers. Plus with everything Bey does for all of us, I think letting her know how much we love her back is a good thing."
"Yeah, you're right, I guess." Chloe sighed. It wasn't that she was second guessing celebrating Bey for Mother's Day. She was just so damn nervous. "I'm just nervous," she admitted.
Halle scooped up the rest of the finished pancakes onto the ever burgeoning stack and added some jarred peaches on the side. "You're the one who thought of it, remember?" She asked, as she recalled her sister awkwardly bringing up the fact that Mother's Day was only a few days away.
"Trust your gut, Chlo. You right more often than you give yourself credit for." Shawn said.
Blue wiggled her way out of her dad's arms and made her way over to where Halle was dressing the pancakes.
"I wanna help!" She bounced on her toes.
Halle handed her the fruit and let her go to town with the remaining toppings. Shawn and Chloe watched as they put the finishing touches on the tray, adding the bouquet of flowers Shawn had ordered to the house and the hand-made card from Blue.
Chloe took a small piece off of one of the extra pancakes and said, "I just hope these aren't nasty," before popping it into her mouth. Seeing Blue's face light up at the prospect of finally getting to eat one, the fifteen year old grabbed another piece, smiled, and gave it to her sister. "They're actually pretty good, right Blue?"
The five year old nodded excitedly.
"Why are y'all eating it? They're for mommy not y'all," Halle sassed.
Chloe turned to her sister. "Girl, you the last to talk, miss let me lick the bowl. Plus it was a piece. Bey not about to eat all of this."
Sensing an argument between the two brewing, Shawn cut in. "Aight aight, let's get this gourmet breakfast up to sleepy head."
"I'll carry it!" Blue volunteered.
"No I'll do it," Halle retorted.
Chloe rolled her eyes.
"I got it," Shawn lifted the tray and carefully headed towards the elevator with the children in tow.
—
"Girl I don't know, probably downstairs burning the house down," Beyoncé spoke into her phone.
She had been on FaceTime with both of her sisters as they discussed their plans for the day. After waking up to an empty bed and nobody screaming their heads off about something as simple as the sun shining too bright in the sky, Bey figured they were all downstairs making her breakfast.
She jumped at the sound of faint laughter and multiple footsteps approaching. "Hold on hold on, Imma call y'all back," she whispered before hanging up.
Despite their best intentions, the Carter quartet failed in their attempt at being stealth. After hearing Shawn shushing the kids outside the bedroom door, she quickly returned to her previous position under the covers. When the door opened, she prepared herself to feign surprise. But when they approached her side of the bed, and she opened her eyes to see a beautifully prepared breakfast tray, genuine astonishment emanated from her face, which in turn elicited huge grins from her family.
"Happy Mother's Day!" They exclaimed.
Bey sat up, overjoyed to see the four people she loved more than anyone so happy.
"Wow! What's all this?" she asked.
"We made you breakfast Mommy!" Blue beamed.
Bey pulled her covers away and sat at the edge of the bed. "Is this all for me?"
"Yup but I'll help you finish if it's too much," Halle smiled, showing off her dimples.
"I bet," Bey chuckled.
Shawn looked encouragingly at Chloe, who still hesitated for a moment. "Happy Mother's Day," she said nervously, placing the tray on the nightstand.
He suggested that Chloe be the one to present the food since she was the oldest.
The woman was rendered speechless. She gazed into Chloe's sweet face and instantly felt tears welling up and a lump form in her throat. While she looked over to Blue and Halle, and then downward to collect her thoughts, Chloe stepped forward embracing her mother in a lengthy hug. The type that made her heart feel warm.
"Thank you baby!" Bey said, kissing her daughter's forehead.
Both Blue and Halle joined in on the embrace. The blonde closed her eyes reveling in the moment. These were the moments she lived for. These three were part of the reason she worked so hard. She wanted to give them someone to look up to. She wanted her kids to look at her and know that their dreams were just an arms reach away. Whatever they wanted to do. All of the working mom guilt slipped away at this moment. Shawn stood watching with a wide smile on his face before he decided to join the family hug.
"I love y'all so much!" She cooed once they pulled away.
"Eat." Blue commanded, pointing to the tray.
"Yes ma'am!" Bey replied, lifting the tray from the nightstand.
All three girls sat on the bed watching as their mother first opened Blue's card.
"Ohh this is so pretty Baba," Bey ran her hand over the front of the card. She took in the myriad of bright yellow coils that nearly took over the entire page. "Is this supposed to be my hair?" She chuckled.
"Mhm," Blue nodded. "It's allll the way to the floor like rapunzel."
Chloe smiled while Halle looked over Bey's shoulder, eyes wide with wonder as if she had never seen the card before. The two younger Carter girls were in Blue's playroom when the five year old created her masterpiece. She even had a photo of her mother on the side for reference when filling in the features. Halle assisted with the words inside the card after Blue declared that she was finished.
"Must've had that virgin Remy in," Chloe joked, earning a snicker from Halle.
"You gone come for me on my special day," Bey nudged her shoulder.
"I'm just saying," Chloe giggled, running her fingers through her mom's soft curls. "It's big but it ain't past your feet."
"Imma let it slide," Beyoncé smiled, finally opening the card. There was a pink handprint in the middle. The fingers were decorated like flowers. "If mommies were flowers, I'd pick you. Thanks for being the best mom ever." She read aloud. "Awwwee Thank you Baba," Bey pulled Blue in for another hug and kiss.
"That look just like you. She even got your different eyebrows," Shawn plopped on the bed making everyone shift to make room for the brobdingnagian.
Chloe eyed the card once more and looked to her father, "She's gonna be an artist."
"I am an artist," Blue corrected.
Bey shook her head and finally started to cut into her pancakes. Chloe held her breath as the woman lifted her fork to mouth, wanting everything to be perfect. She didn't spend a week planning everything for nothing. The blonde took a bite unaware of the unsure yet intense eyes from her oldest on her.
"Mommy do you like it? I helped Chloe and Halle make it." Blue said proudly.
"It's delicious sweetie. You know, your sisters wasn't always this good of a cook." she said, looking at both teens with a teasing smile.
"Hey, no need to hate on the chef. That was one batch of cookies and Chloe was supposed to tell me when the timer went off." Halle replied.
Chloe blushed. "The timer never went off." She said sticking to her story from a few weeks ago. In reality she was busy on her phone and forgot they ever made cookies.
"Y'all want some?" Bey asked everyone.
Shawn shook his head wanting his wife to enjoy her meal by herself but all three girls nodded. Beyoncé pushed the tray towards her children and began cutting up the pancakes for all of them. The rest of the meal passed with chatter from everyone except Chloe.
Once they finished, Shawn took the tray and motioned for Bey to follow him downstairs.
—
As per tradition once breakfast was over, it was time for gifts. Bey smiled as Chloe was the first to hand her a present. It was a small red box with a plush pink ribbon tied around it. A tiny note was secured at the top.
"Happy Mother's Day, love your daughter, Chloe, awww," Beyoncé cooed as she read aloud.
Chloe's cheeks blushed a rosy color as she stared at her feet. Bey pulled at one end of the string, opening the box, and to her surprise, a heart-shaped locket came out. Shawn mouthed to her to open it and inside was a picture of all of her children. It was the picture they took at the courthouse immediately after Chloe and Halle's adoption was declared official.
"Thank you, sweetpea," The blonde hugged and kissed her daughter and looked at Shawn with a look that said: "Did you buy that?"
"I bought it," Chloe said, sounding proud. "I saw it and I thought of you."
The woman resisted the urge to cry, using her knuckles to wipe at the corners of her eyes. "Y'all really trynna pull it out of me today." She chuckled lightly.
Halle went next.
She handed her mother her present. It was in a bag this time. Bey reached in and pulled out a long beautiful black and gold scarf that had her initials etched into it a million times over.
"Oh, how beautiful," she surveyed the multi-colored scarf, rubbing her hand along the soft surface.
"You can wear it on your head or around your neck," Halle supplied.
Bey nodded and opened her card.
"Happy Mother's Day mommy, I hope you love your gift, maybe your hair won't get messed up at work anymore. Love, Halle got bandz. P.s this should prove that I do because this wasn't cheap." The blonde laughed as she hugged and kissed Halle's cheek. "How thoughtful, thank you."
Blue got up from her seat and handed her mother a wrapped present along with some balloons. "Oooh what is this Baba?" She smiled wide as she shook the box closer to her ear.
"Open it," the child swung her arms from side to side.
Beyoncé tore off the wrappings and she saw a decorated frame with a picture of her and Blue taken on the same day as the one Chloe put in her locket. Blue had been allowed to sit at the judge's bench. She mugged the camera with the gavel in her hand while her mother poked her bottom lip out like she'd received life without parole.
"I love it baby girl, thank you. I'll take this to work and keep it on my desk." She kissed Blue's cheek and hugged her youngest daughter.
Instead of a note, Blue drew a picture of the family with the words "Happy Mother's Day".
She smiled and thanked her kids again for the gifts.
"Bey, you got one more."
Beyoncé looked at her husband with a puzzled look and she followed his gaze to a little black box in front of her, she picked it up.
She opened the box and inside was a ring with all the kids' birthstones. Bey gaped at Shawn and went back to ogling the ring. She then found the note.
"Bey, I know I say it all the time, but it can never be too much I love you. No gift can compare to what you have given to all of us. I still don't know what it was that I did to deserve you. You not only take good care of the kids but you take good care of me as well. I know I make you feel like I'm your fourth child sometimes and you put up with my shenanigans. One day isn't enough to celebrate you. Not only are you an amazing wife, but you gave me the family that I always wanted. Thank you for being you. None of us would be who we are without you. I love you to the moon and back. Happy Mother's Day pretty thug. Love, your handsome husband, Jay."
The woman gazed up at her husband. She stood and wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him on the lips softly.
"Ughhhhh!" Blue, Chloe, and Halle said in unison.
"Thank you, baby, I love it," Bey ignored her kids, hugging and kissing the man once more for good measure.
"We wanna sing you a song," Halle announced.
Chloe took that as her cue to go to the piano. So far everything was going according to plan. All she had to do was get through this little number and the rest of their day would be spent out and about enjoying the weather and each other's time. After sitting at the piano bench, she raised the fall revealing the black and white keys she adorned so much. The need to be close to her sister, the need for immersion, to be involved, pushed Blue towards the stool. She sat delicately on it as though she was afraid to break it before Chloe absently traced the keys with the ghost of her touch. Halle casually leaned on the sleek black instrument.
Shawn kissed his wife's cheek as he stood behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist. He had sat in on them practicing for this moment earlier in the week, so he already knew the emotions that were about to bubble to the surface.
After clearing her throat and adjusting a couple of tuning pins, Chloe started to speak. "The first day I met you, you asked us to sing you a song." Fingering the keys, she placed her hands in position for simple scales; to remind her, and her body, just how to properly treat the instrument before her. The first notes echoed in a soft, strong warning for the song ahead; a sad one that would speak a thousand words about her that she would never be able to portray herself.
"I remember being so nervous thinking if we're flat on even one note you'd turn us away and search for the next vocalist to meet with." She snorted in derision and shook her head. "It's crazy to think a business deal turned into all of this." She let her gaze linger on the ceiling. "To be honest, I thought we were going to meet some organ harvesters or something." She chuckled and continued. "It never crossed my mind as I trudged in the heat to a strange warehouse, that inside stood an angel. Inside stood a savior; a safe haven. Inside stood my mom." The fifteen year old haltingly lifted her head to meet the dolorous eyes of her mother. Quickly, her attention was back on the keys as she expertly ran her fingers across them again. "You told us the song didn't have to be perfect, not to be nervous and most importantly, you reminded us to sing from our hearts. So today, just like the first day our paths crossed we're gonna do just that."
A brief smile crossed Bey's near tearful face as the teen directed her attention back to the piano.
Releasing a breath, she began. A melody suddenly echoed through the room putting everyone at ease. Beyoncé took a step forward instantly recognizing the consonance. It was a lovely tune to say the least, but as beautiful as the song was there was a longing ring to it that weighed on the blonde's heart.
"Forgive me now my heart, it don't know where to start," Halle belted in a tone so polished and serene that it immediately evoked a cry from Beyoncé. It was almost haunting in all the chilling ways with the amount of pure, raw, unregulated emotion poured into it.
She foraged through the verse with the delicacy of a dying flower, taking her voice to eminent heights only to tenderly bring it back down like a hummingbird reaching into a daylily in search of its cloying nectar. The second verse was coming up, and Bey knew that this was Chloe's entrance. She waited for the euphonious vocalization to start, but to her surprise, an unfamiliar falsetto began.
"Hear me far away," Blue's stridulate voice sang, light and airy.
Bey's smile was hidden behind her palm as she listened to her youngest sing her little heart out. "I'm done with yesterday." The child continued with all the confidence in the world. "I'm living for today," she placed her hand over her heart, eyes closed in concentration.
"There you go," Chloe nodded earnestly, hands still scaling the large instrument. "So now I've been good on the regular," she cut in like the powerhouse she was.
Shawn gave a light squeeze to his wife's side as they listened. By the time the chorus came back around for the last time, she had joined in on the song, tapping her thigh steadily to keep the beat. "There's still cool people in the world." They all ended in the same key.
"Happy Mother's Day mommy," the Carter girls said in unison.
Arms stretched wide, Bey pulled them into a group hug, showing as much love as humanly possible. "Thank y'all so much," her smile beamed as bright as the blaring sun.
Mother's Day. It could have been so much different.