Life:
Altered 03.44 ~*~ Faith

            The Peabody estate was lit up like a small country,
twinkling lights covered every standing object. 
Peggy was the bell of the ball, speaking
freely with everyone she laid eyes on. 
Everything was pink; making the home look like it had been sprayed down
with Pepto-Bismol. 

            Helena drifted over to her mother, hugging her
and her blue eyes smiled as her mother left her arm around her waist.  They looked alike when they were both
serious, but Helena‘s smile hid something behind her eyes,
while Peggy was much too eccentric to be hiding
anything.  Middle ground, in public they
were always the dotting mother and daughter, in private they could spar like
heavy weight boxers contending for the big prize.

            “Darling where are the
children?”  Peggy asked, and Helena
smiled, knowing how much her mother loved the children.  They were a light in her life, especially
after losing Hamilton.

            “Eden is around somewhere, hopefully
not chasing any boys.  Braden went off to
play in the back of the house, to stain his suit I’m sure.”  Helena said with a grunt and Peggy laughed whole-heartedly,
she met Helena’s blue eyes.

            “Darling he’s a child, allow him
that pleasure, we are that innocent age just once.  Have you met Quin’s lady love Alice?”  Peggy asked and Helena tossed back the rest
of her glass of wine.  Helena looked over
at Quin and her date; she’d never seen Quin with a woman.  Until her mother had told her last year, she
hadn’t known that Quin was *****.

            “I met her in New York mother.  She seemed… nice.”  Helena offered, and she watched as Quin moved
to the bar with Alice at her arm, they seemed to be talking easily.  Quin was dressed in a suit from Stella
McCartney but had on an old ‘Rolling
Stone’s’ tee shirt underneath. 
Alice was elegantly dressed in a dark blue silken dress and her hair was
pushed back from her face, looking as pretty as ever.           

            “Ah, when you and Quin
fought…  In public no less.”  Peggy said, seeing Bette Porter and her new
girlfriend at the bar, talking to Quin and Alice.  Quin took Candace’s arm, inspecting a watch
and nodding as if she liked it.  Quin’s
hair was free of color and she knew she wasn’t wearing her color altering
contact lenses.  Peggy found herself giddy
at the thought of Quin finally coming into her own.