A family that she was a part of for
better or for worse and forever.  So Peggy had told her last night on the phone,
while Alice cried fresh tears for the lover she’d
lost.  She believed the woman, more now
than at any other time in her life, did she need a mother.

            “Alice…” 
Came the voice of her own mother, and Alice bit down on the words that were about to
tumble from her mouth.  Instead, she just
grunted and turned, her mother zipping up the dress.  Her fingers touching her shoulders turning
her around.  Alice met her gaze, feeling so very much
outside of herself.

            “Alice I’m so very sorry about Quin.  I realize I didn’t know her very
well…”  Her mother began, and Alice let out a muted sigh.  She closed her eyes, not sure she really
wanted her there at this very moment. 

            “I know you didn’t.  I didn’t know her well enough either, but I
loved her.”  Alice admitted, and Lenore nodded. 
She could see the swelling pain her daughters face, in her heart.  All these years, and she herself, didn’t know
Alice very well. 

            “I got the letter you sent me, about
your daughter…”  Lenore began, her hands shaking as she brought
up the subject, and Alice shook her head.  Lenore had to do this now it was now or never.  She didn’t know how Alice had found her, but she had.  All the careful planning and hiding.  Yet Alice had found her. 

            “Not now mother.”  Alice begged, and Lenore went to her purse, pulling out some
papers and sliding them to the table. 
She licked her full lips, her hands going to her sides, then to her
jacket, smoothing it out in a nervous gesture.

            “When I gave her up…  For you… 
I never thought I’d see her again… 
Yet there she was, god she looks so much like you….  Does she know?  That you are her mother?”  Alice blinked, not understanding what her
mother was talking about.  When had her
mother seen Desiree?  How had her
mother known?  She’d never mentioned Desiree in her letter, just that she’d met her
daughter.  She went to the table,
grabbing the papers and shifting through them.

            “These aren’t my daughter’s….  Papers….” 
Alice muttered, she saw the name Aleka Pika .  The name meant nothing to her; she tossed the
papers to the table, wondering why her mother was doing this now.  Lenore looked at her,

            “Yes it is.  I named her Aleka, its Alice in Hawaiian, where you were born?  Pika is Peters in Hawaiian.  I
thought it was a perfect way to cover up the name.  Dramatic, I know.  Then I had them add Daisy, it was your
favorite flower when you were a child. 
You don’t know…”  Lenore said, putting her hand to her mouth, and
sitting on the couch.

            “Mother, you are not making any
sense, my daughter’s name is Desiree Mitchell, I saw her!”  Alice yelled, her whole body aching for Quin
suddenly, for Quin to protect her from her mother, from the dark cold world
that was so light when she’d been alive.

            “Daisy.  Daisy Grey, she’s using Cassandra’s name, her
adoptive name is Caster.  Isabelle and Bastian Caster, as in my friends
Caster.  Alice, I’ve known where your daughter has been
all her life.  They gave her up to foster
care and I could have gotten her then, but I didn’t.  I couldn’t see you with a child, and I most
certainly wasn’t raising another child. 
Daisy Grey is your daughter, and most certainly not anyone named Desiree.”

            Alice said nothing; she just fell away into a
dead faint.

~*~*~*~*~*

Destroyed

I
seek to touch the flame

Yet
it does not burn me

Its
warm fingers lap at me

Drawing
away my heat

Leaving
me passionless

Devoid
of wanting

Cold

When
did I cease to feel?

Things
that happened around me

Empty

Nothing
touches my soul

Dead
to all events of my life

Shattered

Small
pieces of me left behind

Scattering
to the four winds

I’m
destroyed, you were my flame

Now
you’ve burned out

The
life in me gone