Pas de Deux A novel by Bronwen Welsh A Sequel to 'Antonette's Story' Copyright 2021

Chapter 18   The gift

It was coming up to Kate's eighth birthday and like all little girls that age, she wanted a birthday party. It was strictly girls only of course, and all the ones from her school class was invited. Lucie and I had the pleasure of taking her to a boutique for girls in order to buy her a party dress, and she chose a very pretty one with an ankle-length skirt and organza overlay with embroidery which put me in mind of some of the costumes she had seen ballerinas wear.

“We must make the most of this time,” I said to Lucie. “Once she becomes a teenager she'll probably only want to wear trousers and jeans.”

“I don't know about that,” said Lucie. “She's a very feminine little girl; she might just surprise us.”

Regarding dancing, I'm sure it helped that Kate had ballerinas for a stepmother and aunty, but even that would not have been enough without innate talent; it seemed to me that Kate had that in abundance. I had the strongest feeling that she was destined to become a professional ballerina, provided that she wanted to of course. Lucie and I were always careful not to pressure her to follow in our 'en pointe' footsteps..

On the morning of Kate's birthday, which by chance was a Saturday, I called over to Ben and Lucie's house, which they had recently moved into as more suitable for a family, and in addition to some other smaller gifts, I carried with me a large white box with a big pink satin ribbon tied up in a bow. It was a very special gift for Kate, but I had first discussed giving it to her with Ben and Lucie and had obtained their enthusiastic consent. Kate was already excited with all her other gifts but her eyes widened at the sight of the large box.

“What is it, Aunty Antonette?” she asked.

“Why don't you open it and see?”

She undid the bow and lifted the lid of the box. There was white tissue paper inside and when she parted that, there was the bride doll in all her glory. Although I had taken great care of her over the years, inevitably time had dulled her satin dress, so I had taken her to a doll's hospital and asked them to make her look like new again and that they had most certainly succeeded in doing. Kate gasped as she looked at her.

“Oh! She's so beautiful!” she cried. “Does she have a name?”

“Yes. She's called Jemima and she's a gift from your first Mummy.”

Kate's brow creased in a frown. “But my first Mummy died when I was a baby, you told me so yourself.”

“I know darling, but now you are old enough I will tell you a story. I met your Mummy when we were both not much older than you are now. I saw Jemima in her bedroom, and admired her very much. Then your Mummy and her family moved to Australia, on the other side of the world, but she left Jemima with me to look after. Many years later, when your Mummy was grown up, she came back to England and I offered to give Jemima back to her, but she told me to keep looking after her. I didn't understand why at the time, but later I did. I knew that your Mummy was going to give Jemima to you when you were old enough, and when she died, it was my job to do it for her. Now you are old enough and so here she is.”

“She's so lovely. May I pick her up?” said Kate.

“Of course. She's yours now, and maybe one day you will have a little girl of your own, and then you can pass Jemima on to her when she is old enough.”

Kate looked at me solemnly. “Yes, I will do that,” she said. She bent down and very carefully lifted Jemima out of her box. Now she was lifted up, Jemima opened her beautiful blue eyes and I could almost have sworn that I saw her smile. In my mind I said to myself 'There Kate, I have done what I'm sure you wanted me to do. Jemima is in safe hands.'

There I will leave my story for now. My life is not finished yet. I have some years to go as the IBC's Prima Ballerina, and after that, Jack and I may start a ballet school like we have discussed on several occasions. Life has been very good to me, I am most thankful for it and I'd like to give something back.