CHAPTER SEVEN

                                    

                                          
A lot had happened over the past few weeks; a new deputy, a lady named Deliah, had been hired by Roger. She wore her hair in pigtails, had a creepy glint in her eyes and smiled in a way that put everyone on edge. She was also intensely infatuated with Mia, which wasn't a very good sign. 
Marjorie and Reece were sad to see that Charlotte, once again, had been pushed out of the picture of getting any signs of recognition, but that hardly mattered anymore. Roger had had the spontaneous idea to merge the nurseries, including one he had invested in months ago without any communication. Reece often hated how secret and sly his father could be.
Apparently the other manager of the nursery was called Janice, and neither Reece or Marjorie knew anything about her. Until earlier on in the day when they received the email from Head Office, they hadn't even known she existed. 
Rumours had spread like wildfire around the nursery too, bombarding staff with questions about the merge that even they didn't know how to answer, which only added to Marjorie's rage. 15 long years she had spent working as the manager of the Knight Nursery - never to be put on the Board of Directors, given a pay rise, or given any recognition. She felt hurt when she had found out that Janice had not only been put on the Board, but given a pay rise too. How long was she supposed to go before Roger realised she wasn't invisible?
Reece drove Marjorie home after a swift meeting with Roger, anger pumping through her bones as she looked furiously out of the passenger window. Her knuckles were turning white as she clenched them against her skirt, rage bubbling in her eyes. 
Reece laid a hand on her shaking thigh, giving her a soft smile before muttering a small insult about his dad. 
"How about we get you home and we can calm down about this? There's a local rage room I know of that we can invest in tomorrow, just to let off a bit of that..anger." He said the last part slowly, quickly glancing at her for a reaction. Marjorie simply nodded - she was too frustrated to give a proper response.
Pulling into their driveway, Marjorie immediately got out and stomped to the door, swinging it open and leaving it wide for Reece to walk through, her footsteps echoing down the large corridor. She slowly sunk into a chair at the island bench, the tips of her ears a dark crimson and her nails slightly chewed. 
Reece sighed sympathetically, leaning behind her to grab two mugs from the glass cabinet, clasping his hand around the dark golden knob. 
"Coffee?" He asked gently, setting the cups down and turning around to face his girlfriend, swiftly kissing her temple. 
"I was thinking more wine, but coffee will do." Marjorie sighed, letting her head fall into her hands as the red in her cheeks calmed, alongside her ragged breathing.
As Reece closed the cupboard, he took a quick glance at the book still hidden on the top, the cover burnished in dark leather and the golden chain still hanging tightly around the spine. He felt it with his fingertips, the bumps and chain digging into his nails as he did so. An idea flashed across his mind as he brought it down and slid it across the table, discarding the coffee altogether.
Marjorie looked up from her head being buried in her arms, a confused look on her face as she pondered as to why the book was sitting on the table. 
"Why did you bring that down? It's just full of soppy poems that your father used to write instead of admitting he had no mental stability." She watched intently as Reece flicked through the pages, sighing slightly as he did so.
"Well, I mean, the soppy old poems had meanings behind them. Remember when Autumn read out the ones about puppets a few months ago? The meaning behind it was the intention of using Mia, Aut and I, which he wrote in Latin." He continued to search through the book, hands gliding over the page, muttering words to himself. 
"Hold on, pause a second." Marjorie swivelled on her stool, raising an accusing eyebrow at Reece, "You know Latin?" 
"Yeah, it was taught at Cranford." Reece said bluntly, still looking intensely at the writing before him. 
"Must be nice to have gone to private school." She muttered to herself, watching as Reece continued scanning the pages.
"There's nothing about Janice written here." He sighed defeatedly, snapping the book shut as he looked out at the sunset, the orange sky fading into a watercolour darkness. 
Marjorie hummed in response, her eyes wandering too to the beautiful view outside. She felt a slender arm wrap around her waste, pulling her closer as she sighed contently. 
"I'm sorry about my dad." Reece mumbled into her hair, holding her close. 
Marjorie smiled, the sun vibrantly glowing on her face through the open slip of the curtain. "Why are you apologising Reece? It's not your fault." 
Reece smiled, planting a kiss to her forehead as his phone flashed amber. With a confused twist to his face, he opened up the notification, peering at the name. "Janice just sent me an email." 
Marjorie shuffled slightly, puzzled as Reece read out the email: 
"Dear Reece and Marjorie, 
I am very pleased to have the privilege to be working with you both for the foreseeable future. Roger has informed me about your amazing work and I can't wait to see that in action. 
Regarding the position for the manager of the big Knight Nursery, I would like to discuss that face to face. I  feel that having a conversation to debate on who would work nicely under so much pressure would be better had in real life rather than over online discussion. 
As I have stated previously, I can't wait to work with you in the future. Please send a reply verifying when we can meet to review this claim. 
Kind Regards, 
Janice.."
Reece froze as fear flooded through his body, paralysing him in a thought of worry. Marjorie looked at his phone suspiciously, "What's wrong?"
A lot was wrong. 
Printed at the bottom were two words Reece had begged never to see again, for it brought danger into his life and those he loved so dearly. 
Written next to her name, in bold was the words that caused his heart to skip a beat;
Momento Mori 
- Remember you will die. 
- - - 
~ I think I'm going to wait until we meet Janice to actually write a conversation between them all, but I like this idea so far ! 
I recently saw a TikTok where someone made a video of the nursery nurse fanfics she would never stop recommending and mine was on there!! It makes me so happy that you guys enjoy my little story lmao 💓🫶🏻
I often write short stories on my TikTok (mi4lottes.1x - I changed my user ^^) and a lot of people have asked me if I could make them into longer books. I'm 100% thinking of doing some oneshots/short stories after this !
Again, thank you so much for all the support, I really appreciate it. 
Do you guys want a Shivian or Mialotte chapter next? Keep in mind I've already done Mialotte !! 
Have a great day my loves 🫶🏻