40A/N: This is my first chapter fic in a while so please be patient with me!
I will be putting a lot of dates to help you guys stay oriented within the story and in relation to the movie/musical (so Spring 1910 instead of the 1930s)
Disclaimer: I am currently rewriting this story for AO3. This chapter has been updated, but any subsequent chapters written in present tense will eventually be revised and rewritten. However, I will not be completing this until I finish the whole story (2 more chapters).
Chapter 1: It All Comes Back
"I can't abide romantic notions of some vague long ago; I want to know what's true..."
20 December, 1890
"Oh, Daddy!" the 4-year-old girl squealed at the new doll her father just bought for her, "She's beautiful!"
The older man smiled down at his daughter. "Of course she is, my little parrot, she looks just like you."
And he was right. The doll had curly brown hair, bright blue eyes, and flawless porcelain skin, both in colour and material.
The father and daughter proceed to walk until reaching their rather large house, surrounded by an array of beautiful foliage. Of course, not that one could tell, as the whole world seemed to be grey-scaled on this dreary London day.
"Come along inside, sweetheart, before you catch your death out here."
"Of course, Daddy." The girl assured, running ahead of her father and through the front door, clutching her doll to her chest, as if already feeling a motherly instinct to protect her child.
Her mother greeted the two as they return home; her father had given all the servants today off – "family time for us and you" he had justified.
"Hello, mum!"
"Oh, you two are back, already?" the older woman replied, a slight joke to her tone. She had already returned to fluffing her blonde Gibson in the mirror on the wall in the entryway.
The father, called James, went over to his wife. She leaned in to give him a quick kiss, not being as much of a romantic as her husband. Thus, she was caught off guard when, instead, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her with more love than she could ever recall feeling for him.
"Oh, Adelaide. My sweet, sweet, Adelaide." He drew out her name, looking deep into her eyes for a moment. She averted her gaze to the floor, uncomfortable with such an outward expression of devotion.
"How are you feeling, James?" she replied in just above a whisper, hoping to hide the fear and concern in her voice. She still couldn't bring herself to meet his eyes. He gently placed a hand under her chin and brought his lips to hers once more.
"I am going to rest my head," he remarked to his wife with a sombre twinkle in his eye, before looking down at the 11-month-old in her arms.
"Your mum is a very brave woman, Angel."
"As is your father." Adelaide quickly added, thinking back to all their happy memories. He wasn't a bad husband, after all, he was very wealthy.
James offered her a smile, before pressing a soft kiss to his youngest daughter's head.
At this point a much older girl, the eldest of the three sisters, joined the family in the foyer.
"Joy, Joy, look!" The four-year-old exclaimed running over to her sister with the doll in front of her.
"Oh, she's beautiful," Joy responded. At only 12, she had already become somewhat of a mother-figure for the middle child. "What do you call her?"
The brunette cradled the doll, copying the way her mother was holding her baby sister. She looked closely at the doll's porcelain face as though waiting for it to tell her, before replying "she's Clara" with a smile.
"Oh, that's just perfect!" Joy said, smiling at her sister before catching her father's eyes. As the eldest, she could sense that something was amiss, but it became clear to her when her father knelt down to be eye-level with her. Wisely, Joy sent her sister away with a polite flick of her wrist.
"Joy," he began and the girl before him almost broke into sobs just from the tone of his voice. "Please don't cry, darling."
He offered her a weak smile. "You are so strong and I know you will take great care of your mother and your sisters."
She responded with an exaggerated nod, and James places a light kiss to her hairline.
"I love you, so much, Joy, even if you like spending time with mum better." At this, the girl jumped into her father's arms, finally letting her tears spill over her eyes, but smiling at her father's comment, nonetheless.
He hugged her close to his chest.
"No sorrows, my darling, you'll always be in my heart."
"I'll always keep you there as well," the girl choked out in response, confused by the finality implied in his comment.
James smiled a wide, yet melancholy, grin at her before he stood up.
"I'm off to bed; au revoir, my loves."
He returned to his middle daughter who was playing with her new doll in the adjacent sitting room.
"Daddy, what does 'au revoir' mean?"
He smiled. She did always have impeccable hearing, especially for a 4-year-old.
"It means 'until we meet again' my curious little parrot."
He began to laugh as his daughter recited this new phrase with a different tone of amazement in her voice each time the words leave her tiny mouth. He made a mental note that she was probably old enough to start learning French on her own.
He also smiled at her curious way of committing a new phrase to memory – just like the little bird he'd affectionately used in her nickname. She followed him to the bedroom.
James lay down on his bed, not bothering to change - he is far too tired to do so. His daughter (arguably his favorite of the three, though he would never outwardly admit that) curled up beside him. No point in sending her away now.
"Sweetheart, look at me."
"Yes, Daddy?"
"Mary, my little parrot... I love you more than the world." He closed his eyes and inhales deeply as she replied, "I love you too, Daddy! I always will"
She snuggles closer to her father, seeing him smile as he exhaled. She loved to fall asleep listening to the rhythm of her father's chest rising and falling – it soothed her into sweet dreams.
But she didn't feel it now.
She looked up concerned, noticing her mother crying in the doorway.
"Daddy?"
"Mary Poppins!"
"Oh sir, I am terribly sorry. Do forgive me." Mary apologized to the man in front of her.
He smiled back, "Of course, no worries. You are hired - effective immediately. My daughter I spoke of is upstairs, first door on the left."
"Thank you, sir." Mary started ascending the stairs, but paused half-way up.
"I shall see her straight away, sir. Her name was Clara, did you say?"
The man nodded in affirmation.
Her practically perfect composure slipped for the second time that morning, before inhaling sharply and recollecting herself, walking up to the girl's bedroom.
"For once," the nanny began to herself, "this may not be easy for me."
I'm sorry, I know it's a strange start, but please bear with me!
- Jillian xx
