broom_maker (broom_maker) wrote in neeps, @ 2017-12-07 13:29:00 |
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Entry tags: | ! log, aureliana abercrombie, jamie abercrombie |
Who: Jamie and Aureliana Abercrombie
What: Discussing Aureliana's PR job and the strings sttached
When: 25 November, after this
Where: The Abercrombie home
Warnings: None
They had to talk. That’s what Jamie and Ana agreed over journals. They had to talk. But with dinner over and the children tucked away in bed, the topic had yet to be broached. Not until Jamie was changing for bed did he bring it up. Putting off this talk so late might not be the best idea but he didn’t want to have and wasn’t expecting it to go well. If he and Ana disagreed, at least Jamie would be comfortable out of his day clothes.
“Explain to me again why you can’t quit if you hate it?” Jamie asked, pulling off his tie.
Aureliana had not been looking forward to this conversation ever since she and Jamie had discussed her disagreement with her sister over the journals. So she had tried to keep herself busy for the rest of the evening. It wasn't that difficult after all, what with getting the children ready for bed, continuing whittle away the veritable mountain of Christmas cards that she was trying to get out by the first of December, and any miscellaneous household chores. However, there were certain things that could not be delayed.
Aureliana sighed as she took a seat on the edge of their bed. "That's now how my family works." How her husband had not realized this in all their years of their marriage baffled her slightly. "It's a duty that I need to fulfill."
“For the rest of your life?”He wasn’t sure he’d ever understand the clan Ana came from but Jamie thought he was used to it. Then something like this came up and reminded him of the ways that family ran itself like a business and was foreign to him. “"Do you ever get to tell your mum no?"
It might sound ridiculous, but it honestly had never really occurred to her to refuse her mother, not on matters such as this. Her mother said something and Aureliana complied. It had been how they operated since she was a child. Of course, disagreements occurred from time to time, but nothing that could be qualified as major. "I've said no to her in the past," matters relating to their wedding came to mind, "but not over matters such as this." She shook her head and took off her glasses, massaging the bridge of her nose as if to stave off the inevitable headache.
"I honestly don't want to know what would happen if I quit without a good reason."
Jamie sighed, tossing his shirt into the hamper and turning back to his wife. “I don’t like that we don’t have the final decision over what happens to our family. I don’t like that as soon as your Mum or Mel or whoever says how it’s gonna you have fall in line. If you liked the job it’d be different but you don’t even want to be doing this. So why not quit?”
Aureliana was about to protest that her brother would never do that, but she closed her mouth before she could speak, thinking about the conversation she had with him when they first learned of Lex's impending elopment. He certainly hadn't ordered her, not the way her mother had, but she had felt the guilt still the same.
"Then there would be consequences." Aureliana shook her head and she folded her glasses and put them on her bedside table. "And I couldn't do that to you or the children." Her family's resources were what allowed them to live in the manner in which she had grown accustomed. Jamie was opening up the storefront. To pull those resources now could be potentially disastrous.
Jamie hadn’t grown up anything like this. There were advantages to having money. It helped launched his business and bought the house in which they were raising their children. But money came with strings and obligations and Jamie worried about the kids growing up with things too easy.
He finished undressing and took a seat on his side of the bed. “Being a McMaxley doesn’t mean you have to be an employee.”
"It's not being an employee." Aureliana tried not to scowl because she knew her husband was only trying to help and sympathize. He was on her side, but she wished he could understand where she was coming from. "It's understanding that there is a responsibility to family." And how would it appear if she were to just turn her back on that? No, the blonde could not imagine that.
"I would need a reason to leave the position that my mother would not be able to argue with."
Jamie looked at her. “Like what?”
She shook her head. "I don't know." Or maybe she did, but had been hesitant to bring it up. Iona was almost a toddler now. "No, that's not right. I've been thinking." She looked up from where she had been wringing her hands in her lap. "My mother could not argue if there was another child on the way."
Jamie was quiet and still for a moment. “Aureliana, are you really suggesting we have another baby just to manipulate your mum into letting you quit working for the team?”
Well, when he put it like that, it sounded rather awful and underhanded, but really what was the other option? "What I am suggesting that if we happened to be lucky enough to fall pregnant in the next few weeks, then it would solve all this current dilemma."
“When were talking about having another baby?” Jamie screwed his eyes shut. “That you think you have to trick your family with a baby to get out of a job you hate is madness. And it’s not all right. Neither is manipulating me into having a child for those reasons.”
Aureliana's hand flew to her mouth, stifling a gasp. "I wasn't. I mean." She wasn't trying to manipulate him into doing anything. If had wanted to manipulate, would she have even mentioned the idea to him in the first place? "That's not what I said."
“Then what are you saying?” Jamie sighed. “Because I don’t know.”
"Well I certainly wasn't attempting to manipulate you!" Aureliana attempted to keep the rising hysteria she felt out of her voice, but she was unsuccessful. "Or anyone."
Pushing herself up and off the bed, Aureliana began to pace, arms wrapped around herself. She just wanted to give herself a plausible reason to step down from assisting the team with its PR responsibilities. Her mother would have to see that she wouldn't have enough energy if she were pregnant and perhap a new baby would distract potential detractors from her sister's marriage. Was that so terrible to want? She just didn't want to upset anyone.
Jamie rubbed both his hands over his face. “You really think we need the money that much?”
"It's not just about the money." Her fingers dug into her upper arms. "It's reputation. Resources." She didn't think her mother would do anything too drastic, but one could never be sure in the uneasy climate they found themselves in. "What happens if Mother pressures Shona to not accept a commissioned order of customized brooms?" Her trust fund any money from that they could live without, but they could they survive her husband's business being sunk before it began.
Jamie frowned. “I want that contract because of the quality of our work, not your family connections. And if your mother would sabotage us if you don’t obey her, maybe we need to think about whether we want her in our family’s life.”
Her mouth thinned because to Aureliana's ears it felt like Jamie wasn't listening, wasn't understanding. She simply could not turn her back on her family, even if that meant doing something she did not care to do. She had thought her husband would understand the conundrum she found herself in, but turning her back on her mother was not an answer. Perhaps having a child was not a solution, but it would save the family lots of strife.
"I doubt Shona McGonagall wanted the brooms simply because of who you married." She had to at least give him that because that was the truth. However not even the McGonagalls were immune to her mother's will.
It felt like they were talking in circles, neither one able to come around to the other’s point of view. Maybe this was something Jamie was going to have to accept. Maybe Aureliana couldn’t say no to his family and he was going to have to live with that.
He sighed. “I don’t know if it’s helping to talk about it but think it over, all right?”
Nodding, Aureliana came back to the bed, sitting down, but not laying back just yet. She needed something to do do with her hands, far too keyed up to sleep just yet. There were Christmas cards to address, both for their family and for the upcoming opening for the storefront. That was something easy to accomplish and far less taxing than the ethical discussions of having a child just to avoid familial duties.
"I will think about it." She promised. The decision she came to, however, was still up in the air.