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A loud pounding thundered at Marnie's door very early in the morning. It was only a few minutes past seven am. Thankfully as a rancher Marnie woke up at ungodly hours every morning. At this point, most of her animals were already fed and let out into the pastures, well all except the chickens.
"I'm coming, I'm coming" She shouted as she approached the door, wondering what could be so urgent that this person wanted to knock the door out off its hinges.
Opening the door Marnie was greeted by nonother than her sister, Lisa. Marnie let out a sigh, this wasn't going to be a good day then. Her sister always meant trouble. She noticed Lisa's son, her nephew, awkwardly standing behind her holding a small backpack, not knowing what to do with himself. Lisa rarely brought him when she was visiting, talking about how much of a "brat" he was, always complaining about this poor little boy.
"Hi there sister!" She beamed "Listen me and Eric HAVE to go to this concert that's like today, it was totally an unexpected opportunity that we could not pass, but you see we cannot take Shane here with us so I brought him here" Lisa shoved her son in front of her which seemed to startle him although he did not say anything. Marnie guessed he knew better than to interrupt Lisa. Marnie definitely knew and felt sorry for Shane, the poor boy forced to face Lisa's poor behaviour every single day. "He has everything he needs for the day packed and I will pick him up tomorrow afternoon... okay bye!"
With that said, Lisa skipped back to her car where her husband Eric waited, not even waiting for Marnie to agree, or worse, disagree. Eric was no better than Lisa, all he had in mind was parties and alcohol. Marnie prayed that their behaviour will not have a serious toll on Shane when he gets older. He was such a sweet quiet boy.
Marnie looked down watching Shane who stared at the ground. "So, it's you and me today Shane today, huh?" He just nodded.
"Well, did you have breakfast yet? I was just about to have mine." She questioned to which Shane shook his head. The poor boy definitely seemed hurt and Marnie was not good enough with children to know how to help him. She bit down her lip.
"In that case breakfast it is!" She said trying to sound excited. Opening the door wider so that Shane can come inside "Come on, you can drop your things in my spare room, it will be all yours for the day, now tell me what do fancy having? I have jam and toast, some cereal, or we can scramble some eggs my girls laid."
Shane hesitantly went inside. He looked up at Marnie, there were traces of tears on his face which made Marnie's heart sink. At this very moment, she hated her sister with all her guts.
"What do you mean by eggs your girls laid?" He questioned, genuinely curious.
"My chickens, they lay eggs for us to enjoy" Marnie smiled at him. "Would you like to meet them? They are a cheerful bunch"
"Em... sure" He retorted not sure what to expect.
Smiling wider Marnie told Shane to drop off his things before they headed to the coop. Shanes's eyes widened as they entered.
"These... these are chickens?" He questioned, fascinated by the birds, of which there were 16 in total. As soon as they entered the chickens sprang up and hurried towards them, demanding to be fed. Shane took a step back but relaxed when he realized they weren't going to harm him. He even bent down to pet one of them.
"Yes, these are chickens, my precious ladies. They lay eggs I sell at the ranch" She explained and let Shane continue petting the birds.
"Would you like to help me with their care? They will be grateful and lay better eggs for us" She questioned, happy with the fact that the girls were able to cheer Shane at least a little bit.
"Yes ... they seem cool" He beamed.
Marnie showed Shane all around the coop, explaining how to feed the chickens, how and when to clean after them as well as how to carefully grab eggs from nests to make sure not to get pecked by an overprotective hen. Shane seemed delighted to learn all about chickens and to Marnie's surprise, he had a natural talent when dealing with them. They finally let them out of the coop and Marnie explained how chickens like to bathe in the sand, or dig for worms and that they need to have some freedom outside so that they could stay healthy.
The rest of the morning was spent preparing the eggs they have collected while Shane was starting to slightly open up to Marnie. Shane commented how the eggs were the best he had ever eaten, that mum should always get eggs from Marnie instead of the JojoMart ones, he could even come and help with the chickens if auntie would let him. She told Shane he was always welcome to come and visit her which made him smile from ear to ear.
Marnie's heart ached, he was too sweet to be her sister's son.
The rest of the day was spent with them getting to know each other more, foraging for some local berries as well as Marnie showing Shane what ranch life looks like. Unfortunately for Marnie Shane wasn't as interested in other animals as he was in chickens. She was forced to make an entire speech about them, to Shane's delight.
When the sun went down to rest for the night Marnie lit a fire, roasting sausages and marshmallows with Shane. This wasn't such a bad day after all. Shane had proven to be amazing company and she hoped that her sister will drop him off more often.
"Aunt Marnie" Shane began.
"Yes?" Marnie asked looking over to where Shane was sitting.
"Were you... are you... disappointed I'm here? My mum never asked you if you wanted me here" He questioned lowering his gaze.
Marnie instantly shuffled over to Shane's side and embraced him without a warning.
"No, not at all. I could never be disappointed spending time with, my boy" She replied and stroked his head. At this moment Marnie promised herself that she will always be a mother figure to Shane no matter what if he will only let her. She will never let him down, like Lisa and Eric.
"You will always have a place here at my ranch, no matter where you are in your life, you will always be welcome here with me" She added still stroking his head. Marnie could have sworn she heard a sob.
~~~~~~~~~~
18 years later
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Shane paced around the kitchen, not really knowing what to do with himself. Here he was getting married in about 2 hours. His anxiety was at its peak. He never even thought he would ever find himself in such a situation after he hit rock bottom in his life. Shane nervously fumbled with his tie, not being able to get it just the way he wanted it, why won't it cooperate?!
Just when he was about to get rid of it completely out of frustration Marnie walked into the kitchen. She was more beautiful than usual, wearing a long heavy dress with a hand-knitted shawl over her arms, her hair braided with flowers woven into the braid. Without a word she walked over to him and fixed that damned tie for him.
"Thanks, Marnie, I don't know where I'd be without you" He nervously laughed, trying to not sound as anxious as he felt. Why was marriage so stressful in the first place?
"You look amazing, Soro will be over the moon when he sees you" She giggled, excited for him.
"Yeah... I hope I won't.... well... disappoint him as much as I have disappointed you" Shane replied, his nerves getting to him. Marnie's expression became stern.
"First of all I'm pretty sure Soro will not be disappointed in you, that man is over the moon for you" She accusingly pointed at his mermaid pendant "Otherwise he wouldn't have proposed to you"
Marnie took a breath before continuing "Secondly, I was never disappointed in you, I love you my boy, and I am, and always have been proud of you"
Shane couldn't hold back a sob "But why? All I've been thus far ... is a failure"
Brushing Shane's fringe out of his eyes Marnie smiled lightly "Oh my boy, why shouldn't I be proud of you? You are not a failure, you try to live your life to the best of your ability and that's a great achievement in itself, you are a great father figure to Jas and you are just about to marry. I don't care about how much money you make, what you do for a living, who you choose to love, or if you are the best and worse time in your life, just seeing you being there is enough for me to be proud of you"
"Marnie... I ..." Shane tried to say something more but this broke him, and he started weeping. Marnie hugged him and Shane buried his face into her shoulder, getting all the emotions out as he sobbed. At times like these, Marnie wished Shane was her son, not Lisa's.