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Mimi wasn't a woman meant to have children. She didn't want any child.
And yet, here she was now, holding a two-year-old close to her chest.
He wasn't her child, that was the truth. He was the son of the woman standing in front of her, her youngest sister, Julia.
"I'm sorry, Mary. I just can't take care of him anymore..." said the young woman with tears in her eyes.
They were standing in the threshold of the door, Mimi dressed in her nightgown and slippers, her hair tightly held in curlers. The other woman was wearing a large coat and hat, her hair completely wet and plastered to her forehead from the rain.
"Why me, Julia? Why not Mater, Ann or Harriet? They're sure more competent in raising children than me" she said with a raised eyebrow, though she was subconsciously happy of the fact that her sister had thought about her.
Julia smiled, "Because I know you're the only one who really love him out of our family. I remember your expression when you first held him and how your expression brighten whenever you see him" she explained smiling softly.
It was true.
Mimi had ran all the way to the hospital under a thunderstorm the second her husband had informed her that their baby nephew was just born.
She had held him for a really long time, sitting on a chair next to the exhausted yet happy Julia, and Mimi softly kissed the newborn's forehead, cuddling him close.
All their other sisters and even their mother had stayed for little time, before leaving the new mom alone.
Since Julia didn't have a home, Mimi had hosted her sister and nephew in her house, helping her take care of the baby whilst the younger woman was searching a house.
But now, two years had passed and Julia couldn't take care of her son anymore, so she had ran back to Mimi's with only the baby and a small bag full of clothes for him.
"Are you sure, Julia?" asked the woman once again, but Julia was already halfway through the garden.
"Goodbye, Mary. Take good care of my boy."
And with that, Julia Stanley-Lennon had completely left her boy's life.
For Mimi, being mistaken for John's mom always made her heart swell with pride.
Whenever she was down to the market, or walking on the streets, and someone stopped by, cooing over the little boy in her arms, saying "Your son is the cutest little boy I ever seen" she would smiled, thanking them.
"Auntie, Auntie!"
She looked up from her knitted work with a smile and soon John thrown himself on her.
"Hi, Johnny" she cooed, kissing his small cheek as he tightened his small arms around her neck.
She got up from the armchair with the little boy in her arms and sat him down in front of a big toy box and smiled as the toddler took out his favorite toy: a broom with a horse's head sticked on one end.
He quickly yet unstably straddled it, smiling brightly when he got on right balance.
"Auntie, look! I'm a cowboy!" he shouted excitedly, running to her as fast as his little legs would carry him.
Mimi laughed, "You are, indeed" and soon the little boy was happily jumping around on his horse.
After a while, she picked him up and carried him upstairs, ignoring the toddler's whines.
" 'Not tired" he muttered, head lolling on her shoulder and eyes drooping.
Mimi rolled her eyes, "Sure you aren't baby boy. Now, let's take a nap" she whispered, putting him down on the bed.
To make the afternoon nap, she made him sleep on her bed instead that on his, since she would often slept with him.
She undressed him, seeing as he was sweating quite a lot, before lowering him down on the cot dressed only in his nappy and with a gentle kiss on the forehead, John had fallen asleep, small hands tight around his auntie's dress, her arms tightly holding him against her chest.
"Happy mother's day!"
Mimi's eyes opened and the woman looked around still confused.
Than he spotted her little boy kneeling right in front of her, holding a bouquet of flowers, daisies probably taken from her garden.
She smiled, "Thank you Johnny" and the little boy beamed happily, jumping down and running away, probably to return in his room.
The woman, now awaken, got out from bed and made her way downstairs, seeing John on the sofa.
"C'mon baby, let's have breakfast" she said, taking a hold of his smaller hand and walking with him to the kitchen.
They sat across each other, enjoying their breakfasts until uncle George come down, whistling a happy tune and kissing Mimi and ruffling John's hair as a good morning.
John giggled, showing the gap in his mouth where he had recently lost one of his teeth, and Mimi couldn't help but giggle back.
After getting dressed, the woman asked him if he wanted to accompany her down to the docks, were the weekly market was usually held.
At that proposal, the boy's eyes widened and he enthusiastically nodded.
"C'mon, Mimi! Let's go, let's go!" he said, rushing out and dragging a laughing Mimi down from the quiet streets of Mendips.
"Oh! What a nice boy we have here!"
It was said by a young woman who was also holding a little boy's hand.
The little boy and John were just looking at each other, him half hidden behind his mother's skirt and John by his aunt's side.
"Your son is adorable too" said Mimi with a smile.
"Thank you. Name is Paul. I'm Mary"
"My name is Mary too!" exclaimed the woman and John said quietly, "Mimi is better" and the woman giggled.
"This is John. He calls me Mimi, though"
Mary furrowed her brows, "Oh, he doesn't call you mom?"
"Not his mom, just his aunt and legal guardian" explained her.
Whilst the two were talking, John and Paul just kept looking at each other.
"Aunt Mimi?"
She looked up to see her nephew looking at her with a vulnerable expression on his face.
"Yes, John, what's wrong?"
The boy looked down for a second, before watching her back.
"What if I tell you that I'm getting married?" he whispered and Mimi's eyes widened.
"John Winston Lennon! You didn't even tell me you have a girlfriend?" she said annoyed.
At those words, John shooked his head. "I'm getting married... To a man, Mimi. To Paul." said softly John, already ready to escape.
Nothing came, though. No disgusted sound. No 'you're the ruin of the family.' No.
Suddenly, John found himself being enveloped by arms.
He quickly inhaled, sniffing his aunt's comforting perfume.
"Oh, John, it's completely alright! I don't care if you love a man or a woman. What matters it's that it's love" and John found himself bawling like a little baby in his auntie's arms.
Mimi shushed him, softly just like when, as a little kid, he woke up shaken by a nightmare.
John sniffled, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand.
"You'll be there, right?"
"Obviously, Johnny. Obviously"
She reached out to grasp his hand and suddenly everything was alright.
And, loyal to her promise, Mimi was there, dabbing her eyes with a tissue as happy tears made their way down her cheeks, a proud, happy smile never leaving her face.
"He hates me! He just hates me!"
John was crying, his head buried in his arms as his back convulsed with sobs.
Mimi sighed, posing her hand on his back, rubbing soothing circles on it.
"No he doesn't"
"How do you know?"
"It's normal when two people are in love to have rows sometimes. Don't you remember how often me and George would fight over the stupidest things?"
John nodded, wiping his eyes and nose and putting on again his glasses.
He throw her a lost glance, looking like a little child and Mimi gently begun to caress his hair.
"John, Paul doesn't hate you. Don't tell me you've never shouted at him" and she saw as her nephew bit his lips in shame, nodding softly.
"See? That doesn't mean you don't love him, does it?"
"Of course not! I love him with all my heart!"
Mimi nodded satisfied. "Good. Now, help this old lady to bake a cake, would you?"
John giggled and nodded, getting up to help his auntie in the kitchen, happy to be at home.
"You're old, Mims"
"Am not!"
"Yes!"
"Nope"
And they started laughing again.
In reality, Mimi wasn't that old but in John's eyes she was ancient.
With a slap on the back of the head, the two started backing.
Later, when a sad looking Paul knocked on the door, she got out to leave the two lovers some time alone and, when she returned, she smiled seeing that, in the end, Lennon couldn't stay away from his princess Paulie and McCartney couldn't stay away from his Johnny boy.
Mimi couldn't sleep. She hadn't slept good in a long while.
Though her eyes were closed, all her senses were there, heightened, listening to nighttime sounds.
Suddenly, she heard a door open.
Her eyes opened when a little warm hand begun to shake her.
"What the..."
In front of her, the little chubby face of her nephew.
Mimi's eyes widened.
'That's impossible', shouted her mind. 'John is dead! He had died 11 years ago and he was 40 years old! What's happening?'
She couldn't breath. The only thing she could do was staring into John's dark almond eyes, his expression was hard, just like the last time she had seen him. An adult expression on a child's face.
"Auntie, do you love me?"
"W-what?"
"You don't love me?" his tone was cold.
"Of course I do..."
She had to close her eyes, there was a huge weight on her chest.
An excruciating pain, as if a thousand swords were piercing her heart, prevented her from opening her eyes again.
And she could just hoped that it was going to end, she could only hope that it will end soon.
"Look at me, Mimi" John ordered calmly, kneeling in front of her and gently taking her face in his hands.
There was no pain that could made her deaf at a request from her nephew, no pain that she wouldn't putted aside to see him happy.
Thus, with tears in her eyes, Mimi could only see the face of him, the face that was not of a toddler anymore, just like seconds ago, but was now the face of an adult.
"Child mine" she managed to whisper, incredulous, touching her nephew's features with her fingertips, the line of his nose, the shape of his eyes, the lenses of his glasses.
John smiled, putting his lips on his aunt's forehead in a kiss full of tenderness.
And thanks to that kiss the pain in the woman's chest seemed to shatter until it was completely abandoned, leaving her free to breathe deeply.
"What happened, John? What are we doing here?" she asked, running a hand over her face in an exhausted gesture. She noted, stunned, that her hand wasn't as wrinkled as before, but looked quite smooth.
"I missed you so much, Mimi," murmured John, throwing his arms around her neck, crying freely in the contact they had both missed so much.
Mimi Smith will be declared dead on December 6th 1991.
Her last words, collected by the nurse who looked after her, were: "Hello, John".