Nora Mason

Amy Mason - Adopted daughter

Rachel Bruckheimer - Adopted daughter

*"No, it's because you were the amazing daughter, and I was the nagging wife. Maybe if he realized what I wanted for us, he would have been alive. But no, you had to take up everything. It's your fault he's dead!"*

— Nora to Amy

"**Nora Stacy Mason,** née**Johnson** (born Sep. 2nd) is the adopted mother of Rachel and Amy and widow to the late Martin Mason. A former roadie, former prostitute, and current English teacher, she loved once but began to despise her husband, and formed a jealous relationship with her daughter.

## Overview

A Tennessee native, Nora was born poor but developed large dreams of being successful. As she grew older, however, her desire to meet her own successes would often get the better of her and cause her to become lethargic. She had a small dream of becoming an English teacher as it was what she had gone to school for, but would get fired from certain schools for losing her temper with unruly children. This was also coupled with the fact that she took partying with, and hanging out with friends as more important to her than the job she held. Eventually Nora gave up one job and decided to go on the road and travel with money she had won from the lottery. A destination she always wanted to go, France, was where she spent most, if not all, of her money, leaving her stranded. As such she decided to use her qualifications for English to apply at an orphanage. Eventually she got the job. While out one day she met an older man, Martin Mason. The two became good friends, and then lovers and Nora saw Martin as everything in her world. He then promised her that he would take her back home, and the two would be happy there. They then planned to have children, but found that Nora was sterile. This deeply saddened the two of them, but due to Martin's immense wealth, the two settled fast on the decision to find a child to adopt. Since Nora already worked in the orphanage, she knew plenty of children, but could not decide to take one out of the many who needed her help. However, one day she met a young mute girl named A who stole an apple from her on the street. Nora attempted to form a bond with A by having the girl teach her French, and her teaching her English. Then, after many tries, Nora was successful at coaxing her into joining the orphanage. After a few nights there, Nora suggested to her that she might find a name that was better suited than A. As they were watching a movie together, the name Aimee came up, which A then decided on.

As their bond deepened, Nora decided that Aimee was the one she wanted to adopt. Martin whole heartedly agreed. However, one of Aimee's friends Raquel, begged the two of them to take her. Feeling sympathy for the girl, Nora asked Martin if instead they could adopt two children. He agreed.

After moving back to America in ten years, Nora's hope was full. She had everything, a loving husband, two beautiful daughters, however her strive to be successful was a deep burden she carried around. Martin was then wrapped up in a conspiracy for which he was blamed for taking money from his own company partners. Martin was eventually exonerated from being guilty of the crime, but his reputation was ruined. Nora stood by him during the trial and shortly thereafter, but as Martin realized. his partners unfairly wanted to oust him from his own company, still believing him to be the thief. Nora bore witness to Martin declining in motivation and self confidence and wished desperately for him to get back on the horse. When Martin refused her pleas, Nora and the family's financial troubles became dire. This placed unneeded pressure on her which angered her as she saw it as unfair. She as well became embittered as her view of their life together in America had been all but shattered in her eyes, and Martin had left her in this place with no help. To make money, Nora began prostituting herself out.

As these times continued, Nora could see Amy and Martin becoming close to one another. She did not understand this and attempted to sway Amy from him by making her believe he was the one in the wrong. The girl simply loved her parents however, and attempted to see both sides of their conflict, which Nora saw as naïve and foolish, creating a barrier she had now placed between her and her daughter. This was bolstered by the fact that Nora continued seeing the two become close, which only angered and ostracized her more. Martin also had begun to drink heavily which Nora pleaded with him to stop because he was killing himself.

All of this came to a head when Martin died from liver poisoning. His death broke Amy emotionally, who began to realize that Nora's anger and hatred towards him had driven him only farther into his own self deprecation. Her daughter began to become defensive toward her, realizing just how much Nora couldn't stand her. Nora was as well able to sway Rachel to her side, who naively took up action to blame Amy for what had happened to Martin. One night, Nora got into an argument with Amy over going out with her friends. Nora would not let her do this as she believed it could only lead more to Amy becoming irresponsible as well as just generally wanting to control her actions. Amy commented on how her father would let her go out, which led Nora into a tirade against her, calling her ungrateful and as well as blaming her for Martin's death. Amy then slapped her and ran away. This was the last they spoke.

## Creation

Nora was at first Stacy. This character was split into two, with Nora becoming the mother, and Amy becoming her daughter. The Stacy name was kept as a middle name.