Five Years Later**
"Mummy... I don't think I will go to school ever again." Melody was shocked to hear this, so she stopped walking and dropped the grocery bags she was holding. She patiently waited for the four year girl to catch up with her and when she did, Melody stooped so that they were both at the same level.
"Oh Maddie! But why don't you want to go to school anymore? She asked stroking the little girl's curly hair. Her heart broke when she noticed the tears gathering at the corners of her daughter's eyes. She had vowed to protect this child from any form of emotional pain, so she wondered what it was that made her feel like stopping school.
"I don't want to go school anymore mummy. Because... because... my friends keep teasing me that I do not have a daddy. And even when I keep telling them I do have a daddy they insist that my daddy abandoned me and ran away. They keep telling me their daddies bring them to school all the time but they have never seen my daddy bring me to school. Mummy where is my daddy? Can you take me to him please?" Melody froze for a second. The day she had prayed to never come, at least not yet had finally arrived and she wasn't even prepared for it. She remembered her mother's warnings the very day she had been informed that her grand-daughter was starting pre-school.
"Now that Maddie is starting school, she would be exposed to so many children from different backgrounds and she would come in contact with stuff you could never imagine. By the time she starts associating with other kids who have fathers, I'm sure she would just walk up to you one day and demand for her father. Please be prepared to give her answers." those were her mother's words to her just barely a year ago but she had ignored them because she wondered why a toddler like Maddie would be bothered about her father anyway. But here it was staring at her in the face and she totally had no clue what to do.
"Think Melody! Think!" she echoed in her head trying to figure out what to tell the overly smart kid. She felt a tug on her sleeves and looked at the little girl who was staring at her with wide eyes filled with curiosity.
"Are you okay mommy? What are you thinking?" the little girl asked with a worried look. Melody decided she had to seize this opportunity at least to buy time. And so she decided to get into acting
"Nothing honey, mummy is not thinking, I don't feel well. My tummy hurts. I think I'm about to have a diarrhea. Let's rush home so I don't mess myself up." She cried as she wrapped her arms around her tummy and crouched acting like she was in actual pain. The little girl was obviously very worried "Okay mummy, let's hurry so that you don't mess up yourself like I did to myself the other day." Melody smiled when she recalled how Maddie had messed herself up the previous month at school, it was so severe that she had to take the child to the hospital for medical attention. So she picked up the grocery bags she had dropped while Maddie volunteered to help hold her purse and they both walked to the car. As soon as she finished tucking Maddie in the baby seat, she got behind the wheels and soon they were on their way home.
As the car accelerated down the road, Maddie recalled that her question had not been answered "Mummy... are you okay now? or does your tummy still hurt?" the little girl asked. Melody looked at her through the driving mirror and it was clear there was no running now. She definitely had to keep on acting at least to buy her some time to think about the best way to answer her daughter so she squeezed her face as one in pain and groaned
"Oh honey it still hurts very much but mommy has to bear the pain so she can drive you home before the diarrhea gets really bad."
"Okay mummy... I'll ask Aunty Nadia to take care of you. Okay? I'll ask her to make you some soup like she did for me when I was sick. Okay?" Maddie said as if her mother was her child.
Melody nodded in response, but unfortunately Auntie Nadia had taken permission to go on a seven days vacation on a Caribbean cruise ship with her new lover, Maddie would be very disappointed when she gets to know that Auntie Nadia was away. She always found herself wondering how the little girl grew up so fast. Since the day she found out that she was carrying a child, her entire world had ceased to exist and all she cared about was her child's safety and happiness. But it was soon beginning to dawn on her that her child was a victim of school bullying, something she had heard about and seen in the movies. She had been worried about her child's safety that was why she had taken time to select one of the best private Pre-schools in town after making investigations, but even now her child was beginning to make complaints about her friends teasing her at school and it made her really uncomfortable. She looked at the driving mirror again and saw the little girl fast asleep; she smiled. Soon they'd be home and she hoped Maddie would be sleepy enough for her to be tucked in bed because there was a lot of work to be done. She was about concluding her Ph.D and she still had so much to cover on her Thesis research if she would be among the next set of Ph.D graduates for the session but attending to Maddie's needs and handling her interior decorations company had not been easy at all so she never failed to seize the opportunity each time Maddie was away or sleeping to do her job.
After driving for twenty minutes, she arrived at her parents mansion. This had been her home since she came in for her facial surgery after the incident with the devilish man that changed the course of her life forever; thankfully Maddie was still fast asleep when she drove into the premises and parked the car in the garage, so she quietly got out of the car and tried not to make any noise as much as possible. She gently unfastened the belts of the baby seat and carried the sleeping girl into the house and laid her on the bed. An excited golden fur baby came running to greet Melody as she came out of Maddie's room.
"Hey baby... How are you baby? did you miss me? Who's a good girl? Who's a good girl?" Melody sat on the ground to allow the dog to jump all over her, giving her kisses by licking her face, she reciprocated by ruffling the golden retriever's fur and patting it's back.
"Woof! Woof!" The dog barked and continued jumping about while wagging it's tail in excitement.
"Sssshhhh.... You'll wake Maddie up with that bark Peppy" she said hugging the dog and it stuck it's tongue out panting.
She stood up to go get the bags in the car into the house "Come on Peppy!" she commanded and the dog tagged along with it's tail wagging in excitement. She had gotten Peppy as a puppy from a neighbor whose dog had put to bed at the time. Peggy had been a great companion to her while she was carrying Maddie and they had developed a really close bond. As soon as Maddie was born, Peggy's motherly instincts kicked in as she was always around to protect Maddie from everything including her own mother, Melody herself. Peggy always loved to help get stuff for her and Maddie from around the house so, it was only normal that she could easily help carry the grocery bags or any other bag each time they were going out or coming in. Peppy would insist on carrying Maddie's bags whenever it was time to go school and would throw a fit if she wasn't allowed to do so. Sometimes Melody wondered who Peggy loved more between her and Maddie but if she was truthful to herself, she would realize that Maddie was Peggy's favorite human.
When they got to the garage, Peggy helped carry Maddie's backpack while Melody carried the grocery bags and her purse.
"Nice job Peppy. Come let me get you some water, I'm sure you're very thirsty." the dog followed her in obedience and waited patiently for her to fill the water bowl before going for a drink. Melody left the dog and went back to sorting the groceries and fixing them in the kitchen drawers and fridge respectively before putting some ingredients together to make dinner.