It's been two days since Bea met Ivy and surprisingly they bonded quickly in a matter of hours. Ivy made two portraits of Bea and she placed them in her room, her piano playing skills were to die for, she played like a pro and it seemed to calm Bea down. The girl was just made to be the extinguisher of fires people had in their hearts and minds.
Today, Bea woke up the second her alarm did it's job. Instead of going to golf clubs and elite women parties and meetings at expensive restaurants to listen women brag about what their husbands got them or what their sons were doing, she made it a goal to see Ivy each day .
When she arrived at the garden, she saw Ivy lying on a piece of fabric under a tree, she was reading a novel and drinking a bottle of soda. Bea laid close to her and greeted her with a smile.
"Looks interesting," Bea said, smiling and Ivy nodded. "I remember when my son was still into novels, he bought books like almost everyday and filled his room with them but now he prefers burning up and yelling at every little thing," Bea said and her speech caught Ivy's attention, she brought out her phone and typed; " Is anything wrong with him?"
"Sadly,yes he has anger management issues, I'm tired of him, last week he broke a boy's arm and almost killed a lady because of a little scratch on his car, " Bea added and Ivy laughed. Bea looked at her with a raised brow, why was she finding Ian's condition funny? wasn't she supposed to be scared or something? Ivy opened the book in a search of a page, with the help of her yellow highlighter, she pointed out a line in the book written by her.
"If I laugh then I meant it,to find everything funny is abnormal but grief and tears deepens the injury of the heart, laughter and smiles seals up wounds" Bea smiled after reading it aloud and nodded her head continuously, she was actually right ever since the day she meet this delightful soul her days of crying were over, she was shocked that Ian's madness didn't bother her anymore.
She no longer had to drive a long way from her residence to his or to the police station, her biggest fear was that he could kill someone one day but she had decided to think positively for now. Bea held Ivy's hand and kissed it.
"I wish I had a daughter like you,"she said and Ivy smiled.
They finished up the novel together with their hands interlocked and made funny and emotional quotes on the novel relating to the scene with they read even if Ivy admitted that it was from her fictional crush in the novel that made the previous quote.
Anika came over to watch the installment process of the playground equipment at the orphanage. Ivy left for her piano lessons and Bea went to watch the process with Anika. Coincidentally, both women wore a pink floral print dress they ordered at the Paris summer/fall22 season. They stood there and after a while they sat on a bench; it was the weekend so Anika finally had time to enjoy a long conversation with Bea.
"You seem to have replaced me," Anika said, laughing.
"No, how could I possibly do that?"
"You did,with her..I think she's a great kid Bea,"
"Me too but she doesn't -"
" Have a voice, yes.. which is why we're scared, Ivy's eighteenth birthday is a few days, "
" Wow that's splendid! "
"Yes indeed, it s but Ivy has faced several situations Bea.. which left her voiceless, "
"What do you mean? "Bea asked, adjusting her position to listen properly to Anika. She wanted to know why everyone was scared and most especially how Ivy had total mutism.
"She was born healthy and she started showing symptoms of mutism after a year of her birth, supposedly because her previous orphanage caught fire and she was the only kid forgotten, the scar of the burn is still on her right hand. Ivy is young, beautiful and innocent and because of her condition she hasn't been able to fit into homes if adoptive parents, she stayed here and we both know that the second she turns eighteen she'll have to find her own path and stay on her own which is why we're scared of letting her go, "
Anika couldn't go any further as her tears choked her up but it wasn't comparable to Bea's waterfall,indeed the word was too dangerous for an innocent soul, letting Ivy go was a horrible decision but it had to be made. Anika didn't adopt her because her son didn't want a sister and she kindly refused to come with her.
"And her parents,did they -"
"Her mom was about sixteen when she had her,she has a one night stand with a guy at Las Vegas when they were taken on a field trip,she conceived really quickly and had her baby at the six month of pregnancy luckily after the incubator treatment,Ivy survived and went back to the orphanage with her mom. When Ivy was about two months old her mom ran away from the orphanage, leaving her behind for the nuns," Anika explained and Bea's tears increased. Anika wiped hers,she had met people with even more heartbreaking stories so switching back to her normal mode was something she could do perfectly well.
Bea could relate to Ivy's mom as someone who had her first and only child at the age of seventeen. Some days you'll have the urge to stay strong for your baby other days you'll be filled with resentment and regret or you could almost destroy or dispose the little being in your hands. But her father was with her and he didn't give up,she had Is at one of the most expensive hospitals with proper and extravagant care and atleast he grew up with a father until he was eight.
"I like her alot, she's really tough ad doesn't let that part in her life hold her down instead she keeps doing greater things each day," Anika complimented and Bea smiled in response.
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