LAUREL Madison stood in the middle of her sitting room staring at her wristwatch as if in wait for somebody. As gorgeous as she stood. Beautiful figure, nice chocolate colour and with bouncy red hair that pours down in curls around her shoulder line.
The sitting room was sparsely furnished, just a cushion and a sofa, with other electronics, the dinning section was graced with a relatively small table and just three chairs.
It could practically be described as a house for a small, if not very small family.
"Nicole you'd be late for school if you waste one more minute." Laurel shouted up the stairs as she used a rubber band to hold her curls in place.
"Be right down mum, just give me a minute." a voice called down to her from up the stairs.
"Don't make me come up there to get you young lady." Laurel threw back at her.
Seconds later a young girl that looked about 7 years old came rushing down the stairs. She could have passed off as Laurel herself if not that she was younger, and had blonde hair instead of red like her mother's. Also, her eye color was ocean blue and tiny while Laurel had big brown eyes.
"What kept you so long?" Laurel asked as she picked up her handbag and the lunchbox kept on the dinning table and headed for the door hurriedly.
"I'm sorry mummy." Nicole responded and they both headed for Laurel's car parked in the mini garage in front of their house.
They got into her red sedan car, Nicole sitting at the back all strapped in while Laurel took the driver's seat and she drove off.
Ten minutes later they were in front on Nicole's school. Nicole unstrapped herself and picked up her school bag and lunch pack.
"Remember," Laurel reminded "no fights in school, stay as far away from trouble as much you can but never ever let anyone bully you."
"Even Cody?" Nicole asked shyly
"Even Cody. Report to a teacher but always stand your ground, okay?"
"Okay mummy." Nicole responded as she slightly placed a kiss on her mother's cheek from behind.
"Good." Laurel acknowledged and tucked away the hair strand threatening to fall off her daughter's perfectly made blonde bun. "Always be a good girl... And remember mummy loves you..."
"To the moon and back." Nicole intoned. "I love you too mummy." she added with her tiny voice and stepped out of the car, running to meet her friends who were standing by the school fountain waiting for her.
Laurel watched as her daughter chatted and laughed in high-spirit with her friends until they were out of site.
She couldn't believe how grown she's become when it seemed like it was just a little while ago that she held her in her arms as a baby, confused as to what to do next.
With these thoughts, it all started flooding into her mind how the whole story started for her. How she turned out to be a single mother with no one else to fend for either herself or her daughter.
***
She hadn't always been Laurel. Her mother had always wanted to name her Rose while her father preferred naming her after his own mother Laurel.
Eventually they had to settle for Rose-Laurel in order to accommodate each name. Even so each person called her by the name they gave her.
But overtime she got stuck with Rose, cos that's what her mother called her everywhere. Laurel was only used by her father and on her documents.
She was five when her mother died of HIV as she eventually learned. Her father was devastated, always sulking and taking out his anger on alcohol. He never looked at Laurel the same again, and something told Laurel that he might be contemplating if she was really his child, because all sorts of stories were flying around about her mother and she could see the way people whispered around her.
By the time she was seven her father had already married again to one of Laurel's nightmares in a human form. The good thing was, he stopped drinking and became sober. Bad thing was he lurched himself into work like never before.
He gave the family some time. But Laurel never felt close to him again. He even stopped calling her Laurel and switched to calling her Rose like every other person she knew. That was when she knew she lost his love.
Mr Madison, her father was hardly around. Always had one business or the other to travel to, where he'd stay days, weeks sometimes more than a month before coming back.
At this point, her stepmother Doris would make sure to show her her place as the odd one out. Even though Doris came into the marriage with an illegitimate child, who was as wicked as her mother was, she still always reminded Laurel that she was more damaged because her mother died of HIV which she must have contacted from her numerous boyfriends outside her marriage.
Doris told her they weren't even sure she was of Madison blood. But she couldn't do anything because her father wants to keep her as a favour to his late wife even though she doesn't deserve it.
Only when her father was around did Doris treat her nice and kindly. And Laurel knew that it was because he was around. The minute he leaves the door on a trip, her nightmare starts over again.
At the start, Laurel would cry, and begged to be treated fairly. But at some point she got used to it and didn't bother anymore.
Doris could do want she wanted to her and she'll be fine. She refused to be broken. Luckily for her, her only brother, Doris's son loved her a lot, even though Doris and her daughter Lisa was against it.
Even though Laurel was eight years older than Tim, she loved him beyond words could tell. Because, he looked like their father and had a welcoming spirit.
(For the course of flashback we'd refer to Laurel as Rose, which was her name during those years.)
When Rose was 17, a new family moved into their little town, Harley Port. The Edwards could easily be described as the richest family in their town.
It was a family of five people. Mr Christopher Edward, his wife Selena Edward and their three children, Solomon, David and Esther their last child and only daughter who was Rose's classmate.
Their children's names were significant because it was said they were named after two of the strongest kings in the bible and a virtuous woman from the bible as well.
Mr Edward came to Harley Port to live a quiet life and raise one of the strongest competitive business in the town and even other neighboring towns. He owned a technology company by name Alpha Technologies, which was known as tallest building in all of Harley Port.
Rumors had it that Mr Edward had a lot of things going down for him but he uses Alpha Technologies to cover up for the others. We were told he ran strings of drug outlets but the stories were never confirmed because he has never been caught.
Rose always thought that if the rumors were true, then he did a great job in covering his tracks.
Solomon Edward was his father's right hand man who took care of the family business with his father, making sure that they made more profit than loss.
David Edward was an accountant in grooming who would also take over the family business, since it was mainly built for their future. He was a class higher than Rose and 2 years older than her.
Esther Edward was a lawyer in grooming who would give the family business all the legal guidance and backing needed to make sure the company never crashes. She was in same class with Rose but a year younger.