HEART MADE OF STEEL

Planned visit

Danika had a rough week. She did not know she had already formed a bond with those kids, in just two days of knowing them.

Something hurt behind her rib cage. She found herself having sleepless nights.

She worried if they ate, if they bathed before bed. Did Ian find a good person to look after them

What bothered her more was why she was stressed about them so much. Her infertility had built a resentment in her for kids.

She found them noisy, nosey, messy and a real bother.

And they were loud.

Who wanted small people who run around the place, they can’t sit still and constantly break things.

They cry the smallest of things and cause a major headache when they don’t get what they want.

There were stories about kids swallowing tiny objects and ending up in a hospital bed. Some ate bugs. Some had snort, who wanted such nasty business?

She didn’t.

That's what she told herself and that's how she hated kids.

However I.J and Ayana...

Those two were different. She didn’t know how they were different or why she thought so. She just knew it.

She missed kids she barely knew. At one point she found herself crying when she thought that she wouldn’t see them again.

On Saturday she had no plans. She lay in her bed feeling miserable for some unknown reason. She felt angry, she didn’t know why.

She dragged her tired body to the apartment phone. It only rang when the security at the gate called to inform her someone was there to see her.

She wondered who it was. She was in a new city, noone she knew, knew where she lived. Even the ladies she met with at Lalita's ’s did not know.

“Ms Dlamini may you come out please? There are two kids here who are looking for their mother. They claim you are their mother”

She froze.

Kids?

Could it be...Did Ian came...

“Ms Dlamini are you there?”

“Yes yes Abe. I’m here. Um...are they alone?”

“Yes ma’am. Please come"

Her heart hammered in her chest. They came to Platinum Palace alone?

“I will be there in a sec"

Slamming the receiver back in its cradle she dashed into her bedroom and slipped into some shoes then rushed out. In the hallway on her floor her neighbours were stunned by her appearance.

This was a woman who always looked like she was ready for a photo shoot. Right now she was running the hallway like a crazy woman.

Her head still had a silk sleeping cap. She was in a morning gown with mismatched shoes on her feet.

Someone attempted to say something but she did not hear them.

...

At the gate

“What is going on here"

A woman asked on her way out. She noticed there was a small group of people huddled around two small kids.

She slowed down her car and asked one of the security guards what was going on.

“These two kids were dropped off at the gate by a cab. They say their mother lives here. They want to visit her"

“What! Where is the dad?”

“They said that the dad doesn’t want them to see their mother, they said when he went out for a party today, they got into a cab and came here"

“Oh my God. Who is their mother"

“Ms Danika Dlamini"

The woman turned to her husband who was riding shotgun.

“Oh wow. So she flaunts her curves trying to seduce married men when she has kids. She is pretending to be single and even stays in the single bed block. Wow"

She drove away and continued to criticise Danika.

When Danika got to the gate she was surprised that it really was I.J and Ayana.

“Why are young people these days careless with their children. She let them come on their own. Why didn’t she drive over”

“I think that she is fighting with her husband. Now the fight is affecting the kids”

“I thought she was single"

“Maybe they divorced”

Danika ignored the speculation going around. She ran to the two kids and hugged I.J. She turned him over to make sure he was okay.

Ayana was holding onto Ian’s hand. When she was done checking if rey were alright, the cutie then opened her arms and called for her.

“Mama"

She scooped her into her arms, kissed her face then placed her on her hip.

“Abe thank you”

“Young woman" the older man who commented earlier began “Its not good to subject the children to such things. I know its none of my business what is going in between you and the father of the kids, however that should not affect the children”

The man’s wife nodded seriously. She said “Why is the father refusing for you to visit them huh? Now look at what has happened. What if they got hit by a car, or got kidnapped. Its an evil world out there. Take care of these little ones”

“Its not like that at all. They are not..” she wanted to explain, to clear her name and set the record straight. They were not her kids.

“They are not my kids"

The moment she said that everyone at the gate looked at her with condescending eyes. They thought what is this woman saying. Was she rejecting her kids. In front of them.

“What rubbish is this. Are you saying you don’t want your children?”

The old woman was furious. What was the younger generation turning into.

“A blind man can see these are your kids. They look like you. What nonsense!”

Danika suddenly had deja vu.

This...this was a scene very close to what happened at Lalita's ’s. She realised she had made mistake. Kids invoked a protective instinct in a human and here she was claiming that they weren’t hers.

Why did everyone keep saying that they were her kids, that they looked like her?

“No no no. Thats what I meant. They are my kids. I’m their mother. The problem is that my ex has told them I’m a stranger. To ladies he says I’m dead"

She could not believe what she just said. How was Ian going to react if he heard she said that.

She was scared that this would become a big issue so she wanted to put out the fire whilst it was still on the match stick.

...

In her apartment she settled the kids in the living room. Her phone in hand she started pacing.

What to do.

“Mum?”

She turned to I.J

“What is it sweetheart”

“Is it true that you don’t want us. You don’t want to be our mum?”

Her heart, her poor heart could not take it. The boy was crying. This was the first time she was seeing him crying so much. He tried to make himself strong.

She felt her eyes water.

“I want you. I do want to be your mum. But its not that easy please understand okay" she went over to then and knelt in front of them. Her tears rolled down her cheeks.

“I’m really sorry you guys are going through this. If there was something I could do-" “There is. You are our mother. Please be our mother.”

The boy sobbed. It was so heart breaking for Danika she found herself crying with the kids.

“I promise not to be naughty. I will even listen to daddy. I promise. I won’t cry for you to come and stay with us. Just be our mum. Aya isn’t talking anymore. Please don’t send us away. We want you mommy”

She broke down. What was happening. Why was a six year old saying such mature things. He was begging her to be his mother, begging her to be his sister’s mother.

He was a child. A child suffering from a lack of motherly love and care.

“Shshh come here" she pulled them both into a hug. “I won’t leave you ever again I promise. I will be here for you guys. I will talk to your dad"