Chapter 4 Stones and Band-Aids
527 Words
I tried to coax her the way she used to coax me. "Be a good girl, Mommy. Take your medicine and you'll get better..."
But Mommy couldn't swallow.
I got a cup of cold water and tried to get her to drink.
The water didn't go in. It just ran down her cheek, looking like she was crying.
I was so useless. I couldn't even feed medicine right.
"No wonder Daddy's always disappointed in me..." I sobbed, quiet.
Daddy was always saying, if only Mommy had had a son.
But every time, Mommy would hold me and say, "A daughter is her mother's mirror. Emma will always be Mommy's precious girl."
Thinking about before, I cried so hard I hiccuped. I wiped Mommy's face with the back of my hand, hiccuping the whole time.
"Mommy, take the medicine. Take it, go to sleep, and you'll be better."
I touched Mommy's face, curled up against her, and fell into a heavy sleep.
When I woke up the next day, Mommy still wasn't awake.
I tried calling her. Nothing.
I knew. Mommy was sick.
A really bad sickness. That's why she was sleeping so long.
The room was dim and cold.
I climbed out of bed and pulled the curtains open.
The white light flooded in, lighting up the room — and lighting up Mommy's face, bluish-pale on the pillow.
I tilted my head, looking at her. She wasn't as pretty as before.
Before, her face was rosy and white. Now she looked like someone with a really bad illness.
But to me, she was still the most beautiful mommy in the whole world.
I touched her face. Ice.
I saw her hair was tangled. I wanted to brush it for her.
But I was clumsy. I accidentally caught the chain of her necklace and broke it.
This pendant — a vintage diamond pendant that had been Edward's mother Margaret Sr.'s, given to Mommy before the wedding.
Mommy wore it every day. She'd reach up and touch it sometimes.
Once I asked Mommy, "Is this necklace really expensive?"
Mommy touched my head. "The necklace isn't what's precious. It's the person who gave it to me."
This pendant had broken a few times before. But Mommy never wanted to replace it.
She said, "As long as the pendant is here, Daddy's love is still here."
Thinking of this, I looked at my sick mommy and made a quiet decision in my little heart.
I picked up the pendant and ran out.
Outside the wrought-iron gates of the estate, there were always bodyguards on duty.
Daddy had said that before he married the one that got away, me and Mommy weren't allowed to leave.
At the main gate.
I knocked on the heavy iron door and slipped the pendant through the gap.
"Mister Marcus, please, can you give this pendant to my daddy?"
The bodyguard outside — Marcus — looked at my red, swollen eyes, and finally took it. He said yes.
I went back to the bedroom, looked at Mommy sleeping, and touched her face.
"I'll make Daddy come see you. Get better soon."
Just then, my stomach growled again.
- Writer
