Love of My Life

Chapter 3: Daddy’s Girl Went Away

Time was flying. It was Emma’s 2nd birthday. David had planned her birthday with all the embellishes and décor according to the theme of Mickey Mouse as it was her beloved character. He ordered a cake from one of the finest bakers of the town, the costumes were red and black with the illustrations of Mickey Mouse. So many people were invited. David’s parents and siblings were also there. Everything was beautiful and catchy. People were enjoying and dancing and roaming around. Emma was looking cute in a Mickey Mouse costume. She was indeed a beautiful child like her mother. Her grandma was holding her was kissing her cheeks again and again. She missed her a lot all this time. Emma met her paternal aunt, Sarah, for the first time, as she was away all these years to complete her graduation. Sarah was amazed and happy to Emma. She looked at her again and again, played peek-a-boo with her and she also played birthday music for her on piano. It was all fun.

Finally, the time came for cake- cutting ceremony. It was a triple-storey Mickey Mouse cake with chocolate sponge and creamy fondants.  Emma was brought near and she stood up on the chair parallel to the cake. David was standing beside her. He was holding the cake knife and Emma was holding his hand. They were looking like a reflection of each other. Both were equally cute and equally lonely. The cake was cut. People were asked to come for the dinner. All was going well when suddenly Emma was out of sight. David was busy talking with his colleagues when MRS Richard came and told him about Emma’s disappearance. Everything was blurring in front of him. It seemed as he was not listening to his mom. He started to run, looking here and there in every nook and corner of the house. Emma was nowhere. David was devastated. It looked as if he had lost his last hope to live.

Everyone was looking for Emma. It was a chaotic situation. Everything went upside down. No stone was left unturned, every nook and corner was searched but Emma was not found. At last, they were tired. David felt as if was a loser. He felt that he couldn’t keep his beloved people with him; he thought that whosoever was loved by him dearly was leaving him. He was broken from the inside. Suddenly out of nowhere, a cry was heard. It was Emma’s cry. David ran after it crazily and found Emma outside the house playing with a cat. She was crying in joy. David took a sigh of relief. But he was wondering where she could have gone as they already searched the place but she was not there earlier. Then he was reminded of the place near their house where a cat had given birth to five kittens. He used to take Emma there and Emma was in love with those cats. He never knew that Emma could go there by herself if he left the door open. It was his first lesson as a single father. He had to learn a lot about fatherhood. He had a long way to go.

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MRS Richard insisted David to send Emma with her and Sarah as they could take good care of her. David was reluctant as he couldn’t imagine living without her. But the day when Emma was lost, had frightened him a lot so he agreed. Emma was taken away by MRS Richard to their hometown, Ohio. There were so many things that attracted Emma over there but Emma was missing Daddy a lot. She couldn’t sleep at night; no one was able to make her eat as she was used to eating with her Daddy’s hands. She was not enjoying playing with the cats as she used to do with her Daddy. She was Daddy’s little princess and her Daddy was her Hero. MRS Richard was trying hard to make her comfortable with her presence around her but all went in vain. Emma was growing weak with each day passing by. She stopped playing and had sat all day alone beside a teddy bear pretending to sit by her Daddy. Things were getting out of control. MRS Richard felt helpless. She called David up.

David rushed to Ohio to meet his beloved daughter. He was extremely worried about her. As reached there, he saw Emma sitting behind the teddy bear talking to him in her childish language.

‘Oh my God I missed you so much,’ he cried in joy as he saw her coming towards him. They hugged each other and satiated their longing. MRS Richard was standing at the corner of the room, looking at them with tears in her eyes. She had surely done something wrong by separating them. She looked at David and was astonished. His face was looking very weak and the wrinkles around his eyes told the tales of his sleepless nights. The serenity she saw on their face in the presence of each other was divine. She had understood that they could not live without each other.

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David went back to New York with Emma. He was calm and satisfied. ‘Daddy will never leave you alone’, he murmured to himself.

Emma was happy. She was at home. She was playing around freely. She was running after the kittens and eating her meals with Daddy. She had everything she needed; everything she could desire for.

Things were becoming difficult as David had to go to work every day, and it was difficult to leave Emma behind. He was thinking on and on and he decided to hire a nanny for her.

‘Maybe this idea can work’, he thought to himself. So he gave an advertisement for a nanny. He decided to conduct interviews on the weekend. He shortlisted the candidates and gave them the interview calls.

It was Saturday morning. Emma and David finished their breakfast. David dressed Emma up. They were all set to meet their candidates. It was 11 sharp when the door was knocked. He opened the door and a girl was standing there. She was a young girl with firm expressions and a strong built. She was wearing blue jeans pants with a white buttoned shirt. She told him that she was there for the interview. He called her in.

‘Hello MR David’, she said in a low yet firm tone, ‘My name is Nancy and I am a professional babysitter’. She was confident.

David looked at her with inquisitive eyes. ‘So are you comfortable with spending all the day here taking care of my daughter when I am out, he asked skeptically. He never thought about giving her beloved daughter in the care of some stranger but it was inevitable then. He had to do it. He went on with asking few more questions related to her family background and her professional skills regarding taking care of a child. He was quite satisfied but still, he conducted some more interviews to avoid any doubt and finally hired Nancy. It was the toughest decision he ever had to make.

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It was midnight. Emma was sleeping. David was still awake. He was unable to sleep due to the anxiety of handing over Emma to the nanny. He was afraid. He was missing Cathy. He wanted her badly to be with him. He wanted her to console him, to comfort him, and to take away all his worries. He wanted her back for Emma. He wanted her back and lived like a happy family. He wanted so many things but not all the things were supposed to happen. He surely would have stopped if he could have but fate decided it that way. He had lost her forever. He thought on and on and the window of sweet memories blew open.