Do You Believe?

"Can Paula come too?" Tiffany asked, clutching the stuffed brown bear in her hands. "Yes," the man said and she responded with a smile, a smile Stephen wished he could keep on that chubby little face forever but sadly he couldn't because he was only an agent and he couldn't determine if she would be happy in her new home or not. "Ms. Robbins, thank you so much for your hospitality and motherly ca-" "Anything for Cassie, sir thank you so much too," she said, sniffling. She wished she had enough resources to take care of Tiffany but she didn't, Stephen noticed the gloomy and pale expression on Ms. Robbins' face so he hastened the process, his men were done with stuffing Tiffany's little luggage at the back of the black Mercedes Benz packed outside the flat, Stephen held Tiffany's hand and spoke to her with a smile he summoned from the world of temporary happiness. "Let's go," he said and she cuddled Ms. Robbins for the last time, the woman couldn't hold back her tears as she cried uncontrollably. After a few minutes of their emotional moment, Stephen with the girl's hand in his opened the door and headed out,the white Chihuahua formally known as Paula followed behind, wagging its tail. They got into the car and Tiffany waved at Ms. Robbins who was standing outside and hugging herself because of the cold,she returned the wave and in matter of seconds the car was out of Ms. Robbins' sight. .... A week ago whilst Tiffany was chasing after Paula who was chasing a butterfly at Ms. Robbins' garden, the news came, a bitter pill that was too hard for Ms. Robbins to swallow. Tiffany's mother had been admitted at a local hospital after being diagnosed with appendicitis,her father was on his way to do the necessary paperwork but sadly he met with an accident which cost him his life, when the news got to his wife who witnessed the scene of the nurses wheeling her husband's corpse out if his ward she died during the surgery due to shock. Ms. Robbins was a close friend of Cassie - Tiffany's mom,who was babysitting her during the occurrence of the tragic events. She was supposed to move to France and had already made the  necessary payments ,she didn't money to fix Tiffany along so she had to call the agency, if they couldn't find a good home for Tiffany then the orphanage was the only option. .....   Tiffany was taken to a house a supposed home but the doors were locked ,after banging on the wooden piece like his life depended on it, Stephen asked a neighbor close by. "Oh, Georgie and that snitch of a wife!" the lady hissed, Stephen asked Tiffany to wait in the car because of the cold and reckless aura emanating from the wild woman. "Yes, Mr Georgie,where is he?" "Police station, he's been into drugs for two years now, rumors has it that he wanted to adopt a child to help in their worthless crime,his wife's been spending extravagantly these days, who'd ever thought that their money was as dirty as her underwear," she laughed, exposing a set of black teeth which sent chills down Stephen's spine. He bade the woman goodbye and went back to the car, Tiffany was fast asleep and Paula was sleeping close to her, he smiled and covered them with his black coat before turning to look at the driver. "The mansion," he said under his breath and the driver started the car with Stephen's order in mind. •••••• The next morning, Tiffany slowly opened her eyelids and wiped her large dazzling blue eyes twice to confirm if she wasn't dreaming. She slowly came down from the large white bed and discovered that she was wearing the previous night. She looked at the large magnificent room with complete awe and amazement,the floor was wooden and looked expensive,she admired the chandelier and most especially the shelves with books neatly arranged with a neat set of bedsheets and the wardrobe which had her clothes in it. She slowly descended the large staircase on her bare feet and gawked at how the building was almost like the royal palace when she visited it with her father, it also had portraits and large creamy curtains but what made her excited was the amount of books and shelves she came across during her little adventure,who ever lived here must be a fan of reading or writing. "You're awake?" A masculine voice echoed in the large living room and it seemed there wasn't any other person in the place - just him and her. "Where's Paula?," She asked without even inquiring about how she got there. "Eating breakfast,you should join her too," he said with a smile. Tiffany followed him without any hesitation,they got to the dining room and she helped herself to sit on the table but what she couldn't grasp was the fact that there was a lot of food for just two people, she helped herself with the eating procedure and Stephen smiled at her mature behavior. "Do you live alone?" Tiffany asked, gulping down a spoon of cereal. " Yes," " Why?"she asked again,she was shocked that a fine young man like Stephen lived alone,from the conversation he had with Ms. Robbins she learnt that he was thirty-four and that he wasn't interested in getting married because his first love died a few days to his wedding. Stephen wasn't ugly. In fact, he was very attractive. Even an animal could attest to that. His blonde hair and brown eyes reminded Tiffany of a famous actor who played Oberon in William's Shakespeare play - a midsummer night's dream. Although he wasn't entirely perfect due to an eye condition which left him with a pair of wire framed glasses which made him marriage worthy. Tiffany decided to stop asking took many questions,her mom has warned her that asking many questions about someone's past may stir up sad  memories they'd want to forget. "It's okay,why didn't you take me to the new home Ms. Robbins talked about?" " It wasn't as good as I'd thought,I talked to the agency and they said you could stay with me for a couple of days, do you like this place?" " It isn't very bad,can I use the books?" " Of course,it's perfectly okay to do that until you are ready to begin with school,do you like reading?" " Yes.. and writing too, when I grow up I'm going to be an author!" She announced, smiling. " That's really awesome,I write too I'm currently working on a top secret masterpiece," he whispered and she giggled in response. They spent the rest of the day chatting about book related stuff while Stephen showed her around the house and wondered why she didn't ask about her parents, he concluded that she might have eavesdropped on their conversation and mourned in secret. ,