"Mommy" "Mommy" "MOMMMY!" Alexandra jumped up and down on my bed, waking me from my dead sleep. "What is it baby?" "Someone's ringing da bell. You say don't answer the door so I don't but they is still ringing it." She smiled brightly, her dark hair in a mess around her oval face. I moved from the covers and picked her up; she wrapped herself around my hip. "Let's go see who it is shall we?" She nodded, leaning her head against my shoulder.
Alexandra, only four years old, and barely so, was the daintiest of her entire Kindergarten class but without a doubt the brightest and smartest- hence why she was in Kindergarten at four. "Hello, are you Miss. Torres?" I nodded simply to the older man dressed in a nice suit; dressed much like a business man, he stood tall and affirmative. "I'm here to discuss the guardianship of Alexandra Lee Gray on behalf of Shane Ross Gray." It took everything in me at that moment to not drop my mouth- or my daughter. "Mommy, that's my name!" Alexandra spoke blatantly. "Yes it is baby. Hey, how about you go get some breakfast before we drop you off for school okay? Make some cereal." I put Alexandra down on the floor and she trotted off towards the kitchen. "Come in, would you like some tea or coffee?"
His name was Chase Jenkins, Shane's lawyer. He'd been working with him for several years and Shane had brought to his attention that he wanted to see Alexandra, but didn't see it quite fit to pop in on his own without being kicked out or put in jail- smart he was sending Chase too, because he was quite right about what would have happened had he shown on his own.
"May I ask why now? Why not the day he left me in the hospital after her birth? Or when I brought her home? Or her first birthday? Or even her second?" Chase sighed, "I don't know if you've heard but Shane was put into a rehabilitation center for an alcohol addiction." I scoffed, interrupting him rudely, "You've got to be kidding me, right? Shane? Addicted?" "It's the truth. Four years ago he became addicted." I began laughing, "Okay, who paid you to pull this prank?" Chase's expression became idle and very very serious. "I can assure you nothing about this matter is a prank. And I can also assure you that every bit of Shane's alcoholism has got something to do with his confusion and loss of you and your daughter." I wasn't able to speak before a crash came echoing in the living room from the kitchen. "MOMMY! I SPILLED MILK!" Alexandra said in her 'oops' tone where she raised her voice and laughed in between phrases. "One moment" I cautioned Chase.
"I'm busy with this whole single mom thing, ya know, so tell Shane if he would like to further discuss seeing my- I mean, our daughter, he is more than welcome to come by tonight at seven for dinner. And let him know I won't call the cops on him or kick him off the property as long as he chooses to behave." I told Chase as I escorted him out of the house. "Will do Miss. Torres. Thank you for your time." I nodded politely.
"Ma, guess who showed up at my house today?" I clutched the phone to my ear, turning in to the parking garage of my work. "The lottery?" I chuckled, "Good guess. Shane's lawyer." I heard her chuckle, "Mitchie, really? Who showed up? I have a designer showing in fifteen minutes. I don't have time for jokes." I chuckled again, simultaneously locking my car doors and clutching my purse and coffee in my free hand. "No, I'm being serious. Shane wants to see Alexandra." My mother didn't reply for quite some time, "Mom?" She breathed in, "I'm here. I just can't believe," she paused- I heard a chair screeching, "After all this time. Why now?" "Ma, I asked myself the same question. I don't know. I invited Shane over for dinner tonight. Well, I invited him through his lawyer so who knows if he'll show up. His lawyer said he'd been in rehab recently; some alcoholism that occurred after he left us." I swiped my keycard along the keypad on the front door. I nodded toward the front desk; Missy handed me a packet of papers I'd need to file for the day. Thank you, I mouthed. Missy nodded in return. "Well darling, please be careful. I don't want that man causing you any trouble now. You're finally on your feet with the new house and new job; I don't want to see you going back to being nineteen. You're twenty-three and a woman, I can only hope that Shane wants nothing but good things out of this. If you have any trouble just let me know and I'll drive over." I rolled my eyes at her last statement; she was three hours away, if anything were to happen, it would take nothing but an hour for someone to end up battered and bruised. "Alright mom. Will do. I'm at the office now. Thought I'd keep you updated, love you."
My job was more than lenient with me when it came to my hours. They let me come in at eight rather than seven like everyone else because of Alexandra. They allowed me to have weekends off, I just had to work from home, and they allowed me to leave work at three instead of four thirty, but I also had twice the work load as everyone else. I was an assistant to Judge Matthews, the best lawyer that Dallas had ever had. I filed all his court dates, typed up copies of the witness statements- I did what needed to be done- whether it was scheduling dates of cases, calling in lawyers and attorneys to meet with him or pulling out old cases to be re-trialed. The hard part was working from home because most of the time I'd have dozens of voicemails from people I'd called throughout the week and would have to return the calls once Alexandra was asleep. Sadly, the work world didn't stop on the weekends when I went home. But I was quickly coming accustomed to the new job, having been there for four months; the regular callers didn't mind leaving me voicemails at home because they knew I would return their calls later in the evening.
"How was school today?" Alexandra wrapped her fingers around mine, "It was okay. This boy was being kind of mean to me today. He took my crayons without asking for them." Alexandra hopped in the car; I buckled her in. "Wanna know something?" She nodded her head, "The same thing happened to mommy. There was this boy when I was a teenager and he use to pick on me and say mean things to me." I kneeled close to her, "And one time he took mommy's guitar without asking and then I found out he did all those things because he liked me. He just didn't know how to tell me." Alexandra's eyes were wide and all-knowing, "Why didn't he just say 'I like you'?" I laughed, "I don't know baby. Boys are confusing." I shut her door and walked over to the driver side. "Mommy, I got a question." I looked in my rear view mirror at her; her expression was filled with wonder, "What is it?" She blinked for a moment, much like I did when I didn't know if I should say something. "Was that boy daddy? The boy that made fun of you?" I didn't respond until I got out of the parking lot, "That boy was daddy." She stared out the window and then turned to me, "Did you like him too?" I smiled, "Of course I did. We had you. I loved daddy." Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped, "You LOVED him?" I smiled brightly, "Yeah, I wouldn't have had you if I didn't love him." She nodded again, "So where did daddy go again?" "He went back to California when I had you." Alexandra looked dead at me, "Because his job was important, right?" I'd told her this story before, she recited a line I'd used one too many times in the story. "Yes, baby." "It wasn't cause he didn't love you anymore was it?" I smiled at her, "Well that's something I won't ever know." I said softly, but thankfully, Alexandra assumed I didn't answer her because her bright brown eyes continued to stare out the window. Oh how she got distracted the same way Shane did.
"Remember today when we talked about mommy and daddy?" Alexandra nodded, pulling out her favorite blue and yellow flower-print sundress. "Yes." I helped her put it on, and then I tied the bow on the back. "Well, that guy that came by earlier is a friend of daddy's." Alexandra turned to me, her eyes filled with excitement, "He knows daddy?!" I nodded, "Yep. And he said that daddy wants to see you tonight." Her eyes became teary. "Me?" She whispered. I nodded, "Is that okay?" She nodded several times, clearly filled with joy, "Does he want to see you?" She asked me, handing me her brush; she loved whenever I brushed her hair. She sat on my lap as I brushed her hair, "I didn't ask his friend but right now all that matters is that you get to meet him. Don't worry about mommy okay?" I finished putting her hair in a small braid, "You look very beautiful" I told her. She grabbed my hand and pulled me in to my room and opened my closet, "You have to look pretty too, mommy. Daddy hasn't seen you in forever!" I chuckled, "Okay. But only because you want me to."
"Woah! Mommy you look like a princess!" I was wearing a black dress, it covered up my cleavage and was bound to my knees but it hugged my figure very well; my dark, curly hair flowed down my shoulders to the lower part of my back. I wore little makeup but enough to make me look presentable. "Let's start cooking!" Alexandra pulled out some pots and pans.
The doorbell's familiar tone echoed throughout the house as well as my ear drums. My heart sped up at a ridiculous pace as I made my way to the door. I opened the door and was immediately hit with Shane's fragrance; it was as if I'd been transported back in time to the day we first met, the day he first came to my cabin to introduce himself.
