Chapter 1:
"Mommy…Mommy," a small voice said as someone shook Maureen's shoulder. Maureen opened her eyes slightly and found her three and a half year old daughter Tiffany standing next to her. "Time to get up." Maureen opened her eyes all the way. Right away, the sunlight began to bother her. "Up, Mommy, up!" Maureen sat up and pulled Tiffany onto her lap.
"I'm up, I'm up. Now, what do you want to do today?" Tiffany stopped to think.
"Can we go to the park?" Maureen looked outside at the glaring sunlight. It was guaranteed to give her a migraine. The look on Tiffany's face made Maureen's heart melt.
"Sure, only for a little while though. Let me get dressed first." Tiffany slid off Maureen's lap and let her get dressed.
As Maureen pulled on her jeans, her eyes drifted to the family photo taped to the mirror. She and Joanne had adopted two girls. Cassia was fourteen years old with auburn hair and green eyes. Tiffany was a three and a half African American girl with large brown eyes that came up pretty close to Mimi's. They were an abnormally close family. Cassia knew who to go to for what. She went to her Mama, Joanne, for schoolwork and her Mommy, Maureen, for boy and fashion trouble.
After Maureen got dressed, she went out to the front room. Tiffany was sitting on the couch watching cartoons. Maureen went into the kitchen and made herself a cup of coffee. She grabbed her medication off the counter and swallowed the pills dry. Already, she felt a migraine coming on. She had been getting migraines since her teens, but they had been getting steadily worse lately. Joanne was worried about Maureen, but the diva kept insisting that she was fine.
Tiffany slid off the couch and went into the kitchen. She leaned against the refrigerator and watched Maureen move around the kitchen. Maureen poured her coffee in a thermos, grabbed her purse and turned around the face Tiffany.
"Shall we go?" she asked. Smiling, Tiffany took her Mom's hand and they left.
Maureen slid on her sunglasses and watched Tiffany run around and play. Already, the sunlight was bothering her. Tiffany looked over at Maureen and waved. Once Maureen had waved back, she went back to her new friend. Maureen squinted slightly. Black dots were starting to appear in front of her. The diva shook her head, but that didn't help. After about a minute or two, the spots disappeared, and Maureen's sight returned to normal. The diva quickly disregarded the temporary 'blindness' as a lack of sleep and went back to watching Tiffany and play with the other children.
After the park, Maureen took Tiffany to lunch. Then, they went to go pick Cassia up from school. Cassia bound down the steps of her middle school and skid to a stop in front of Maureen and Tiffany.
"Whoa, where's the fire?" Maureen asked.
"Nowhere, I just have a lot of homework to do," replied Cassia. When she tried to walk away, Maureen grabbed her arm. She wasn't buying her daughter's story.
"What's his name?"
"What makes you say that?" Cassia asked as she began to walk. Rolling her eyes, Maureen followed with Tiffany in tow.
"I know you. Come on, Cass, talk to me honey. You know you can trust me. Either you tell me, or I'll sic Mama on you." Cassia stopped and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Fine, his name is Drew, and he's a perv and a stalker." Tiffany tugged on the sleeve of Maureen's blazer to get her attention.
"What's a perv Mommy?" she asked rather innocently.
"Nothing baby. Now, let's get home, someone has a lot of homework to do." Scowling, Cassia began to walk again.
Joanne didn't get home from work until after eight, leaving Maureen to make dinner. As was expected, the lawyer came home and found two pizza boxes on the table. Maureen was sitting at the table with her head in her hands. Joanne went up behind the diva and began to massage her shoulders. Moaning, Maureen leaned back.
"Rough day?" asked Joanne before kissing the tip of Maureen's nose.
"Not really, I'm just pretty tired."
"No headaches today?" Maureen paused for a second before shaking her head.
"Nope, no headaches today." Joanne took Maureen's face in her hands and looked deep into the diva's brown eyes.
"You better not be lyin' to me, Honeybear." Maureen wound her fingers though Joanne's curly hair and pulled her close for a lopsided kiss.
"Kid in the room!" Tiffany announced, causing Maureen and Joanne to leap apart in record speed. "Mama, you said you'd do my hair tonight." Joanne picked Tiffany up.
"Tomorrow after daycare, promise." Tiffany shook her head, causing her messy braids to fall in her round face.
"I'm going to Emily's after school…remember?" Joanne sighed.
"After you get home then. Now, bath, pajamas and bed." Joanne put Tiffany down and patted her on the butt playfully as she scurried out of the room. Then, the lawyer wrapped her arms around Maureen's shoulders from behind. "You still don't look so hot babe." Maureen rested her head on Joanne's arm.
"I'm just a little dizzy, that's all." Joanne kissed the top of Maureen's head. Maureen nuzzled the lawyer's arm.
"You should really go to bed. I'm worried about you."
"I'm fine, really."
"Maureen, you really need to get your rest. I know you're not sleeping well at night. Please, for me?" Joanne left a trail of kisses down Maureen's neck.
"Fine, but only for you." Maureen got up and retreated to their room for the night.
Sighing, Joanne began to clean up. Maureen's headaches were taking their toll on the diva. Joanne knew that Maureen's headaches were getting worse, no matter what she said. All Joanne wanted was to keep Cassia and Tiffany in the dark about Maureen's slowly shattering health for as long as possible.