Chapter Thirty-Four

Being slightly concerned for Maya has been gone for a long time, Henrietta had tried to distract herself. David had rang her after hearing from Priya where she has been. This changed things for Henrietta couldn't cope with it. She was in the middle of putting some rather old dusty tinsel around the mirror when her door opened. Maya walking in empty-handed (so much for doing her shopping). Henrietta didn't trust her and thought the worse however she was wrong on this occasion, she's not been near Jacob. Maybe she went to him after her run in with Priya. Though Maya was just taking a long walk by herself, debating whether to go through with what she told Priya. For it would cause needless trouble among them. She just looked towards her mother, placing the money back on the table to prove she still had it.

"Where have you been?" Henrietta questioned; getting down from the chair. She knew where she has been but she wanted to hear it from her.

"Just for a walk"

"For five hours? And you haven't got me my shopping either"

"Yeah, I just wanted to be by myself; I just ended up walking around for hours and trying to think things though...I know what you're thinking and no, I haven't been near him"

"Do you want to see him?"

"No"

"And you expect me to believe that?"

"Yeah...I know I have crossed a line but just know I didn't set out to do this on purpose. It just happened"

"It just happened? So you're telling me that you didn't look twice at him and looked at him as the child he is for weeks until he kissed you? And then you thought...Oh wait, maybe I was wrong about him, maybe this teenager is what I need" Henrietta began to rant.

"Oh just shut up mother!" Maya shouted.

"Get out of my house"

"And go where?"

"I don't care...Just get out of my house"

Her mother's sudden demand surprised her. Though her lying to her had caused this, Henrietta wanted nothing more to do with her. She's taking it too far for she couldn't even keep her promise about the court. Why should she have to put up with it? That's what Henrietta was thinking to herself.

"I haven't got anywhere to go...I'll be homeless" Maya tried to say.

"Just take my money on the table, there's some homeless shelter not far from here...I'm sure they will fit you in for a couple of nights"

What Eric said about throwing her out the other day stuck with her. Henrietta supposed he was right. If her granddaughter was going to have any chance for a normal life, she would have nothing to do with the woman who gave birth to her. Painful as that was for she was still her mother.

"Mother" Maya began.

"Just get out! If I have to see your face for much longer then I will begin to hate you...I wish you had died instead of Alexander!"

Maybe that was too harsh (most would say it wasn't) but it was the only thing she could think to say to make her leave. Refusing to look at her, Henrietta just waited. She just listened to the sound of her putting the money in her pocket, the light footsteps and finally the closing of the door. When all was quiet and she was finally alone, she broke down in tears. Though she felt it had to be done, she didn't want to hate her and she feared she might if she kept her up for much longer.

...

The following morning had come, tomorrow was the day of court. David heard a knocking at his door, making him give a sigh as he made his way over. Though when he opened it, nobody was there. This made him think back to a couple of weeks ago when Ethan did that very thing (though it wasn't him this time). With a brief look around again, David shouted out...

"How dare you do this again!"

His rather random outburst made some of the villagers stare. Bob Hope was currently on the school run with Heath and Cathy as he gave David a confused stare.

"Sorry...Not you" David quickly added; not wanting to scare Bob's children.

"Okay? Take care, David" Bob replied, still confused.

"Did you see some bloke knock at this door?"

"I did see somebody yeah but they quickly scarpered, didn't even wait for you to answer it from the looks of things and they looked too tall to be some kid playing knock and run...So I don't know"

This seemed to confirm to David it was the cousin again. He thanked Bob and closed the door again. He was just about to ring Henrietta when he got another knock, this time at his back door. This made him run so quickly as he went to open the door, only to remember he locked it. Making him quickly fumble for the keys (though he was angry for he knew he could have got them in time had it been unlocked already). He thus opened the back door to find nobody as expected.

"I know you're there! So come and face me like a man, come on!" David called out. Walking into the back garden.

With only the slightest sound of footsteps heard behind him, the man was knocked out cold before he could have the chance to turn around. David just laid on the floor unconscious, the perpetrator dropping the plank of wood next to him. Though it wasn't Ethan (he was done with that). Maya had her hood up (thus why Bob didn't realise who it was from the back) as she rather nervously made her way into the house, she was here for one thing. Her plan had started early for her mother kicking her out had changed everything. Maya grabbing the first bag she could find as she put all the money she could find in there. She noticed Erica fast asleep in the Moses basket, that was her little girl. The one she has given up. Looking towards the pram, she quickly pulled it over. Putting all the milk bottles she could see in there along with the cartons of baby milk. Just other basic things like nappies and whatnot were put underneath the pram.

"It's okay Alexandra...Mum's here now" Maya spoke; not using her proper name. Using the one she's given her instead (calling her the female name version of her deceased son).

As she picked her up and placed her in the pram, wrapping her up with the blankets. Making her way out the back door with the pram, not going into full view of the village. She just went through the back way and quickly across the small path at the back of the house. The only way out without being detected was through the woods (for not many tread there) apart from the odd hiker. So Maya made her way towards there with the pram, the wheels getting all muddy and slightly halted every few seconds. All this sudden bustle woke the baby up as she began crying.

"Alexandra...Don't cry, mum has just got to get through these woods; okay?" Maya murmured.

She had no idea clearly on how to calm down a baby. Her next stage in her sick little 'revenge plan' was to get Amba from school. She didn't really know what she was going to do after that. She was just hellbent on making David and her mother suffer, she didn't care who else she hurt in the progress. Her being at primary school yesterday wasn't a coincidence, nor was it to see David.

...

Break time at the primary school was taking place, the little boys and girls playing outside. The local primary school playground was surrounded by a fence, the only way to get out being near the entrance of the reception. Maya knew this as her old friend and boss Jessie Dingle use to complain about having to go through reception every time she was on her lunch break in her old job. So with her hood up and her keeping her as low a profile as she could, the pram being the only thing of note. The schoolchildren being let out for break and so this was her opportunity. Amba was in reception which was rather convenient for her (but nobody else). The schoolchildren were just playing and doing what children usually did on their break. Some of the teachers being out just to check on things, nothing seemed amiss on this early break. Amba was in the middle of playing with her dolls when Maya quietly called out...

"Amba"

Making the little girl look towards her, this was 'daddy's old friend'. She noticed she had her new sister with her (and she has been very excited at this lately). So she made her way over, feeling not alarmed in the slightest. She was too young to understand of cause, this was her sister's mummy and in her small mind, that wasn't dangerous at all. The one teacher on duty was dealing with some other children at present.

"Let's go...I got something to show you" Maya quickly spoke; seeing this as her chance to take her and go.

"I'm at school" Amba managed to reply.

"I know and I will take you straight back to school after I shown you something, I will get you a doll if you come"

One of the slightly older children, April Windsor in this case looked over. She didn't know much about Jessie's old friend but she knew she was a bad person. Jessie got fired over something she did, the little girl knew that much. As she made her way over, she was warned about strangers.

"Hello" April piped up; standing by slightly, she wasn't a stupid child.

"Hello, I was saying to Amba how I got something to show her so she needs to come with me" Maya replied.

"We're not suppose to go out with people without the teacher's permission" April reminded her.

Thinking every adult should know that already, even if they were family or a family friend.

"She's my sister's mummy" Amba nervously spoke; thinking she might get in trouble.

"I should go and ask a teacher Amba, let's go together and we can ask" April suggested.

"April...That really isn't needed because I'm a friend of her daddy's and I have her sister with me, so come on Amba...Let's go" Maya further spoke.

This seemed to make the five year old convinced everything was fine. As she finally made her over to Maya and out the gate. Maya just taking her by her hand, making her way round the corner quite quickly. April seemed worried still as she rushed over towards the teacher and exclaimed...

"Miss...Amba's gone off without permission!"

...

Priya was just at work when she got the phone call from the school, she excused herself. Thinking Amba had a bug or something like that. So she took the call, her boss Kim Tate sitting at her desk. Kim noticed the look of worry on her face as the phone call progressed, she was told how a woman took Amba from the school grounds during break time. They could only go on what April told them. She explained how she forgot her name but she knew she was a friend of her old step-mother Jessie and was the mother of Erica. It didn't take long for everyone to figure out who April was describing. As soon as the phone call was over, Priya looked towards Kim...

"Maya's took Amba and I don't know what to do" Priya cried.

"Go on...Go straight there, don't worry about today. Just do what you need to do" Kim assured her.

She was being rather nice for once but that was expected. She gave a nod, barely able to get her head around what just happened. The school asked her to come over straight away so that's what she had to do.

...

TBC