Thank you so much for the reviews. A lot of you thought that last chapter was a little sad and maybe this story will be a little sad for a time.
Read and don't hesitate to review!
Chapter 13 – The memory
"Hello!" A childish voice said.
"Hi, sweetie. It's mommy."
"I know it's you mommy, I can hear it in your voice."
"Right, so what're you doing?"
"I'm playing with Gracie in the living room. And you know what mommy?"
"No what?"
"Emma's mother called before and I'm gonna play with her tomorrow. We're gonna play with Gracie and Kelsey. You know Kelsey's her Barbie."
"I know Ava. What are your daddy doing and Casey?"
"Daddy's cleaning the kitchen and Casey's watching TV. It's mommy."
"Ava?"
"That was just daddy, he said that he wanted to talk to you and he said that he's gonna take us to bed soon."
"Okay, goodnight then. I'll talk to you more tomorrow."
"Okay, night mommy. I love you."
"I love you too sweetie, night."
"Hi!"
"Hi, honey!"
"How was the flight? Is everything alright at the hotel? Because you are there, aren't you? No, Ava, stop that! Sorry Summer, did you say anything?"
Seth sounded like the busiest man ever.
"Cohen, if you just let me say goodnight to Casey so that you can put them to bed. We can talk later, okay?"
"Okay, but you're okay right?"
"I'm fine. Now, let me talk to Casey. I love you."
"I love you too. Bye."
"Mommy?"
"Hi my little boy! Are you okay? Tired?"
"I'm okay."
"So I just wanted to say goodnight to you. And I love you."
"Night mommy! Love you too."
"Bye baby, now get some sleep."
"Bye."
Summer put the phone down when she couldn't hear the noise from her family any more. They all seemed just fine without her and she missed to kiss her babies goodnight and read a bedtime story for them. She knew that Seth was handling everything and she was kind of jealous that she couldn't be the one to do those things. She was bored being all by herself.
What was she supposed to do alone in a hotel room in a town she never had been in before? It was pretty late so shopping wasn't an option, and she didn't feel like it either. Since when did Summer say no to shopping? Right, that would be since she travelled across the country away from her family to help her mother which she didn't know. Right, her mother.
Francesca Roberts. That was a name Summer still remembered, but that was pretty much it. Summer did remember a few things from her childhood, but she was only six when her mother left and when you're young you don't remember things. The few memories Summer had were the most painful ones.
The time when she fell of her bicycle and cried because her knee hurt, her mother comforting her and helping her wash her wound. The time she lost her favourite necklace and her mother took her to the mall to buy a new one, a more expensive one. And of course the night her mother left.
It was the night before Christmas, Summer's favourite holiday. She was always exited about Christmas and the night before she tried to lay awake in her bed, so that she would hear when Santa came with the Christmas gifts. This night was not an exception.
Summer was lying in her room, with the lamp on her drawer on. Her room was full of shadows and pink light from the lamp. Summer usually wasn't afraid of anything, but tonight the dark scared her. It was like it was chasing her and crept closer and closer, only to in the end surround her and take her away.
Summer hugged her doll Melinda tighter and closed her eyes. She didn't want to be awake, she didn't want to wait for Santa, and she didn't want to be alone in the dark. She wrapped her blanket over her face and tried to fall asleep. That was when she heard it. She heard the front door open and the close. Santa!
Summer jumped out of bed and quietly walked out of her room and down the stairs. She couldn't hear anything, it was all quiet. The Christmas tree was in the living room and there were no gifts underneath it. Maybe Santa was hiding, Summer thought. She sneaked to the kitchen and saw that the light was still on. Maybe her parents had forgotten to turn them off or it had been Santa. But why would Santa hide? Santa would come say hello to her, she knew he would.
Summer continued to the dining room, where they had all their family photos. She loved to look at photos. Her mother and her would sit for hours and look at photos from when Summer was a little girl and from her parents wedding and Summer enjoyed it very much. But tonight something in the room was missing; the picture of her mother and father holding her when she was newborn. It was gone. The first thing that came through Summer's head was a thief. Someone must have taken it and maybe that someone still was in the house. Summer screamed with all her power and ran as fast as she could up the stairs and into her parent's bedroom.
Neil sat straight up in the bed and took a crying Summer in his arms. Between her sobbing Neil could hear something about a photo missing, the lights in the kitchen on and Santa. He tried to comfort his little girl, who was curled up into a boll in his arms. She then pulled away a little and looked up at him with her big, wet eyes.
"Where's mommy?"
To be continued…