Just the two of us

It was a bright sunny afternoon in a small town called Cinderville, a town for the peaceful as it is known. While other children could be seen playing around and giggling about, a little girl stood by her mother’s side watching them with delightful eyes. As much as she wanted to go play with the other kids, she knew she could not because that would mean disobeying her mother. Her mother has never allowed her to be with other children, let alone play with them.

The little girl tore her gaze away from the kids and now looked at her mother who was busy talking to a woman in their neighborhood.

“Did you say someone asked of me while I was away?” her mother asked the woman who was quite younger than her in age.

“Yes,” the woman responded before she continued, “I didn’t know you had relatives from the higher class.”

The little girl’s mother looked at the woman with a slight frown on her forehead and the woman gave an awkward laugh.

“You know what I am saying. Ever since you came to this town, I have always known that you came from a wealthy home with the way you walk and carry yourself. Even the men in this town have been admiring you secretly. I do hear them gossip about you a lot and I think you should give one of them a chance.”

“Is that so?” the girl’s mother asked and the woman nodded.

“Yes,” she responded.

“Then why have you not started your wedding preparations?”

“Huh?” the woman asked with slightly raised brows.

“The son of Mortimer has been seeking you frequently and I am sure he has been asking for your hand in marriage.”

“That—”

“I am not a widow, Padma,” the girl’s mother said before the woman could complete her statement. “I am sorry if my words hurt you as it is no news that your husband is late but how many times do I have to tell you that I still have a husband? He has been away for a very long time but he is not dead. He will surely return and that is why I haven’t left this town yet.”

Padma had a look of shock on her face and she said, “Don’t tell me you are still waiting for him to return?”

“He will surely come back,” the girl’s mother said firmly.

On hearing that, Padma hit her arm and said, “How can you say that? If a man leaves home for fifteen years without returning, it is either he is dead or he has married to another woman. And come to think of it, he only came once and vanished. Poor girl doesn’t even know who her father is,” Padma said and looked at the little girl before she realized what she had just said.

She covered her mouth with her palms and quickly apologized, “I am sorry. What I meant was, the townspeople are talking about how they never saw the father of your daughter and I meant to say that you should at least have someone who can support you and your daughter. You don’t even allow her play with the other kids and instead, you take her with you all the time,” she said and offered a sweet smile to the little girl and when she made to touch her cheek, her mother pulled her to the back.

Padma looked at the girl’s mother and said, “That is what I am talking about. You won’t even allow me touch her.”

“I am sorry, but I have my reasons.”

“You say that all the time, but you need to consider her feelings too. You can’t keep her away from her peers at this young age. She might just learn to be alone when she grows and that is very bad,” Padma let her know.

“You don’t have to worry about anything. She is my daughter and I am sure she will come to understand the reason I am doing all these.”

“Caitlin...”

“I will take my leave now as I need to prepare lunch for my daughter. As you see, she is so tired and she must be very hungry.” Saying that, the mother took her daughter by the hand and started to leave.

Padma scoffed immediately and said, “Is that my fault then? I don’t even know the kind of work you make her do.” She stepped down from the footstone she has been standing on and said to Caitlin as she walked with her daughter, “The son of Mortimer has been coming to me because he wants to talk to you and he knows I am the only one close to you in this town so give him a chance and move on with your life.”

But Caitlin continued to walk with her daughter towards her home and didn’t bother to look back at Padma even though she heard her clear enough.

As they headed towards their home, the people who saw them began to whisper to each other and some of them looked at her with distaste. Some even had to stop to stare down at her but as usual, she didn’t pay them any attention. She just kept walking and her daughter held her hand firmly. When they got to their abode which was a small old house, Caitlin pushed the wooden door open and it gave a creaking sound. Pulling her daughter along with her, they entered and she closed the door before walking to the side to open the wooden window. Light entered the room and Caitlin walked to the corner of the room where she emptied the things that was in a bag. She took the herbs she had plucked down from the forest where they went and she put them in a bowl before pounding them together.

The little girl watched as her mother got busy, moving from one place to another and then she saw her disappear to the backyard. Her mother soon came back with two bowls in her hand and she went to where her daughter sat on a mat. She sat down in front of her and took her hand.

“Stretch your palm for me,” she said and her daughter did as she was told.

When she opened her little palm, there were injury marks on it. She watched her mother dip a cloth inside the warm water that was beside her and she squeezed it before using it to clean her palm. She did not wince because of the pain as she already got used to it. This was not her first time getting the marks and she never for once questioned her mother on why she always took her to the forest to do those things which result in her getting the injuries.

She stared at her mother with her bright hazel eyes and as if noticing her staring, her mother looked at her and she smiled.

“You did great today, Kyra,” her mother praised her and she saw a bit of excitement in her eyes which resulted it to have a flicker of gold in it. Caitlin saw it before it quickly returned back to normal and she smiled before she started to apply the herb on the injury. When she was done, she pat her daughter’s head and stood up with the bowls.

Kyra waited for her mother to return and in the meantime, she used her little finger to touch the herb her mother applied on her injury. Taking off a bit of the herb, she stared at her palm which already returned back to normal as if the injury was never there in the first place and then she heard her mother’s footsteps returning.

Keeping her hand to herself, she saw her mother appear in the room with a bowl in her hand and she came to sit beside her.

“Eat this Kyra,” her mother said as she placed the bowl in front of her.

Kyra stared at the content inside and used her small hand to move the bowl closer. Even though they did not have much or live like other children, her mother always makes sure that she is satisfied and that is why the things the other kids of her age have does not move her.

“Mother?”

“Yes Kyra?” her mother answered and looked at her.

“Why do the town people hate us?” Kyra asked in her little voice and looked up at her mother.

Caitlin has always known Cinderville to be a peaceful and accepting town, but that was not until she arrived and she started experiencing hate by her fellow women just a year after. It was because of her beauty which attracts the men in the town and also because she does not relate much with her folks people. But she does not blame them, rather, she blames her kind and where she came from.

She offered a smile to her daughter and told her, “They don’t hate us, Kyra. I have lived here even before I had you and I can tell you that the people of this town love their neighbors.”

“But they always look down on us and I do hear them talk bad about you, and about father. You always tell me that he will come back to us but I have not seen him.”

It was not Caitlin’s wish to keep her father away from her but all she was doing was to protect her from the world. She already knows the fate her daughter carries even before she was born, but she was not ready to risk her daughter’s life all because of some fate.

Bringing her hand up to touch her daughter’s head, she said to her, “Don’t worry about what the people say. It’s just the two of us for now.”