Charlotte McCartney “And here is your coin!” Kelcie exclaimed as she brought the coin out of Josh's ear in attempt to show off her latest magic trick,“Yeah!” We both cheered as though we did not see the coin all along. Josh even applauded her which she received so cheerfully. It was a relief seeing both of them, my not so favorite person with my most favorite person both in tune with each. I was happy because I needed this for Kelcie, I wanted her to feel comfortable, feel appreciated and loved, not have to hide but on the contrary be free to roam as she liked. It was the best I could give her in all that had happened these past few months.“Mummy I want to be a magician for my birthday”, she said, opening her mouth to get a piece of the cake Lydia had baked for us.“I thought you said you wanted to be a princess the other day”, I said giggling.“But I want to be a magician now”, she replied, jumping.Before now, the only proper birthday party Kelcie ever had was when she was two, b
Charlotte McCartney “The birthday isn't till two weeks," I said, wrapping my friend in the most ferocious hug. “When did you get back?” I asked, smiling.“I came in last night," she said, returning my ferocious hug back until broke off the embrace to catch my breath. Maddie had always been a strong one, so this wasn't surprising. Her adult years were dedicated to endless exercises,training and travelling. She was as strong as two men put together when it came to combat.“How was Uganda?” I asked. Ever since we both signed out of college, Maddie had been in the habit of travelling from one third world country to another, immersing herself in one charity outreach to another. It was not a shocker. Her father, a rubber magnate, had been a passionate philanthropist who had hundreds of charity organizations around the world. Sadly he and his wife passed on after a fatal car crash leaving Maddie and her sister Tara as their successors. Tara had gotten married right after college to her hig
Charlotte McCartney Lydia and I sat watching Kelcie run around for what seemed like a long time. She was running back and forth. “I wonder where she gets all that energy. She's running a race in that little mind of hers”, I said, shaking my head.“You know sometimes I wish George was like that once more. Other times I thank God he's not anymore”, She said, blankly “Why is that?” I asked, chuckling.“The strength to keep up with that amount of energy. I used to have that before, but not anymore and trust me when I think about it myself now, I wonder how I had that strength in the first place and have none of it now”, she said and laughed.I laughed as well. “Keeping up is quite a job, I'm happy you had to point that out, you know several nights I’d really have aches all over my body. Sometimes I'll wake up so late because of how tired I got trying to keep up with her the previous day and in all of this the little devil wakes up stronger and earlier I must add”, I said and we both l
Charlotte McCartneyKelcie ran from one end of the field to the other as she set up what she called a race track. “Mommy you're going to stay here”, she said, running up to me and turning to point at a position. “Josh, you stay close to mom. Lydia, you also stay beside Mom but on the other side” she added.Kelcie had always loved races, it was the game she played when she felt most ecstatic, as well as when she had a small crowd with her. Moments worthy of memory are the times when she, I and Ron used to play these races. Of course, we would always let her win, it was a regular practice but everytime we did we never let her know. It was important to communicate winning to her, by concealing our strength and hiding our intentions. “I won! I won! I got here first!” Kelcie would scream and jump whenever she got to the finish line first which was all the time.We hoped we'd instill the idea that she could always win as long as she tried. I must say Ron was rather very supportive in that
Charlotte McCartney He caught me before I fell.“Are you alright?" Josh asked me.“I'm fine”, I said, successfully standing up. “You caught me”, I said, surprised. Before I could continue Lydia and Kelcie had hurried to meet us.“Mom, we saw what happened, are you okay?” Kelcie asked, looking worried in her childlike sort of way.“I'm alright, lucky for me Josh was able to reach me on time”, I answered smiling at my little girl.“You can stand too!” Kelcie pointed accusingly at Josh. “Only for a couple seconds Josh”, replied , waving it off.Lydia just stood there completely silent and shocked.“Josh, that was a lot of energy, you shouldn't be putting such strain on yourself, you're just beginning to heal", she said rather frantically.“It's alright Lydia, it was no problem at all. The whole thing felt more like an exercise”, Josh replied.“Charlotte are you alright as well, I didn't agree to this game in the first place because I thought it was going to go bad for you as much as hi
Charlotte McCartney Josh's question took me by surprise. When he said he wanted to ask me a question, I did not think it would be such a serious question. “I wasn't expecting that” I thought, then I turned to him, “What would you want to know Josh?” I asked.“I would want to know what sort of man would leave such an adorable child alone with her mother and run off”. He said to me, sounding angry.“I don't know Josh” I said, and looked away.“Tell me who he is, Charlotte”, he said firmly.“What do you mean Josh?” I asked, surprised at why this became important.“I have lawyers, Charlotte”, he said, wheeling toward me. “The best I must add. We have everything to bring whoever this asshole is down at least we could get him to pay alimony. So please tell me who he is”, he went on.I said nothing, just stood there and turned my back to him.“Did he rape you?” Josh asked, looking more concerned than angry now. “Is that why you seem so hurt talking about this? Come on talk to me”, he encour
Charlotte McCartney “You sure do have a thing for barging into my privacy, don't you?” he said, sounding more embarrassed than angry.“That's because you always seem to be doing what you're not supposed to do. Before you fired your doctor, I remember him warning you again and again about pushing yourself too far”, I said, coming close to him.He growled in response.“What do you want? You want to go to the bathroom or…?” I inquired as he tried to reach his wheelchair.“I don't want to go anywhere”, he cut me short.“So what then Josh? What's all the fuss about ? I'm not even a doctor and yet I know that constantly pushing yourself the way you do is going to make your healing a whole lot slower than expected. Don't you know?” I asked, trying hard to ignore the fact that he was almost naked wearing only his underpants. It wasn't exactly an exciting sight, seeing him sprawled in such an uncomfortable position. The same Josh Xavier who earlier in the day had been joyful a good percent
Charlotte McCartney My words got the effect I had intended. Josh was obviously terrified by the facts I had just stated.“That's not true”, he said but it was obvious that he didn't seem so sure this time. “But how do you know all this? You're not even a nurse let alone a Doctor”, he said, mockingly but still with fear.His question was precise. “Really, how did I know all this?” I asked myself in surprise. Even to myself I was sounding like some medical practitioner, I didn't even know how I had come to amass quite a load of information all at once and even in the first place to begin with. In truth I researched it all,every single information. When I had Kelcie, I was completely clueless on how to go about my new found responsibility as a mother, it wasn't that I was left to cater for her alone, mother helped when she could and Whitney well she did what she felt was her best. The Internet was the only personal aid I had during this time. I literally phished every information I cou
Josh Xavier I lay in bed wide awake for what seemed like hours just doing nothing, uncertain on what to do and how to go about it, the zeal just wasn't there. Lots of days were like this,it made no difference if it was my birthday or not. Birthdays weren't so much of a thing especially after I lost my mom but it wasn't a completely terrible day because that was when I rode the horses. I'd get off very early from work and spend a good amount of time to myself riding through the estate. It was during these rides I'd have one of the most retrospective moments. So usually birthdays weren't days when I celebrated life as much as I celebrated new levels of discoveries , as well as certain aspects of self revelation. They weren't necessarily on a positive basis but they were enough distraction as opposed to my rigid work life .“Get up you old fuck”, I told myself a thousand times but my body refused to respond, to succumb to the day-to-day pain of living of surviving especially like this
Josh Xavier“Hey Happy birthday Josh”, Oliver, my class buddy, shook my hands and slapped my shoulder playfully. He was always that playful and funny and was my best friend at the time. “Thanks man”, I said, rubbing the place he slapped me. It was a really bright afternoon that day and people kept trooping in. I sat on the playground to wish myself well.My school had bested the entire region in the sports of lacrosse and today being the final game was marked by loud screams and jubilation. I had led the Victorious teams as its fearless captain and was also named the most valuable player of the entire gaming season. What made that day memorable was that on this final game, I was marking my seventeenth birthday, so the celebration only got better when it was announced that not only had I won the most valuable player, but that on this day and on this very game was also my birthday.“Happy birthday Josh”, Marcy, a very pretty girl at the time whom I secretly admired and desired came to
Charlotte McCartney We were standing at the same spot when they arrived. Their car drove slowly towards us until it took a short turn to the left and parked. Next thing all four doors opened and there was my family, the whole of them; Father, Mother, Whitney and Ron.“Good afternoon or is it evening?” mother said, taking charge of the entire interaction as she always did.“I don't remember asking you to bring this asshole here”, Josh said, looking immediately annoyed by Ron's presence.“You asked for the family Josh and I brought you the family”, mom said, nonchalantly.“Plus I don't think it's proper to insult an obvious member of the family”, Whitney said with a serious face.“I don't remember when exactly your family took him in, please remind me when”, he asked Whitney roughly.“And please remind me when it is you took in this wife of yours”, Whitney said, gesturing to me and I snarled in return.“Come on, is this what we came here for Josh?” Father asked this. “For you to let ou
Charlotte McCartney “Oh no you didn't Josh”, I said, agitated. “How could he even decide to ruin what had started out so beautifully. Was this intentional?” I asked myself. “Or is it just a deed, one pulled out of ignorance”, I wondered again. “But no. There's no way it was a hidden fact that these two people were the least people Kelcie needed and at least not in this party”, I thought angrily.“Yes I did”, he replied. “I sent out an envoy to them as well. And though they did agree to come around, my boys reported that they sensed a negative reception of the message they carried. It was as though they both did not seem happy about that and that's where I would like you to come in and explain to me. Why?” He asked as he gazed at me.“You don't know why? It's because they hate us, they hate her. They might act as though they're cool and do not have a problem with us but it's all lies. That's why I don't want my daughter around them. I can't even imagine you invited them Josh. Thought
Charlotte McCartney We both sat looking like items picked out of an aristocratic box. Kelcie looked all dazzling and adorable in her dress while I on the other hand looked well like the wife of a billionaire. Right after the makeover everyone we passed became instantly attentive on more than two instances, I caught two sets of wealthy customers whispering to one another as we passed through, I even over what the other set said.One asked, who are these glamorous people ? Seems like they're from some billionaire family of something of that sort”.The other responded, “they're always waltzing around acting as though they run the world. Well they don't run my world, they'll never run my world”.Even the Chauffeur seemed a little confused when we got outside though he did a great job concealing it and was quick to respond as soon as sighted us but his contemplation was very apparent all the same.“Mommy are the horses going to be at my birthday?” Kelcie asked, as we headed home. “The ho
Charlotte McCartney Maudere was like a god in our city, he was a former religious leader, a former politician, one of the senators of our republic. At a time he was the most renowned psycho physician in the whole continent during his era. Till this date, his clinic still stands amongst the most prominent in our city. As of these days, he opened a small massage agency as a retirement settlement, one that he takes around the world to offer massage and mental therapeutic services to the richest men in these cities. “Looks like Josh had booked this exclusive service for me and Kelcie on this occasion of her birthday. This would have cost much more than a fortune for a regular working class man”, I mused.“Good afternoon ma”, a very attractive woman of about my age or thereabout greeted me. She was also very elegantly and richly dressed. “Please follow me”, she said to me and Kelcie. “Mr Maudere does not like to be kept waiting”.Maudere was an equally elegantly dressed man in his sixti
Charlotte McCartney We stood in front of a huge building with the words “Majesty's Care” largely inscribed at its front.“Mommy what is this place?” Kelcie asked, as curious as I was or maybe a little more for at least I could read the sign board.“I think it's a salon”, I said, not entirely certain. Most salons around had similar names but this particularly looked different, way bigger to be precise.“Mommy is it for my birthday?” She asked, seeming more excited than curious now.“I guess there's only one way to find out”, I said, flashing a smile.The journey to this place had not exactly been exciting to me. It was true that Lydia had stated a valid point and I had taken it to heart to at least chill out just a little bit. But that couldn't change the fact that I was really anxious. It was even a little more different now we were being taken out of the house. “To where exactly?”, I asked myself worriedly.Ever since we moved to Josh Xavier’s country home, Kelcie had not gone out
Charlotte McCartney The door swung open before we even knocked and we were greeted by Lydia's familiar face and smile.“Ms Lydia!” Kelcie screamed, surprised to see Lydia. I was too but unlike my daughter, I expressed mine quietly.“Happy birthday baby Kelcie”, Lydia answered smiling.“Yes Ms Lydia. Today is my birthday. Thank you Ms Lydia”, Kelcie responded excitedly. “Mommy is organising a party for me. And Josh said my birthday party is going to be a really big one”, she announced. “Is that so? That is lovely. You're going to have a lot of fun today Kelcie”, Lydia replied, feigning surprise. “Yes Ms Lydia I will”, Kelcie said, beaming with joy. “You have to come also Ms Lydia. Promise you'll attend my party”, Kelcie said, with pleading eyes.“Definitely dear", she said, assuringly. “But before then,we do have some plans for your morning by the way”, she added, as though she was trying to not leave the important things out.“yay!!! I'm so happy”, Kelcie said at the top of her voi
Charlotte McCartney For almost one week, I had been waking up later than usual. But today I did not. Today I woke up earlier than usual. “My baby has a habit of waking up before everyone else. So today I tasked myself to wake up earlier than I would on a normal day. Because today is my baby's birthday. Back home, this day was mainly a day for my baby and I because no one really seemed to care what day it was. Yes, mom had once hosted a party to celebrate Kelcie's birthday and Whitney may have given Kelcie a present or two, that was mostly all. “They both didn't care so much for Kelcie. Grandfather is the only one who would have truly cared for my baby. But here, in Josh Xavier's home, I know my baby has met people who care for her genuinely”, I said to myself as I sat, thinking.“Josh has promised Kelcie the best birthday celebration she can imagine. I also can't wait to see what he has planned out for her. But I can't let anyone wish my baby a happy birthday before I do. I cannot