Chapter 2

“Miss? We’re here.” The cab driver pulled me out of my thoughts.

“Thank you.” I paid the driver and rushed inside the hospital. While I was in the cab, Elena sent a text to come to room 202. I was panting heavily.

"Room 202?" I asked the blond receptionist.

“Second floor, stairs on the right.” She directed me to the stairs.

“Thank you!” I quickly went to the right. When I climbed on the stairs, I looked to my left and saw Mara and Elena sitting on the chairs outside a room. Mara was the first one who saw me.

“Mommy!” She came running to me. I picked her up and kissed her, her cheeks, her forehead. She’s my life. I don’t know what I will do if anything happens to her.

“You alright, baby?” She nodded. She had dried tears on her cheeks. I took her towards Elena. Elena is Mara’s babysitter, she’s with us since Mara was born. She didn’t have children, she takes care of Mara like her own. She’s in her late thirties, doctors told her that she can’t conceive. “Elena, are you okay? What happened?”

“I was buying her ice-cream, I told her to wait on the bench where we were sitting and went to buy ice-cream. Then suddenly a car rushed towards her and luckily this man saved our Mara. He was inside getting treatment.” She explained and Mara started crying in my arms.

“Don’t cry, baby.” I wiped away the tears but more are coming. The doctor came out of the room and a nurse was behind him. “Doctor? How is he?”

“Are you related to the patient?” He looked at me and then at my Mara.

“He saved my daughter.” He nodded and took the notepad from the nurse.

“He’s fine. His right arm is fractured and it might take six to eight weeks depending on how fast his body can heal. Apart from that everything looks good.” I sighed in relief.

“Thank god! Can we see him?” I don’t know how I can thank him for saving my daughter. I owe him my life.

“Yeah, but he’s sleeping. Don’t wake him up.” He ordered strictly and went to attend another patient along with the nurse.

I opened the door slowly and walked inside, Elena behind me and Mara in my hands. I moved closer to the bed. I stopped in my tracks when I saw the person who’s lying on the hospital bed. I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to see Elena standing there with a concerned look.

“He’s Mara’s father, isn’t he?” I nodded as tears started flowing freely.

“Mommy, is papá going to be okay?” I looked at him and then at Mara. I wiped away her tears as much as possible.

“Don’t cry, sweetheart. Papá is gonna be okay.” I heard a groan and looked at him, he stirred a bit. “Shall we go out? Doctor said no to wake papá, right?”

“Can I give papá a kiss?” I nodded and placed her small frame on the bed beside him. She leaned forward and kissed his forehead. She jumped off the bed and nodded at me. We went out of the room. I sat on the chair with my legs wobbling. My daughter's small hands tried to wipe away the tears on my face. I took her hands and kissed them. I hugged her and closed my eyes. I immediately opened them when I saw flashes of the past.

“What’s his name? You never told me.” Elena sat beside me on the chair. I looked at her and answered her question.

“Raymond. Raymond Harper.” She nodded.

“Well, what are you going to do now?” I shrugged my shoulders, I don’t have an answer to that. I felt Mara’s hands tightened around me. I pulled her slightly away to see her face.

“What is it, baby? Are you scared?” I pushed away the hair that’s falling on her face.

“Do not send me away with papá.” She hugged me tighter and sobbed. I haven’t thought of that and I couldn’t do that. She’s my life and I can’t live without her. Even if I did, will he accept her? He's a married man now. What will Julia do, if she found out that her husband already had a daughter? Will she accept Mara?

“No baby, I won’t do that. I promise, I’ll always be with you, remember?” She nodded and smiled, wiping away her tears.

“You pinky promised.” I nodded, smiling at her. I came to a decision.

“Elena, pay the hospital bill. We’ll wait outside.” I handed over my card and she nodded as she took the card hesitantly.

“Maria, are you sure you’re doing the right thing? I mean he deserves to know about his daughter.” I know he deserves to know about Mara but I can’t tell him. I just can’t tell and face the consequences. I looked at her and took a deep breath.

“He’ll know when the time comes.” She nodded and went to pay the bill. I left the hospital. As I waited for Elena, I saw a flower shop next to the hospital. I went in and looked for a bouquet to send to Raymond.

“Mommy, I like these.” Mara pointed at the bouquet of yellow roses. I ruffle her hair, smiling.

“Excuse me?” I called for the shop attendant.

“Yes, ma’am.” She came smiling towards us.

“I want these delivered to the hospital.” She took out the bouquet from its row. They’re beautiful.

“Do you want a card to write the message, ma’am?” What should I write?

“Will you write?” She nodded and took a pen from her pocket and a card. She looked at me as she was waiting for me to tell the message. “Thanks for saving my daughter. Get well soon.”

“That’s it?” She questioned.

“That’s it.”

“No name?” She looked at me questioningly.

“No. Deliver it to room 202.” I took out a hundred dollar bill and handed it to her. She went behind the desk and counted the change. She handed me the change.

“Thank you, ma’am.” I nodded. I took a dollar bill and gave it to Mara. I pointed at the donation box, she nodded and put the dollar in the box. I took Mara’s hand and was about to leave but the shop attendant called us. “Ma’am?”

I turned around, she took a white rose and gave it to Mara. Mara took it happily. I smiled at the attendant and mouthed ‘thank you’. She smiled and nodded.

When we arrived at the apartment, I asked Elena to take leave. She usually stays until Mara sleeps. Mara is half asleep in my arms.

“Call if you need me.” I nodded and Elena walked away. I entered the elevator and put Mara down.

“Mommy!” she whined and put her hands up asking me to pick her up.

“Baby, you’re sleeping. And you’ll sleep only after you eat and take a bath.” I said strictly and she pouted, giving me puppy eyes. She looks so cute when she does that. I ignored it and held her small hand. I pulled her out when the elevator doors opened. I unlocked the apartment door and put the keys in the bowl. “You want to eat first or take a bath.”

“Eat!” She squealed excitedly. I nodded, pulling out the chinese take out. I served them on two plates and we both sat at the dining table.

“Do you like it?” She nodded with her mouth full. I smiled looking at her, she’s such a cute baby. “What did you do in school yesterday and the day before yesterday?”

And she started telling what she did in her school, yesterday. I made sure she’s eating in between. I can live listening to her cute and sweet voice.

“Okay, it’s time to bathe.” I said after we both finished eating. I took her to the bathroom in my room. After I put Mara in the tub, she started splashing water on me. I removed my wet clothes and joined her in the tub. I tickled her until she asked me to stop. We had some fun time together. I’m glad she’s distracted from the earlier incident. “Let’s get you dry before we both fall sick, okay?”

I got out of the tub and pulled her out. I wrapped a towel around her and took another to dry her hair. I wrapped myself with another towel. I took her to her room and slipped her into her penguin pyjamas. I tucked her into bed and kissed her forehead.

“Good night, mommy. I love you.” Her eyelids are dropping.

“I love you too, sweetheart. Good night.” I left her room once she completely dozed off. I went into my room and put on my pink pyjamas. I came back to the living room and sat on the couch in front of the TV. I don’t think I’ll get any sleep tonight. I scroll through the n*****x trying to find something to watch but my mind is back to the two people I’ve seen earlier after five years. Why do they have to come back into my life? I just learned to live my life without them. Now they've to come and ruin everything. I threw the remote next to me giving up, I won’t find anything anyway. I groaned in frustration when I remembered I’ve to go to the office tomorrow.

I went into my bathroom and opened the top cabinet. I pulled out the bottle of sleeping pills which I stopped using two years ago. I need these tonight. I checked the expiry date, it still has four months left. I sighed in relief, I took two pills and went into the kitchen. I poured a glass of water and was about to take the pills but stopped when my phone rang in the living room. If that was someone unimportant, I’m going to kill them. I put the glass and pills on the coffee table and checked the caller ID. It’s mom, I debated whether I should answer it or not. I sighed and decided to answer it.

“Hi, mom!” I sat on the couch pulling my legs to my chest.

“Hello, darling!” She greeted me excitedly but then realized I sounded sad. “What happened, sweetheart? You sound sad. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, mom. Everything’s fine. Why did you call? Don’t tell me you arranged another date for me?” I tried to joke and also got tired of mom looking for a guy to get me married to.

“No! Can’t I check on my daughter?” She said dramatically and I chuckled. “How are you, sweetheart? And Mara?”

“We’re fine.” I was drawing small patterns on my foot, I wanted to distract myself.

“Baby, you don’t sound fine. You can tell anything, sweetheart.” Why should Mom always find out something’s wrong? I sighed, I can’t lie to mom.

“I saw Mara’s father today. He saved Mara from an accident.” I told her as I wiped away the tears that were flowing down my cheeks.

“Oh god! Is Mara okay dear? And Raymond? His name is Raymond, right?” She’s concerned about both of them.

“Mara is okay, mom. Raymond broke his arm but the doctor said he’ll be fine.” Then my thoughts took another direction. Is it really an accident?

“Thank god! How did he react about Mara?” I rubbed my temple trying to reduce the pain from the headache.

“He doesn’t know. I left the hospital before he woke up.” I explained to her what really happened this afternoon except the Oliver part. My heart still aches for him.

“Oh dear! Are you going to tell him or not?” Do I want to tell him? Is it too late to tell him? Will he accept her? What if he doesn't?

“I don’t know mom. I haven’t decided yet.” My headache is starting to become unbearable. “Mom, I’ll call you later. Tell dad I love him and I love you too.”

“Okay sweetie, we love you too. Have a good night.”

“Good night, mom.” I hung up the phone. Only sleep can deal with this pain. I swallow the pills and drink the water. I laid on the couch, I don’t want to go to my room. Slowly I started to feel dizzy and sleep totally consumed me.