Always You

Chapter 1

{Ten Years Later}

{Meg}

I stare at the textured ceiling in the early light. The curtains shield me from the main blast of it but fail to block it out completely. I stretch my body out before collapsing back onto the sofa that I call my bed. I'm never fully comfortable on this thing. The centre cushion is higher than the end cushions making me feel like I'm laying across a speed bump; and the pillows are rough against my face.

It's quiet in the house but past experience shows that won't last much longer.

As if on que a door creaks upstairs as shuffled feet head to the bathroom. By now I can tell whose footsteps belong to whom. Like now that is Gracie, shuffling along in her slippers with the fuzzy lining. She'd gotten them for Mother's Day and wore them so much the fuzzy lining was now paper thin. Yet they were a gift from her boys so she continues to put them on.

Turning over to my side I can see my daughter Abby sleeping on the hastily bought toddler airbed. The blanket and pillow attached in the colourful design of one of her favourite kid's programs. For the last two Mother's days I haven't received a card nor any presents. At two Abby doesn't know what the day means and it's not like I have a partner to buy anything on her behalf. Instead, I took her out for the day, having a rare treat day.

Won't be able to afford anything like that anytime soon though.

It had been just the two of us since the day she was born. I wasn't rolling in the money but I was able to earn enough to put a roof over our heads. We were doing fine; in another year she would be in nursery and I wouldn't have to pay for babysitters giving us a little more money to play with.

Then everything went up in smoke.

Literally.

The duplex flat we were renting was the perfect size for us, the rent and bills were manageable. I thought we would be living there for a few years to come. Unfortunately, our neighbour didn't agree. In one night, we lost everything bar a few hastily packed clothes and the car.

Thankfully my cousin Gracie and her family took us in. She's the only family I have left in the country. My grandparents have passed and my own parents left the country while I was in my second year of university. They had me later in life and I don't think they have ever fully accepted me as a lesbian. Of course, they didn't outright disown me but, considering only a few months after I come out to them, they suddenly decide to leave the country. It makes you question if there is a correlation.

Gracie and I had always been close, even with the five-year age gap. She had moved out of Cardiff when she got married, living an hour away in a lovely area called Stone Heath. I'd stayed with her a few times after my parents left the country but had decided to stay in Cardiff once I finished university. Now, once again Gracie has taken me in. There is nothing left for me in my home city where as here I have family. My goal right now is to save enough money to be able to get my daughter a bedroom of her own again. Stone Heath may be the perfect place to restart.

Slowly Abby's eyelids start to flutter open. "Morning baby girl." I say gently, letting her know mummy is nearby. Since the fire Abby has been extremely clingy, practically attached to my hip. It's all I can do to have a wee on my own. Gracie and her family try to distract her for me but she still only wants me.

After a month and a half of all this I am extremely tired.

Abby climbs out of her little bed and joins me laying on the sofa. As much as I would like five minutes to myself; I wouldn't trade these little moments with my daughter for anything. Just the two of us cwtched up together. She rests her little head in the hollow of my neck, her tiny fingers swirling a piece of my hair. For the most part she looks exactly like me, it's hard to tell the difference between our baby photo's. The main difference is where as my hair has always been dead straight hers has a lovely curl to it. She practically has ringlets. I think as she's getting older, she's starting to notice the difference so curls a piece of my hair whenever she gets the chance.