Little Jewel

Chapter 5

"I've located the princess and queen." I heard someone say. "Huh?" I say and rub my eyes. When i open my eyes i see who it is. "Daddy!" I say and jump up to hug him. "Hey, baby. I'm sorry about earlier." Daddy says rubbing my back. "It's okay, Daddy, i'm fine." I say.

"Good, because i have something exciting planned for tonight."
"Ooo, what is it?" I ask.
"Hmmm......" Daddy says picking me up. "I'll give you a hint."

Daddy picks me up and carries me from the loft, down the stairs, and into the living room where a large cube shaped box with a red ribbon sits on the couch. Daddy sits me next to it and smiles at me. "Open it." He says. I rip the ribbon of and almost crush the box while opening it. "Looks like princess enjoys opening presents."

When the box top finally comes off, i pull out the tissue paper and pull out what was inside. I gasp. Inside was a pink sparkly swimsuit with fringe on the top. "That's not all." Daddy says. I tip the box a bit and see that there indeed was more. I pull out a small skinny box that was wrapped in pink paper and shake it. It was a DVD. I rip the wrapping paper off of the box to reveal the movie; Mulan. My absolute favorite Disney movie ever. "One more thing, princess." Daddy says. I reach in and find another box wrapped in pink paper. His box is wider though and about an inch deep. I take off the wrapping paper and see its a game.

"Candyland!" I squeal. I haven't played this game in forever but i still loved it. "Tonight we are going to swim, play a game, and watch a movie. A couple of other people are coming so it will be like a welcome home party." Daddy says. I grin. They'd just met me and they were already going to throw me a party. "People are going to start arriving from 5:30 to 6:00pm but we need a few things from the store first. You are going to go with Mommy and i'm going to start with things here, okay?" Daddy asks.

I nod eagerly. Just then Mommy came into the living room rubbing her eyes. "Did you tell her about-" Mommy looks over at the box and me. "Hmm. Never mind." Mommy blinks a couple times then looks completely awake. "C'mon, baby. We have to go to the store." Mommy says. I jump off of the couch and we head back upstairs to change.
************
Mommy pushes me in the basket down the aisles of Target. I'm too big for the seat but short and lean enough to sit in the larger part and still have plenty of room for groceries.

"Hot dogs or hamburgers for dinner?" Mommy asks. "Icecream!" I reply. Mommy cocks her head and bites her lip. "Very well." She pushes the cart two aisles down and grabs two tubs of cookies n' cream icecream. "Now, hot dogs or hamburgers?" Mommy asks again. "French fries!" I say. Mommy chuckles. "Okay, munchkin, you are just trying to change the subject." Mommy says tapping my nose. "Hamburgers." I finally answer. "Okay then." Mommy says and we go to where the bread and baked goods are.

Mommy puts two packs of hamburger buns in the basket and we are about to go check out but someone said Mommy's name.

"Olivia!" A woman with straght shoulder-length brown hair said from behind Mommy. Mommy turned around. "Caren!" Mommy hugs this Caren woman. When Caren pulls back the gasps and squeals. "Is this your babygirl?" She asks. Mommy picks me up and nods. "Yes, this is my little Jewel. Say hi princess." Mommy says. I wave shyly at Caren. "Hi." I say quietly. "Hello, princess." Caren says.

"Are you still coming to Jewel's party tonight?" Mommy asks Caren as we walk to check out. "Of course." Caren says and taps my nose.
******
When Mommy and I got home there was a banner hung over the front door that had : Welcome home Jewel! Written in sparkly lettters.

Mommy opened my car door and unbuckled my seatbelt. She picked me up and we went inside. No one was there which made me frown. "Where's Daddy?" I ask Mommy. "He's outside with everyone else." Mommy says. "Oh"

Mommy takes me up he stairs to my bedroom where she grabs the hem of my shirt and pulls it up an inch.
"No!" I shout and pull it back down.
Mommy looks confused.
"Uh, I want to do it." I say.
Mommy hands me my swimsuit and I stand behind the door to change. I was ashamed of my stomach and back, I knew I probably wouldn't be able to keep this secret forever but I wasn't ready to let it out now.

When Mommy takes me back downstairs i stop. "Don't you want to go outside?" Mommy asks. I shake my head. "But Mommy, my bruises." I say. Mommy picks me up and puts me on her hip. "Baby, they're not as noticable as you think."

"Really?" I ask. Mommy shakes her head."They won't draw attention to themselves if you don't." She says. "Then, why did you and Daddy get scared?" "Because we're your Mommy and Daddy. Every little thing seems bigger to us." She says. I nod. "Okay."

"So are you ready to come outside?" Someone asked. Mommy and i whirled around. "Daddy!" I yell and jump out of Mommy's arms. I run to Daddy and he picks me up. "Hello, princess." "Hi, Daddy." "Are you going to come outside and enjoy this party that we put together for you?"

I nod and Daddy takes me outside.

There was a big group of people outside. Not a crowd though. Everyone turns to me, Mommy and Daddy and yell altogether, "Welcome home, Jewel."

I smile and wave shyly at everyone. I then spot Caren and she walks over to me. "Hello there." She says taking me out of Daddy's arms. "You remember Caren from the store right?" Mommy asks. "Yes." I say.

Mommy and Daddy take me around outside to meet everyone, which, was mostly just their friends and then Daddy barbecued while Mommy took me over to the pool. She had me on her hip and was about to step in but i shook my head. "What's wrong, babygirl?" She asks. "I wanna jump." I say. Mommy thinks for a second and then nods. "Okay." She says and stands me up at the edge of the pool. Mommy stands in the water and it comes up to her shoulders. That means the water is deep because Mommy's tall.

I read the sign in the pool and it says 6ft deep. If i jumped in by myself, i'd be completly submerged and I wasn't the best swimmer.

"Okay," Mommy says. "Jump and i'll catch you." Mommy raises her arms and i prepare to jump. I jump and am halfway in the water when Mommy catches me. "Good job." Mommy says.

Mommy and i swim around for a little bit and then Daddy announces that the food is ready.

Everybody dries off, eats, and then we all go inside. We watch my favorite movies on Netflix, eat cake, and the party ends around ten thirty.

After everyone leaves Mommy takes me upstairs to give me a bath.

As Mommy turns on the water, I pull off my swimsuit. I forgot what I wanted to hide. Mommy turns around and gasps at what's on my stomach.

"Holy shit..." She says.