WHITNEY’S POV
My mother walks out of the restaurant with Maddie following. They get into the car and I hand her the keys. She starts the car and heads to her place.
“What was that about?” I question as she drives.
“We’ll talk about it when we get back to the house.” she tells me.
When we arrive at the house my mother asks me if I don’t mind sleeping on the couch so Maddie can have the guest bedroom. Of course I would give up my bed for Maddie. I rush into the room and grab my lone suitcase and bring it into the living room. Maddie is sitting on the couch waving her legs to and fro.
“Are you spending the night?” she asks me with wide eyes.
I nod. “Yeah, we’re having a slumber party.” I wink at her.
Maddie gasps. “Yay! I’m going to change. Oooh, we can do each other’s hair, sing and dance, have a tea party! My daddy does this with me but it’s different with girls!” she exclaims and takes off running to the guest room.
I laugh as my mom comes into the living room wearing her pajamas. She tells me I can change in her room or the bathroom. I choose the bathroom.
I grab my PJs and head into the bathroom. I quickly change and when I go back into the living room Maddie and my mom are waiting for me with three hairbrushes.
“We’re going to watch Dreamgirls.” my mom states with a smile and hands me a brush. “I’m going to be Lorrell, you’re going to be Effie and Maddie is going to be Deena.”
Maddie then frowns. “We should’ve invited mommy. She could’ve been Michelle!”
I freeze at her words. She was calling another woman ‘mommy’. That definitely made me sad and tears threatened to spill.
My mom bends down to Maddie. “Well, Whitney can play Michelle once Effie leaves the group.”
Maddie smiles at that and nods. My mom looks to me and gives me an apologetic smile. I blow out a breath as she stands and starts the movie.
We spend the next two hours singing and dancing to the routines on Dreamgirls and I admit, I had a blast! When the movie is over, Maddie wants to do hair. She wants to do my hair so I sit on the floor in front of her. She starts brushing my hair with the brush she had been singing in a moment before.
It feels good to have her hands in my hair and I just wish it could be like this every day. She ends up putting my hair in three pigtails and adds blue, yellow and pink ribbons from a box she kept hair accessories in.
Even though I’m a bit old for pigtails, I tell Maddie I love my ‘hairstyle’ and promise to wear my hair like this all day tomorrow. She hugs me tight and I do start crying once her arms are around me.
“Are you okay Ms. Whitney?” she asks when she pulls back. I feel her small hand on my cheek, wiping tears away.
I nod. “Yeah, I’m fine. Why don’t we have that tea party?”
Maddie cheers but my mom stops her. “We can do that tomorrow. It’s past your bedtime young lady.”
She smiles up at my mother. “I don’t have a bed time on Fridays and Saturdays.”
“Well, you do here. Andale!” she states and points to the guest room.
Maddie pouts but does as she’s told. I get up off the floor and sit on the couch. My mom sits next to me.
“Okay, so what happened after I left McDonald’s earlier?” I ask her.
She sighs. “Okay, so Maddie was adopted when she was three months old. The woman who adopted her saw Brad on TV pleading to find Maddie. She contacted him and they got a DNA test done and of course it proved he was Maddie’s father. Well, when he got out prison she let him have full custody but they actually started dating…”
Hearing that Brad was with another woman shouldn’t have made me jealous but it did.
“He found me a few years later and I’ve been helping him get his life on track and with Maddie. Anyway, four years ago Brad and April, Maddie’s adoptive mother, broke up because she had a baby by another man and even married him. I know that she’s still in love with Brad but he wants nothing to do with her. She saw us together and she told me that she knows who you are and threatened to call Brad and let him know that you were around Maddie.”
I gulp, remember his threat to stay away from Maddie until she was eighteen. “Did she tell him?”
“Of course not or else Brad would’ve been down there so fast it would’ve violated the laws of physics. I had to pay her to keep her mouth shut.”
I gasp. “You paid her? Why would you do that?”
“So you could spend time with your daughter.” she reasoned.
“How much did you give her?” I ask.
“She was behind on her car note so I paid off her car.”
“How much?” I repeat.
“Eighteen thousand.”
My eyes widen and I nearly choke on the saliva I was swallowing. “Eighteen grand? Mom, that’s a bit extreme don’t you think?”
“I would pay eighteen million if I had to.” she states and grabs my face. “You are back in my life and I am so grateful. I will do anything in my power to help you get Maddie into your life.”
I smile at her and she places a kiss on my forehead.
“Now get some sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.” she tells me as she releases my face and gets up from the couch.
I continue smiling as I lay down and my mom turns off the light before heading into her room.
The next morning I wake to the alarm on my phone going off. I sit up and stretch. My mom comes from her room and offers me a ride to work. I accept and go into the bathroom to shower. I change and by the time I come out my mom has gotten Maddie up.
We leave and get into my mom’s car. She drops me off at Healthy Pets and tells me she’ll pick me up two o’clock; Saturdays are half days.
I walk inside and Sam and Paige eyes my hair, as I had kept the three pigtails as promised. I can tell both are fighting the urge to laugh.
“Nice hairdo.” Paige speaks.
I throw her a smile. “Thanks. My stylist came highly recommended.”
I go into the back and I feel Sam following me.
“What do you have planned for this weekend?” he asks me.
“I’m playing it by ear.” I shrug.
“Well, I’m helping with the dog show at the park today. I invited Paige so I’m extending the invitation to you as well.”
I smile. “Will there be Great Danes there?”
He chuckles. “Dogs of all different breeds.”
I nod. “Okay, I’ll be there and I’ll bring some friends.”
He nods and we start our short day. At two o’clock Sam tells me the show starts at three. I wave good-bye to him and Paige and walk outside. I see my mother’s car parked on the curb and as I approach her car I don’t see her or Maddie in the car. I look around and see my mother talking to someone. Maddie is holding onto her leg.
I walk closer and see the person she is talking to…my dad.
