Her Little Helper

Chapter 20

*Abigail's POV*

"Well, fancy seeing you here!" Said a man's voice from behind us.

The three of us turned around to see non other than Samuel Baxter standing there. And at his side, with her hand in his, stood Molly.

Samuel looked at Mama with a happy glint in his eye, smiling that same genuine smile he had when he welcomed us into his home for that "playdate." I scanned between him and Mama, seeing the anger-twinged discomfort in her eyes. It was clear to me that she was not happy to see him nor Molly here today. 

"Samuel," Mama said in her caught-off-guard tone. "What are you doing here?"

Samuel chuckled, "Well this is a little's meet-up and my Molly here is a little," He said while gently pulling Molly out from her hiding place behind him. 

Mama gave a passive-aggressive toothless smile at his response. 

"Is this... the Molly and Samuel?" Mommy asked Mama quietly, but just loud enough for us to hear.

"Yes, babe," Mama answered as though startled back to reality. "Let me introduce you to Samuel Baxter..." She took an exasperated breath, "...and Molly Sullivan."

Samuel shared his warm smile with Mommy. "And you are?" He asked her genuinely.

"I'm Dina," Mommy answered with a cautious warmth. "Dina Ruiz."

"It's a pleasure, Ms. Ruiz." Samuel replied in his standard professional tone. "And how do you know Savannah and little miss Abigail, here?"

She pulled me closer to her at his use of the phrase, "little miss," clearly not liking it one bit. I stifled a giggle at her protectiveness. 

 "I'm Abigail's Mommy." She answered with a proud, and cautionary, smile. 

"Oh?" Samuel responded, clearly surprised by this news. "Are you two...?" He began to ask pointing to Mama and Mommy.

"Together?" Mommy replied. "Yes, we are." She took Mama's hand in hers. 

"That's... great!" Samuel said with a noticeably forced excitement. "Molly, sweetheart," He began to say as he looked down at his little, "Do you want to go play with Abigail while I talk to Savannah? And... Dina." He added Mommy's name as somewhat of an afterthought, which I found a bit strange see as he just met her. 

Molly just nodded shyly and began walking towards the center play area as Samuel coaxed her. Mama bent down towards me a bit.

"Sweetie, you don't have to play with her if you don't want to." She said, her option giving me a sense of comfort.

"She got quite the punishment after our last get-together." Samuel said as though he was negotiating with me. "I think she'll be much nicer this time." He winked at me with his smile. 

I nodded to Mama, deciding on giving her another chance. I don't really know why I gave her a second chance, but it just felt right in that moment. 

"Okay, sweet pea," Mama responded with a worried smile. "We'll be right here if you need anything. Okay?"

"Okay." I said shyly, giving her and Mommy one last hug before walking anxiously over to where Molly had gone.

She was sitting at a little table that had an assortment of different coloring pages, along with crayons, markers, colored pencils, and even watercolor paint! I opted for the crayons though, they're my go-to for coloring. She was wearing a blue mini leather backpack over her white pinafore dress. 

We sat and colored in silence for a few minutes. I was far too anxious to say the first word, and she was probably feeling similarly. 

"I'm sorry I called you stupid." She said out of the blue, breaking the silence. "When you and your... her... came over." She pointed to Mama who looked to be continuing the awkward conversation with Samuel.

"It's okay." I replied shyly, not quite knowing what to make of her apology.

"I was really nervous," She continued. "I don't know why my Daddy wanted you guys to come over so bad." 

"I don't know either." I said back with a shy chuckle. Molly responded with a similar laugh and smile. I looked up and smiled back, finally feeling an ounce of goodness from the girl across from me.

"Seeing Savannah again just made me feel... uncomfortable," She began again. "I didn't really want to see her again, but Daddy wouldn't listen to me." 

I furrowed my eyebrows, wondering why he wouldn't hear here out in that situation.

"What happened?" I asked. "Between you and Ma-... Savannah?" 

Molly took a breath and pulled her backpack off her shoulder and to her side, sticking her hand in. She kept her hand in there as her other continued coloring. I was able to see through the small gap between the zippers that she had some kind of stuffie in there. That's a good idea!

"She just... stopped being a good mommy." She said, her face falling noticeably sad.

"What do you mean?" I asked with genuine confusion. "She's better than any mama I could've asked for." 

"Yeah, she might be a good one now." Molly answered. "But a few years ago, when her company kept growing bigger, she was mean and miserable. And not just to her people at work, she would bring her anger home to me; tell me that I was being 'too much,' and would sometimes punish me when I got upset that she wasn't giving me any kind of attention."

My eyebrows furrowed in disbelief. My Mama would never act like that towards me. But, she also doesn't seem to be nearly as busy with work as she was with Molly. 

"Molly," I began to say, "I'm so sorry." 

"Don't be." She said back, her attention glued to her coloring sheet. "I got her back the best way I knew how."

My confused look asked her to continue.

"I left her for her biggest rival." She answered my wordless question. "I had heard rumors that he was a caregiver, so I decided to reach out to him and tell him what was happening. He opened his home to me right away. He made me feel cherished, and safe, and seen... in a way that Savannah never did." 

This whole time, I thought Molly was this horrible person who had abandoned my Mama. But, if she's being truthful, Mama was the one who abandoned her. I didn't like having that thought about Mama in my head, but I just couldn't shake it. Mama has certainly changed, but I wonder if she realizes just how much she had caused Molly's betrayal.

Molly began to look more and more uncomfortable after telling me the story. She unzipped her bag further, pulling out the stuffy and hugging it close to her chest as she clearly fought back tears. 

My eyes widened with shocked disbelief. I blinked a couple of times to make sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me. That wasn't just any stuffie she was clinging to. It was a koala. A koala with an out-of-place red stitching on the back of it's shoulder where it ripped after I pulled it out of my brother's grasp when we were kids. That koala didn't belong to Molly.

That koala was my Rosie.