Midnight. 4th October 2012
Sophia sat in a corner of the room, wedding guests all around her. She looked cute in her little bridesmaid dress, but she had an unhappy look on her face. A thousand thoughts were going around her head, the predominant one was 'What if they have kids? What'll happen to me then?' One of the guests, a 16 year old girl who was the daughter of one of Reg's friends, came over to her. "Hey Sophia, what's up?" She asked her, noticing the sad look on her face. Sophia looked up at her, and something she'd heard her mum say yesterday came into her mind. "Oh, fuck off." She said.
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4th October 2012. 11AM
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Amy was sitting in front of the mirror in her bedroom, admiring her hair. The hairstylist and make-up artist called Malika had just styled it for her, and she thought it was perfect. "Thank you so much, I love it!" She said to Malika. Malika smiled. "Did you say you had a little girl? Am I doing her hair and makeup too?"
Amy nodded. "Yeah, I'll just call her. Sophia!" She called.
Sophia was in her bedroom playing Barbies with her new babysitter, Isla's sister Ellie who lived in Canada. She'd taken over with Sophia while Isla was in Australia visiting their family. "Sophia, I think your mom just called you." Ellie said, putting the Barbie she was holding down. Sophia kept making the two Barbies she was holding talk to each other. "Sophia?" Ellie waved her hand in front of the little girl's face to get her attention. Sophia blinked up at her. "Your mom called you." Sophia shrugged. "Whatever."
Ellie took Sophia's hands and pulled her up off the floor. "Now listen missy, you might not be happy but this is a big day for your mom and it's important that you make sure you at least pretend to be happy, because she won't be if you're not."
Amy went into Sophia's bedroom to find her. "Soph? What are you doing?" Sophia looked up at her, an unfriendly look on her face. Amy mistook it for nerves, and took her daughter's hand. Sophia shook it off, went into Amy's room, and hopped up on the chair so Malika could do her hair and makeup.
While Sophia was having her hair and makeup done, Amy sat down on her bed and sighed. "What's the matter?"
Ellie asked, pretending she didn't know as she sat down next to her. Amy looked at her. "There's something going on with Sophia, isn't there? She's been fine, and now today she's being really bad-tempered." Ellie bit her lip.
"Well...its normal for kids to be upset about their moms remarrying isn't it?"
Amy stood up and shut Sophia's bedroom door, then sat back down on the bed. "If that's what she's upset about...that's not the only thing going on. But please don't tell her, not yet."
Amy whispered something in Ellie's ear, and her eyes widened.
Malika picked up her curling iron and started curling Sophia's hair. Sophia sat still, texting Alessia on her phone.
Alessia: What are u up to?
Sophia: having my hair done for mums wedding
Alessia: Ew, she's actually marrying Reg?
Sophia: Yep, I'm a bridesmaid.
Alessia: Yuck, poor u. He's gonna be ur stepdad!!
Sophia: I know...yucky. Wish u could come w/me
Alessia: Are you gonna cry in it?
Sophia: maybe...everyone cries at weddings so they'll probs think its happy crying
Alessia: 😂 good plan Soph
Malika could see the texts over Sophia's shoulder, and she couldn't stop her forehead wrinkling in concern.
Twenty minutes later, Sophia skipped into her room. Her dark hair was curled and she had pink eyeshadow and lipgloss on. "Ellie!" She called excitedly, and then stopped in the doorway when she saw Amy on her bed. "Oh." Her voice went flat. "I thought you'd be gone by now." She was right, Amy was supposed to have gone and picked up her wedding dress and brought it back so she could get dressed. But she wasn't going to tell Sophia she was right. She stood up and took hold of her daughter by the shoulders. "Sophia, I've had enough of your attitude already today. You better stop it or you're going to be in a lot of trouble, young lady. I want you to be there today but not if you're going to be like this." Sophia looked at the floor and mumbled something under her breath. "What was that?" Amy asked. "I said okay." Sophia mumbled.
Sophia was standing behind Amy, waiting to walk up the aisle with Lauren, Juliette, and Ellie, who were the other bridesmaids. She'd been taught the cues and everything, so when the music started and Mitchell lead Amy down the aisle, she walked a few paces behind them like she was supposed to, and when they reached the front she stepped off to the side, holding Lauren's hand.
At the reception, Malika, who'd been the maid of honour because she was one of Amy's new best friends, pulled Amy to one side. "Amy, I think we've got a real problem with Baby Girl." Amy looked concerned. "Sophia? What happened?"
"It was before the wedding..." Malika told Amy all the texts Sophia and Alessia had sent to each other. Amy covered her mouth with her hand. "Alessia Cavalli...I told Sophia not to talk to her anymore!"
Just then, Clara-Rose, the daughter of one of Reg's friends, came up to them both. "Excuse me," she said politely. "There's something wrong with Sophia?" Amy and Malika both stared at her, instantly panicked. "She didn't accidentally pick up a glass of alcohol did she?" Amy asked. She always worried about Sophia getting anywhere near alcohol. "No," Clara said. "But my dad thought she'd be asleep and sent me to look for her. I saw her and she looked sad so I asked her what was wrong and she said..." Clara leaned closer to both women and whispered something to them. Malika and Amy covered their mouths, horrified. "I'm really sorry, I didn't know if I should tell you or not." Clara said apologetically. Amy left her with Malika and went off in search of her daughter. Alex, Riva and Janis saw her and saw how angry she looked and they tried to stop her because they knew she'd do something she'd regret, but Angry Amy was stronger than normal Amy, and she pushed them all away.
Amy walked into the room Clara said she'd found Sophia in, squeezing through other guests to find her. She saw her on a sofa, and pushing closer, realised she'd fallen asleep. And suddenly she didn't feel angry anymore. She scooped her little girl off the sofa, holding her like a baby, and carried her back to where everyone else was.
When Ellie saw Amy come in carrying Sophia, she went over to them and held her arms out. She figured Amy would want to dance with everyone, not carry her daughter around all night. Amy carefully handed Sophia over to her. "Can you just take her home and put her to bed, one of my friends is there to look after her. You'll come back after that, won't you?" Ellie nodded. "I will, I won't be long."
Ellie drove Sophia home, put her in her bed, and said hi to Amy's friend who was in the lounge, and she, her name was Jane, said she'd check in on Sophia every ten minutes. And after that, Ellie drove back to the wedding.
The party went on until 5AM, when everyone started to feel how tired they were and one by one the groups of people said goodbye to Amy, Reg and their families and went home.
When Amy and Reg got back to Amy's house, she gave Jane a thank-you hug, and after she'd gone home she went upstairs to see Sophia. The little girl was fast asleep. Amy bent over her and kissed her forehead. "Thanks, Soph. For being there today. And not making a scene in front of everyone. You made it perfect."
"She can't hear you, Amy." Reg said, standing in the doorway. "I know," Amy said, and shrugged. "But I thought it was important to say it anyway."
