Single Forever

~Five Years Later~

“Aunt.”

Bree whirled around at the call of the tiny sweet familiar voice from behind. A frown creased her brow as she saw Ariel holding the hands of the man beside her.

“Ariel? What are you doing?”

“Aunt, this uncle agreed to pay for our ice cream.”

Bree’s eyes fell on the man beside her daughter.

“Hello, I'm Jack.”

They shook hands.

“Bree.” She smiled. “Don't mind this silly girl. I already paid for the ice cream. She’s just silly. Come here, Ariel.”

Pouting her lips, Ariel hesitantly dragged her foot to Bree until she was standing next to her. Bree took the ice cream box from the salesperson and handed it to Ariel.

“You do know that sweets aren't good for health, right?” She asked her four-year-old daughter who was clutching a box of different flavors of ice cream to her chest as they walked out of the ice cream shop.

“I'm healthy, Mommy.”

“Doesn't matter. You'll get health issues if you eat too much sweets.”

“Mommy promised to buy me lots of ice cream if I agree to move with you to this city.”

Bree sighed. Right! She had promised the naughty little girl to buy her whatever flavor of ice cream that she wanted but she has been taking advantage of the situation since they got to the city a week ago. New York. The same city she left years ago. Being back brought back all the memories that she had tried so hard to bury for the past years. She could remember the tragedy of five years ago like it just happened two days back. The only difference was her baby was here with her. Her source of strength, her world.

“It's been a week already. Are you going to keep asking for ice cream forever? I'm not buying you any more ice cream for the next two weeks.”

Ariel brought her tongue out to spite her mother.

“I'll spank your butt. Wait, by the way, what did you do there?” Bree suddenly stopped walking as they got out of the ice cream shop. She placed her hand on her waist and turned to look at her daughter who also stopped walking and adopted the same position as she peered at her mother.

“What did I do, Mommy?”

“You’re asking me? Now you know I'm your Mommy? What did you call me in there?

“Aunt?”

Bree scoffed. This child would make her go nuts one day.

“How dare you? You're not even afraid to say it a second time. What did I tell you about calling me aunt when we are in public?”

“Does it really matter, Mommy?”

“Listen to me young lady,” Bree said. Her voice was stern. “I am your Mommy, not your aunt. I gave birth to you so stop calling me that. People now think you're my niece, not my daughter.

“But that is what I want,” the little girl frowned. “I read somewhere that men won't approach a woman if she already has a child. If these men find out that I am Mommy’s baby, Mommy is going to remain single forever.”

“Where did you read that? It's not true at all.”

“I lied. I didn't read it anywhere. I heard a group of women talking about it. I don't want Mommy to remain single forever.”

“You don't have to call me that. I don't like it one bit.”

“If I don't, Mommy won't find a husband given that Daddy already left the world years ago.” A hint of sadness laced in her voice.

The words hung in the air between them, heavy and painful. Bree knew she had made a mistake when she told her daughter that her father was gone from this world. But at that time, what more could she have said to Ariel?

When the little one turned three, she innocently asked, “Mommy, where is Daddy?”

Surprised at the child’s question she had said the first thing that came to her mind.

“Daddy is no more.”

At this moment, she felt a wave of guilt hit her for lying to her daughter about her father. If she could rewind time, maybe she would say the truth. Now, how was she going to tell her daughter that her father was alive and kicking and he might be in the same city that they were?

“It's all my fault that Mommy can't get married after all,” Ariel finished.

“Stop it, Ariel.”

“If I had not been born, Mommy would have chances of getting married again. It's all my fault.”

Bree shook her head and sank to her knees at her daughter's words. She held her shoulders.

“It's not your fault, do not say that. You are Mommy’s priceless doll. I choose to have you and I wouldn't change that for anything in the world. Come here.”

Saying that, she stretched her arms for a hug but Ariel shook her head in disapproval.

“What? You don't want to hug Mommy?”

The little girl peered to her left and then, to her right, making sure no one amongst the busy people who came out of the ice cream shop was watching, she threw her hands around her mother’s neck. She just had to make sure no one saw her sulking. It might ruin her reputation. She was a big girl now.

After a few seconds, they broke away from the hug. Bree held Ariel’s cheek in her hands and reassured.

“Don't say something like that next time, hmm? Mommy can't do anything without you. Mommy loves you so much. Besides, who says I must get married again? I'm better off single.

The child gasped.

“Mommy will die old and alone then.”

Staring at the mini version of herself, the troublesome and sweet child that she had tried three bad times to get rid of, Bree laughed. After leaving the city and being diagnosed with depression, she took several abortion pills to get rid of the child in her belly but none worked. After the third time, she decided to have the baby. Her little bundle of joy. Thinking back at what happened that time, she was grateful to God that her baby survived. Her world, her joy, and her pride.

“Okay. It's time to go home and put your ice cream in the refrigerator. Come on.”

Patting her daughter’s dark ginger-colored hair, the only feature Ariel got from her, Bree stood up, took her daughter's hand in hers, and flagged down a cab.

As they got into the cab, Bree’s phone rang. She fished it out of her bag and pressed the green button, bringing it to her ear.

“Hello, Boss?”

“Bree, bad news.”