Chapter 3: Who are you?

I had rehearsed this reunion a hundred times in my head—the way Rose’s little hands would reach for me, and the way she would smile.

But reality came in when Diamond said, “Ma’am, she’s awake.”

I rushed to my daughter's side before Diamond could finish.

“Rose?” My voice is extremely soft as I watch her pale face. The older version of the fragile infant I left behind. Her lashes fluttered. “How are you, baby? How are you doing?”

Her eyes opened and found mine, but she squinted at me like I was a stranger.

“Who are you?” I freeze. That one single question made my chest explode. My mouth went dry and I couldn't say anything.

“She’s your mother,” Diamond replied for me, and I was grateful because I couldn't even speak.

Rose's frown hardened… more confusion clamoring her.

“No she’s not,” she rebukes immediately. “Daddy told me my mother is dead. Aunt Florida is my mommy now.”

My vision blurred and for a second, I couldn’t breathe.

Derrick had told her I was dead?!

I had expected cruelty from him when I saw him getting married earlier today, but to have him erase me from my daughter’s life… the betrayal cut me deeper than the torture in prison ever had.

Before I could stitch the pieces of my heart back together, a man in a white coat entered with a clipboard and a tired smile.

“Good evening,” he said. “How’s our little patient doing?”

“I’m fine," Rose replied.

He checked a chart, and pinched at a vitamin vial with professionalism. “Her vitals are stable. She’ll be fine.”

The doctor glanced up at Diamond. “Just make sure she eats, no more skipping meals. This ulcer will keep flaring if she starves herself. And schedule follow-ups for regular vitamin intake.”

Starving? The word reverberated in me.

“Why would she be starving?” I blurted before I could swallow the question. My voice sharper than I meant. “Who—who is caring for her?”

Diamond looked at the floor, fingers worrying the hem of her sleeve.

“I—” she started, then forced a smile that was full of shame. “It’s complicated, Nat. Derrick’s been… busy. After the engagement, his attention shifted to Florida. I’ve tried helping but you know I’ve got school…”

My vision tunneled and every memory of the five years in a cell rose like a tide: the cold, and the loneliness.

Derrick was busy? With Florida? Too busy to take care of his own child? I would take my daughter away from him, if that's the last thing I do.

The doctor’s footsteps receded. “I’ll check in later,” he said. “She’s a tough one.”

After he left, Rose began to fuss.

“Aunt Diamond, where’s daddy?” she asked with the blunt logic of a child. “He said he’d come today. He didn’t come yesterday.”

Diamond smoothed the blanket with the careful motions of someone used to taming arguments she didn’t know how to win.

“Work,” she offered. “He had a meeting. He’ll be here soon, honey. Okay?”

Diamond’s eyes were full of guilt and I felt my stomach gnawing into itself. I wanted to hug my daughter and apologize for the poor excuse of her father, but Rose recoiled from me.

She pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them as if protecting some small, secret treasure.

Diamond finally left, but I stayed, listening to the beeping machines and Rose’s small breaths.

Through the night in the hospital room, I watched the girl who should have been clinging to me clutch her blanket and look at me with suspicion.

I repeated the words over and over again: I am your mother. I am your mother. But she outrightly refused it and not even the world’s rejection could have been more stabbing than that of my daughter.

As I watch her docile small frame fall asleep, hot tears cloud my vision and all that loom in my head is how I’ll get Derrick to pay for everything. Pay for making me a villain when I’m the victim in his foul play. Pay for burying me off from my own daughter. He will pay so dearly. Revenge is the last thing I remember before falling asleep and waking up with my head rested on my daughter’s bed.

***

The doctor discharged Rose the next morning, but she refused to follow me anywhere. I had to call Diamond and make her speak to Rose.

After several minutes of Diamond convincing her, she finally decided to follow me. All through the process, I stood silently in pain at the fact that my own daughter didn't know me.

When we got to the mansion, Rose ran in and I followed her. But I stopped at the door of the living room when I saw Florida and Derrick there.

“I waited to tell you after the wedding,” is the statement I meet on Florida’s lip and judging by their excited faces, I pause to hear Derick ask.

“So you mean you are really pregnant?!” He asked super excitedly, like it’s his first time about to become a father.

Florida barely even nodded a yes before he dives her into a Bone crashing hug.

They were both so engrossed in their joyous moment that neither of them noticed a new presence until rose small voice rings through.

“Daddy?” Her little voice tremble lightly, “You’re going to have another child?”

The sadness in her voice is obvious and it makes my blood chilled.

Derrick turned. For a flicker, I thought foolishly that he would look at me with recognition, but he ignored me.

Instead, he opened his mouth and before I could form a question to tear him down, Rose continued.

“Why didn’t you come visit me in the hospital? You promised you would come.”

Derrick blinked, then he said automatically as if he rehearsed it. “Work, and lots of meetings. You know how it is.”

“You always say that,” she snapped. “Always work, work, work. But since you brought a new woman home, you started neglecting me.”

Florida’s face went hard.

“How dare you speak to your father like that, you rude bastard?” she yelled. “You should be grateful someone is caring for you at all.”

Is she being serious? I stepped forward before I realized it.

“What did you just call my daughter?” I confronted her angrily. “Call her names in front of me one more time, and I will—”

“You will what?” Florida’s laugh was sharp. She planted her hands on his hips and continued, “You are delusional if you think you can come back here and wreak havoc, you and your nasty daughter.”

“How dare…” I lift my hand to slap her but Derrick catches my wrist midway.

“Natasha,” he said quietly. “don’t do this.”

“Don’t do what?” I spat, yanking myself away from him. “Stand up for my daughter?”

“You are making a scene.”

I laughed bitterly. “Really? You know… You should be ashamed.”

He clenched his jaw. “Natasha—”

“You told my daughter I was dea-“

“She is not your daughter.” He cut me before I can finish, his lashes flickering with agitation. Then turning to Florida, he commands calmly. “Please take rose inside.”

My lids furrow hard and fixing him with a glare, I try to speak but he cuts me off at once. “about everything? Let’s talk about it!”

His confident poise seems to be back now as it’s now just the two of us. And as his coffee eyes fix on me, there’s no ounce of that passion and love it always wore five years ago.

But I don’t care… I don’t care about the hatred or coldness looming in his eyes right now. I know is that we need to talk! He needs to tell him whatever I did to warrant his betrayal and trying to steal my daughter from me.