Mara was stunned. Her shock was so great that her jaw went slack and her mouth was wide open. But she quickly recovered herself and shut her mouth up. What on Earth was wrong with the man? Did he have amnesia or dementia or something worse that had affected his memory? She blinked her eyes to see if he would vanish, but he was still there. Obviously, he was not a figment of her imagination. Then how on Earth could he ask such a crazy question?"You turned your back on me and abandoned me. What else was I supposed to do?", Mara questioned, looking straight into his eyes. Now, it was his turn to be confused."What... I don't understand what you mean. I never turned my back on you, Mara. Never. And I never thought of abandoning you. Not even once. Why would I do such a thing?"Mara wanted to laugh, but the laughter just wouldn't come out. This was one hell of a comedy show. It was so funny that she could not find it funny."Look, papa," she said with all seriousness, "if you changed your
Now that he was full, little Leo had time to investigate his surroundings as his mother put the food things inside the bag. It didn't take long for his eyes to encounter his grandfather's and he burped loudly as he focused on the man's face."What's his name, Mara?", Mr. Johnson asked."Leo," Mara answered. But suddenly, it occurred to her for the first time that her son had no surname! He would soon be old enough to walk and that would be followed by kindergarten. How would she register him in school? What name would he bear? The shameful and yet funny part was that she had no knowledge or remembrance – she was not sure which – of Mel's surname. But even if she did, she would not want her son to have anything to do with it for fear of him of turning out to be like Mel. The mere thought of it made her shudder. But if not Mel's, whose name would he bear? Certainly not hers. He had to bear a man's surname which was why she had to get married as soon as possible and to Leo too. She just
By the time the taxi came to a halt in front of her house, little Leo had fallen asleep again. Mara paid the cabman and asked him to keep the change. She was not in the mood for waiting for change or having any conversation whatsoever, no matter how short. She let herself into the house and made sure to lock the front door properly. Then she unstrapped Leo and laid him down on the sofa in the living room. She was about to hurry off to the kitchen with the things she had bought when she remembered that little Leo had already had lunch. Christ, so many things were going on in her head at once. She dropped everything she had bought right there in the living room and grabbed her son and made straight for her room.Shutting the door behind her, she laid little Leo on her bed and sat down beside him. She wished she had someone to talk to – someone she could tell all she was currently feeling, but there was no one. It was unfortunate that she had virtually no friends. If Leo was here, she wo
Mara promptly returned to her room and grabbed her phone. Then she dialed his number. First ring, second ring, third ring, but just when she thought it would go unanswered, he suddenly picked it up."Good morning, Mara," his baritone filled her ears and she realized just how long it had been since the last time she spoke to him."Good morning, Mr. Mike. How do you do?", Mara asked hesitatingly."I'm fine, Mara. Any problems?""Not really. It's just... I wanted to, you know, find out if I could go bring em... I mean, can I go to the prison now to get my boyfriend?""Oh no, no, no. It's not yet time. We're yet to begin proceedings here at the courthouse. But don't worry. I'm here at the court premises. When we're done, I'll let you know immediately.""Oh." Mara sounded surprised. "Will it take that long? I thought...""It might take some time, but not too much time. Don't worry. I'll keep you posted. Take care."Then the line was disconnected. Mara sat there staring at the phone. She co
Barely half an hour into her cooking, Mara heard a curious sound that seemed to have come from the front door. “Oh my God,” she gasped, her heart rate going off the charts almost instantly. She was not done cooking and Leo was already home?! What sort of welcome was that?? Running helter-skelter, she rushed to gather everything she needed to complete her cooking. Just then, a knock came on the front door. Mara’s heart almost flew out of her mouth.“C… coming!” She called out and rushed off to the front door, drying her hands on her dress as she ran.When she got to the door, she took a quick set of deep breaths before opening it in order to avoid choking on her own breath. The moment she opened the door, the first thing she saw was that lovely smile of her wonderful Leo. Without thinking twice, she jumped into his arms like a child whose father had just come back from a year-long travel.Leo laughed happily as he caught her and carried her into the house with the lawyer following clo
When lunch was over, the lawyer took his leave, but not before highly praising Mara’s cooking skills and promising to visit anytime he was in the area. Mara breathed a huge sigh of relief when he finally entered his car and drove off. She now had the entire living room to herself and the love of her life.“Have you seen Leo? Let’s go see him,” she said, pulling Leo by the hand.“Oh, don’t worry. I’ve gone to see him. He was fast asleep. Let’s not disturb him please.”“Then I need to put him to bed,” she said and hurried off alone to the nursery. As expected, she found her son sleeping in a not-so-desirable position, so she carefully lifted him from the ground and transferred him to the bed as quietly as possible to avoid waking him. When she was done, she went back to the living room and jumped on Leo’s lap like a favorite daughter jumping on daddy’s lap.“So, tell me everything that happened to you in that horrible place,” she demanded as she snuggled against his chest.“You mean th
“Are you sure you don’t want me to accompany you?”, Leo asked for the umpteenth time as he handed her her handbag. “No, really. It’s my first time going there. I don’t even know what to expect. Next time, we can go together,” she assured him with a smile.The complete truth was that she was a little scared that Leo might avoid her afterwards if he went with her and saw that her mother was in a very bad mental state. He might think that it was something that could be inherited. That was why she wanted to go alone first and see how the situation was before deciding whether to go with him the next time.“If you insist,” Leo shrugged. It was clear that he was reluctant to let her go alone and she wondered exactly why. Or was he anticipating or expecting that her mother would be violent? Well, if he already thought the worst, then there was no harm in taking him along. But… no, she couldn’t risk it. It was better to go alone and see how it all was before taking someone with her.“So, you’
The first greeting Mara got from her mother was an angry scoff. Clearly, the woman was not happy to see her or anyone else for that matter. But Mara was not deterred. She had always expected it. What she had feared was getting attacked. Fortunately, there was a glass barrier between herself and the woman. It seemed the room was specially designed to ensure the safety of anyone who interacted with her whenever she was in her bad moods.“It seems you’re all settled, so I’ll take my leave now. You know where to find me when you’re done,” the receptionist said with a smile and made for the door.“Thank you,” Mara called after her and she nodded in acknowledgement as she left.When she had gone out of the room and closed the door behind her, Mara turned to her mother. She took a deep breath and then exhaled. How would she begin? From the beginning of course.“Mother, I’m your daughter, Mara. Do you remember me? Your ex-husband, Benjamin Johnson, raised me. Do you remember him?”, Mara asked