Chapter 3 Momma

The next morning I was woken up by a light pressure on my body. Looking down, completely confused, I found Lily lying on me with her eyes wide open.

"Lily? Are you okay, Princess?" Hearing my voice, she turns her head towards me with an adorable pout on her face.

"Daddy, is girl yesterday mommy? I see you cawwy her, like Pwince Charming and Sleeping Beauty."

Hearing her words makes my heart ache. How do I tell my little girl that her 'mommy' didn't care for her, and that she was the reason that she left? How do I explain that any girl I'm nice to isn't her mommy?

"Princess, the lady yesterday was feeling sick, so I had to carry her or she could've fell and hurt her head. Do you want her to hurt herself?" I knew I had avoided the actual question, but I genuinely had no clue on how to tell her.

"No." She mumbles, before continuing. "Girl was vewy nice. Tinee the Meanie was shout at her." Sometimes, I fail to understand how smart a 2 year-old can be. She gets it from me.

Or your mother.

Shut up, mind!

I was broken out of my thoughts when my phone started to ring on the bedside table. Looking at the caller ID, only one thought comes to my head. Speaking of the devil.

"Hello. What's up?"

"What's up? More like what's down! I dropped the cake I made for the party on the floor. The cake is down...on the floor." She exclaims with an exaggerated sigh.

"Hi, Son. Everything's great. What about you?" Another sigh. "Alright, alright. What do you want me to do about your cake, Mom?"

"Momma? I speak to Momma!" My daughter breaks in to the conversation. Yes, she calls her grandmother Momma.

I pass my phone to her, like the obedient parent that I am, and she starts babbling away to her 'Momma' as if she hasn't seen her in ten years. She saw her three days ago when I was called on to the set of the movie I'm in with Diva. It's called 'One Day With Her'. I don't want to spend a second with her, let alone a whole day!

"Yeah! And then Tinee was like, 'you bad girl' and then girl fell. But it's okay. Daddy catch her!" What is it with this girl and this event?

"Say bye to Momma, Princess. Daddy needs to speak to her." After she has said goodbye and gave her a loud kiss, she returned the phone, only to lie down on my stomach again.

Rolling my eyes at the lazy girl, I begin to speak to my mother again. "So, what do I need to do?"

One hour later, I'm in Wal-Mart, wearing a baseball cap and humongous sunglasses. I really don't feel like being noticed today.

To get to the aisle with the flour, you need to pass the candy section. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem. However, when you have a 2 year-old sitting in the trolley, trying to reach for everything on the shelves, it's not easy.

"Lily, no! We have three packs of them at home... you bought that one last week and you didn't like it... that's dog food!" Which idiot puts a single can of dog food in the candy aisle?

Then again...

Which idiot takes their 2 year old daughter through the candy aisle?

By the time we got the ingredients that my mother needed for the cakes, - flour, butter, eggs, milk, sugar and some chocolate melts - Lily was really bored. And so her whining began.

"Daddy, pleeeease. I just walk. I don't like it. Pleee-," Suddenly it all goes quiet. Well, we could still hear the workers at the counters talking, beeping people's items, people chatting and trolleys squeaking as they turn. But Lily completely shut up.

As I look down at her, I realise she is looking at someone behind me with a large grin on her face. "Girl! Daddy, it's ice cream girl."

Instantly, I turn around to see Rose with a packet of, what looks like, pink chocolate melts on her...head? But it soon falls off when she hears Lily's voice. She looks up and as if recognising me, or Lily, she runs towards us. Literally sprinting.

"Hi! You were at Delishice yesterday. Mommy told me you got you're ice cream and you found it very yummy. I thought you didn't get it and I was sad. But then Mommy told me you were happy. So then i was happy! You were happy, right?"

The question directed at me breaks me from my shocked daze. Clearing my throat, I say, "Yes, um, we were happy. I'm glad you were happy too?" My answer came out more as a question.

Her behaviour was not normal. She speaks like a child...like Lily. But I can't help but admire it. Not in the way I admire my daughter, but in a much much deeper way.

I just met this girl, what's wrong with me?