When Don walked into the grocery store, he couldn’t help but smile to himself upon thinking about that fateful encounter with Mrs. Dreamer.
Alyssa looked at her smiling father, thinking that he was being weird again. “Dad?”
No response.
Alyssa looked at Marc, who was too busy listening to his iPod and checking out girls rather than looking at their father.
“Dad?” Alyssa tugged her father’s sleeve.
“Uh, yeah?”
“What’s wrong? You keep smiling to yourself.”
“Nothing’s wrong. Isn’t it a good thing that I’m smiling?”
“But…but, it’s real creepy…”
His smile changed to a teasing one. “Really?” With that, he attacked her with a bunch of tickles.
She laughed loudly—enough to make Marc unplug his ear-plugs. Seeing that his dad was being weird with his sister, he rolled his eyes and made way for the chips’ aisle.
Don didn’t mind that Marc left—even if he did and Don asked where he was going, Marc wouldn’t answer, either way. Instead, Don turned to a now red Alyssa. “So, what’s for dinner tonight?”
“I want hot dogs,” Alyssa admitted. “I really haven’t had one in awhile.”
Don admitted that it had been awhile since they had hot dogs—but, if he were to buy the dogs, then there wouldn’t be enough buns… “Hot dogs it is, then.” Someone was going to have to get two wieners in their bun.
They passed by the frozen food section, and the thought of Danielle interrupted his other thoughts. He didn’t know what to feel for it—that he should hate the thought, or that he should love it.
But, when they came to the hot dog section of the deli meats, Don immediately noticed the flash of red hair that was at the nearby dairy products.
The lady had turned around and was as equally stunned as Don was. Never in a million years did Don even think of seeing her again, even if they were in the same city.
The lady dropped her gaze to Alyssa. A small gasp escaped her lips and her basket nearly fell out of her hand.
Alyssa didn’t like the look that the woman was giving her. She got closer to her father. “Dad…”
Protectively, Don brought his girl closer to him. “Nina.”
“Don.” Her eyes stared lovingly at the child.
Yet, Alyssa excused it as a strangeness she had never before encountered.
“Th-that’s her…”
Don slowly backed away. “Nina…” His voice was full of warning.
Nina’s smile was extremely heartwarming, in her eyes. But, it was simply frightening to Alyssa and to Don. “My baby.” She opened her arms, setting down her basket, and approached them.
“Nina!”
“D-Don, she’s my baby.”
“Daddy!”
“Alyssa, get behind me!”
“Baby, come to me. I’m your mom.”
“Daddy!” Alyssa was whimpering.
Don shoved Nina. “I’m warning you, Nina.”
“She’s mine, Don!” Nina was hysterically screaming. Her dream was right here—in front of her. Her regret was right there, almost a foot away from her.
“Nina, we talked about this.” The past flooded Don, and he knew he was going to have to seal it away and try to forget about it again. This time, it wouldn’t be as simple as before.
“Let me hold her—God’s sakes, let me touch her!”
Marc appeared and Alyssa ran to him. Marc tilted his head to see the scene. If he tried to remember…that red head looked very familiar… “Dad?”
“Marc, take Alyssa to the car.” Don’s harsh tone was enough to freeze hell.
Not fully understanding what was going on, Marc followed his father’s orders.
“Wait, Baby!” Nina tried to crawl to Alyssa.
Don stopped her. “We need to talk again.” He looked down into her eyes and he didn’t like what he saw: a crazed woman. “N-Nina-.”
“Don, I’m desperate. I’m sorry. I need her back. I have no one else.”
But, he couldn’t trust those eyes. “Nina, you gave her to me because you had everyone that time. You were far from desperate; you didn’t want her.”
“Don, I need her.” She wasn’t listening to him. “I love her.”
“How do you know what love is, when you don’t? And, how do you know you love her when you were the one who threw her away in the first place?”
“I’m sorry,” she moaned. “I’m sorry.”
“Pull yourself together.” He knew it was hopeless in saying so, but he had to at least try—try to reach that perhaps slightly sane part of her that she had buried away. He even helped her up. “Pull yourself together,” he repeated.
“I can’t. She’s my missing piece.”
“Nina!” he scolded. “She isn’t! You have all your pieces set out in front of you, and you’re looking for the one you think you lost, but in reality, it’s clearly in front of you.”
But, she wouldn’t attempt to understand. “I don’t care! I only need her! Oh, Don, please give her back. Give her back to me!”
“Not until you--!”
“Give her back!” she screamed.
Finally, the store manager came over. “Is there something wrong?”
“He took my child!” she screamed.
The manager was stunned. He looked at Don, a regular, and what he saw, he had a feeling wasn’t really true.
“Tyrell, don’t believe her.” Don started approaching Tyrell.
Suddenly, Nina leapt at Don, tackling him to the ground. She succeeded and threw her punches at him, tears falling out. “Give her back, bastard! I can’t live without her, anymore! She’s mine! Mine!”
Tyrell and a few shoppers tried to pull them away. Another store keeper came and dialed for the police. In ten minutes—after Don was almost half unconscious—the police came and succeeded in handcuffing Nina.
Before they left, Don stopped them. “Don-don’t press charges…I-I don’t want to press charges.”
This stunned the men. “Mr. Lothario, she nearly killed you!”
Don looked at the bawling Nina in the back of the cop car. “…I-I know…”
“And…And you still…?”
“I-I can’t…I can’t do that to her.”
The police looked at him, trying to understand him, but to no prevail. “…Then, what should we do…?”
“She needs help. No one can reach her, now…”
“…Who was that woman, Dad?” Alyssa climbed into her father’s bed and snuggled against him. Her small hand against his stomach felt cold.
Don licked his lips. “An old friend.”
“She called me her child.”
“Do you believe her?”
“…I don’t know…”
Don couldn’t look at Alyssa—not right now. “…She’s crazy, that’s it.”
“…Then, who’s my mom?”
He knew that this question was bound to be asked. Yet, he still couldn’t come up with a smooth lie to cover it. “…Your mom died when you gave birth to you…”
Why did her siblings say that she was left at the doorstep? “…Really?”
“Why would I lie to you, Lyssa?”
“…Maybe because that crazy woman was really my mom and you just didn’t want me to know…”
He bit his lip, knowing that the girl was smarter than he was in many ways. “If she was your mother,”—he chose his words carefully—“then, I would’ve told you a long time ago, right?”
“…Well, I guess so.”
“Now, get some sleep. You’ve got school tomorrow.”
For a few moments, it was quiet. Don was starting to doze off, when—“What happened to that lady? Is she going to jail?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“Because she hurt you.”
“…And, if she did go to jail? What would you do?”
“…I would kind of feel sorry for her.”
At this, Don had to listen. “Why would you feel sorry for her? She hurt me, didn’t she? And she almost hurt you, too.”
“No, I don’t think she wanted to hurt me, Dad. I think she wanted to hug me…And, maybe she does believe that you took her baby—maybe she’s actually the mom of Marc or Sabrina or something. And, because of that, I kind of feel sorry for her—because she’s still looking for her baby. It’s kind of sad that a baby would be separated from its mom.”
Don didn’t have another word to say; just another thought: the truth would really shock you, Alyssa. And, when you do find out, I wonder what you’ll say.
“So, did she go to jail, Dad?”
“No.”
“Then…?”
“I made sure she didn’t go to jail. I really think she’s crazy—you know, cuckoo…so, I think it’s better if she gets help, rather than stay in jail.”
“…I’m really sorry for her.”
