that enough times and you just might believe it. You didn't do anything wrong, it’s normal for teenagers to do those things these days. It was up to your momma to teach you about contraception and such.” Lillian walked over to the mantel and picked up a photo that Vi had given her and brought it to the table.
Vi looked at the photo of the sweet, little girl in her pretty dress full of frills. It was one sent to her from the adoption agency as agreed upon with her partly open adoption. While she wasn’t permitted direct contact, she received a photo every year. This was last years and her favorite. She smiled at the photo. “She does look happy doesn't she, Grandma?”
“That she does. The decision you made to give that baby girl up for adoption was one of the most mature and selfless things I’ve witnessed. You hold your head up, girl.” She kissed the top of Vi’s head.
Vi put the photo down on the table next to where her grandma was about to start her own breakfast and ‘read the paper’. Vi smiled. What her grandmother called reading the paper was actually going on Facebook. She loved to trawl her friends’ pages and see what they were all up to. She played the odd game of bingo or slots. A lot of her friends were people she’d never met and hardly spoken to. Still, she felt somehow invested in their lives. Vi gave Lillian a kiss. “I better go and get ready, I’ll be late.”
A while later she returned to find her grandma in the same spot. “I’ll see you this afternoon, Grandma. Is there anything you need me to get on the way home?” Her grandma didn’t answer. She was staring at her laptop. “Grandma?”
“You need to look at this.” Lillian had gone white. Her eyes were flicking from the photo in front of her to the one online and back again. “I think this is the same child.”
Vi was across the room in a couple of steps and she looked where Lillian was staring. There on the Facebook page of a stranger, was a photo very similar to the one on the table. It was definitely the same little girl; she was even wearing the exact same dress. The only difference between her photo and this one was the adults who were sitting side by side with the child between them. They were all laughing at whoever took the photo. So, it was obviously taken the same day. Vi dropped into a chair beside her grandma. “Oh no,” she said, reading the post that the person had written. “No, no, no, it can’t be so.” She read out loud, just so she could try and understand what she was reading.
“Today marks one year since my beautiful, baby girl passed. Never a day goes by that I don't miss her.”
Her baby had died? She’d sent her away to have a better life and she hadn’t had a life at all? Surely, there wasn’t a God so cruel. “It can’t be,” she said, barely able to choke the words out. “My baby can’t be gone.”
“Look at the profile picture,” Lillian said. “It’s an older woman. I don't think it’s the little girl who died.”
Vi scrolled down all the comments. There was one from a man who must be the father. Wait. The post on Facebook wasn’t from the father of her baby it was from the grandmother.
Rose and I miss her too, Kath, every day.
This comment was from the man who must be the adoptive father. There was no reply to his comment from the mother? Mother in law? The man’s profile picture was the little girl. She was alive. Vi felt an overwhelming sense of relief, followed very quickly by a wave of guilt. How could she be happy that a young woman had died? Because it meant that her daughter was still out there somewhere living her life, hopefully happy. Her daughter’s name was Rose. “I won’t be going to work today after all,” she said.
So much information all at once, she knew nothing of her baby’s whereabouts, now all of a sudden, she knew her name, her father’s name and she knew the poor little girl, Rose, had lost her momma. She didn't know where or what to do. She had no clue where to start or if she should start looking at all.
“What are you going to do?” Lillian asked.
“I have no idea,” Vi said. “I made promises, but I only made them because I truly felt that was best for my baby, for Rose. Now, she’s lost her mother. I'm so confused, part of me wants to stick to the agreement and the other part thinks all bets are off, I have a right to know what’s happening with my child. What do you think, Grandma?”
Lillian shook her head. “I don't know, my darling, only you can make this decision. We have his name though, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find him. Maybe call him and tell him how you came to know what happened.”
Vi nodded her head. “Yes, that sounds like a plan to me.” For about the millionth time, she thanked God she had her grandma, she always knew what to do.
Curtis Stonehouse slammed the car door and ran into his house, panic rising in his throat at the sound of his daughter screaming. “What’s wrong?” he yelled as soon as he had the door open.
“Nothing’s wrong, really,” a woman in her late twenties said.
“Then why is my daughter screaming, Ray?” Curtis had already picked up Rose and was comforting her as he spoke. The little girl covered her face in her father’s shirt.
Rose lay her head on his shoulder and sniffled. “She said she was gonna cut my hair off,” she said.
Curtis looked at the nanny with disbelief. “You said what?”
“I didn’t say that, not exactly.”
The woman looked guilty to Curtis. “What exactly did you say to Rose?”
“She wouldn’t let me brush her hair, it was full of knots.”
“The brush was hurting,” Rose said. “She’s mean, and she was hurting me.”
Ray stood there saying nothing.
“I asked you what you said to my daughter?” Curtis was losing patience. He was a fair man and wanted to give this woman a chance to explain, but he wasn’t going to give her much longer.
“I told her if she didn’t let me brush out the knots then I would have to cut it all off, but I didn't mean it literally. I wouldn’t cut her hair without asking you.”
Curtis stared straight through the woman, he could barely contain the anger that welled up in his throat. He wanted this woman out of his house and away from Rose. At first, everything had seemed okay, but it was obvious of late that Rose didn't like Ray, he was starting to see why. Was he overreacting? Where Rose was concerned he didn’t care, she was his top priority, his only priority. “Take a seat in my office please, I’m just going to get Rose a snack, some juice and turn the TV on.”
Once Rose was settled, he returned to his office, making sure to stand in the doorway where he could keep an eye on his daughter. “Please go and pack anything you have here; I’ll write you a check for the month.”
“You’re firing me?” Ray asked. “On the word of a three-year-old?”
“Yes, you scared her, but that isn't the only reason I’m letting you go. My daughter isn't happy with you, Ray. Rose is a small girl who has lost her mother. The person that looks after her on a daily basis needs to be extraordinary. They must have a balance. To be able to keep her routine, while giving her all
