Traitors will never be let back in, she snarled, eyes flashing as the words echoed through the cramped hallway of St.Marys Hospital.
Wheres Tommy? a voice muttered from the crowd of relatives crowding the stairwell. Tommys vanished! Where could he have gone? The whisper rippled like a nervous current.
If Tommy had been Thomas Harper, the newborns father, the murmurs would have been far quieter. In this case, Tommy was a nickname for his wife, Violet Harper, and it was astonishing that Violet, instead of clutching a tiny bundle, had simply disappeared.
Runaway! shrieked Violets mother, Mrs. Eleanor Harper, as she handed her soninlaw, Ian Clarke, the papers and the last letter from the fleeing spouse.
The letter was a carbon copy of every desperate note fathers leave behind: Im not ready for this, dont look for me. I wont abandon my daughter, Ill send maintenance, but this is the end of my part in this. No return address, no explanation why a respectable woman who, half a year earlier, had dreamed of motherhood, would now abandon it so abruptly.
Ian, dont worry, Eleanor cooed at her soninlaw. Shell come to her senses, her mind will settle, and shell return.
Her eldest daughter, Charlotte Harper, said nothing. A quiet voice inside told her that Tommy would never come back. When Charlotte once tried to warn her mother that Violet might be gone for good, Eleanor snapped, Keep your tongue shut, Charlotte. Shell be back. A month, twoher motherly heart will remember.
Divorce papers arrived three months later. Violet never set foot in court, refused custody, and little Rosie stayed with her father. Charlotte found herself visiting Ian more often, helping with the baby and trying to keep the peace with her exbrotherinlaw.
It was a familiar pain. A year after her own son, Andrew, was born, Charlottes fiance, Maxwell Reed, had walked out. They had planned to marry once Andrew turned three and she returned from maternity leave. Instead, Maxwell vanished, leaving Charlotte drowning in debt, though the court did force him to acknowledge paternity and pay a modest allowance.
Charlotte feared that the same fate would befall her sisterabandoned by a lover, left with a child. She scoured Ians behavior for any warning sign, never mentioning it to her mother or sister. In the end, she realized shed been looking at the wrong person.
Violet hadnt been forced to have a child; shed wanted one. Ian, on the other hand, had suggested waiting five years to save enough for a bigger flat, but Violet rushed the marriage, urging him onward. The result? She abandoned Rosie, a helpless infant, in a storm of cold indifference.
Perhaps it was fate that Charlotte had already become a mother herself, or perhaps the fact that Rosie was her blood, that made her soon see the abandoned child as her own daughter. Ian, on a few occasions, tossed the little girl to Charlotte, saying, Take her to mums arms. He even offered them to move in, claiming there was room, that Charlotte could rent out rooms in her own flat and use the rent to pay the mortgage, instead of begging her own mother for help.
When Eleanor learned Charlotte had moved in with Ian, she launched a tirade, calling the arrangement improper and unseemly. She tried to bar the sisterinlaw from seeing her husband, but Ian dismissed her, saying it was none of her business. Later, a halfdrunk Ian admitted, Ill marry Charlotte, and Ill take your son as my own.
Everything will be fair, he said. You raise my daughter like yours, Ill treat your son as mine. I wont force you into a bed; you decide that. Lets stick together; its easier for both of us. He boasted about his earning ability but confessed he didnt know how to handle nappies, doctor visits, or soups. You manage children well, he added, but at your job you wont make much.
Charlotte had been a nursery assistant before maternity, earning modest wages at a private preschool. Ians proposal sounded pragmatic, maybe too pragmatic. She thought of the fairytale love shed once believed innothing but a fleeting happiness with her son. Perhaps now was the time for a practical approach? Ian was kind, sober, never drank, never smoked, always helped financially, and Rosie had begun calling her Mum after two years.
Could everything that happens for a reason be good after all?
Eleanor never attended the weddingno one expected her anyway. The couple toasted with friends, heard wishes of happiness, and retreated to Ians flat, now home to four of them. Life changed little, except the children now shared a bedroom while the adults took the other.
Then, one stormy evening, the front door opened, and Ian, waiting for a delivery, glanced up just as a figure lunged from the threshold.
Darling, Im back! Violet shouted, throwing herself at his neck. When Ian pushed her away sharply, forcing her to step back, she fluttered her lashes and asked, Arent you happy to see me?
Should I be? Ian replied coldly.
He had rehearsed his reply many times, but when the moment finally arrived, all he could manage was a question: Why are you here?
I came for my child. I thought maybe we could patch things up, be a proper family.
No, Ian said, his voice hard. Ive already built a family. I wont let traitors back in.
Is this about Charlotte? Violet snapped. How could you trade me for her? Charlotte, youre nothing but a
In that instant, the bathroom door creaked open. Charlotte emerged, fresh from a shower, and the first thing she saw was the halfajar nursery door, through which the children watched the drama like a safeguarded castle wall.
Violet, spotting the kids, darted past Ian, grabbing Rosie in her arms.
Rosie, my dear, youve grown so much! she cooed, lifting the infant just as a small, highpitched scream erupted. Andrew, six, lunged at her, biting her ankle.
Violet, only in sheer stockings and a short skirt, let out a piercing wail, dropping Rosie onto the floor and clutching her wounded leg. The children scrambled to Ians side, huddling behind Charlottes trembling figure. Violet glared at them, whispering, You serpent you turned my daughter against me I wont let this stand.
The courtroom had long since denied Violet custody; she had never seen Rosie since birth, and her sudden appearance offered no chance of reclaiming the child. Even Eleanors attempts to sway Ian into a reverse move failed. In the end, Ian and Charlotte cut off all contact with Violet, moved to another city, and never left an address.
Now they live happily elsewhere, raising three children. Only their closest friends hear Rosie whisper that shes the daughter of a real witch, while her mother Charlotte is a goodhearted fairy who rescued her. Andrew swears his father, perhaps a dark wizard, abandoned the fairy and fled.
At least a kind father found them, and now their familymum, dad, little sister, and brotherthrives. After all, every story deserves a happy ending.
