Somebody to Love

The front door opens and the girls continue to eat their meal. Tom is unable to move from being in a state of shock.

“Girls,” she smiles and talks toward Arielle and Bella.

“Mummy?” Arielle says and hangs onto Bethany. “Who is that?”

“Excuse me? I’m your mother.” the woman spits.

Tom gets himself out of the shock and walks towards his wife and kids. “Bethany, take them upstairs.”

“Why is that lady saying she’s our mother?”

“Cause she is,” Arabella says, looking up at her younger sister. “That’s our real Mum.” Zawe goes to give Bella a hug but she backs away further into Bethany’s arms. “But I don’t know you and Daddy says not to accept anything from strangers.”

Her face collapses as she listens to her daughter. Zawe looks down at Bethany’s hand, decorated in a big, beautiful wedding ring. Bethany picks up Arielle and holds Bella’s hand as she quickly takes them upstairs. What startled Zawe more though, was the bump coming from Bethany’s shirt.

Beth takes the girls upstairs and sits with them in their room, leaving Tom alone with a ghost from his past.

“Who the hell is she?” Zawe snaps.

“What are you doing here? After 4 years you decide to show up out of nowhere and act like this in my house? You’re out of your mind. Get out of my house.”

“Who is she?”

“My wife.” Tom snaps.

“Of how long?”

“It’s none of your damn business, Zawe.”

“My kids called her Mum.”

“They’re not your kids,” Tom yells, his voice echoing through the house. “They’re not yours, they’re mine. You lost any right of them calling you Mum when you walked out on us 4 years ago.”

“They’re my blood, I carried them for 9 months.” Zawe protests.

“Tell me, Zawe, how many nightmares were you there for? How many times did you get sick because you were caring for them when they were ill? How many scraped knees or bee stings did you kiss to make the pain go away? None. You didn’t do any of it. So what, you carried them for 9 months? That hardly makes you their mother. A real mother wouldn’t walk out on their children one day with no explanation.”

“I had an explanation, I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t have this little fairytale life with you, that’s not me.”

“Then we could’ve gotten divorced. I could’ve gotten sole custody of the children and you would’ve never had to see them again. Instead, you crept away while we were sleeping. While your 3 and 5-month-old slept in their beds. I don’t care that you left me, Zawe, that’s fine… but you left my children wondering why their Mum didn’t love them. You left my 3-year-old daughter asking me what she did wrong to make Mummy leave her. You are a disgusting human being and you need to leave… right now. Get out of my house.”

“This was my house too,” Zawe quietly says.

“No, it wasn’t. It wasn’t your house because you didn’t truly live here. If you lived here, you wouldn’t have left my children.”

“They’re our children, Thomas. They share our blood. They look like me.”

“I don’t care if I found them on the street, Zawe, they are my children. They call another woman Mum because she’s done more for them in the year we’ve been together than you’ve done for them in your entire life. I don’t care who bore them, Bethany is their mother.”