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We talk about her new school and the friends she made in kindergarten while we prepare spaghetti with meatballs and tomato sauce.
“This is delicious, Aunt Gigi,” she says sliding a strand of pasta into her mouth.
I laugh. “I had a good sous chef.”
She giggles, and my chest tightens a little at how much she looks like her mom. How a woman could abandon her child is beyond me. Gabriel was devastated when his wife, Beth, left soon after she gave birth to Maddie. She told him she realized she couldn’t be a mom after having a difficult pregnancy and delivery. Gabriel had tried his best to convince her to change her mind and see a therapist, but she refused and disappeared when Maddie was only a couple of months old. She later filed for a divorce, got her wish, and has never been heard from again. I don’t want to judge her for her actions since I don’t know what she was going through.
However, observing the sweet little girl as she eats makes my heart ache that her own mom couldn’t love her enough to stay and watch her grow. Gabriel, heartbroken, has vowed never to have anything to do with another woman. Maddie has become his life.
We, the children of Philippe Bartholomay, might be jinxed in love.
After dinner, I go through Maddie’s homework, and then we play checkers. I’m surprised at how good she is.
“I win again, Aunt Gigi.”
I laugh as she sticks her tongue out at me.
“Oh, yeah? Then how about a ballet dance-off?”
She giggles. “You’re on.”
The next half-hour is filled with laughter as we dance. I show her some steps, and she demonstrates what she has learned so far. Then we try to outdo one another and end up on the rug, laughing.
“Who won?” she questions, breathing heavily.
“What do you think?” I ask.
She laughs heartily. I reach out to caress a strand of her tousled hair. For a moment, I imagine having a daughter like her someday, and I lean in to kiss her cheek. I look forward to having my own daughter to bring up and love. In the meantime, I’ll bathe Maddie with so much affection, she’ll never feel the loss of her mother.
Gabriel calls an hour later to tell me that he’s still caught up in the hospital due to an emergency surgery. So, I help bathe Maddie and put her to bed. We read her favorite book,Frozen, and she dozes off. Watching her as she sleeps peacefully, the yearning to become a mother floods me again.
* * *
“See you later, Maddie.”
I wave after dropping her off at the all-girls school next door. I gaze at the cute faces of the little girls in navy uniforms trooping into the building. I enjoy walking Maddie to school.
My phone starts buzzing in my purse as I turn away. I retrieve it and smile when I see it’s Josephine calling.
“Guess who I just bumped into,” she says immediately after I answer the call.
“Who?”
“Pierre,” she answers with dismay in her voice.
I sigh at the mention of my ex-boyfriend.
“He was all about you, asking where you were and what you were doing.”
“And you told him?”
“Of course, with gusto. I didn’t want him to think you were pining away for him. After what he did, he should be glad I didn’t spit in his face.”
The anger in my sister’s voice mollifies me a little. The mention of my previous failed relationship makes me remember why I swore never to get romantically entangled at work again. Meeting and falling for Pierre is one of the mistakes I’ll regret forever. As soon as he told me he wasn’t interested in ever getting married again while suggesting anopenrelationship, I should have ended things. But I couldn’t believe he was serious, and so I hung on for a few more months, trying to change his mind. It cost me dearly.
“It doesn’t matter anymore, Jo. I’m over him,” I inform her as I sidestep a man hurrying past me on the sidewalk.
“I know, but gosh, I detest him.”
