My Little Stargazer(Adopted by Remington Leith)

(5) - Mom

The next morning as soon as I was ready for the day I went to see my mom. We took an Uber since I had no car seat for Cherry.
Cherry stood beside me on the doorstep, taking in her surroundings. She had one of her chewy toys, a see-through blue ring with water inside it, in her mouth. I knocked and waited. Mom opened the door and smiled before pulling me into her arms.
"Hi, honey."
"Hi, Mom." She pulled away from me and let me inside. Cherry hid behind my legs.
"This must be Cherry." I nodded and rested my hand on Cherry's head.
"Yeah."
"She's a doll!" Cherry stepped further behind me and buried her face in the back of leg.
"She's kinda shy." Mom smiled at her.
"Are you hungry?" She asked me.
"Yeah. I skipped breakfast this morning."
"What about you, sweetie?" Mom asked Cherry, "Would you like something to eat?" Cherry nodded slowly. Mom walked into the kitchen. I got ready to follow her, but Cherry stepped in front of me and raised her arms for me to pick her up. I picked her up and she laid her head on my shoulder. She grabbed my padlock and rubbed it with her thumb and stuck her toy back in her mouth. I followed Mom into the kitchen.
"How does spaghetti sound?" Mom asked as she rummaged through one of the cabinets.
"Sounds great."

———

Fifteen minutes later we were eating spaghetti and talking about tour and Cherry. Cherry stuck her fork into her spaghetti, but didn't take a bite.
"Does she not like it?" Mom asked.
"I don't know. Sometimes she just doesn't eat. She didn't eat supper last night either. I got her to eat a banana for breakfast though." Cherry picked at her spaghetti for a few more seconds before sticking her fingers in her mouth and making a weird clicking noise with her tongue. I sighed and pushed my spaghetti around.
"What's wrong? And don't say nothing I'm not that stupid." I smiled a little and then sighed again.
"I fucked up with Monica."
"What did you do?" I set my fork down and put my head in my hands.
"I didn't tell her about Cherry before hand and she found out before I could. She got mad. She kept talking about how I was ruining my career and not thinking about the repercussions. She wouldn't let me talk or explain. And then I yelled at her and told her to get out." I groaned and tugged on my hair.
"Tell me why. Explain to me why you took Cherry in."
"I found her in an alley behind our venue two days ago. She was alone so I took her down to the police station. Carla told me-"
"Carla?"
"She works at the station." Mom nodded and I continued. "She told me that Cherry's dad is in and out prison all the time and she's constantly sent off to foster homes. Her dad had just been arrested again. She was gonna be sent to a girls home because none of their foster families would take her in again. So I decided to foster her."
"Why wouldn't the other families take her?"
"She's got autism and trust issues. And Carla said it was weird that she got attached to me so quickly. And I just-she needs someone who will love her and take care of her and I want to be that person for her." I pushed Cherry's chair back from the table and pulled her into my lap before wrapping my arms around her.
"My baby's growing up." Mom said with a smile. I sighed and closed my eyes as I rested my head against Cherry's.
"I'm fucking exhausted and I feel like shit and I really need to go shopping for stuff for Cherry and I have to take her over to Larisa's for a haircut and I really should give her a bath before we go to Seb and Larisa's. And now I gotta fuckin fix shit with Mon if she'll let me and my stupid anxiety is fucking shit up and I don't fucking-"
"Hey!" Mom cut me off. I looked up at her on the verge of tears. Stupid, overtired, jet lagged body.
"I'll go shopping with you okay? And right now I'll go give her a bath and you can call Monica." I ground the heels of my hands into my eyes.
"Yeah." I looked at Cherry. She was sitting there contentedly sucking on her fingers. I pulled them out of her mouth.
"Can you go with . . ." I trailed off unsure of what to have her call my mom.
"Grandma." Mom said.
"Grandma," I said to Cherry, "and get a bath? I promise she's not gonna hurt you. She's just gonna get you clean." Cherry nodded slowly. I smiled and kissed her forehead. She climbed down from my lap and hesitantly followed Mom down the hall. I stood and grabbed Mom's arm. She turned to look at me, her gaze full curiosity. I wrapped my arms around her.
"Thank you, Mama." When I was little I only called her mama, then when I became a teenager I started calling her mom and only called her mama when I was having a bad day or I was sick. And that's how it was from then on. And even though she never said anything I knew she understood.
"You're welcome, honey." She rubbed my back. Then I let her go take Cherry down to the bathroom.

———

I tried calling Monica. When she didn't answer I texted her.
Me - can we talk? Maybe over dinner?
Her - fine. Six. Anton's.
Me - okay
After my brief conversation with Mon I stayed at the table for a few minutes to contemplate my life and try not to cry. For some reason being jet lagged made me very emotional. It sucked. Being overtired probably didn't help either. Deciding I was okay I made my way down the hall. In the bathroom Cherry was thoroughly enjoying her bath. She was playing with bubbles and a washcloth and appeared to be having the time of her life. I smiled as I watched her playing. Mom was sitting on the floor beside the tub smiling too. It was a sad kind of smile though. Cherry was covered in bruises. Bruises in the shape of fingers littered her arms and legs and stomach. Bruises that looked like hickeys covered her neck and chest. It horrified me that anyone could do that to a little girl. It was then that I realized my life would never go back to the way it had been. Whether Mon and I figured things out or not Cherry was in my life and I would keep her there as long as possible.

Shoutout to floralandfucking thank you for voting!