"Good morning Mrs Johnson, my name's Olivia. I believe you're William's Mother!" She pointed out sharply. Mrs Johnson nodded in agreement.
"I am William's girlfriend-- ", she shrugged, "We've been dating for some months". The women's eyes widened in shock, Amelia folded her hands on her chest in response to the words she just heard. "Surely, you're mistaken, my William has been married to Amelia for almost a year now!" Mrs Johnson corrected and directed Olivia's attention to Amelia. "I'm aware of that Mrs Johnson. You see, when Will and I met he was still single, he said he was single, that his girlfriend-- Amelia, had broken up with him, she had left him. He was in a pretty bad shape when we met, he got his glow back while we were dating. We were young and crazy and I got pregnant, he knew of it, we went for the test together. We were both terrified and unprepared. So, I left Rye to live with my grandparents on a farm, I stayed there till I had the baby-- our daughter", she held the child closer, giving the listeners a hint that this was the baby she had. "But by the time I came back to Rye, I was told that Will had been married for almost a year now to Amelia" she added. "Oh! Is that how it went?" Mrs Johnson asked. Olivia nodded, "Will?", she raised one of her brows. "Yes Mum that's how it went". Will sighed. "Well alright, what do you want now?" She turned to Olivia. "I want to be William's wife, it's what I've always wanted", Olivia replied. "You silly girl!" Mrs Johnson smiled and danced her index finger in front of Olivia's face. "That, is impossible my dear. What you ask of us cannot be granted, William is a husband now, he doesn't need another wife", she paused and moved closer to Olivia, her eyes went down on the sleeping baby. "She's beautiful! What's her name?" The old lady asked breathlessly. "Audrey, her name's Audrey". Monica and Viola glided through the floor and stood in front of Olivia at once, all eyes were fixed on the baby. "Wow!" "She gorgeous!". "Audrey, my grandchild!" Mrs Johnson said proudly. They all smiled and seemed to forget the issue on ground, except William who stood by the open door, he hadn't moved an inch since, and of course Amelia too, her face was expressionless, she stood there-- hands folded, motionless and speechless. Anything amongst a thousand other things could've been going through her young heart at that moment. "Be assured, dear Olivia, that you won't cater for the child alone. What's done is done you can't force things to happen now. If you had stayed then or at least had involved William during the pregnancy, maybe things would've turned out differently. She's my grandchild, I too want to be in her life, undoubtedly!" She paused and stepped back. "Come William!" William moved to her side. "So this is what the noise was all about, eh?" "Yes Mum, I'm sorry", "Don't be sorry to me, be sorry to your wife, how must she feel right now?" She turned in Amelia's direction searching through her face. Amelia only fixed her eyes on the floor, they were full of sadness. William too, dared not look in her way, his eyes remained fixed on the brown baby. The thought of being a father, jumped his heart. Though he was unprepared, he was ready to try. "Tell her William, tell her you'll take care of her and your daughter", Mrs Johnson spoke out. William looked up into Olivia's eyes and gestured, "It's a promise Olivia, I'll set up an apartment for both of you, I'll provide, I'll be there to spend time with my daughter, please!" He waited. "I've always loved you William, I know you'll fulfill your promise, I know you'll be a good Father to her, but that's not the way I want my daughter's life to be, I want her to be complete. She shouldn't have to see her father from afar, she shouldn't have to deal with a divided home, she doesn't deserve that emotional stress. We, did this to her, we, brought her into this mess. I want her to grow in a house where her parents are present, she needs to have a home", she paused and swallowed; searching for the right words to say, her lips shivered. "I grew up without my dad, though he was around my mum and I were not his main focus or responsibility, he had his other family. I had to share my father with my half siblings and it affected me in many ways. I spent almost all my teenage years away from my Mother, I brought her sadness. I was hurting everyday because my dad wasn't always there especially when I needed him the most. The pain led me into the wrong side of life, and now I'm in thesame situation my Mother was. So William, Mrs Johnson, Amelia", she looked into each one's face accordingly. "When I say I want to be William's wife, I'm not doing it for myself, it's for Audrey! She deserves to be happy, she deserves a home! I don't want her to habour jealousy, anger, pain and longing in her heart just as I had. It's not the best person to be, I promise!". "Whoa!" Viola exhaled, "This is heavy, what a mess you've got yourself into, brother!" She mockingly said and left the room. Amelia unfolded her hands and breathed out loudly, she walked away slowly without a word. "Olivia you are right, Audrey deserves a home", Monica added and patted Olivia on her shoulder and exited the room. "Truth be told, William, she's right, I too want my grandchild to be happy, she's innocent. I'm an old woman obviously. I'm your Mother, but I've never made decisions for you or your siblings, I believe you'll do the right thing son. You, Olivia and Amelia have to come to an agreement on this. Whatever decision the three of you make, I'll stand by it". Mrs Johnson clapped her palms once-- silently. She kissed the baby on her head and followed the others out of the room. Silence grew between the two people in the room, different emotions were created in the hall that December morning. "I don't know what to say right now Olivia, I'm so lost!", William finally said, while his thumb and index finger pinched his temple, his head titled upwards and his eyes closed in between his fingers, the other hand was positioned on his waist. "I'll leave you and Amelia to talk about it or uh-- to think about it, I don't know, but just make a decision fast, I'll be back and this time, with trouble!" In less than ten seconds, she was out of the room into the melting snow.December 20th! Only a few days to the popular celebration-- Christmas. It had snowed all through the night, the next morning was chilly. Mermaid street looked stunning with the combination of the snow on every roof top, the paved cobbled roads, the lined up houses on both sides of the street, and on every house, there were red and green flowers and lights. The street glowed in its glory! After all, it is the most popular street in London, its name, unique! The schools were on holiday, the Rye railway stations, were filled with people, the trains brought in people for the holiday and some traveled out of the town for the season. Hospitals, airports and the Rye museum were beautifully decorated for the holiday season. It had been ten days since Olivia visited the mansion and left a troubling stain on the hearts of Amelia and William, the problem seemed to have no solution, it was a trying time for the couple, and it dealt with them. For some nights, William could find no sleep, Amelia
She banged loudly and coldly at the door without feeling. She had promised she would be back with trouble and this she did. "William! William! I know you're in there, you come out this instant!" Olivia continued banging on the white, hard wood door and the house shook! "Hey!" Someone called to her from above, Olivia turned around in shock searching for the voice. "Hey Olivia, up here!" Mrs Johnson stuck her head out the window from her room upstairs, she could see the whole street from up there. She looked down at Olivia determined to give her a piece of her mind. "Do you know that this is the Johnson residence? Why are you being childish, do you want to bring down the house?" She stopped and adjusted her weight on the window frame. "I-- ", Olivia tried to speak up. "If you don't leave this instant, I'll call the police on you, you hear me?!" "I'm sorry ma'am but I ain't leaving till I see William, I'll just have to keep banging on the door until he comes out!". "I said leave
"Yeah let's do it! You and Audrey should come live with us, Audrey has a right to a family and to her Father, you have my permission", she ended. Olivia couldn't believe her ears, she stared into Amelia's face with eyes wide open. Amelia decided not to say anymore, she was sure Olivia understood her words, she need not say more. A few seconds passed without Olivia saying a word, the room felt awkward. "Olivia, did you hear what she said?", William quickly asked, after studying her face. "Yeah, sure, of course I heard", she blinked flutteringly, then turned her eyes to Will. "So uh--, William what's your say on this?" "You already know where I stand on this, this is crazy! And both of you have given me no choice, no decision of mine. I'm the victim here, a hostage!" He glared at Olivia with fury and heat, Olivia could feel it from across the room. Amelia swiftly and affectionately grabbed on to Will's lap, squeezing the upper flesh; she stared pleadingly into William's eyes, and Wi
They got ready and were all seated in the living room waiting for William to return with the registrar. It had been more than thirty minutes since he left. Only a few seconds ago Olivia's Mother had entered the mansion with baby Audrey, she joined the other women in the living room, feeling uncomfortable most of the time. The room was as silent as a desert, the women said nothing to each other only when they had exchanged greetings. They sat on the large chairs looking all clean, classsic and gorgeous! Audrey slept peacefully in her grandma's arms. Viola couldn't bear the silence anymore so she got up and went into the kitchen with the thought to make some tea. She quickly lit the stove, balanced a small silver kettle filled with water on the flames. Then she set up ten small-sized silver teacups on a silver tray, the cups beautifully surrounded a silver slim jug which sat in the middle of the tray, the mouths of the cups were turned upside down on the surface of the round tray;
LONDONRYE, EAST SUSSEX TOWNMERMAID STREET.2005************Chapter 11 Do you remember William? Oh of course you do! It had been fifteen years since William became a married man and you know by now that has two beautiful wives! It would greatly interest you to know that he now has ten children, and a house full of relatives! The William .A. Johnson family turned out to be a strange and crazy neighbour to the others on Mermaid street. Every home, street, farm, market and hospital knew of the strange Johnson family. Amelia had three boys and two girls, while Olivia had two boys and three girls! The two women got along just fine, in their own way. They occasionally had their differences but they had a soft spot for each other. When Amelia lost her Mother, her Father came to live with her in the mansion. Amelia's father and William's mother came to be known as Grandpa and Grandma. They never had anything to do in the house, they continued to grow old in their peaceful environment,
Though, Rye town was a little one, it had everything it needed. A beautiful place to live in. A town with busy people and busy lives-- Rye only knew peace and quiet during the weekends. One of the hospitals in Rye, needed a doctor not just any doctor, an eye doctor, An optometrist! Dr Joe was summoned from one of the cities in London. He was to fly in on Monday and travel down to Rye. He would save the eyes of many patients. He would also teach other young Doctors of his practice and when they were ready for the task, the Doctor would return home. Arrangements had been made for him in respect of his accommodation. A letter had been sent to one of the families on Mermaid street asking for their permission to allow Dr Joe live as a guest in their home only for a few weeks until he's found a place of his own; the kind family agreed to this! For the first time in his life, Joe laid down his feet on Rye's soil. A beautiful place, he thought to himself. I think I'll like it here!
It was seven in the evening already and every family member of the Johnson's had found their way back to the dark home. "Thanks for that awesome meal, that's the best thing I've had in years!" Joe had just hungrily emptied a plate of hot spaghetti and a couple of meatballs. "I'm glad you love my cooking" Viola blushed. The kids began to giggle, "Aunt V likes Joe o, Aunt V likes Joe o" they teased them and fled the room still giggling. "Don't pay attention to them, they're kids" A shy Viola put in. "Uh huh, yeah I guess so", Joe nodded. "So! Why don't I show you to your room?" Viola snapped, trying to ease the atmosphere. "Yeah, okay!" The Johnsons had spent a whole lot of money and time building the mighty house. Their's were the largest on the street, it was always dark on the inside, just like the other houses on the cobbled street. The houses on Mermaid street were closely lined up, the shades from each house shadowed the windows. But there was som
"Shh! We can't afford to wake him up!" "Everybody, focus!" "Do we really have to do this?!" "Yeah, we have to know the person we've let into our home!" "Keep your voices down guys. I gave him one of the hints in the book". "Alright, that's rule number what?" "Monica, bring out the rule book". "Oh here it is, rule number four, 'To find the key, you must first unlock the door, find two keys and begin your journey'". "Oh no you guys, go easy on him, he seems like a nice guy!". "That's not important for now, let's get on with it, shall we?" "Ok so, what's quest number 4?" "Sleep walking!" Uncle Millie rubbed his palms against each other with excitement and brought out a large candle. William sprayed some paprica on the lit candle and everyone present, smiled mischievously. "Seven candles, for seven nights!" "Hahaha, let the show begin!" A party of seven tiptoed on to the guest section. The unknown candle was placed on the ground in front of Joe's room. It's scent and smoke w