“New car?”
Betty asked as her daughter walked into the house, looking beat up tired. She wiped her hands clean from doing the dishes and walked out of the kitchen, following Donna as she tiredly made her way into the living room.
“Hmm,” Donna replied and crashed into the sofa. She had walked in with her coat and sandals still on, and her bag laid on the floor beside the sofa. “Keith let me have it until my car is fixed.”
Betty frowned slightly, coming to stand beside the sofa Donna reclined on. “So… Wayne won’t be needing to come pick you up for work anymore then?”
“No he won’t.” she replied with a sigh. “Sadly, Keith doesn’t like seeing him around.”
“And why is that?” she placed the hand towel on the kitchen counter and turned to face her daughter.
“I’m not exactly sure.” she shrugged her shoulders. “Says he’s a stranger, you know he thought Wayne was my husband.”
Her mum burst into a laugh and crashed on the sofa next to Donna. “Well, you two do look good together, at least your boss sees that.”
Donna chuckled then groaned as she tried to sit up, then she reached down to her ankles to remove the straps of her sandals. Recently she had been finding these more comfortable to wear than platform or stiletto heels. “I don’t think that’s what he sees.”
“Well, whatever,” Betty smiled. “You should find love again, Alix does need a father figure in her life.”
Donna sighed and sat up straight, she had almost forgotten about Cheryl’s visit in her office earlier today, and the talk they had concerning Alix. It bothered her, it bothered her terribly. She kicked the sandals to one side and scooted closer to her mother.
“Cheryl knows of Alix.” she said to her mother with a worried look on her face.
Betty turned her attention to her daughter and frowned in confusion. “Cheryl? Who is Cheryl?”
“Jeremy’s wife mum.” she rolled her eyes in frustration and then sighed, fixing her gaze on her mother. “She knows of Alix.”
Betty scooted closer still to Donna. “And this is a problem, how?”
Donna groaned in frustration. “It is a problem, mum, can you not see it?”
Betty shook her head, a confused look on her face and then replied to her truthfully. “I honestly don’t.”
Donna sighed and calmed down to explain it to her mother. “If she knows, then how long before Jeremy does?”
Betty nodded her head as she began to reason with her daughter. “Okay, and how are you sure she knows about Alix?”
“She came to my office today, threatening me!” Donna replied in a yell. “She thinks I want to use Alix to get back into the Xiu family, she thinks I want to get back together with Jeremy.”
“Then tell her you’re not!”
“Oh mum, you cannot reason with Cheryl.” she sighed and fell back against the sofa. “She believes only what she wants to believe.”
Betty sighed and took Donna’s hand in hers. “I’m sure she was just bluffing, she cannot possibly bring harm to Alix, I mean, she’s just a child.”
“Oh you do not know Cheryl, mum. She is as crazy as crazy can be, and she is just very obsessed with Jeremy, she could do just about anything to keep him, and I’m afraid that might include coming after my daughter. She already sees Alix as a threat.”
Betty looked at Donna with a raised eye brow. “You think Jeremy would allow her harm his own child?”
“No mum!” she said in a raised voice, her hands snapping away from her mother’s instantly. “Jeremy cannot find out about Alix, what if he tries to take her away from me?”
“No one would take her away from you,Donna, no one would dare.”
“Then Jeremy absolutely cannot find out about her. She’s all I have, mum.” she said, tears glistering in her eyes.
“Hey,” Betty protested with a smile. “I’m still here, you still have me with you.”
Donna chuckled and sniffed, wiping her tears with the back of her palm. “You know what I mean, mum.”
Betty flashed her a smile and then spread her arms open. “Come here child.”
Donna shifted closer and placed her head on her mother’s shoulder as they wrapped their arms around each other. Donna closed her eyes and let out a long breath, she needed rest and she needed a lot of it.
“You know, Keith found out about Alix.” she said to her mother after a moment of silence.
Betty pulled her away from her embrace and stared at her wide eyed. “He did?! how?”
Donna sighed and sat up straight, took of the coat she still had on and draped it over the sofa.
“I took a day off a couple of days back to spend time with Alix and Wayne at the park and Keith unexpectedly show up there, he saw Wayne and I together, and then he saw Alix.”
“Oh my, did he…? what happened…?”
Donna shrugged her shoulders and looked away. “Well, he got upset about it, it was quite too big of a news to keep secret-”
Betty suddenly gasped and seized Donna by the shoulder, startling her into silence. “Are you getting fired for this Donna?!”
“What? No, mum.” she said and chuckled. “Would he give me a new car if he was going to fire me?” she laughed.
Betty thought about that and calmed down, letting go of Donna’s shoulders. “Okay, okay… good.”
“We settled.” Donna explained to her. “I settled it with him.”
“So you’re not getting fired nor demoted?” she asked again, just to be sure.
Donna laughed hard. “No, mum. I’m not getting fired nor demoted.”
Betty heaved a sigh of relief. “Okay good. Let me fix you something to eat, then.” she said and stood up from the sofa, making her way into the kitchen.
“What do you have?” Donna asked after her.
“We have some left over pizza if you would like to munch on that first.”
“I would love that, mum.” she said and leaned back on the sofa.
Her phone buzzed and she pulled it out of her pockets, the screen flashed on and in the notification box on the lock screen, one message popped up. It was a message from Jeremy.