“Honey, that’s ridiculous.” Jessa’s mother, Joanna, said as she watched her daughter pack her things. She just told her mother about her new job. She doesn’t keep secrets to her mother for she felt that it’s important to hear her advices on certain decisions she made in her life.

“I know and that man is so snob and arrogant. You should have seen him order me to be his daughter’s mother. Order! He didn’t ask for a favor.” Jessa shakes her head.

“If he’s that kind of person, why did you accept the job?”

Jessa stopped what she’s doing and sat on her bed, “Well, first, the salary is tempting. Second, you should have seen the look from that little girl when she hugged me, Mom. Poor little rich girl. She’s longing for a mother and her father’s lying to her.”

“So are you.”

“Well, I think that this is my chance to give that man a lesson. Don’t worry, mom. I will only be working for him in a month only. And I feel that it’s a part of my life now to do something like this for other people.” She shrugged. “You may think that I’m too nice but you know, Mom, when you see that kid, there’s just something in that little girl that made me want to protect and take care of her. I don’t know. She’s just too irresistibly charming...”

Jessa wondered if it will take her a month to go on in this charade. When she stepped in front of the big house and the door was opened by Laura Carter herself, she is starting to doubt if she can work in a lie for a month. The old woman seemed nice and she informed Jessa that Nick already told her about the plans.

“I apologized if you get into our mess, darling. You see, my granddaughter longed for a mother and when she saw your picture and saw the excited picture on her face, I just can’t disappoint her that time. It’s been hard for me and Nick to try to explain that her mother abandoned her even before she was born.” Laura said as she held Jessa’s hands. It was as if the elder woman has known her for a long time by the way she treats her.

They looked up when Nick came down the grand staircase. He’s holding a folder in his hand. “I’m glad that you came. I was wondering you’d back out.”

“You don’t trust me, Mr. Carter? We can’t portray being a husband and wife if you don’t trust me.” Jessa raised an eyebrow.

“Please, Nick.” Laura warned her son.

Nick cleared his throat as he presented her some legal document in the folder. “Here’s our contract of agreement. It simply states what we talked about last night. After signing this, I’ll have this notarized to my lawyer.” Jessa read the document.

“We’ll share a room?”

“Daphne will wonder why we are on separate rooms.” Nick replied a-matter-of-factly.

Jessa glared at him and shakes her head. “I’ll prepare the family breakfast every Sunday?”

“That’s what my daughter wanted,” Nick quickly said. “By the way, you’re from Italy and you just got through from studying in a culinary school. You’re kind, soft-spoken, well-mannered and decent.” Jessa opened her mouth but Nick continued, never giving her a chance to say anything. “I’ve already prepared a bank account for you where you can withdraw your salary. I’ve already made an extension of my credit card so that you can shop for something that will suit your job, something that will make you look good. You…”

“Excuse me,” Jessa now raised her voice. How dare this man ignore her attempt to speak for herself? “I’m not going to just stand here and be insulted. If you don’t like someone like me to pose as your daughter’s mother, it’s not my problem anymore. If you don’t like me, just say it. I may not be exactly the type of woman you’d want to be your child’s ‘mother’ but give me some respect. I’m not doing anything for you. I’m even giving you a favor on this one.” She shoved the papers back to Nick.

“Please, Nick. Jessa is right.” Laura faced her son.

Nick frowned. “Aren’t you going to sign these?”

“You have to do it nicely. If you want to have someone ‘kind, soft-spoken, well-mannered and decent’ mother for your daughter, start it with yourself.” Jessa turned around to leave, bringing her things with her. “I learned about where Daphne’s school is. I’ll just be there if you already know what to do.”



~~~



Daphne playfully hopped on the grass with her classmate, Jane, when they saw a red butterfly going towards the flowerbed. Classes already ended and they were on their way out when they spotted the beautiful insect. They followed the butterfly as it flew low over the flowers. The little girls were giggling in amusement but screamed when a bee came to the flowers. They ran away.

“That’s a big bee!” Daphne said with a shudder. She and Jane looked at each other and laughed. Daphne stopped laughing when she spotted someone familiar at the exit gates of the preparatory school. “Mommy!”

“Huh?” Jane turned around. Daphne never introduced her mommy to her.

Daphne ran towards Jessa, her backpack swinging in her back and her pigtails swinging behind her head. She hugged her ‘mother’ on her leg when she reached her. And then, she began jumping for Jessa to lift her up in her arms. Jessa laughed in amusement and bent down. She kissed Daphne on the cheeks and hugged the little girl in return. They turned when Jane appeared beside them.

“Jane, this is my Mommy!” Daphne is giggling as she hugged her mother.

“Hi, Daphne’s mommy.” Jane waved to Jessa and then turned to her friend. “I have to go, Daphne.”

“Bye, Jane. See you tomorrow.” Daphne waved briefly to her but immediately turned back to Jessa. “Where’s Daddy?”

“Right here, baby.”

Daphne’s eyes widened and Jessa admired the vibrancy of life in this little girl. If only she is her real mother, she will be proud to have this charming and sweet girl. It’s just a pity that she had Nick as her father. She looked up to Nick who may have looked casual with his white plain shirt, faded jeans and slippers but still, there’s this overpowering charisma on him that affects her senses.

“Daddy!”

Nick smiled down to her daughter as he picked her up in his arms. “How’s my girl, huh?” he placed playful kisses on Daphne’s face and neck while his daughter giggled. Jessa stood up and saw how this man loves his daughter very much. It’s sad that they are in this situation together. It would have been less complicated if Nick will only say the truth to his daughter.

“Daddy, that tickles!” Daphne embraced her father. “I’m hungry, Daddy.”

“Aw, that’s sad.” Nick placed one last kiss on her forehead. “Let’s go and eat.”

“I want Mommy to cook.”

The two elders looked at each other. Nick is still carrying his daughter as Jessa is holding the kid’s backpack. They looked like a whole family to other people. If those people only knew…

“Are you just going to stare at each other or are we going home now?” Daphne asked the two.

Home, Jessa felt warmth when she thought of what the little girl said. She suddenly thought about a dream long ago of wanting to settle down, have a husband and kids. Now, this is the closest she can get from that dream. Because right now, she’s more focus on establishing a career for herself.

“Can you go home with us now, Jessa?” Nick asked and he may not voice it out, but Jessa saw the pleading look in his eyes. There is so much pride in this man and some women may have found it hard to break through it to see the real person behind the countenance. She wondered what made this man to be this way. She looked down to the hand that he extended to her. She hesitantly raised her own to take his. When she looked at him, he is smiling and she felt herself blush.

“Aren’t you going to kiss Mommy, Daddy?”

Without a word, Nick bent down to kiss her on the cheeks. The soft, pouted red lips brushed lightly to her cheeks and it sent tingles down her spine. But she tried to hide her reaction. “Let’s go to the grocery to buy the things I need to cook.” She tells them.

“How about we just eat in some restaurant? My treat,” Nick suggested again.

“Of course, who else would it be?” she muttered. When she felt Nick tightened his hold on her hand, she knew he heard it. They reached his car and as Nick gave her Daphne, he put her things in the trunk. “Don’t you have work at the hospital?” she casually asked him. Daphne is busy wanting to be put down from Jessa’s arms. When Nick gave her a wondering look, she smiled. “My friend at the catering business told me.”

“I’ll be at the hospital this afternoon.” Nick replied and went to open the door at the back where they put Daphne on the seat, strapping the seatbelts on to her. When done, Nick opened the door for Jessa beside the driver’s seat. “Thank you, Jessa.”

Jessa stopped and turned to him. They glanced to Daphne at the back of the car who only smiled to them in return. “You’ve got an adorable kid there,” she whispered. “Let’s try to break this gently to her as much as we could.” She saw the pained look in his face and it warmed her. She never thought that a snob and arrogant man like him are still able to have a deep and caring feeling towards his daughter. He’s human after all. She can still see the emotions on his face especially when it’s about Daphne. “Let’s hope it will be over soon, Mr. Carter.”

“Nick, call me Nick,” he whispered. She only nodded and went inside the car.