Mommy?
"Okay, boys and girls, who can tell me what special day is coming?" Mrs. Estrada asks.
The children all look at each other clueless, except for little John who instantly speaks up forgetting to raise his hand.
"Mommy's day is coming!"
"That's absolutely right! Who can tell me why we should celebrate our mommies? What makes them special?"
The classroom becomes loud as each of the children start to speak up about how their mothers fix their boo-boos, how they make the best dinner, and give the best hugs.
The children buzz with excitement as Mrs. Estrada explains how they will have to bring in a photo of them with their moms for the mother's day craft they will work on for the week.
She then tells them that on Friday all the mothers are invited to have a makeover in the classroom.
The kids all talk amongst themselves about the things they would like to do with their mothers.
All except Arabella...
She sits on the carpet quietly as she listens to her friends happily talk.
She knows she has a mommy but she lives in the sky to watch over her. Her daddy does all the things his classmates say their mommies do.
But as the day goes on and she listens to her friends and the teacher, she can't help but feel like she's missing something very important.
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"We need to talk," Tae says as soon as he opens the door.
"Where's my girl?" I ask a little taken aback.
"I put her to bed with Ollie already. We have to talk."
I nervously place my bag down and walk over to the couch. Tae's lips are pressed into a thin line, his brows furrowed. He lets out a deep breath and sits across from me.
"So there was an issue at school today..." Tae starts and my heart rate speeds up.
"When I picked up Bells from school she was abnormally quiet, didn't wanna play with Ollie, and clung to Vanessa until she fell asleep."
I'm shocked to hear that, she's always been Tae's girl, clinging onto him whenever he was around. To hear that she wanted to be with Vanessa and ignored Ollie was more than a little concerning.
Tae stands and grabs Bells' little purple butterfly backpack and brings it over pulling a small paper flower out of it. I take it into my hands and my heart drops reading the bold print on the petals.
Dear Mom!
You're invited to a special Mother's Day makeover in my classroom at 9 am this Friday!
"Did she say anything?" my voice croaks out and Tae shakes his head no.
"She has to bring a photo of her and Jelly to school tomorrow."
"I'll make sure to print one tonight for her," I stand and try to calm my nerves. "Thanks, Tae, I'll handle it."
We talk for a few more moments before I follow him up into Ollie's room. Bells and Ollie are snuggled up in the bed. He is attached to her side cuddling as she has one hand draped over her eyes, mouth open, and legs crossed like she's sitting.
I can't help but laugh seeing her sleeping exactly like me. I carefully walk over and pry her away from Ollie as Tae sticks a pillow into his arms. We creep out of the room and Tae follows me to the car with Bells' bag.
"Vanessa said she could take off Friday morning if you were okay with her going?" Tae nervously suggests.
The thought hadn't even crossed my mind. I don't know what I should do in this situation. Maybe keep her from school? Go instead? I tell him to let me think about it and wave bye as I hop into the car.
I glance at Bells in the rearview mirror every chance I get. We always celebrated mother's day by going to Jelly's grave.
I made sure she knows who her mother is and we always go to see her on special days, but I never thought to explain mother's day to her.
I mean, it's just us. She never did daycare and on mother's day, we would go have a picnic with Jelly's favorite fruit punch Caprisuns.
It never even crossed my mind to explain it to her. But now it's come back to bite me in the ass and I've let my little baby down.
My phone rings and I pick it up through the car Bluetooth.
"Hey Kook, did you see the invitation yet?" Dani's voice rings through the speakers.
"Yeah," I sigh out and she is abnormally quiet.
"What should I do?"
"What do you want to do? I mean I have no problem standing in for Jelly at the school. I love Arabella like she's my own, you know that."
"Vanessa offered too."
"That's perfect! What if we rope the other girls in? Jamie, Lilly, Joce and Lulu?" she suggests Yoongi's, Joon's, Jin's, and Jimin's partners.
"Is that allowed?"
"I'll speak to the teacher tomorrow."
"I'm going to keep her home tomorrow so I can take her to Jelly."
"I figured as much..."
The silence stretches and I know she's trying to gauge me.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah."
"I know this is a lot. Please just...if you need something remember we are all here for you guys."
"Thanks, Dani. Let me know what the teacher says."
"Will do. Good night, Kook."
She hangs up and I pull into the driveway. I carry Bells upstairs not even bothering with her room. I need to feel her close tonight.
After the day she's had, I already know it would just be a short stint in her own bed. I place her on her side of the bed and quickly hop in the shower.
By the time I've made it back, she's awake sitting up in the bed silently crying. I rush over to her and pull her onto my lap to hug her close.
"Why are you crying, little baby?" I say softly as she clutches my shirt.
"D-daddy, why is m-my Mommy not like everyone else's?" my heart shatters and I tighten my hold on her not able to stop the tears that roll down my own face.
She pulls away, her big eyes staring at me trying to understand and looking to me for the answer. But I don't have one.
How do I explain that she died because of something that could have been prevented?
"Did she not want to stay with us?"
"No, baby! She wanted nothing more than to be here with us, baby," I quickly answer not wanting her to doubt her mother's love for even a moment.
"You were her favorite thing in the whole world. She loved you more than even me."
"T-then why did she leave to the sky?"
"She got sick, little baby, and now she's not because she's up in heaven."
She grows quiet again, her crying has turned into little sniffles and I see her eyes growing tired. I shift getting ready to lay her down when her little hands tighten on my shirt and I pause.
"Can we go see her?" Bells asks softly, letting go of me and slipping off my lap.
"We will go see her tomorrow, baby. But we have to sleep first."
"But in here right, Daddy?" she asks already scooting under the blanket.
"Of course, do you even sleep in your own bed anymore?"
"Nope!" she says cheekily and I pull her close as her soft breaths hit my chest.
I'm up long after she's fallen back to sleep, her soft hiccups from crying still wracking her little body every few minutes.
I know there needs to be a lot more explained to my little girl, but how? I thought I had more time before she started these questions but I should have known better.
You would have known what to do if you were here.
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