Mummy

From theatrical_muse: Mummy

This is what my mum told me once.

I was too young to have a baby. I was only eighteen, no more than a child myself. It wasn't fair. It was probably the same for my mother - she left me outside an orphanage at only a week old, and I never blamed her. You have to make your own way in this world.

"Do you want to see your baby?" the nurse asked. She held out a little bundle.

I shrugged. It wouldn't make much difference. I wasn't keeping it. The nurse laid it in my arms and I frowned at the tiny face. Wide eyes looked back at me and a small fist opened and closed. I caught my breath and touched the perfect little fingers, then the button of a nose. The mouth opened in a smile.

"What are you going to call him?"

I knew she was lost. "Vila," I said shyly, and smiled.

She used to say I stole hearts from the beginning, but I've really only managed it twice: my mum and Kerril.