Unmatched Wife: Not His To Claim Anymore novel Chapter 88

Chapter 88

Chapter SS

THEO

Something slammed into me from the side.

A kid on a scooter, not looking where he was going, crashed right into my legs. I went down hard, my hands scraping on the wood chips that covered the playground.

My dinosaurs flew out of my pockets, scattering everywhere.

“Sorry!” the kid on the scooter yelled, already zooming away.

I scrambled to grab my toys before they got stepped on. The T–Rex rolled under a bench, and I had to crawl after it. The Triceratops landed near someone’s foot, and I snatched it up quickly before it could get crushed.

By the time I’d gathered all my dinosaurs, clutching them against my chest, I looked up frantically.

The woman was gone.

No. No, no, no-

I scanned the playground desperately. There–I saw the blue sweater, moving away through the crowd. She was holding the little boy’s hand, walking toward the parking lot.

Iran.

Pushed through families and jumped over backpacks and didn’t care when people called after me to slow down. I had to catch her. Had to see her face. Had to know if it was really Mama.

The woman in the blue sweater was about twenty feet away now, almost to the edge of the playground. The little boy was chattering at her about something, and she was nodding and smiling down at him.

“Mama!” I shouted. “MAMA, WAIT!”

The woman turned around.

And my heart, which had been racing with hope, shattered into a million pieces.

It wasn’t her.

The woman had Mama’s hair color and the same kind of sweater and maybe her voice sounded similar. But her face was completely different. Rounder, with different eyes, a different nose, not Mama at all.

“Are you okay, sweetheart?” the woman asked, concern in her voice. “Are you lost?”

I couldn’t answer. Couldn’t speak through the crushing disappointment that was making it hard to breathe.

“Mama,” I whispered, even though I knew this wasn’t her. Even though I knew I’d been stupid to think it could be.

“THEO!”

Dad’s voice, sharp with panic. I felt his hands grab me, pulling me close, his heart pounding against my ear

“Where did you go?” Dad demanded, his voice shaking. “You were supposed to stay on the blanket! I turned around for two seconds and you were gone–what were you thinking?”

I was crying now. Big ugly sobs that I couldn’t control.

“I’m so sorry,” Dad was saying to the woman. “My son thought he–he’s been having a difficult time lately-

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Chapter 88

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“I saw Mama,” I choked out between sobs. “I heard her voice and saw her and I thought–I thought she came back-”

Dad’s arms tightened around me. “Oh, buddy. Oh, Theo.”

“I’m very sorry,” Dad said to the woman again. “His mother passed away recently, and he’s–we’re both still adjusting.”

The woman’s expression went soft with sympathy. “I’m so sorry for your loss. And sweetie,” she addressed me directly, “I’m sorry I’m not your mama. I hope–I hope things get easier for you. Come on, Mike…let’s go”

She walked away with the little boy, who kept looking back at me with big curious eyes.

Dad carried me back to our blanket, even though I was getting too big to be carried. I buried my face in his shoulder and cried and cried and cried. My brain didn’t process immediately that the kid’s name now was Mike and not Louis that I heard back then.

“I really saw her,” I sobbed when we were sitting down again. “I heard her laugh and her voice saying ‘be careful‘ and it sounded exactly like Mama.”

“I know,” Dad said, his own voice rough. “Sometimes our brains play tricks on us when we miss someone a lot. We want to see them so badly that we think we do see them, even when they’re not really there.”

“But it really sounded like her-”

“Theo.” Dad pulled back to look at me, his hands on my shoulders. “Mama is gone. You saw her in the hospital. You know what happened. And I know-” His voice cracked. “I know it’s not fair and I know it hurts and I know you want her back so badly. But buddy, you can’t keep looking for her. She’s not coming back.”

“But what if she did?” The hope in my voice sounded desperate even to my own ears. “What if the doctors were wrong and she’s not really dead and she’s here somewhere-”

“She’s not.” Dad’s voice was firm but gentle. “Theo, I wish she was. I wish so much that I could bring her back for you. But she’s gone, and no amount of wishing or looking or hoping is going to change that.”

I knew he was right. I’d known it for weeks. But knowing something and accepting it were different things.

“I miss her,” I whispered.

“I know. I miss her too.”

“Do you really?” I looked up at him, suddenly angry. “Because you have Aunty Mia. You’re not alone. But I don’t have anyone. Mama was mine and she left and now I’m all by myself.”

Dad flinched like I’d hit him. “You’re not by yourself. You have me.”

“It’s not the same.” The words came out bitter. “You’re a dad. I need a mama. And you made her go away so Aunty Mia could

stay, and now I don’t have anyone who’s just mine.”

“Theo ”

“It’s not fair!” I was shouting now, not caring who heard me. “It’s not fair that other kids have their mamas and I don’t! It’s not fair that you picked Aunty Mia over Mama! It’s not fair that I have to be the one without a mama when I didn’t even do anything wrong!”

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