Claimed by My Silent Protector

Chapter Two

Present Day

Abbey’s POV

‘Hey birthday girl’ I sing out as I walk into my daughter’s room, to find her sleepily rubbing her eyes as she grins up at me.

‘My birthday was yesterday Mommy’ she giggles, ‘not today.’

I shrug as I perch on the edge of her bed, running my fingers over her unculy red curls.

‘Yeah but yesterday I had to work so we didn’t get to do something very important’ I remind her.

My smile widens to the point of hurting my cheeks as Robyn lets out a squeal of excitement, pushing back her covers so she can jump out of bed.

‘Milkshake!’ she yells, ‘birthday milkshake!’

I nod, laughing, ‘birthday milkshake’ I agree, ‘you didn’t think I’d forget our tradition did you?’ My daughter shakes her head emphatically as she grins back at me.

‘Well if you want to go to Daisy’s then you better hop to it and wash that face young lady’ I order, laughing as my daughter salutes me like she’s in the military, something she picked up from my friend Hallick before hopping on one leg toward her bedroom door.

‘And brush those teeth’ I call after her, ‘I don’t want Daisy to refuse us service because you have stinky breath!’

My daughter’s laughter floats back to me, warming me as it always does.

Pushing up from the bed, I pick up the few scattered toys from the floor, throwing them in the plastic tub that we use as a toy box, before I head out of the room. Stopping in the hallway, I turn toward the room at the end of the hall, tiptoeing toward it, and I peek through the c***k in the door to the bathroom to check Robyn is doing as she’s told. I find her sitting on the floor, a towel thrown over her head as she holds her rubber duck in her hand, talking to him.

‘Sir Ducky, why! You are bold! To ask me, Princess Robyn to the ball? How dare you!’ I hear her scold quietly.

‘Robyn Eleanor Sinclair, are you brushing your teeth?’ I demand loudly, pressing my fingers to my lips as I hear a small gasp before the sound of my daughter scrambling to her feet.

‘Yes!’ she shouts back quickly as the faucet turns on and I hear her starting to scrub her teeth with her little toothbrush.

I wait outside until the water turns off before pushing inside, placing my hands on my hips as I narrow my eyes at the little girl who looks up at me guiltily.

‘Did you brush them?’ I ask, studying her face.

‘Yes’ Robyn replies, but her toes start to trace across the tiled floor as she looks downward.

‘Did you use toothpaste?’ I probe, stepping closer to my daughter, raising my eyebrow.

‘Umm . . . ‘ I lunge forward, grabbing her around the waist and start to tickle her sides as she squeals.

‘Did you?’ I demand, laughing at her giggles, ‘Did you use toothpaste you little monkey?’

‘No! No! I didn’t! I’m sorry!’ Robyn cries out, squirming until I let her go.

‘Winner!’ I gloat, holding my hands above my head, ‘you can’t fool me! I know everything!’

My daughter pouts as I celebrate, but steps toward the basin, when I pick up her toothbrush again and squirt some of her kid toothpaste onto the bristles.

‘OK you little stinker, open wide’ I order, chuckling as she sticks out her tongue before complying, allowing me to brush her teeth properly.

When I’m satisfied, I rinse the brush and place it back in the cup next to my own, grabbing the wash cloth and using it to wipe my kid’s face before nodding.

‘OK, you’ll do’ I tell her, as I give her an overly exaggerated once over with my eyes. ‘Go get dressed, and make sure your socks match this time.’

Giggling, my kid pushes past me and runs back toward her room, disappearing inside seconds before I hear the crash of her closet door opening.

Shaking my head, I refrain from going in to help her, my daughter is suddenly Miss Independent and informed me two weeks ago that she didn’t need my help getting dressed. We’ve had some interesting outfit choices so far, including a princess dress, complete with crown, wand and gloves, wearing them over to our next door neighbours house whilst I worked. I had to hold in my groan when I picked her up, to find her covered in flour and chocolate from making cookies all afternoon.

I silently pray that she’ll at least pick a pair of jeans today, it’s pretty cold now and I could do with not dealing with her moans about being freezing later on.

Heading down the hallway, I step into the open plan living space, heading into the kitchen and flicking on the coffee machine. Whilst my life source prepares, I pull out a bowl and some choco chunk cereal that Robyn had begged me for yesterday in the grocery store, citing that its a birthday treat. Pouring some into a bowl as I roll my eyes at another stellar parenting situation I’m smashing.

Adding milk, I slide it on to the table just as my whirlwind appears, dragging out her chair at our tiny square table and climbing up into the seat.

Tugging open the fridge, I pour a glass of orange juice, placing that beside the bowl, hoping that the vitamin C will somehow combat all the sugar I just gave her, making this a somewhat healthy meal.

‘Hurry up baby, you need to be quick if you want your milkshake’ I call over my shoulder as I pour some coffee into a cup and add a healthy spoonful of sugar and taking a sip.

Groaning softly, my eyes close slightly as I savour the caffeine entering my system, only snapping them open again when I head the crash of a bowl as it lands on the worktop, making me cringe.

Thankfully, the bowl is still in tact, and my daughter is already out of the room, running for the door where she slides to the ground to pull on her boots.

‘Come on Mommy!’ she shouts at me, ‘I don’t want Daisy to run out of milkshake!’

I chuckle to myself as I down the last of my caffeine fix, wincing as it burns my throat before placing it in the sink for later and hurrying after my little girl to get ready to leave.

Fifteen minutes later we pull up outside of the hardware store on the main street, we could have walked but as I have work in less than an hour, every second counts so the car it was.

Climbing out, we head toward the café, Robyn skipping along beside me as I grip her hand tightly, only letting go when we reach the door so I can push it open for us to enter.

‘Daisy!’ my daughter yells excitedly as she rushes toward the counter just as the young owner, sporting bubblegum pink streaks in her raven hair, steps out of the kitchen with a smile.

‘Hey guys!’ she greets us, smiling widely as I glance around us, we’re the only ones here. ‘What can I get for you today?’ Daisy asks, leaning over the counter so she can look down at my kid who beams back excitedly.

‘Milkshake!’ Robyn practically screams, almost jumping in excitement as her tiny hands grip the edge of the counter.

‘Robyn’ I admonish quickly, ‘inside voice, and where are your manners?’

My daughter gives me a guilty look, muttering sorry before turning back to the café owner.

‘Please can I have a swarberry Milkshake, please, and thank you’ she asks before tilting her head and adding, ‘please.’

Daisy laughs as she nods, ‘well when you ask like that, I couldn’t possibly refuse’ she replies, winking.

‘It’s my birthday milkshake’ Robyn gushes, excited all over again, ‘I had my birthday yesterday! I’m four!’ she states proudly, her chest puffing out.

The young woman behind the counter nods, ‘wow, four huh?’ she repeats, ‘you sure are getting old! What about mum?’ she adds, glancing at me questioningly.

‘Cholocolate Milkshake for Mommy’ Robyn tells her quickly, ‘she always has cholocolate and I have swarberry, it’s our tri . . tram . . tabition.’

‘A tradition huh?’ the café owner muses, ‘Well that sure is a special treat, let’s see if I can rustle up some cookies to go with those milkshakes.’

My daughter squeals, clapping her hands as I shake my head, daisy laughing as she gestures to the empty seats around us.

‘Take any seat you want, and I’ll be right out with your order.’ Leaving us to it, she hurries back through the door behind her, leaving us to pick a table.