48

Macy stood there disoriented for a while.
She didn’t know whether she was still dreaming or this was real.
She had been very exhausted of late because of shooting scenes after scene from morning to evening.
She thus fell in bed immediately after getting to her suite.
Never in her wildest dreams did she think that Richard would show up in her house in all his glory.
“Oh, baby, is it really you?” Macy asked Melvin in a croaky sleepy voice.
“Did we wake you?” The deep masculine voice asked.
“Oh, please come in,” Macy said coming to.
She now realized that this wasn’t a dream.
Richard and Mel went inside the room as the girls who had come out of a room from the further end of the corridor were standing there looking at that hunk who was carrying a child.
They didn’t see the owner of the suite as she didn’t get out.
Macy, after opening the door, stood just before the threshold.
“Who was that and whose suite is that?” Richard, who had a hearing like a hawk’s sight, heard them discussing as he was closing the door being him.
He put Mel down and the girl ran towards the older woman for a hug.
She placed the cookie jar that was still in her hands on the small table as she jumped on Macy.
“Auntie, I miss you so so much,” she said as Macy hugged her back.
“I miss you so so much too baby.
Just that I have been very busy but I was to come and take you out this weekend,” Macy said and Mel’s smile brightened the dimly lit room.
“Really? So auntie doesn’t hate Mel?” Mel asked hopefully.
“where would you get an awful dies? Who would hate such a cutie like you?
I just have been busy with work baby.
Nothing more,” Macy said and Richard has never seen Mel more happy than she was.
“Auntie, I baked cookies for you,” Mel got down from Macy’s embrace and ran to take the cookie jar from the table.
All along, Richard was just standing there watching that interaction.
He didn’t know what to think.
Since cassy left him for another man, he had sworn never to let another woman in his life again.
But here he was. Macy ajd been like an ant slowly eating at wood. Quietly and unseen.
Finally, the ant had chipped at the wood enough to break it.
Richard wondered why he found it so easy to trust her.
He told himself that it was because she was close to Mel and treated Mel well.
“Baby, the cookies are so sweet. Did you really make. Them?” Macy said as she nibbled on a cookie and Mel was beaming as she explained how she, the cook and nurse Lin had made the cookies.
“I am hungry,” a deep voice said all of a sudden and it was then that their bubble was broken.
They had forgotten that there was another person with them in the room.
Macy stood there flabbergasted not knowing what to do.
She didn’t have any food in the house except… except…
“I really don’t have any food in the room.
May makes sure that I eat before getting here and that’s it.
The only thing I have are fire noodles.
I kept them just in case I get hungry in the middle of the night.
” Oh, that’s okay. We will eat those,” Richard said as he sat down uninvited.
“Can Macy eat hot food?” Macy asked looking at the little girl.
“She handles chilli and other spices like a pro,” Richard said.
Macy made herself busy as she boiled water for the noodles and vmcut some vegetables and boiled eggs to go with them.
Withing thirty minutes, three steaming bowls were on the dining table.
Richard looked at the food and felt his stomach churn.
He wasn’t a fun of hot dishes but he wanted Mel to eat and didn’t want to put pressure on Macy.
“Daddy, are you sure you can handle it?” Melvin, who knew her dad well, asked with worry written all over her face.
“It’s okay. Once in a while isn’t bad,” Richard said as he started eating.
Macy and Mel enjoyed themselves as they both loved spicy food but Richard didn’t.
He drunk more water than he ate.
After eating, Macy thought that they would leave but Richard discarded his shoes and made himself comfortable on the couch.
“I will take the couch,” he said leaving Macy with no room for argument.
Macy took Mel to the bedroom and started looking for something for her to wear to sleep.
She couldn’t find anything small enough and then she remembered some of the costumes she carries from the movies she shoots.
She remembered that she had some big pajamas from when she played a mascot in a movie and some children costumes she had just taken.
Macy liked keeping souvenirs from every movie she shot to remind herself how far she had come.
She rummaged at the bottom of her closet where she had kept several moving bags, cartons and all until she found the bag she wanted.
From it, she took a cute pink pajama that was oversize for her and on it was a print of Donald the Duck at the front and back.
She then found the bear headed onesie meant for a child.
She smiled when she thought of Richard in that pink Donald the Duck pajama.
She took it to him and asked him to use the bathroom outside and then she took Macy to the bathroom ensuite to her room to give her a bath.
When they were done, Mel looked like Macy had bought that costume for her.
She looked like one cute bear.
They then walked to the living room so that Mel could wish her dad a good night.
They froze at the door when they saw Richard.
He looked so out of place in a pink pajama and what made it more comical were the duck prints.
Macy didn’t say anything but Mel didn’t have that courtesy.
“Daddy, you look funny. You are one big duck,” she said and laughed as she went towards her father and started scrutinizing the prints.
She made him move round and round and what made it funnier than it was was the fact that he was wearing an expression that showed that he had been forced to wear it.
“You look cute,” Macy told him he gave her the ‘I wish’ look.
“Good night.”
“Good night.”
“Good night daddy.”
“Good night little one.”
Macy gave Richard a blanket and a pillow and she went to the bedroom with Mel.
They slept in each other’s embrace and Richard could hear Macy’s mellow voice singing lullabies to Mel.
Mel was just asking for more to a point that Macy started repeating herself.
She then started telling Mel a story and Richard, who usually had a problem sleeping, fell into a deep sleep even without knowing it.
Macy was woken up by heavy grunts from the living room.
She, at first, was disoriented ad she couldn’t immediately remember that she had a guest there and then she woke up when she remembered that Richard was sleeping there.
When Macy opened the door, Richard was sitting on the chair with only a small table lamp alight and he was crouching holding his stomach.
“A stomachache?” Macy asked and that’s when Richard realized that there was another person there.
He was in so much pain that he had lowered his guard.
That was anirhet thing that Richard didn’t understand.
He felt safe with Macy to a point that he didn’t feel any threats when he was around her.
In fact, I he felt safe.
He grunted a reply and Macy went to the kitchen.
She warmed a glass of milk and took it to him.
“You shouldn’t have forced yourself to eat hot food if you knew your stomach can’t handle hot food,” she complained and she gave Richard the feeling of a wife taking care of her husband.
Macy went to her bathroom cabinet and all the medicine she could find were pain killers.
She wondered how to deal with the huge bear that was in pain in her living room.
“I don’t have any medicine in the house except painkillers.
Take these as we take you to the hospital,” she said as she emerged from whr room.
Richard looked better after the glass of milk and Macy warmed another one as she spoke to him.
“There is no need. I will be okay.
In fact, the pain has subsided. Thank you,” he said as he took the glass of milk from her and downed it.
Macy stayed with him for a while until she was sure that he was asleep.
She then went back to her bed in a confused state.
Why was she worried about Richard?
Why didn’t she feel repulsed by him and she was repulsed by many men after what Andy did?
She didn’t have answers to all those. All she knew was that she felt happy and comfortable with this family.