Under Her Wing

Chapter 152

Danielle POV

"Okay sweetheart...," I say as I unlock the front door, stepping inside and having Amalia follow me.

"What would you like to eat?" I finish, needing to get straight to sorting part of the problem.

"Nothing," Mali pouts, kicking off her shoes and leaving them by the front door.

"That's not the plan though is it," I point out, doing the same and also taking off my jacket.

"Come on bubs, what would you like?" I ask again.

I watch as her face scrunches up frustratedly. She really doesn't know what she wants or what to do to make herself feel better.

"It's okay," I say gently.

"It doesn't have to be anything big,"

"You just need something on your stomach Mali,"

Her arms reach up for me and I know if I let her, she'd just lay on me all day and not bother with any food or water.

"Food first," I said firmly, hating seeing her face drop.

"Please," she said taking a few steps closer to me.

"You can have all the mommy time you want after you've eaten sweet girl, that's the deal," I explained, trying to hold my ground.

"No mommy please," she said frustratedly, tears filling her eyes, her fists clenched.

"I don't want food," she shouted, louder than normal for Amalia.

"Amalia take a breath for me," I said calmly.

"No, no I don't want to," she shouted, actually stomping her foot on the floor like a small child having a tantrum would.

I took a deep breath myself, feeling for the first time since taking on the role of 'mom' that I was going to have to discipline her.

I ignored her refusal to choose what to eat and just headed into the kitchen. I opened the refrigerator and took out a tub of natural yoghurt and reached into the cupboard for a bowl.

Amalia followed me into the kitchen and came around the counter, reaching for me and pulling on my arm.

"No stop," she said, trying to pull me away from what I was doing.

I continued to ignore her and reached over to take a few strawberries out of the container.

"Mommy stop,"

"No mommy I don't want it,"

I needed to grab a knife to cut up the strawberries but didn't want to risk doing so while Mali kept pulling on me.

"Amalia sweetheart you need to clam down," I said firmly, reaching for the raspberries instead that I could just throw in the bowl on top of the yoghurt.

"I don't want it," she cried, still trying to pull me out of the kitchen.

"Amalia!" I warned, really trying to remain calm myself.

"Bubba you really need to use one of your coping strategies," I said, wanting her to really try.

She shook her head violently and her arms flung out, knocking the pot of yoghurt and tipping some onto the counter.

It took everything to not shout out at her. I leant forward against the counter and rested my head in my hands. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and reminded myself that it's only yoghurt and could be easily wiped up and that a huge reaction from me wasn't going to help.