#PartyBoss isn't a term Tulip Carpenter coined herself but she wears it with pride. Her life is a party, she's doing what she loves, creating mindblowing celebrations for the happiest moments in people's lives. But when the baby she put up for adopt...
Tulip's heart was in her throat. It was a surprising impediment that she hadn't felt since the day after she gave birth. It was a hollowness in her stomach gapping from loss and sadness and a heaviness in her chest that compounded with fear and uncertainty. The quietness that juxtaposed the liveliness outside did nothing to quell the tension bubbling under her skin.
She searched the living room and found nothing. She inspected the kitchen to find only the caterers and the waitstaff. The five bedrooms and six bathrooms in the palatial estate were just as empty as the living room and her imagination was beginning to get the best of her. They weren't living in Mayberry and she'd watched the news. Good things that happen when little kids go missing and search parties for little black girls were a rarity.
She'd been a guardian for less than a day and she'd already lost the child. Her face was going to be on proverbial milk cartons and she was going to fail Amelia King.
Tears started to burn the wells of her eyes as she hurried down the last hallway in the five-thousand square foot house she hadn't explored. She was minutes away from going full-on final girl in a horror movie, shouting the little girl's name as she ran through the house.
Tulip stopped at the door of the library and whispered a small prayer. "God, please. Let Sydney be in her. I'll stop cursing." She twisted the knob and thought to revise her prayer. "I'll try to stop cursing. I'll try extremely hard."
She turned the doorknob and slowly opened the door keeping hope alive as the dark mahogany bookshelves filled the space before her. The scent of old books, vanilla, and a whiff of bourbon swirled up Tulip's nose as she took a tentative step into the room.
"Sydney," She called as she rounded the stairs that led to the second level of the library. "Syd—" Her voice died as the sight of the girl's body still on the couch.
"Sweetie." She crossed the room and kneel next to the pinstriped couch. A calm washed over her as she watched the little girl's torso expand and shrink with every breath she took sound asleep.
Tulip nodded knowingly as she sat on the other end of the couch. Of course, she was tired. It was almost eleven, which was probably hours from her bedtime. Amelia probably tucked her into bed promptly as seven after reading from Little Women or whatever type of book rich people read their kids. Something old and esteemed, no doubt. All the books she didn't have and never read. She fell asleep three pages into Brave New World.
"I'm doing a piss poor job." She muttered, leaning forward, dropping her forehead in her palm. "I suck at motherhood. You should be in your own bed, snuggle under blankets in the safety of your own home, and not here." She looked around at the lavish library like it was a hostel. "I should've stayed home with you. "
She let her sight revisit the child she once carried in her womb and emotions that she hadn't known since the day she heard her heartbeat for the first time reclaimed her mind. Her stomach was still flat and it was still early. She needed to know it was real, that a baby was actually growing in her. The test wasn't enough proof. She needed concrete evidence. Those rapid heartbeats thudding from the ultrasound made it resolute. She was pregnant and she couldn't be a mother. She was still a child missing her own mom, her parents.
"I'm fuckin' up already." Her eyes watered and she didn't stop them from falling. "And I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. You deserve better. You had better and I want to..." She paused to rangling in all the emotions and feelings swelling in her heart into logical sense. "I want to be the type of person you can depend on. I want to be there for you. Make you laugh. Make you comfortable. I want to give your security and protection. I want to—"
"You found her." Niesha's voice stopped her from admitted the one thing she thought she could never be to Sydney.
"Yeah." Tulip dried her eyes standing up. "Little thing's tired. I'm going to leave her here until we wrap up."
Niesha took a lingering look at Sydney. "I can take care of this. Why don't you take her home."
"No, I can't bail on you."
"Bail?" Niesha shook her head. "Don't be silly. You're not bailing. You're juggling responsibilities and I can handle this. People aren't my forte but I have experience with getting them out of houses and overseeing the dismantling of a fete is easy work."
"You sure?"
"Yes." Neisha nodded. "She needs you."
"I know." Tulip's lip quivered as the tears threatened to pool in her eyes again. "I just..." She took a shaky breath. "I'm scared."
Niesha took her in her arms, embracing her in a tight hug. One of those hugs that made you forget all the stress of your life because you were enveloped in love and compassion.
"It's just day one. Don't start beating yourself up." Niesha stretched her a little tighter and was gifted with Tulip's arms wrapped around her. "And you're not alone. I'm here, too. I'm pretty sure the two of us can raise a bilingual princess."
"Trilingual." Sydney croaked, rubbing her eyes as she sat up.
"That's English." Tulip quipped.
"Oui." Sydney reverted back to her chosen tongue. "J'ai soif."
