Chapter 3: A Mother's Love

Marti stretched her arms and slowly opened her eyes. She was warm and comfortable. She could feel the chilly air just above her blanket and she wanted to just turn and go back to bed, but weirdly she wasn't that tired. She sat up and looked around. She didn't know where she was, but it felt comfortable and familiar. She felt like it was home, but she had never been there before. She got out of bed and opened the first door she saw, the one that she quickly learned led to a closet. It was bigger than the one she shared with Savannah in Cheertown, and filled with clothing that was hers mixed into clothing that she wished she owned. She changed out of her pajamas and put on jeans, a sweatshirt and sneakers. She walked out of the closet and closed the door behind her. The second door she opened led her out into a hallway. She walked into the hallway and looked around again, trying to figure out where she was.

She heard noise come from somewhere down the hallway and stopped walking. She took a second to listen and try to identify what she was hearing, at least to decide if she was in danger or not. Something in her gut told her to continue on.

"There's no chance of winning the game if you're not in it," Marti mumbled to herself. She continued down the hallway and the noise got louder. She looked through a large archway and held her breath.

"Hey Mama," a little boy said. He was sitting on a couch directly across from a television that was playing cartoons. Marti looked at him, confused. "Happy birthday," the little boy said, getting up from the couch, running over to her. By instinct she leaned down and he ran into her arms, giving her a huge hug. "I didn't want to wake you up early on your birthday, Mama, so I just came in here and turned on the television."

"Who are you and why do you keep calling me Mama?" Marti said, trying to understand.

"Oh Mama, why are you being so silly today? My name is Christopher Travis. I am five years old, and I love my Mama, even when she is being silly. And I keep calling you Mama because you are my Mama," the little boy answered. Marti had so many questions she wanted to ask, but weird as it was, she believed that this little boy was her son. When she looked at him, she felt connected, but how could that be when she didn't remember him.

"Christopher…"

"Mama, I'm sorry I didn't wake you up when daddy left for work, it's just it's your birthday and I wanted to let you sleep in. Please don't be mad at me."

"No, I'm not mad at you. Why would you think I'm mad at you, baby?" Marti said.

"You only call me Christopher when I'm in trouble. Mama are you okay?" Christopher said putting his hand on her forehead. "You don't feel warm."

"Ok Chris, is that good?" Marti said looking at him. Chris nodded his head yes and smiled. "Are you hungry cuz I am and I'm thinking banana chocolate chip pancakes."

"My favorite!"

"Mine, too. Why don't you bring me to the kitchen and then maybe you can help me make them?" Marti stood up and held out her hand to her son. His smile grew wider and she knew that she loved him more than she has ever loved anyone in her entire life. Chris grabbed her hand and led her into the kitchen. It was perfect, exactly the kitchen she had wanted. "Chris you want to play a game?"

"What type of game?"

"A scavenger hunt. We are going to see who can find the most amount of ingredients we need to make the pancakes? On the word go. Ready, Set, Go!" Marti looked in a couple of cabinets to find ingredients and watched as Chris ran around putting everything on the counter. Marti was able to find a pan and bowl while Chris pulled out all of the food ingredients from the fridge and cabinets.

"Mama, you forgot to get the chocolate chips. They're on the top shelf up there," Chris said pointing to the top shelf of a cabinet he opened. Marti walked over to the cabinet and took down the chocolate chips. With everything on the counter, Marti began mixing together the ingredients to make the pancakes she had made with her mother ever since she was a child.

"Do you remember how old your Mama is today?" Marti said while Chris mixed the batter.

"28 years old."

"And who's your father?"

"Well that's daddy. Mama should I be worried that you keep asking me questions? Should I call Grandma or the hop-sicle?"

"No baby I'm fine. So what do you want to talk about?"

"Why don't you tell me a story about when you were a Hellcat? I love those stories."

"Umm, did I ever tell you about how I became a Hellcat?"

"Yes, but I love that story. That's the day when you became friends with Aunt Savannah."

"Joining Hellcats was never my plan. I used to think that cheerleaders were just people who jumped around at football games, but they were so much more than that. I went to tryouts as a last hope to stay in school, because like you know school is very important. I was a gymnast before that, but I had quit sadly, so I rented cheerleading movies and danced around Grandma's living room trying to learn how to flip and do well, cheerleading stuff," Marti said beginning to cook the pancakes. "On the individual part, I jumped around apparently landed a majorly difficult stunt that Aunt Savannah took a long time to learn. I had seen it in one of the movies I had watched and just applied what I had learned in gymnastics. Aunt Savannah was so mad because I had called her a 'football groupie' only a few days before." Marti flipped the third pancake and laughed, remembering what had happened almost like it was yesterday. "After everyone showed off their individual stunt work and Aunt Savannah, her friend Alice and the coach eliminated everyone who they thought wasn't fit to be a 'Hellcat'."

"But not you. You weren't eliminated because you were too good," Chris added.

"That's correct. After that, we went onto the cheering part. Some of the cheerleaders on the team showed us a routine that we then had to replicate."

"But my Mama isn't a follower. She's a leader, plus she's not very good at listening to others."

"Hey, that's not nice to say about your Mama."

"Sorry Mama, but I'm just saying it how you always tell me. Plus Daddy says that you don't really listen to anyone else or follow him or her. Daddy also said a couple of other things, but Daddy made me pinky promise I wouldn't tell you those things."

"I'm going to have to have a talk with Daddy tonight, then. Do you want me to finish the story, though," Marti said. Chris grabbed a pancake off the stack of fresh hot ones and forced out a "Yup" that was muffled by the pancake he was eating.

"They split us up into smaller groups to perform in front of everyone so they could see which people could do it. I started out with the first few beats in line with the group, but I got lost after that. The coach told me to relax, but I couldn't and no matter how much I relaxed, I was not going to get those steps. So instead I did what I always do. I embraced my inner leader, listened to the music and showed off my dance and gymnastics steps with my own routine. Savannah and the coach saw something in me, whether it was my hard work, ability to change and the fact that I was unafraid to be different, and that day I was chosen to be a Hellcat. I found out a few days later, but that was when they decided."

"And that was one of the best days of your life. My Mama was the coolest."

"Was? Your Mama still is the coolest," Marti had so many questions about things she couldn't remember, or just didn't know, but she didn't want to lose any more time with her son. She didn't want to leave him to check around the house for answers or call Wanda or "Aunt" Savannah. She couldn't get over the amazing child in front of her, and the fact that he was hers. She was a mother. And a wife. "Do you want to put plates and cups on the table?"

Chris nodded his head yes and jumped up. He set the table as Marti finished cooking the last pancake and put the pan in the sink. She brought the plate of pancakes to the table and the two of them ate.

"So what do you want to do today?" Marti said.

"It's your birthday so you should chose," Chris said.

"I want to do whatever you want to do."

"I was hoping you'd say that because I really want to go to the park."

"And then maybe some ice cream after?"

"Mama, you really are the coolest. Today's going to be the best day ever!"

It already is Marti thought to herself. The best gift she could have ever gotten was what was right in front of her. After breakfast the two of them cleaned up together and then Chris got dressed. Marti grabbed a jacket for both of them, the keys and the two of them headed out to the park. She had no idea where she was driving to, but her body did and they arrived at the park quickly. The equipment was nice and relatively new. The two of them spent hours playing on the slide, swings and the seesaw. After two hours of them running around, they went out for ice cream. Chris asked her for another story from when she was a Hellcat and then another one. She told him about the time they had to forfeit nationals because everyone was sick and about the first time she flew in a competition. The two of them headed home and Marti lay down with Chris in her bed. She was so tired and she figured Chris needed a nap, too. He fell asleep on her arm and she looked down at him. She couldn't stop staring at the adorable little man who came from her. She had always loved her mother, but she never really knew how much a parent could love their baby until then. At some point she fell asleep and woke up at around 4:15 to her son still sitting on the bed, but with the bedroom T.V. on. She looked up to him and smiled. The two sat in bed together until they heard the front door open.

"Daddy's home," Chris said loudly, climbed off the bed and ran to the front door.

"Did you grow taller while I was working? If you don't stop growing soon then you'll be taller than me before you hit 10. Where's mommy?" a man's said from the foyer. Marti turned off the T.V., stood up from the bed and began walking towards the front foyer. "I'm sorry I had to go into work so early this morning but I wanted to be able to get home early so I could celebrate your birthday with you. I was going to wake you, but you are always so beautiful when you sleep and I didn't want to disturb that."

Marti was about to turn the corner and see who Chris's father and her husband was when the entire world went blank.

She could hear a beeping and felt someone holding her hand. She wiggled her fingers and began to open her eyes. She saw Dan. It was Dan. She looked at her surroundings and tried to remember what had happened.

"I… I…" She heard Dan say and her eyes found Julian, standing about a foot into the room holding a bouquet of yellow and red roses, frozen.

"Hi," she managed to force out, moving her eyes from Julian to Dan and back again.