Coming Home
© Ak 2007

Chapter 4

Sunday had arrived once again. Louis had gotten up early today and woke his children for their weekly McDonalds breakfast. The moment they got out of bed, the kids exchanged a look and ran out of their room, then out of their house and to Jessica’s door. They knocked at her door and were greeted with a perky Jessica.

“Good morning, Jessie!” they called out.

“Good morning! You are early today.” she said cheerily to them.

Louis stood behind his children. He was slightly embarrassed by their candour. “Sorry to disturb you so early in the morning.” he mumbled.

“Jessie said that we can come early today if we slept early last night!” Alex reminded Louis.

Louis looked at his son, not knowing how he should react to his statement. He started counting to ten in his heart. He was using a tip that Jessica had taught him to keep his temper in check when dealing with Alex.

“But I didn’t say that you need not wash up before coming over.” she gently placed her hands on Alex’s shoulders and turned him around. She knew Ashley would just follow Alex so she just had to deal with this little rascal. “You can come back after you have brushed your teeth, washed your face and changed out of your pyjamas.”

Alex stopped in his tracks and turned his head over to face Jessica. “Can you come over and make Jessie’s pancakes for us?” he asked.

“Sure.” she replied with a beam.

Both Alex and Ashley skipped back into their apartment. But Louis looked apologetically at Jessica.

“It’s okay. I’m awake anyway.” Jessica said cheerfully to him. The back of her hand brushed against his as she walked past him and he almost wanted to hold her hand by instinct. He inhaled her familiar lavender scent.

She walked into their kitchen and went about to prepare the French toast. Alex soon joined her in the kitchen. He took a bowl and helped to make the circle breads. Ashley stood at the kitchen entrance.

Jessica squatted down to Ashley’s level. “Little Ashley wants to help too, is it?” she asked her gently. “Yes.” Ashley replied softly.

Jessica poured some sugar into a bowl and gave it to Ashley. “Can Ashley help to bring this to the dining table first?” Ashley gladly took the bowl from Jessica and wobbled to the dining table. Jessica passed a glance at Louis in the direction of Ashley. He was observing his children’s interaction with Jessica. He had never known that they could be so obedient and easy to coax.

When Ashley reached the dining table, he offered to carry her up and let her placed the bowl of sugar on the table. Ashley settled into her high-chair and Jessica followed up shortly. She put a bowl of dry cereal in front of Ashley. “This is for Ashley.” she said to the child with a grin. “Don’t eat too much of this if you still want Jessie’s pancakes.”

Ashley happily tucked in to her cereal and she was fully occupied.

Louis never knew that Sunday breakfast could be so peaceful and cosy. It was a simple affair at home. Nothing rushed. As he settled into his seat with the day’s newspapers by his side on the dining table, for the first time in many years he felt homely. He had never felt so proud and blessed with his children. His smile spread towards his ears.

In the past, every weekend morning was a nightmare. Tavia would dress the kids up and woke him up to bring them to the usual weekend crowd at McDonalds. The place would be filled with many noisy kids and soon Tavia would be mad at their kids for not eating fast enough. After which, they would be going to malls for another tiring day of shopping. Women’s devotion and stamina at shopping was something Louis could never comprehend.

“It would be a blessing to have Jessica as a wife and mother.” But he quickly brushed aside this passing thought. “Don’t be silly, Louis. She will never be yours.” he said to himself.

Jessica placed the cutlery in front of Louis and he broke away from his daydream. “What are you thinking of?” she asked with a smile.

He just shook his head lightly and replied, “Nothing really. I’m just enjoying my Sunday morning.”

Alex placed the plates of golden yellow circle toasts on the table. He returned to the kitchen to fetch the cartons of milk and juices. He then settled into his seat and waited patiently while Jessica to serve their breakfast.

Just one week and Jessica was no longer a stranger at the same dining table. It was as if it had always been her place there.

Louis offered to do the wash-up again while Jessica brought the kids over to her place.

Jessica turned on her television and switched to the children programmes channel. She settled on her sofa to read her magazines. Ashley was sitting at the other end of the sofa with Alex on her other side. She unexpectedly got off her seat and squeezed herself between Alex and Jessica. She even leaned closer to Jessica. Jessica acknowledged her presence by giving her a few light pats on her back while still reading her magazines. Ashley continued to watch the television programme with a smile beaming on her angelic face.

Louis entered the apartment just as the Barney show was ending. He heard Ashley’s singing for the first time. “I love you. You love me. We are happy family.” she sang so softly but he heard it. His little Ashley sang. She sang. His heart swelled and he was close to tears.

Jessica felt his presence and looked at his direction. He quickly swallowed his saliva and said, “I’ll help to unpack the rest of your books.” He proceeded to her study without looking back at her.

When he reached her study, he walked towards the windows. He removed a porcelain wind chime from a little white box. He carefully tied it to the windows grills. The piece of good luck charm paper which was hanging from the chime started to flip and sway against the wind, making some light and melodic sounds. He watched and listened to the wind chime for a few moments, and then he began unpacking the remaining books.

Jessica heard the soft chiming sounds coming from her study. She walked into it. She first saw Louis sorting out her books on the floor. Then, the sounds of wind chime drew her attention to it. She looked at it. She gently ran her finger over the white porcelain, tracing the stalks of lavender printed on it. She lifted the paper and read the Chinese characters on it – “safe and happy”. The corners of her lips tilted upwards.

“I hope you like it.” Louis said while standing behind her.

His voice made her heart skipped again. “It’s lovely. Thanks so much.” she replied genteelly.

“I’m glad you like it. I hope it will not be disturbing you when you work.” He moved closer to her.

“No, it won’t.” she said and turned around. She almost knocked into him and she blushed.

He was surprised how close he had unconsciously gotten near to her. “Why was her scent so captivating?”

Both of them quickly muttered a word of apology to each other. He headed back to his task of unpacking the books, while she went to join the kids.

They had a simple lunch and dinner that day. The kids had brought over their toys to her place. They simply refused to leave. Jessica made them strawberry ice-cream that evening. It was Ashley’s favourite.

Routines had been established between them. Louis would pick the kids up after work and head over to Jessica’s place for dinner. When he had to work late, he would inform Jessica and she would to pick the kids up.

This was one of the nights which he had to work late. He entered into his apartment and walked into the kitchen. He lifted the cover of a pot on the stove. There was some soup left again. He smiled at her thoughtfulness. “Where is Jessica?” he thought. It was unlike her to leave the kids in the house alone. He often found her in the living room or working on her laptop at the dining table when he returned home.

He opened the door of his children’s room softly and saw Jessica dozing off next to Ashley. Their hands were intertwined. He had noticed how close Ashley had grown towards Jessica. Her giggles were like melodies to him. She seemed to be walking with a bounce too. He hoped that she would laugh out loud and spoke her own mind one day. He took in the sight of his sleeping children and Jessica. Any unhappiness and stress at work no longer mattered to him. He felt contented and comforted.

He walked slowly towards Jessica and stroked her arm gently. She opened her eyes and they met his. A moment of silence lingered between them. They saw the softness in each other’s eyes. Jessica broke off the eye connection first. She slowly removed her hand from Ashley’s and walked out the room. Louis followed her out.

He walked her to her apartment as usual. They exchanged their good nights. As she was closing her apartment door, he called out, “Jessica.”

“Yes?” she asked, slightly surprised by his outburst.

He paused. He pondered. “Thanks.”

That’s all he could manage.

Louis had taken the rest of the day off to attend Alex’s Parent Day session. He still could not understand why the school would want the parents to collect their children’s report cards personally. Nonetheless, he accepted Jessica’s reasoning that it was important for him to attend the session, and be punctual, if he wanted to gain back his son’s trust. He had broken too many promises to his children before, which led to their insecurities.

“Don’t call me unless it is ABSOLUTELY urgent, Mary.” Louis said to his department secretary in a cheerful mood.

He was humming to the tunes on his car radio. As he was about to turn into the road leading to Alex’s school, his phone rang.

“Daddy, are you coming?” Alex asked anxiously.

“Yes, I’m round the corner. Reaching in 5 minutes.” Louis replied his son in good humour.

About a minute later, his mobile phone rang again. “Daddy, where are you now?” Alex asked again.

“I’m reaching.” Louis tried to answer as patiently as before.

Louis had just parked his car when his mobile phone rang again. “Have you reached, Daddy?” Alex questioned anxiously over the line.

“I’ll be there. Just wait for me.” Louis responded with a grin and waved at his son.

Alex immediately broke away from Jessica’s light grip and ran towards his father. Together, the father and son walked back to Jessica.

“Thanks for coming, Jessica.” Louis said.

“Yes, right. I was your backup plan.” Jessica said teasingly. “You guys better go to the classroom. I’ll wait around here for you.”

Both Louis and Alex walked out of the classroom in pride. Alex had done well this term and they could not wait to share the news with Jessica. Louis turned his head to look around for her.

He finally spotted her with another couple and he did not like what he saw. She seems to be cornered by the woman and the latter was pointing a finger at her.

“Wait here for me, Alex.” he said to his son before striding towards Jessica’s direction.

As he drew closer, he heard the woman said, “So, you have finally managed to snatch someone else’s family and make it yours.”

Once he reached them, he immediately put his arm protectively over Jessica’s shoulders. “What’s happening here?” he asked in a firm voice. He looked at the couple steadily. He caught the man eyeing at him. He just pulled Jessica closer to his side. Jessica shook her head. “Please excuse us.” Louis said and led her away from the couple.

Louis was curious to find out what had happened. Jessica was quiet. She was merely following him. He grabbed his son’s hand and led them into his car. He saw from his rear mirror that that man was still looking in their direction.

Jessica soon regained her composure and asked about their session with the teacher. Alex told her excitedly in great length what had transpired in the session. He could stop bragging about the “As” he got for his Mathematics and English Language and the praises he received from his teacher.

“Your son can become a lawyer like you. He talks non-stop.” she whispered jokingly to Louis. He gave a soft chuckle, but he was still thinking about the scene which he had seen. Why would Jessica allow herself to be cornered? She was someone who would stand up for her right or what she thought was right.

They went to pick Ashley up and spent the rest of the day at the Toy “R” Us store. Louis had agreed to reward Alex with a toy for his good work. They walked through the aisle and aisle of toys, stopping ever so frequently for the children to play with display sets.

Jessica had caught Louis glancing at her with questioning looks. She knew he was curious about what had happened in school. She was not prepared to answer his questions. She avoided any private moments with him by keeping close to the children.

He had also noticed that she was avoiding him. He could sense that she was hiding her real emotions behind her cheerfulness in front of the children. He was determined to find out what had happened.

Louis got into another argument with Alex over which toy to buy. Louis had wanted Alex to pick a Lego or Hot wheels set, but Alex had insisted on an outdoor toy – a bicycle to be exact.

“You said that I can choose any toy I like!” Alex said to Louis while looking at Jessica for help.

“You did say so.” she said to Louis giving him a helpless look. She then turned to Alex, “You can have the bicycle but you cannot ride it in the apartment and you cannot demand that we bring you out to cycle. We will bring you cycling when we are free. Lastly, no cycling on the roads. Promise?”

“YES!” Alex said and held out his pinkie to Jessica eagerly. She hooked hers over his and gave it a little shake. Louis shook his head at the side.

“Louis, please help him choose.” she said quickly to Louis when Alex ran off to the racks of bicycles.

Jessica then squatted to Ashley’s level and asked her, “Do you want one too, Ashley?”

“Yes.” Ashley answered softly.

She held Ashley’s hand and led her to the rows of tricycles on display. She took one tricycle after another for Ashley to try on. She wanted to make sure the height was just right for Ashley and that it would be adjustable to accommodate her as she grew up. They finally settled on a pink tricycle with a removable push-handle, which Jessica could use to help Ashley before she could ride on her own.

“Are you guys done?” Jessica called out to Louis and Alex.

“Yes!” Both of them answered quickly in unison. They had chosen something which they knew that Jessica would object. The bicycle had a motor on it, which meant that it could go very fast. They were excited over it.

Jessica picked up a helmet, knee pads and elbow pads for Alex as they headed towards the cashier.

They had their dinner and their weekly grocery-shopping.

Louis had helped to carry the groceries into Jessica’s apartment but she quickly got him to leave stating that it was late and the children were tired. Both of them had known each other’s thoughts.

He brought the children home reluctantly.

When the kids were finally asleep, Louis sat on his sofa. He was worried about Jessica. He could feel something was amiss with her.

“Sorrow can be alleviated by a good sleep, a bath and a glass of wine.” He recalled the saying. He picked up a bottle of red wine and went over to her apartment.

He arrived at her door. He hesitated. He finally knocked on the door.

“I know what you want to ask but I don’t feel like talking about it.” Jessica said to Louis immediately when she opened the door.

He saw her red eyes. He did not utter another word. He wanted to hug her, to comfort her.

“Sorry.” she said and closed the door.