Just a One Night Stand

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

She did it on purpose. He didn't have to know that but she did. She didn't hang up until she knew for sure she called out to Brandon. He didn't need to know who Brandon was either. In fact, she hoped that he thought that Brandon was her boyfriend or even her husband. That would deter him from talking to her again, right?

Brandon, in fact, was her 4 - and a half he would always remind her - year old nephew. He was more like her son since she'd looked after him since his second birthday. His mother, and her younger sister, had given birth, taken one look at the kid and decided she definitely wasn't ready to be a mother. Props to her though! She'd stuck around for a full two years whilst balancing school before she couldn't take it anymore. She put together quite a simple but smart plan and turned up at Madeleine's modest-sized condominium under the pretence of visiting Brandon’s "Auntie Ma-ee" (as Brandon would call her in those days) and handed Brandon over to Madeleine whilst she went to "go grab some more nappies from the corner shop". Melanie never came back. 

When she went to her family home, where Melanie was staying, she found out that Melanie had packed all her stuff, leaving only Brandon's necessities and toys and skipped out of town.

In all fairness, Melanie was only a baby herself (barely 18) when she had the baby and she had a bright future with many scholarships offered to her from many universities. The condom had broken during one of her many trysts and Brandon was the product. She couldn't bring herself to be angry with Mel at the time but that anger developed slowly over time.

The anger stemmed from Brandon always asking when "mummy would be back". Mel had been in Brandon's life long enough that he could recognise that Mel was his mummy and "Auntie Maddie" was not. For a full year, after Melanie was gone, he'd cried for her and it broke Madeleine's heart to have to bend down to his level and tell him the same half-lie: "mummy's gone on a holiday for a while and she wanted me to take care of her special little boy. She'll be back soon though!"

He eventually managed to accept this and his requests for his mummy dwindled down until he only asked maybe once or twice a month. Every time he asked though, it still broke her heart slightly. Mel would call her sometimes, when Brandon was asleep. She'd call for 5 minutes and her two questions were always "How's Brandon doing? Does he still remember me?" And Madeleine would always bitterly spit out "I don't know, why don't you visit him for once and ask?" Melanie would always go silent then turn it around and make Madeleine feel slightly guilty before she'd remember the situation Melanie had left her in. When she toughened up and started berating Melanie, Melanie would hang up. This left her angrier.

It wasn't that Madeleine didn't love Brandon. That little boy was the light of her world. He would climb into her lap when she was feeling hopeless, his brown eyes would look at her, knowingly and sing her favourite song in his soft, baby-like voice: "Ain' no worries abou' a thing 'cause e'ry little thing’s gonna be a'right." She always used to sing the same song to him when he was younger and she was soothing his cries away. She'd bring him closer to her, hugging him as she rested her chin on his fluffy ash blonde hair whilst she sang the song to him. Now, he comforted her in the same way.

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"Auntie Maddie?" She was brought out of her thoughts by the boy who occupied them. She remembered now that she'd called him when she got the news. She smiled and stooped down as she swung him into her arms. She threw him up once, and smiled as he squealed, before resting him on her right hip. He was definitely growing up and it was evident from the way she struggled slightly to lift him. She looked at him.

"Remember the interview I told you I went for?" She asked him.

"The one wid the big, big business?"

"Oui, that one." She occasionally slipped into French. Brandon had lived with her long enough and had become fluent in her native tongue too so he understood what she was saying, "I got the job." 

His eyes widened and a wide grin spread over his face, revealing two dimples on both of his chubby cheeks and a gap between his teeth from a missing tooth. He flung his arms around her neck and there were no words necessary between the two. He knew how much the job meant to both of them.

"You worried for no reason." He gave her another smile as he pulled his head from her neck and looked at her.

"Oui, c'est vrai." (Yes, that's true.) She told him before kissing one of his chubby cheeks, "Why don't we watch TV, Bran? We can watch Art Attack and create some art?"

"Mais oui, Tante Maddie!" He said excitedly. She placed him on the ground and was right behind him as he raced off to grab as many art supplies from the cupboard as his little hands could hold. She grabbed some other things from there that that the two would need. They both walked into the living room and carefully placed the supplies on the ground. She grabbed an apron and put it on herself before grabbing the smaller one and putting it on Brandon. She truly didn't mind if the paint went onto the carpets or walls (as you could probably tell by the multi-coloured carpet and the doodles on the wall) but she'd rather keep hers and Brandon's clothes clean.