Audrey was finally free, but she huffed in frustration, “You’re mean, Mommy! I called you earlier, but you ignored me and let me get bullied!”
Oh? Is she mad at me?
I glanced toward Shaun as I was being falsely accused.
However, the boy’s eyes widened as he said seriously, “It’s true, Mrs. Fuller. We saw you earlier, but you ignored us. You left your wallet and Audrey before leaving.”
“Were you guys seeing things?” I was really telling the truth because I had been brought away since I arrived. I never even had the chance to go anywhere else.
Still, Shaun insisted, “No, Mrs. Fuller! That person looked exactly like you.”
There was a possibility if Audrey had seen it wrong since she was quite a careless person. But if Shaun was insistent on it, it had to mean that the woman really did look like me.
Even so, it didn’t mean that it was right for them to sneak out.
“Audrey, I’m only going to say this once, okay? The woman you guys saw earlier looked like me, but it wasn’t me. I would never leave my kids behind and ignore them. Don’t you trust me?” I pretended to be angry.
Children should know that being outside was different from being at home. It wasn’t somewhere they should mess around as they please. Besides, as a mother, I should not be condoning their actions.
Having heard what I said, Audrey frowned, but her anger vanished a while later. She looked aggrieved and guilty as she asked, “Was she really not you?”
I shook my head to assure her. Emery then chimed in, “Your mom was with Summer and me the whole time. We never left this place.”
Hearing that, the girl let out a deep sigh and dropped her head. “Okay. I’m sorry, Mommy. I shouldn’t have raised my voice at you.”
“Yes, you were wrong,” I said, my voice sterner than before. “But your mistake isn’t mistaking someone else for me. It’s that you sneaked out without telling any of us adults. Think about it. What would you do if Summer and I weren’t here?”
Audrey fidgeted with her fingers and took a sideways glance at the security. Then, her head seemed to have drooped lower as she said, “I’d be treated like a naughty kid and be brought away by the police.”
“That wouldn’t be the end of it,” Emery said. “You might have bumped into some bad guys and gotten kidnapped. Then, you wouldn’t be able to see your mom, or Summer, or your Uncle John and Aunt Emma.”
The girl paled and burst into tears the next second. She didn’t dare to cry out loud and instead sobbed silently.
Even a hero would have their soft-hearted moments, let alone a mother like me.
The metal walls in my heart tumbled down and melted into goo the moment I saw my daughter cry.
I quickly walked up to her and swept her into my arms to console her.
At that, Audrey couldn’t hold it in anymore as she cried loudly. Her tiny arms were wrapped around my neck as she bawled, “I was wrong, Mommy! I won’t sneak out anymore. I don’t want to not be able to see you, Mommy!”
My eyes burned with tears, and I couldn’t get anything else out of my mouth besides repeating, “I’m glad you know your mistake. It’s fine now. Mommy’s here…”
She finally calmed down after a while.
With that, I used a wet tissue to clean up Audrey’s face and tidied up her clothes. Then, Emery and I brought the kids along to the restaurant they had dined and dashed to apologize and pay for the food.
Perhaps it was because Summer was present, but the owner of the restaurant was surprisingly civil. Upon finding out that the kids were her siblings, he generously decided to waive the bill and even tried to get us to have a meal before leaving. The owner continued with his offer for a long while before Summer finally got us out of the situation by telling him that she was busy.
Right when we got out of the restaurant, the owner caught up to us and handed me a wallet. “The kids left this wallet here when they were brought away by the security earlier. Keep it well.”
“Excuse me, I’d like to place another order.”
“Okay, coming!”
Before I could refuse, he rushed back into the shop to tend to his customers.
I had no plans on taking someone else’s stuff and was going to put it on one of the vacant tables. But for some reason, I pulled out the picture popping out from one of the corners.
