Cherish & Simon: The First Year
Written By: Eva Morian & Madeline Watson
Copyright 2018
Chapter 1
June.
Cherish Montgomery was scared. She was a new mother and abandoned. There was a knot coiled tightly in her stomach for various reasons once the nurses told her she had to leave the hospital. Her so-called boyfriend, Todd, was a scumbag. She met him three years prior and left an impression on her naïve, teenage mind. Made her promises and showed her a wonderful life only he could give her away from her wicked, money hungry mother.
After running away, the time between Todd and she were good, for a while, but the tides changed once they found out she was pregnant. The wonderful life she thought she’d experience became tumultuous on good days and unbearable on bad. Never in her life did she think he would abandon her and their newborn daughter. She didn’t think this would happen and he would leave a small, innocent child who was perfect in every way.
She’d spent her standard three days in the hospital, and she saw Todd once. He berated her if she made too much noise as she suffered during his football game. He told her “It can’t be that bad.” when screaming during the all-natural birth she was forced to endure. After all, she didn’t have health insurance and an epidural was just another expense he couldn’t afford. In the end all she went through was worth it because the moment her little girl was plopped on her chest and they made eye contact, she finally understood what true love was.
Todd had left to grab a pack of cigarettes and food. She didn’t expect him back after the first twenty-four hours. When she’d called the hotel they lived in, he’d already packed up and checked out the night she was admitted. He never told her. The nurses continued to ask when the father would return. If he didn’t, they had to be assured someone would come for her and the baby or they’d be forced to call child services. Cherish knew Todd wasn’t coming back, and that she ran the risk of losing the only little person who kept her sane.
She’d wept when alone in the fear that every time one of the women, dressed in bright, sunny colored uniforms, would tell her it was the last time she was able to see her little girl. She didn’t have a job because she wasn’t allowed. In fact, she only found out what state she was in when she signed Jasmine’s birth certificate. She was completely and wholly dependent on Todd and he abandoned them at the first sign of real commitment.
This new mother had cycled through the couple of outfits she could buy her daughter. A deep seed of shame hovered over her head and she broke down each time she redressed Jasmine in an outfit stained with spit up. All Cherish could do was apologize to her helpless love. She wanted to be her mother but, how could she? She didn’t have a roof to go home to nor a penny to her name.
Once the time came for the nurses to wheel her out, she’d made up a lie that she’d just gotten off the phone with Todd and he’d be around. This was the same nurse who advised her what to do when she figured out what a low life Cherish’s boyfriend really was. The nurse knew what would happen and felt terrible. She wanted to help many times but was under legal contract and was unable to interfere with patients on a personal level. She also had mouths to feed. So, she wheeled Cherish out to the pick-up loop, and placed a hand on her shoulder as though to tell her that she would try to hold them off for as long as possible.
That was three hours ago.
Every person who passed by was faceless and shapeless. Tears stung the corner of Cherish’s eyes as she shook her head and glanced from one end of the lot to the other. All hope of Todd having a change of heart vanished. Now it was the waiting game of when they would bring her back, call social services, and start the long process of losing custody. Cherish could’ve told them to call her mother but she would rather her daughter go through the system then live with a woman like her.
A little mewl came from the wriggling bundle in her arms. She looked down at her sweet baby’s face and shushed her. Reaching her hand over to stroke her fingertips along Jasmine’s little head, Cherish quickly wiped the heartbroken tears from her face as they fell; helpless. She could feel the eyes watching her from behind the reception desk. Every time she glanced back, they stared. Losing Jasmine wouldn’t be long now. What would she do when they sent a doctor out to speak to her? What would she say to let them keep her baby even though, feasibly, it was impossible?
Cherish was officially homeless.
Jasmine, overheated and hungry, began to fuss about and Cherish unbounded her to let the heated breeze give her some relief. Fumbling with what she had to do in her seated position, she panicked while struggling with her breast for Jasmine to eat. This little girl wasn’t fond of breastfeeding but Cherish ran out of prepackaged formula after the second night, “Okay baby, okay. Calm down, calm down.” she whispered.
A stern, male voice came from her side, “Ms. Montgomery.”
In her flusterment, Cherish hadn’t noticed the time had come to face the music. Her head snapped up at the man dressed in a security uniform, “Y-yes?” She whispered nervously.
He watched with a sigh as Jasmine screamed out again. Cherish turned her attention back to her daughter and tried to get her to latch on properly. Her shoulders drooped, and he knew this was
