Roni Moore Children's Stories
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Seeing Things Clearly
Abby was angry, with everything and everyone. She hated their new flat
and hated her new school. Although! Some of the girls were OK but she
didn’t want to think about that now, she was too busy feeling sorry for
herself. She remembered two years ago, when she was eight, she lived in
a nice big house with her mum and dad, then it all went wrong. One day
her parents sat her down and told her that although they both loved her
her daddy was going to moved out and live somewhere else. At first this
was alright, as when her dad lived with them she didn’t really see much
of him anyway. He was always at work. She knew this was why her mum and
dad argued when they thought she couldn’t hear them. Now her dad had a
flat of his own she saw him much more. Every weekend he took her to
great places and was always spoiling her with presents; and giving her
her own way, which she loved.
Then her dad introduced her to his new friend Imogene or Immo, as she
told Abby to call her. Immo was nice to Abby but she didn’t want to like
her as she felt she was being disloyal to her mother. After all he was
mummy's husband first. She knew they were divorced but that didn’t seem
to matter. Six months ago mummy said that the house was too big for them
so they were going to sell it and move to Somerset to live near her
grandparents. Then her daddy told her he and Imogene were getting
married and they wanted her to be a bridesmaid. Now Abby really liked
the idea of being a bridesmaid, especially since Immo had said she could
pick her own dress. At the same time she worried about upsetting her mum
so she didn’t tell her about it. She wasn’t sure whether to say she
didn’t want to be a bridesmaid (although she was dying to be one, she
always had) but then she would hurt her daddy and she didn’t want that
either. She had no idea what to do for the best. Because Abby was so
mixed up she stated to get angry about everything and spent lots of time
getting into trouble, and ending up in tears. One day her mum asked her
what was bothering her and Abby tried to pretend it was their flat and
her school that were making her unhappy, but mummy as always knew it
wasn’t this. She asked her was it because her dad was getting married to
Immo. Abby got a shock. She didn’t know her mother knew about this and
said so. Her mother told her she did know about it as Abby’s dad had
asked her if she minded if he asked Abby to be their bridesmaid. Her mum
said that she thought that would be wonderful for her as she had always
wanted to be a bridesmaid. Abby was quite surprised about this. She
asked her mother why she wasn’t angry about her dad marrying someone
else. Mummy told her that mummy and daddy were no longer married and if
Imogene made him happy it was alright with her. This pleased Abby as she
could now look forward to being a bridesmaid and she was happy to know
her mother was also going to the wedding. Later that day her dad rang
her to tell her he and Immo were taking her to Disneyland Paris at half
term. Things were beginning to get a little better for Abby and when she
went to Disneyland it was really exciting. She had a wonderful time and
Immo was a lot of fun. They spent lots of time laughing like she was
Abby’s friend, and Immo said she had a special secret to tell Abby too.
So when daddy went out for a little while Imogene sat her down on the
bed and showed her a small photo. At first it was hard to see what it
was but Immo explained it to her. She said it was a baby in its mother's
tummy and the baby was going to be her baby brother. At first Abby
didn’t know how she felt about her daddy having another baby then Immo
explained that her dad was so pleased that their little boy would have a
big sister to show him how to do things. Abby decided it would be really
nice to have a new baby to coo over and she also admitted to herself
Imogene was lovely. She had often been a bit naughty to her and Immo
never told her off, she was always kind and now she was saying she was
looking forward to Abby helping her with the new baby. Even better, her
daddy and Immo had said Abby could help them choose a name for her new
baby brother. Abby saw things so much clearer, it wasn’t her fault her
parents split up. They still loved her even if they didn’t love each
other any more, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t be friends. As her
mother had explained they would always have one thing in common a
beautiful little girl. This made Abby feel very special and she also
felt lucky as she now felt like she had two mums, but this she kept her
own little secret.