Free Love or Money? by Carrie Stone

looking at her mother curiously.  
    “Why are you crying Mummy?”  
    Sniffing furiously and wiping her eyes quickly, Zara smiled broadly at her daughter with as much excitement as she could muster.
    “It’s tears of happiness darling. I was just thinking how lucky I am to have you girls and the new baby coming. It’s exciting, isn’t it!” she said, pulling Lexi close and tickling her belly.
    Lexi giggled in delight, squirming to get away. Abbey appeared in the doorway to join in on the fun.
    “Can I play, Mummy?” she asked sweetly, clapping her hands.
    Zara looked at her two little girls and felt her heart swell with love. It didn’t matter if Steve had found someone to replace her. She had all she wanted already and no man would take that away from her.
    Picking up six year old Abbey in her arms, Lexi followed as she went to check on her sleeping third child, Daisy. The girls were her life. With a new baby on the way, she needed to be strong. Steve had always been there to support her and as much as it was sickening to realise his behaviour of late was seriously pointing towards him having an affair, she couldn’t let that affect her family.
    She would have to find a way to make things right. Glancing at the hallway clock on the way into Daisy’s bedroom, she realised that Fee would be arriving at any moment. If there was one person that she didn’t want knowing her concerns, it was her best friend. Sadly, Fee would never be able to understand her.
     
    Felicity looked at her mother suspiciously. There was something not quite right about her, yet she couldn’t place her finger on exactly what it was.
    “You seem happy today.” 
    Glenda finished packing the last of Fee’s toiletries into the small travel zipper and smiled.
    “Well, I guess it’s to do with you, actually.”
    “Me?” Felicity said in surprise.
    Glenda looked at her daughter’s relaxed appearance. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen Fee sitting around at midday in her pyjamas, looking at ease with herself.
    “I’m just happy to see you looking so carefree and excited about this trip.”
    Carefree wasn’t quite the word that Felicity would have chosen. She was nervous. More than nervous, she was terrified. Yet strangely the feeling was almost an adrenaline boost.
    “I would have thought you’d be sad to see me go. Not to mention worried. Clearly not!” Felicity joked.
    Glenda looked serious ly for a moment at her daughter. The worries she had felt had slowly evaporated in the past couple of days. Hearing Fee speak so positively about her trip and her rekindled friendship with Sylvia, had settled her fears. She was relieved her daughter was taking steps to rebuild her life in a healthy way. Even Fee’s visit to Zara’s house the previous day had been a pleasant surprise to be told about.
    Zara had called Glenda the previous evening explaining how Fee had arrived in old clo thing and offered to help her paint the nursery and had then offered to feed the children and take them to the park. It had taken a full ten seconds of shocked laughter for the news to sink in.  
    “ Of course I worry about you. But I know this trip is going to be the best thing you’ll ever do. I have a good feeling about it for you” she said reassuringly.
    She also had a good feeling about her own life. Since her chance meeting with Bill, she had felt rather different about herself.   He had enthusiastically taken her up on her offer to pop in for a cup of tea as a thank you for his lift home. They had chatted easily and comfortably for nearly an hour before Bill had needed to leave. Not before asking her for dinner though.  
    She wondered if it was normal for a middle -aged woman to feel the same giggly, girly nerves at the thought of her date, as she had when she’d been a teenager. Bill’s appearance had brought out a side of her she hadn’t felt in years.
    “ Are you sure you’re ok? You’ve got this strange smile on your