Eight-year-old Emily walked home from school when a sudden, unbearable longing for her mother overtook her. Her mother lived in a nearby village. Instead of heading to the house she shared with her father and grandmother, she turned toward the bus stop, waited, and boarded the next ride.
“Why did Mum have to be like this?” Emily thought. “Why couldnt she stay with Dad? Hes so good to me. I did live with her once, but I hated itshed leave me alone, bring that bloke Tony home, both of them drunk. Even though Dad and Gran are kind, I still miss her.”
Emily stepped off the bus and made her way to her mothers house. As she turned the corner, she spotted her mum, Lisa, slumped on a bench outside. The smell of alcohol clung to her.
“Oh, love, whered you come from?” Lisa slurred, pulling her into a loose hug.
“Mum, I missed you,” Emily admitted, squeezing tight.
They exchanged a few words before Lisas tone shifted. “Em, you got any money on you?”
“Just enough for the bus back.”
“What d’you mean, thats it? Whats the point of coming if youve got nothing? I need cash, dont you get it?”
“But Mum, I dont have any!” Emily protested.
“Then sod off back to your dad. Had your visit, now clear out. Ill find my own way.” Lisa spotted a woman down the street and stumbled after her.
Emily stood frozen in the middle of the road, a bitter ache twisting in her chest. For the first time, she truly understoodher mother didnt want her. Only Dad and Gran did. Swallowing tears, she wandered aimlessly, mistaking a small grove for the woods, straying deeper until the trees swallowed her. Panic set in. She was lost.
Years ago, James had first met Lisa at a village dance hall. Shed come with friends from the next town over, and he was smitten instantly. Hed asked her to dance and never let go. Lisa hadnt objected.
All autumn, James rode his motorbike to her village, and when winter came, he proposed.
“Lis, lets get married. Sick of riding back and forth. Well live at mineMums lovely, youll get on fine,” he urged.
She didnt need persuasion. Shed gone to his village looking for a husband anyway. “Alright then, lets do it,” she said simply, and James was over the moonhis bride was a stunner.
They moved in with his mother, Margaret, who treated Lisa like her own. A year later, Emily was bornMargarets pride and joy. But as time passed, James noticed motherhood weighed heavy on his wife.
“Give it time, son,” Margaret assured. “Just baby blues. Shell settle.”
But Lisa changed when Emily turned three. Suddenly, she was out drinking, coming home sloshed. The monotony of family life bored her. James held onto hope, but it only got worse.
“Going to Nancys birthday,” she announced one evening.
“Course, love,” James agreed, thinking she needed a break.
She didnt return that night. She staggered in at dawn, slurring, “Oi, whyre you up?” before collapsing, still in her coat.
James hadnt known about Lisas drinking. In her village, everyone knew shed followed her mothers footsteps. No one had told him.
Emily grew up with little attention from her mother. Soon, James doubted if he even loved Lisa anymore. Drunk, messy, vanishing for daysthen one week, she didnt come home at all.
“Dad, wheres Mum?” Emily would ask. “I miss her. Bring her back?”
So one weekend, James drove to her village. Her own mother answered the door. “Shes with Tony. That house over there.”
Inside, a raucous crowd surrounded Lisa, perched on Tonys lap, laughing shamelessly.
Spotting James, she scrambled to explain. “Jamie, love, its not what it looks like! Glad youre heremissed you!”
For a week, Lisa stayed sober, almost like her old self. James wrestled with forgivenessbut gave in, for Emilys sake. Then, ten days later, Lisa was drunk again, screaming in the yard:
“Im sick of the lot of you! You, your bloody mothereven Emily! Im done pretending!”
That was it. James knewhe had to save his daughter. Lisa left, but two weeks later, she returned, snatched Emily, and shoved Margaret aside when she tried to stop her.
The next day, James stormed into her village, but Lisa screamed, refusing to hand Emily over. So James went to social services. When they arrived, they found Lisa passed out drunk beside Tony while Emily stared out the window, hollow-eyed.
They took Emily away. James filed for divorce and full custody.
Months later, Emily was in first grade when James came home from court, tossing his keys on the side. “Mum, Im starvingEm, look what I got you!”
Margaret laid out lunch while Emily barrelled into him, laughing as he spun her. Margaret watched, tense, until James nodded. Then she relaxed, pulling treats from the fridge.
“Mum, well burst!” James chuckled.
But Margaret fussed, thinkinghe was only thirty-three, but the weight of fatherhood was his now.
When Emily dashed off, she asked, “Well? Howd it go?”
James smirked. “What could her lawyer say? Lisa showed up pissed, barely stringing two words together. Judge didnt hesitateEmily stays with me. She lost custody.”
“About time,” Margaret muttered.
Emily lived happily with Dad and Gran, though she still thought of Lisa sometimes. Margaret knewa mother mattered, but not one like that.
Agatha, twenty-six, loved the woods. She often wandered alone, foraging for mushrooms and berries. Shed gotten lost beforeknew how to build a shelter, start a fire. Her grandfather, George, a former ranger, had taught her.
One September afternoon, she ventured deep into the trees, lost in thought until dusk crept in.
“Right, better make camp,” she muttered, gathering twigs.
Thena snap of branches. She turned.
A girl stood there, trembling, tear-streaked.
“Whore you?” Agatha asked.
“Emmmeee,” she wailed. “Im looost!”
Agatha sighed, shrugging off her jumper. “Crying wont help. Where dyou live?”
By the fire, Emily spilled everything.
Agatha pieced it togetherthey were miles from either village. “Well find the road at first light.”
Morning came, and with it, the distant hum of cars. “Hear that? Were close.”
Meanwhile, James had torn the village apart. The constable held him back when Lisa, still drunk, barely recalled seeing Emily.
Thena car stopped on the roadside.
“Daddy!” Emily shrieked, launching herself at him.
James glared at Agatha. “Who the hell are you?”
“Dad, dont! She saved me!”
At the station, the truth came out. Leaving, James sheepishly turned to Agatha. “Let me take you home. Andsorry for earlier.”
She smiled. She already knew his storyand felt this meeting wasnt chance.
Six months later, they married. Emily was over the moon.
After all, no good story is complete without love.