Home Sweet Girl

Chapter | Twenty six

Angeline

The look on her face brings me so much joy. My goal is to give her the life that she deserves. Being homeless kind of stripped that away from her. I'm still astonished of how well she has turned out.

I finally got the chance to take her to the Santa Cruz Beach boardwalk. I've been here a few times with my husband, my family—when they're visiting, and now with Mary. We have our swimming suits underneath our clothes because we intend to take her over to the beach afterwards.

"See anything you want to do first, sweetie?" I ask. My husband and I are hand in hand. Mary is next to me, holding my hand.

"The carousel," she smiles. She is observing the rides and people.

"Sounds good, your-Dario and I will take you over there," I correct myself. My husband looks at me.

"After, can I have that?" she points to a cotton candy stall.

"Yes you can". Lately she has been very vocal in what she wants. I'm happy because that means she is comfortable.

We stand in line waiting for her to go on the carousel. She turns around looking for us to join her. My heart.

"I'm right behind you sweetheart," I don't give it a second thought as I climb on one the horses, I look behind me at Dario who waves from the outside. Such a wimp.

I take my phone out and record her sitting on the white horse, smiling as the ride goes around in circles. She starts waving at Dario, while he's cheering her on. Her adorable curls are flowing. She dressed herself in a white shirt with rainbow clouds, beige cargo shorts and her tie dye crocs. My girl is the cutest thing in the world.

When the ride comes to a complete stop. I help Mary get off. She continues to keep a childish smile on her face. It displays a different aura compared to her usual demeanor.

"How was that honey?! did you like it?" I take her hand in mine and we walk over to Dario.

"Yes! can I ride some more?" She jumps up and down and looks at me with the most sincere expression. So cute.

"Sure, Mary. First let's get your cotton candy, then we can do many more rides you'd like," Dario says.

Fingers crossed she can ride the majority without restrictions.

We spend hours on rides for Mary, she rode the carousel at least three times. I don't think that there was any ride she wasn't tall enough to get on—even the roller coasters. She is one brave little girl. I chickened out on a certain rides because they make me dizzy and nauseous. I noticed that when I got a certain age, I can't go all out like I used too. Plus, I'm afraid of roller coasters, I'm glad Dario was able to ride with her.

We took a break from all the excitement to have some lunch. All she wanted to eat was cotton candy, ice cream and the funnel cake that Dario introduced her to. So, I forced him to be the one to convince her to eat real food. She agreed to eat a corndog and fries, Dario chose a burger for himself—A bold choice for someone who almost had food poisoning, and I had a chicken bowl.

At the moment, she is sticking her tongue out at Dario. Her mouth is blue from all the cotton candy "Put that tongue back in or one of those birds will come down and steal it," he says.