Chapter 152

"Mama," she said watching the door early one morning, "can I go outside while you finish?"

She was growing and her needs were changing. I swallowed the lump in my throat and told her to enjoy herself.

"You get too cold outside, Mama. I can just come back here when I get hungry," she offered politely.

"Go, Baby," I smiled, "come back when you need to. I'll be here."

She was off in a flash.

I cleaned the bathroom like I was trying to take the stone off the walls. My hands got raw and I scrapped the flesh off my fingertips. It burned and stung, but no more than the pain I felt inside.

Once her teeth came in, she would not need me anymore. The wild world would call to her and she would have to answer. It was a truth I couldn't stand to face.

She came back after I'd wrapped my hands. For some reason I couldn't find that miraculous cream my men had. They had tucked it away somewhere.

"What did you do to your hands, Mama?" she aske