Chapter 2. Tommy's Father

"Mum, it's great. I love it." Tommy shrieked as he took the toy car he had asked his mum for.

 "Hey young man, what do you say after getting a gift?" Melissa questioned as she playfully raffled his hair.

 "Thank you mum." Tommy hugged his mum, took his toy car and continued playing on the carpet.             

Standing there for a while watching her son play, she felt tears build up. He was so cute and well mannered she felt so proud to have him but all credit went to her aunt. Without her Melissa didn't know how she would have managed on her own.

Dropping from university when her parents died with no money to support herself and later finding herself pregnant, was really hard for her to comprehend.

 When aunt Betty found her that fateful day in her small apartment, she was on the bed unconscious. For day's she had not eaten and was all alone in the world even her best friend had bailed out on her.

 Her aunt was the last person she expected to see.

  As they broke the door to get to her, she stared at Betty unable to utter a word. After losing her husband and son, her aunt had moved to the province and Melissa had no way of contacting her when her parents died leaving her alone with no one to turn to.

 At the blink of death as her aunt and neighbours rushed her to the nearby hospital, Melissa had given up in life. Then came the news.

 That day she found out she was pregnant. Touching her flat stomach she felt a connection she had never experienced before.

  Not eating or taking care of herself almost cost her child's life, thus she had to be closely monitored at the hospital. After some days she left the hospital and though she had lost all she had, Melissa decided to live for her child. Her parents were no longer with her but she had a little being growing inside her to take care of.

  From the hospital her aunt took her to her home in the province.  

 Though she had not seen her sister's daughter for many years, she loved her and always inquired about her. When she got the news of her sister's death, she dropped everything to go get Melissa.

 She had helped take care of Melissa as a child when she completed college. Living with her sister for some years, she spent a lot of time with Melissa.

 To Betty, Melissa was like a daughter she never had and Melissa too loved her alot.  

Melissa was thankful to her aunt for supporting her in raising her son and though her aunt never questioned her about Tommy's father, Melissa knew that one day she had to tell them who he was.

  Walking from the kitchen, Betty found Melissa standing in the living room lost in her thoughts. She stared at her for a while worried that something might have happened to her. 

"Melissa dear, what's wrong?" Betty questioned walking towards her.

Shaking her head to clear her mind, Melissa turned and gave her aunt a hug. "It's nothing aunt, I'm just tired."

"Okay dear, go to your room and freshen up then come for dinner. It will be ready in a few minutes." Betty tapped her on the back then walked back to the kitchen to check on the food she was cooking.

Moments later when Melissa came out of her room, she found them seated at the dining table waiting for her to have dinner. 

"Are you excited to join school?" Betty asked, adding food on Tommy's plate. 

 "Yes Grandma, I heard school is cool and I get to make lots of friends." The little boy chimed.

"Tommy, you don't just go to school to make friends but to study as well." His mother with a smile on her face explained to him. 

"Mum, l'll study very hard so that when l grow up, I will get lots of money to take care of you and grandma. You won't have to go to work everyday mum and I will look for dad so he can keep you company. You won't be sad anymore." Looking at the little boy who tried so hard to make her smile, Melissa felt tears fill her eyes.

"Thank you son. As long as you and grandma are here, I don't have to be sad or lonely. Now eat your food, okay." She touched his cheek as her voice cracked from all the emotions she felt.

After dinner Melissa cleaned the dishes, cleared everything in the kitchen and dining table then went to her son's room. Stopping at the doorway, she watched the two most important people in her life, feeling thankful for having them. 

 After saying goodnight to her son and aunt who was reading him a bedtime story, Melissa went to her room. She took an early rest since she had to attend a meeting at work early the next morning.

….

When she got to the hall where the meeting was to take place, almost all the employees were present.

"Hey Melissa, come I saved a seat for you." Lisa, her friend and colleague called out to her.

She and Lisa started working in the hotel at some time but at first Lisa didn't like Melissa much. Since their supervisor and manager liked and praised Melissa a lot for her hard work, most of the employees speculated that Melissa had an intimate relationship with the manager that is why she got all the praise.

Melissa helped Lisa with difficult clients and at time's covered up for her mistakes taking most of the blame. With this Lisa realized what everyone said about her was not true. 

 Working together for years, they became best of friends and though Melissa was promoted to be a supervisor, she worked like everyone else and employees in her department coordinated well with her since she was fair to all of them.

"Morning Lisa, you came early today." Sitting down next to her Melissa said with a smile on her face.

Most of the time Lisa came for the meetings late or did not attend at all, giving all sorts of excuses but on that day she got there almost an hour early. Before the meeting started.

"Well today's meeting is important. I couldn't afford to miss it and I didn't want to sit at the back." As Lisa exclaimed, Melissa could see the excitement in her eyes.

One of the top most wealthy CEOs in the country was coming to town and staying in the hotel. This was the first time such an important prominent person was staying at the hotel thus exciting all the employees. More so the staff who impressed the guest would get some tasty bonuses. 

The manager was anxious and needed all the employees to perform exemplary. 

 Leaving the client satisfied and happy with their services would open many business opportunities in the future.

To serve such a person, the hotel had to select a number of personnel to cater to his needs but over everyone had to play their part perfectly.

The management team had to choose a group of personnel that would handle all the clients' needs. As Melissa was the head of housekeeping, she had to personally see that everything was according to the clients orders. They had a week to prepare and organize a team that would welcome the CEO and his team in the hotel. 

"Melissa, I heard he's the most wealthy and handsome man in the country and he's not married yet." Lisa told her as they walked out of the hall after the meeting.

"He's just a client Lisa and those rich handsome men have women everywhere they go so don't get carried away." 

"Do you say that because of Tommy's dad? Look if one guy breaks your heart it does not mean they all will." Lisa voiced stopping to look at her.

"Let's get to work, it's not worth talking about." No one knew that Tommy's dad was a one night stand and she never saw him since. Though she and Lisa were close, she couldn't tell her about Tommy's dad since she didn't know much about him either and felt ashamed for getting herself in that situation.

Soon the week was up and after getting the news that the most awaited guest was on the way from the airport, all the selected staff personnel had to wait at the entrance of the hotel to welcome them.

Melissa was very nervous, she had served many important clients before and was good at her work but this client was prominent. His visit would change not only the hotel's status but the whole community. The manager had put so much pressure on her to handle everything and could not get time to spend with her family which was somewhat depressing for her.

For the next five days while the client was around, she had to live in the servant room in the hotel's presidential suite. She had to serve round the clock and supervise other employees work in her department. 

Though the work was too much, she could handle it and get a good bonus at the end of the month and since she needed the money for Tommy's school she had to work hard and impress the big client.

After waiting for some minutes the big awaited client arrived. Looking at the person she never thought she would meet again her eyes almost fell from their sockets.

 She had never imagined meeting him at her work place after all those years.