Saving Grace

By Sandra Francis

After going through a huge trauma, Michelle Edwards decided to take matters into her own hands. She fled under the cover of darkness to start her life anew. Ten years later, she has revamped her image into a successful tech mogul. With the help of her new family, she attempts to forget all about her past and move forward. The effects of the trauma is still being felt but nothing is more important than her daughter, Grace. Everything she did and everything she does is for the purpose of saving Grace.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sandra Francis
• Release date: Aug 21, 2017

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

Sunrays were seeping into the room spilling onto every tidy corner. There was a place for every single thing; the potted plant near the windows, the wardrobe, the full length mirror framed beautifully on the wall and a dressing table with drawers where the cosmetics – all from the same brand – lay.

Pictures hung high on the wall behind the bed and some other pictures were on the bedside table next to the lamp. The walls were painted in varying but complimentary shades of purple in contrast with the bronze coloured wardrobe, drawers and doors.

On the bed was a sleeping Michelle, who was spread out lazily, her face, was covered by pools of flowing brown hair. Her legs were tangled with the blanket which at this point barely covered anything. A laptop was at the far end of her bed. She had been working late last night as she had the past couple of nights. The sigh of relief she heaved after she was done could have been heard from a mile away past the large buildings and trees. She had fallen asleep afterwards not bothering to set the alarm. She was so tired and she was going to take advantage of the little sleep that she managed to conjure.

Grace, Michelle’s ten year old daughter in all her youthful energy barged into the room and screamed, not bothering to nudge her sleeping mother gently awake.

Mum!!!!Maaaamaaaa!!!

Michelle woke with a start, almost knocking over her laptop – which she rushed to secure, important things and all – she was relieved when it didn’t fall. She clutched her chest and tried to slow her heart rate which spiked at the scare and later joy of the laptop incident as well as at waking up so suddenly.

I’m up, baby, what is it? Michelle said, taking her time to yawn and stretch.

Grace folded her arms in front of herself and had a scowl on her face

School!!!

That one word which was posed almost like a question broke down the post sleep bliss Michelle found herself in and sent her brain into over drive.

She got up from the bed quickly and searched frantically for a time piece. There was no possible way they could be that late. Michelle prided herself on having her workday routine down. It was a challenge getting ready for work and getting Grace ready for school all before 7 but they somehow succeeded every day, well most days.

She was at the door about to open it – a time piece was alluding her in the room, best to go try her luck in the parlour – when Grace called her back showing her her phone.

Michelle rushed over and grabbed the phone almost crushing it. The time was 6:57 am and Grace had to be in school in school by 7:30. That was the very definition of a serious problem but that’s what Michelle did best, solve problems, this was going to be a cake walk.

Okay, Grace, this is what we’re going to do, I’ll go have my bath quickly, you will as well, five minutes, we should be done…

Stop right there mummy, I’ve my bath Grace cut her off

You have Michelle said in surprise

Uh huh

Why didn’t you wake me up sooner?

You’re the mum she said sensibly

I’m the mum, right Plus I just did

Michelle was not ready for Grace’s smart mouth this morning so she just entered the bathroom. Grace took that as a very glaring sign that the discussion was over and she went back to her room, which was the next door, to put on her school uniform.

Grace was in the kitchen eating her breakfast; tea and bread when Michelle came in smartly dressed in a fitted formal blue knee length dress paired with nude pumps, her brown bag, on her arm.

Mummy you look really pretty Michelle huffed and sat down on the chair next to Grace, she ran her hand from Grace’s hair to her cheeks with a grin matching the one Grace was currently sporting.

She thought of having a quick breakfast but decided against it when she saw they were really late.

Thank you darling, Grab your bag let’s go Grace got up and wore her school bag. Michelle got up as well and took some bottles of water from the fridge. She put one in Grace’s bag and the others in her bag. Grace put her mug and plate in the sink and soaked it with water so it won’t be hard when they got back.

They went out and Michelle locked the door.

On the way down the stairs, they lived in a block of flats and their flat was on the second floor, Grace said Mr. Okoro will be really angry

Oh I know He was one of the reasons Michelle was dreading this lateness, she tried to avoid that man as much as she could.

Ms. Edwards, this is not the appropriate time to be dropping off your daughter Grace said in a weirdly accurate imitation of Mr. Okoro’s voice causing Michelle to laugh.

That’s exactly how he sounds Michelle noted.

They were almost at the car when Michelle noticed her wily neighbor, a woman in her mid to late thirties. She was one of those women who were very pretty but didn’t know it. She has always looked down on Michelle, pouring her ridiculous insecurities on her as evidenced by how the woman quickly grabbed her husband’s hand an action that made Michelle shake her head in amusement. The woman is of the opinion that Michelle will go after her husband, she didn’t know where that idea had originated from but she was quite sure it was because she saw Michelle as this young single woman with a child, apparently that equaled being desperate for a man that she’d go after someone’s husband.

Michelle waved at them like she always did as her way of being a friendly neighbour and they waved back though the woman had this sour look on her face as if she just bit a lemon or raw unwashed bitter leaf.

Michelle and Grace entered the car and soon they were on their way. Because of how late they were, the same route they took every day to school seemed so much longer and they were not even making their usual carpool commentary.

As the bright blue gates of the school came into view, there was a somewhat audible reprieve from Michelle.

She greeted Mr. Audu, the really nice middle aged gateman that guarded the school with a smile and drove in. Grace was eager to come down and join her friends, she had always been very excited about school. She was about the only child that didn’t cry on the first day of school and that streak continued till now, Michelle hoped the habit will continue as she advanced in school up till the university level.

When she parked the car, Michelle turned to the side to hug Grace.

I’m sorry baby, I didn’t prepare lunch Michelle was very particular about what Grace ate, she always bought fresh foodstuff from the market and cooked it. Even with her work schedule, she had always had a way around it.

On the weekends, she’d buy foodstuff and prepare it for the week; making tomato paste, chopping up vegetables, pounding cocoyam, boiling meat, making fresh juice and salads. It was a fun thing that the both of them did together but because she woke up late, there had not been time to prepare a decent lunch and she was taking it so hard because ever since she got pregnant with Grace, she had been very health conscious and watching what they both ate.

It’s okay mummy, I know you were busy with that work thing, besides you can just give me money to buy something from the canteen Michelle scrunched her nose in disgust, she absolutely abhorred the idea and Grace knew this, Grace also liked to buy junk every once in a while.

It’s either that or I starve to death Michelle rolled her eyes and reached into her purse to bring out money to give her.

Grace noticed Mr. Okoro slowly approached the car and said Uh oh, bye mum Then got out of the car and hurried to her class.

Mr. Okoro was the assistant headmaster, but he had taken it upon himself to monitor the tardiness of the students and punish the appropriate party; the parents.

Ms. Edwards Mr. Okoro said sternly when he approached her and she gulped down air, the man had always freaked Michelle out, especially since he saw her as a child, she just preferred to not come in contact with him and a lot of people in this school.

Mr. Okoro there is a very simple explanation

Well? He said and crossed his arms

I pulled an all-nighter she started to say trying humor as a means to diffuse the tension but when she noticed his arched eyebrows, she quickly added

My latest project was more complicated than I anticipated and quite buggy… she laughed quietly at her inside joke.

He wasn’t amused.

You know, buggy, like bugs, computer bugs. Anyway I almost missed my deadline she looked at her watch unconsciously and noticed she was running late for her meeting with her client.

Ms. Edwards, you know there are some parents and I have to admit, staff that are quite wary about your age…

Michelle fought hard not to roll her eyes. She had heard this speech many times. In this place, she was like a museum display, the 26 year old woman with a ten year old child. Everyone was always staring and trying to decipher some hidden meaning to her presence unknown to all especially Michelle herself.

The first time she brought Grace to the school, she was just about to turn 20. The first thing the headmaster said was where are your parents? She had no idea why the man was asking her the question and she didn’t know where are parents were so she said she didn’t know. The man told her that they would need to speak to her parents before enrolling their child in the school, it was school policy.

It was at that moment Michelle knew what was going on, she had thought she’d be able to scale through without too many questions but that was the point of this type of school. She decided to explain that Grace was her child but not how Grace came to be her child, it was not their business to know besides, she had already changed her name and Grace’s.

They were skeptical about admitting her because of how young Michelle was. Apparently the school had a very strong morality clause for all their students and the parents of the students. He went on to describe in what he thought was a delicate manner how her being here would send the wrong message.

Michelle knew her situation was not what he was implying, she also knew what he was saying was ignorant and wrong but she needed to enroll Grace in this school for her peace of mind. So she started to say her piece.

She told him she was good with computers and she can find out information about every parent and teacher in this school they probably have some immoral skeletons and that won’t be good for a private school to all of a sudden lose the majority of their funding. She told him that at least she had the means to pay for Grace to have a better life than she would ever have and she was not going to constitute nuisance in the school, she would obey all their rules. She went on to remind him that Grace had passed the entrance exams with scores that was described as above exceptional and that is the kind of student they would love in the school.

You would think that after years of proving to be a capable mother, they would let this annoying subject go. She was now closer to thirty than twenty for goodness sake.

Mr. Okoro was going on and on about responsibility when another child came out of her father’s car and ran to the class. Mr. Okoro didn’t know what to say again, he was like a deer caught in the headlights, turns out her age doesn’t cause lateness like he had implied with the snide comment he made earlier about keeping late nights.

He reached into his pocket to bring out a pen and scribble on the familiar paper Michelle swore she was not going to get again after the last one two years ago. He gave her the latecomer voucher and left to attend to the man that just dropped off his kid and not for the first time Michelle wondered if he any other job aside from this.

Michelle walked into her office hoping she won’t run into Ifeanyi – her trusty employee and best friend – she wasn’t ready for another lecture, having gotten one, mere minutes ago. Dina the receptionist gave her a paper to sign as soon as she greeted her.

Dina’s desk was placed strategically in the reception of the office, adjacent to the entrance door. Her desk was very well decorated, there was not much on it, just her computer, pictures of her family and this beautiful sculpture placed there, if you didn’t know, you would think it came with the table. At the other end of the reception, opposite Dina’s table, were the printer, scanner and the photocopier. There was also a water dispenser.

Chairs were placed in different corners; two directly in front of Dina’s desk, a long chair to the right of Dina’s table and other chairs kept at all the corners of the reception. There was a beautiful painting hanging on the wall, directly were Dina’s desk was situated – her sister was an artist.

Michelle was signing the papers when Ifeanyi and his muscles came to stand beside her.

Hello boss he said

Ifeanyi, you see you’re referring to me accurately as your boss but your tone and your face don’t seem to get the memo He ignored her and continued his prying

You’re late

I know

Mr. Bassey is in your office. Please tell me you are done

Of course I’m done, why do you think I’m late to begin with she brought out her latecomer voucher and showed it to him, indicating her annoyance at today’s lateness.

She could have saved the sleep till this night to get a good rest, complete eight hours but no, she had to indulge.

Ifeanyi took it and laughed so hard, he knew how much she hated all those protocols, he had been on the receiving end of many a rant. However, her face today was a particular brand of annoyed, it was the ‘I want to kick my feet up and stuff my face with ice cream’.

So naturally, he decided to read out what she got, but it fell on retreating ears as she reached her office by the time he was done. She took a deep breath before she opened the door and entered inside.

Mr. Bassey, sorry I’m late, dropping my daughter at school took longer than I expected she said and walked straight to her seat.

No worries Michelle. I just got here about ten minutes ago

Michelle sat down, brought out her laptop and began to show him the work. It was going well and he was listening to all she was saying without unnecessary interruptions.

She liked Mr. Bassey, he was one of her repeat clients, he trusted her to do what he asks and was very nice for an insanely independently wealthy man.

As a programmer, she had met many kinds of people; they mostly came back because of her dedication to fast and easy packages for her clients at reasonable costs. It had taken her a while to build the client base that she now has but it was worth it. She was very hands on with the work, only when it was getting too hectic for her because of Grace that she brought in Ifeanyi and Dina. They were very trustworthy and efficient at the same time.

This helped her to expand her services. They designed websites and apps for clients but they also had their own that they kept. Currently, they had some software out there; free video editing software and gaming software. They also had stock in some e-commerce sites. Dina was also their social media personnel.

Mr. Bassey wanted to add a live customer service chat section to his company’s website as well as a mobile app. It had taken a lot of time and effort from both herself and Ifeanyi to get it done in the time frame that was requested.

Scheduling was a hassle for Dina but they all managed to pull off their respective tasks. She spent the better part of the previous day running tests to ensure every single line of code was up to par. Mr. Bassey was very satisfied with the work, which made the limited sleep and the not cooking food for Grace worth it.

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