– Leave my son alone! – Sam’s mother exclaimed from the doorway.
Melanie saw the woman for the first time. Before, only in pictures.
– And we decided to get engaged,” the confused girl almost whispered.
– They decided! Did they ask me? Or am I working hard for ten years so that my son can bring a beggar into the house? What did your parents get? A two-bedroom apartment in a panel house! And I bought my son a mansion in a new building, with imported furniture. I bought a car. Good things must come to good things. He’ll find a good match. And you, girl, get out of our way.
– Is that your decision or Sam’s?
– Who’s gonna ask him?! I’ll do as I say! Slamming the door, the woman stormed out of the apartment. He was waiting for her in the car.
After she came to her senses, Melanie called her lover.
– What should we do? – she asked in despair. – I am waiting for the baby.
– You can see that my mother is against our marriage. And the baby… I don’t know what to do…
– I will give birth…
A few days later, Melanie was attacked by a burglar. There was nothing to steal, though. He stole an old cell phone, a wallet with a few hundred and the keys to her apartment. He also beat her badly. Melanie lost her child.
She was tormented by the thought that this “robbery” wasn’t an accident. Melanie tried to get something out of Sam. He replied:
– You shouldn’t have gone late.
– I was on my way home from work,” she excused herself.
But he had already hung up. And they never found the burglar…
She guarded her loneliness like a jewel she couldn’t get rid of. She let no one into her destiny.
– “Melanie, my daughter, you can’t live with eternal sadness,” her mother sighed.
…December brought the first snow. The sun peeked out. It was Melanie’s day off. At noon she went to the park. Already on the street she looked back for not taking her cell phone. She has a client to call. She wants her hair done in the morning. She needs to confirm the time. But she didn’t want to go home. They say it’s bad luck…
The cold winter sun was hurrying towards sunset. The park looked charming. – What time is it now? – Melanie asked herself. By the bench, a little boy was tapping a peanut against a peanut to lure a squirrel.
– Your hands are as cold as ice,” the father tried to take the nuts away from the child. He cried.
– Excuse me, tell me what time it is,” Melanie turned to the man.
– On the clock – the beginning of winter, – joked the stranger. – And indeed – it is about four o’clock. The little boy looked at Melanie with weeping eyes. And barely audibly knocked a peanut on a peanut.
– And you knock louder. Squirrel doesn’t hear. Like this… But there was no squirrel. The boy looked at Melanie in disappointment.
– The squirrel must be basking in the hollow. This is the first snow. It is not yet accustomed to the cold, frozen. And the next time will come for nuts for sure. The little boy’s face cleared up.
– You are kind,” said the boy’s father. – That was our mother.
– And why was she? – Melanie asked puzzled.
– I wanted to give Max a little sister, but…
– Your name is Max? – She changed the subject, because she saw that her interlocutor was having a hard time with it.
The next day off she was going to the park again at noon. She put some peanuts in her pocket. She wanted to see little Max. And maybe she could lure a squirrel.
… Melanie and George, that was her father’s name, were looking forward to those appointments. Not scheduled. As if accidental. Already Max wasn’t hiding behind his father when he saw her.
…A year later, at the beginning of winter, in the park, in the same place where Melanie had first spoken to George, he declared his love for her. He proposed his hand and heart.
– It is the beginning of winter on the clock. May this time be the beginning of our destiny,” he said excitedly…
… At the mall Melanie saw Sam. She wanted to go around. But he was walking toward her.
– How are you? – He asked.
– Я… I have a family. And you?
– Not married yet. I’m sorry about the past… My mother… she wants…
– I have to go. All the best!
…And so this November has wept away the rains. As if by magic, December has shone with sunshine.
– Guys, get ready for a walk. Max, where are your mittens? Did you lose them again? We’ll be harvesting soon,” Melanie joked.
The park was crowded after the long fog and rain. Melanie stopped at their “historic” bench.
– George, what time is it? – she laughed.
– It’s the beginning of winter on my watch.
– And the beginning of a new life, – she said mysteriously. – We will have a little or small.
– And you were silent?
– Waited to say it here …
