Jennifer Honey opened her eyes, taking in the pitch blackness of her bedroom. She rolled over and looked at the alarm clock on her bedside table. 2:38 AM. Normally she was a sound sleeper, and it was unusual for her to have woken in the middle of the night like this. Then she heard an undistinguishable noise from down the hall where Matilda's room was. Matilda! Jenny turned on her bedside lamp, grabbed her robe from the hook on the back of her bedroom door, and stepped out into the hallway. Sure enough, there was a sliver of light under Matilda's closed bedroom door. What on earth could Matilda be doing awake at this time of night! Jenny padded down the hallway and knocked softly on Matilda's door before pushing it open gently. "Matilda?" she said softly. "Are you alright?"

Jenny was not expecting the scene that greeted her. She saw Matilda's bedsheets bundled into a pile on the middle of the bedroom floor, and Matilda, her light brown hair toussled from sleep, soundlessly closing the dresser drawer that contained her nightgowns. Matilda jumped when she heard Jenny, a nightgown and a pair of underwear clutched in her tiny hands. "Miss Honey!" she exclaimed nervously. "I- I'm so sorry I woke you. Everything's okay, you can go back to sleep!"

Jenny noticed a large wet spot on Matilda's pink and blue striped nightgown and immediately knew what had happened. "Matilda," she said gently, walking over to her newly adopted daughter and kneeling down to her level. "Did you wet the bed?"

Matilda's eyes filled with tears that threatened to spill. "I'm so sorry, Miss Honey. This doesn't usually happen. I- it's just this one time, I promise. Please don't be mad! It won't happen again!"

"Matilda," whispered Jenny, gently stroking the child's hair. "It's just a little accident, it's not a big deal. Why on earth would I be mad at you, sweetheart?"

"I- I didn't mean to make a mess. I- I'll clean it up!" Matilda stammered.

"Matilda," said Jenny, taking both of the child's hands in hers. "You're not even seven years old yet, and you've just been through some very big changes in your life," Jenny reminded her, referring to the fact that only three short weeks ago Matilda's birth family had abruptly moved out of the country and abandoned her, leaving her in Jenny's care. "It is so common for children your age to wet the bed once in a while, and especially given all that you've been through. And I certainly don't expect you to clean this up yourself."

Jenny studied Matilda's downcast eyes and defeated expression. It was so unlike Matilda, who was typically so precociously self-assured and rational, to overreact like this. Then Jenny had a thought. "Matilda," she said slowly. "Has this ever happened before? At your old house?"

Matilda nodded, eyes still downcast. Now they were getting somewhere. "Can you tell me what happened?" Jenny asked gently.

Matilda sighed, and reluctantly began to speak. "I was four," she started. "I had been out of diapers for a long time and I'd never had an accident before, but one night I had a nightmare and I woke up and I'd wet the bed. I wasn't sure what to do and I knew I couldn't reach the clean sheets from the top shelf in the closet, so I went and got my mom. I never should have done that," she said, her voice trembling. "She yelled at me and said that I was disgusting and that only babies wet the bed. Then she said to clean it up and to never bother her with something like that again."

Jenny was horrified. She could not even fathom treating Matilda the way Zinnia Wormwood had treated her own daughter. "I only had a few more accidents after that, Matilda continued, "but I always made sure to just clean it up quietly myself without anyone finding out."

"Oh Matilda," breathed Jenny, stroking Matilda's cheek. "No child should ever be treated like that." If I had been your mother back then I would have reassured you and comforted you and helped you, thought Jenny fiercely.

"That's not even the worst part," said Matilda glumly.

"What happened next, sweetheart?" asked Jenny, both scared to know just how horribly this poor child had been treated in the past, but also desperate to know so that she could better understand and help her.

"Then," Matilda continued, "my dad came storming in to see what all the yelling was about. When my mom told him what I'd done, he grabbed me by the back of my neck and shoved my face into the pee on the bed, and then he lifted up my nightshirt and spanked me. Hard." Matilda took a deep, ragged breath. "And he told me what a bad girl I was. When my mom was walking out of my room, she said to him, 'Matilda was such a MISTAKE. I should have just had an abortion when I had the chance.' I didn't know what that word meant- abortion- so I had to look it up at the library the next day." Matilda shuddered, as if physically trying to dislodge the memory of whatever results her research had shown her.

Jenny felt her blood turn to ice in her veins. She inhaled sharply and met Matilda's gaze. "Oh Matilda, how awful! I'm so sorry you had to hear that and experience that. That is so terribly cruel and, quite frankly, insane. You were just a little girl. You still are." Jenny could not imagine, in a million years, abusing and lashing out at a four year old child the way the Wormwoods had. A four year old child they were supposed to love and protect and take care of. A four year old child who had come to them for help. No wonder Matilda had been so scared and upset about what Jenny's reaction would be to her wetting the bed.

Suddenly, the tears in Matilda's eyes that had been threatening to spill let loose. Jenny pulled Matilda towards her in a loving embrace as the small girl sobbed into the crook of Jenny's neck. Jenny gently placed Matilda onto her lap and held her as the child continued to sob, letting out all of the hurt that she had been holding inside of her for so long. Jenny stroked her hair and whispered soft reassurances. "Shh, it's okay. It'll be okay. You're safe, and I love you and I want you. I want you so very much and I'm so happy that you're my little girl now." Jenny felt her own nightgown grow damp from Matilda's urine soaked nightgown, but that was her last concern. Her first priority, for as long as she lived, was going to be to protect Matilda and to make sure that she felt loved and safe and appreciated and wanted. It was the very least she could do after everything Matilda had done for her.

As Matilda's tears finally subsided into soft hiccups, Jenny felt the exhausted child's head rest on her shoulder. The little girl was so worn out from her cry that her body had gone completely limp in Jenny's arms. "Matilda, sweetheart," whispered Jenny. "Let's go get you cleaned up and into something dry, and then get you back into bed." Jenny gently picked Matilda up and felt Matilda's little legs wrap around her waist and her arms curl around her neck. Jenny felt her heart swell with a maternal love so fierce that it almost took her breath away. Jenny had always wanted to be a mother, but never thought motherhood was something that would actually happen for her. She had been under her Aunt Trunchbull's control for so long, living in poverty and having her self esteem gradually chipped away as the years went on until there was practically nothing left. Eventually Jenny was left with such little confidence in herself that dating seemed out of the question. And until Matilda- wonderful Matilda- had come along and helped to banish Aunt Trunchbull and regain Jenny's home and rightful inheritance, raising a child as a single woman, on her pittance of a salary, had seemed out of the question. Jenny had felt such a special connection with Matilda from the very first day she walked into her classroom, before Jenny had any inkling at all of what Matilda's home life was like. She never could have dreamed back then that Matilda would eventually end up being her daughter. Matilda truly was a miracle to Jenny.

Jenny carried Matilda down the hall to the bathroom and gently set her down. Matilda was still clutching the nightgown and underwear that she had selected from her dresser. Jenny took them out of Matilda's hands and placed them on the floor. "Here, let's get you out of this wet nightgown." Matilda hesitated for only a brief moment before lifting her arms up in the air, allowing Jenny to pull the wet nightgown over her head. Jenny then pulled down Matilda's soaking wet underwear as the child resignedly stepped out of them. As Matilda stood before her, naked, looking so heartbreakingly little and vulnerable, it occurred to Jenny that this was the first time she had seen her new daughter naked. Not that seeing Matilda naked was something she had been anticipating, of course. It was just something that popped into Jenny's head, that most parents get to raise their children from birth, changing them and feeding them and bathing them. And even then, typically children as young as Matilda still need some help in the bath or with taking care of themselves. Matilda, however, had come into Jenny's life as a fully self-sufficient six year old. Jenny felt her face burn with anger as she thought of the reason why Matilda was so self-sufficient at such a young age. Matilda's parents were so neglectful and unloving towards Matilda that the child didn't have a choice but to learn to take care of herself. Jenny imagined that at some point Zinna Wormwood had to have changed baby Matilda's diapers (she couldn't imagine Harry Wormwood involving himself with ANYTHING regarding caring for his daughter) and bathed her, but she didn't imagine it was done with the frequency nor the love and care that Matilda needed and deserved. Jenny's only regret was that she had not come into Matilda's life sooner, sparing Matilda so many years of growing up feeling unwanted and unloved and constantly being told what a burden she was.

Jenny, who had experienced a traumatic childhood of her own, was able to understand Matilda in a way that no one else in the young girl's life had ever even come close to. Matilda, likewise, understood Jenny wholly and completely. Both of them knew exactly what it was like to be so little and to feel so very alone in a big world, turning to books as an escape. The two of them had quickly formed a very strong emotional bond. But, unlike Jenny, Matilda seemed remarkably untouched by the trauma she had experienced in her young life. Despite facing daily verbal and emotional abuse and then complete and total abandonment by her family, Matilda was so brave, and strong and resilient. Sometimes Jenny had to stop and remind herself that Matilda was not a miniature adult, but a little girl who just happened to be wise and mature beyond her years.

Jenny reached over and removed a pink washcloth from the towel bar on the wall, and ran the tap until warm water began to flow. She wetted the washcloth with warm water and began gently and lovingly wiping down Matilda's legs, which were coated in dried urine. Normally this was something that Matilda could have easily done for herself, but as it was 3 AM and Matilda had cried herself into sheer exhaustion, Jenny knew that right now Matilda was not the self-sufficient genius who had been bathing herself since the age of two, but a six year old little girl who needed to be loved and taken care of.

"Matilda," Jenny said gently as she wiped the child's legs. "If this ever happens again, I want you to walk down the hall and come get me, okay?" Matilda nodded unsurely. "Sweetheart," Jenny continued, making eye contact with Matilda. "I promise that I will never, ever, yell at you or hurt you or humiliate you. You can always come to me if you need help." Matilda nodded again with slightly more confidence.

Jenny moved the washcloth higher up Matilda's legs until she was gently wiping Matilda's vagina and bottom. Jenny felt Matilda stiffen. She looked up and saw that Matilda's cheeks had turned pink and that she had turned her head away. It occurred to Jenny that since Matilda had been taking care of herself for so long, she probably had no memory at all of anyone taking care of her or touching her, let alone in such an intimate place on her body.

"Oh Matilda," Jenny said with understanding, her heart swelling with empathy for the little girl. "There's no need to feel embarrassed. It's just me. I'm your mother now and I love you and I want to take care of you the way you deserve. Okay?" Jenny smiled reassuringly at the little girl. Matilda nodded back. Jenny finished tenderly wiping the folds of skin between Matilda's legs and then retrieved the clean underwear, holding them out for Matilda to step into. An exhausted Matilda, barely able to keep her eyes open, stepped into the leg holes and stood patiently as Jenny pulled them up. She then lifted her arms so that Jenny could slip on her clean, dry nightgown. Jenny picked her up and kissed her cheek. "Let's get you back to bed, sweetheart."

"What about the sheets?" Matilda asked, rubbing her eyes. "They're all wet and on the floor, and I didn't put new ones on yet."

"I'll tell you what," said Jenny. "Tonight you can sleep with me in my bed. We'll take care of the sheets tomorrow." Matilda nodded, the first hint of a small smile creeping onto her face.

Jenny carried the little girl down the hall and tucked her into bed. She then crawled into her side of the bed and reached over to turn off the light. 3:12 AM, she thought, glancing at the clock. Thank goodness today is Saturday and we can sleep in.

"Try to get some sleep now," Jenny whispered, gently stroking Matilda's soft brown hair.

"Mmm," sighed Matilda, already halfway asleep. "I'm so glad you're my mommy."

Tears formed in Jenny's eyes as she lay there in the dark, listening to her daughter's deep, even breathing. It was the first time Matilda had referred to her as mommy. She liked the sound of that.

"Me too, Matilda," she whispered. "I love you so much."