Tiny Dancer [on hold]

Doing The Right Thing

"Mommy, Mommy! Guess what!"

I waddled over to Grace as fast as my seven month bump would let me,"what is it sweetie? How was school today?"

"It was okay, but I made a friend today!"

"Really, what's their name?

"Marie Sanders, I helped her from getting hurt from Andy and Jackson. I used those new moves you taught me!"

I blinked to comprehend what Grace said and a small smile formed on my face,"that's great honey."

"Can I invite her over for dinner?"

"Yeah why not, maybe around seven, I have a shift in thirty minutes."

"Okay,"chirped Grace who ran over to the phone and dialed a number. A few minutes later Grace shouted," mommy can Marie's mom come over too?"

"Yeah of course, the more the merrier sweetie."

Dorothy arrived ten minutes later since she had finished her shift at my book shop so she could take care of Grace who had started doing her homework already.

I had arrived at my store and did the usual on my shift when someone had caught my eye, it was the women who had told me the date. But she was crying, I brought two cups of chamomile tea and set them on the table,"are you alright?"

She looked up and I could she that she recognized me,"it's you."

"Yeah, here," I placed a cup of tea in front of her and sat down,"do you want to talk about it?"

"It's just my husband."

"Did he cheat on you?"

"No, no, no, it's just that we've been trying for kids and he's been getting frustrated."

"Let me guess, he's been angrier than usual."

She nodded and started wiping her eyes, after I handed her a napkin and she comprehended herself she continued,"yeah, how did you know?"

"I used be married, I know how it is, look it takes two to make a baby it's not your fault if it's a difficult process."

The two of us spent the rest of my shift talking but once the clock struck 6 I cleared my throat,"look my shift ends in a few minutes but if you ever want to talk to some comfort call me,"

I wrote down my number on a slip of paper and I went to the back to get my stuff then headed toward my car.

Once I had arrived Grace was reading a book while Dorothy was watching TV,"Mi-Mi! You're here!"

"Yeah I am," I said with a strained smile on my face remembering Ben's nickname for me.

"I'll see you around Naomi, next time with Jason hopefully, he decided to take a double shift at the record store."

"Alright, bye!"

I closed the door and rubbed my head, she was just as bad as Klaus. I made the pasta sauce for the meal that was going to be eaten later on, then took a quick shower to make myself look a bit more presentable, the doorbell rang and I go to great the guests at the door.

"Hi, you must be Marie and her mom!"

"Yes its good to met you Ms. Herschberger."

"Oh, please Ms. Herschberger makes me sound old, just call me Naomi," I said raising my hand for Marie to shake, who gladly did,"I opened the door for them to enter the house as I gratefully took their coats," Grace is in the living room, I'll call you dinner is served."

"Can I get you a drink Ms. Sanders."

"Call me Pamela hun, I'll have a glass of water if that's alright."

After beginning to boil the pasta, I pour myself some lemonade in a wine glass, I set the glass of water in front of Pamela,"I heard what happened with Marie, I hope she's alright."

"Thank the lord she's alright, your girl was able to step in with those kickass moves of hers, did you teach her those moves?"

"Yeah, she's dealt with those boys before and she took a rough beating about a month ago, so I taught her some moves."

"Heaven knows were you learnt those moves, but if it weren't for those moves, my baby girl would have taken a rough beating."

"Of course it was no problem, if you want I could have Grace teach her those moves, and I can assist as much as possible?"

"If it's no problem with you."

"Don't worry about it, if I can help prevent anyone from getting injured then it's worth it."

It was that moment when the timer for the pasta went off and I went up to serve plates and Pamela went to get the kids for dinner.

Dinner went well I was able to learn that Marie and Grace had a lot in common especially a love for books and that she's thirteen and in 8th grade, and it was settles that Marie would come over with Grace every Thursday to teach her some self defense skills. I could tell this would be the beginning to a good family friendship.

It was around 1 in the morning when there was a bang on the door, Grace was the first one to hear it and I ushered her to her room as I grabbed the broom and made my way to the door where I was shocked to see who was outside.

" Cindy! What happened, are you okay?"

"My husband he hit me and confessed to sleeping with my best friend. I'm sorry,"she chocked out through her tears,"it's just, I don't have anywhere else to go and I-"

"Hey, hey, hey, it's okay don't worry about it, come inside."

I navigated her to the couch where I wiped the tears away from her face and rubbed her back soothingly. Mentally I asked Grace if she could get me a glass of water for Cindy who now was stopped crying but was still shaking.

"Talk to me, what happened?"

"I got in late and Albert was ready to try again, but I really wasn't in the mood he was forcing himself on me. I-I pushed him away and he exploded with anger, how it was all my fault and that he was glad that he was cheating on me with my friend."

"I'm glad you got away, we can figure this out in the morning."

I brought her a nightgown and a blanket for her then placed them on the couch,"here, you can stay here on the couch."

"Why are you helping me?"

"Because it's the right thing to do, no one should have to deal with something like this."

After pressing a caring kiss on her temple, I gave her a tight squeeze and made my way back upstairs to my bed.

***

I supported Cindy through out her battle of divorce that lasted about a month and fought side by side with her so she could have the house that was rightfully hers. During that period of time, I forced her to take self defense classes along with Marie who gave me the idea of forming a group of women to whom I could teach self defense. It became something that was placed on the top of my to-do list after I had baby Ben, in the mean time I organized ideas for when these underground classes would occur.