Dreams I'll Never See (Intersex gxgxg)

Chapter 28

"Mom, do you think you could teach me some self-defense?" Bella asked me as we sat on the beach in front of our almost-house a week later. The beach was busy, sunny days in New England are to be enjoyed whenever possible, but less so in front of our house since the visitors stayed further down and mostly the neighborhood residents were in this section.

It was our almost-house because Petra, sorry, Susan, had already bought it for us. The owners had already moved out so that Talia and her workers could renovate, but now we were going to work with Talia to make the house tailored to us. We had a meeting later on to go over the choices we had, and hopefully we could move in soon. Did Susan pay Talia a little extra for more workers? I think that might have happened, yeah.

But in any case, the first thing that happened was me gasping and looking at Bella in shock, because that was the first time that she'd called me mom. The paperwork had come in this morning, and so I guess she was trying out how it sounded. The second thing was me having to sniffle away a few tears that threatened to escape, because I really loved that. She was a great kid, and I was happy that we'd done the adoption. "Do you not feel safe here?"

She shook her head a little. "No, I do. But that doesn't mean bad things won't happen. I thought I was pretty safe back in Florida too, even if my stepmom was a bitch, but look what happened. I don't ever want to feel helpless again, you know?"

I nodded, understanding exactly what she meant. "I'll teach you. We can work out together, put some more muscle on you, and I'll teach you a few things. I never really learned a fighting style, but I know a lot from different places. Mostly though, I'm just really good at dirty fighting, and knowing where to hit someone to make them hurt. If anyone ever comes after you on the streets, that is exactly what to want. Now, if you want to get into a ring with someone, that is a whole other deal."

"Nope, I don't need to get into a ring. I just want to be able to protect myself or anyone I'm with. Like, if I ever went on a date, I would want to make sure nobody messes with us," she explained.

"A date huh? Frida maybe?" I wondered about all the time they'd been spending together, but I wasn't sure that she was looking for something like that.

"No, not Frida. She's great, but I think she likes someone in school already. Besides, she's still finishing middle school this year, and wouldn't even be a freshman till next year. If I go to school, I'd be a junior this year. She might feel a little uncomfortable dating older people right now. Besides, maybe friends are what we are, I don't want to mess that up. But I could always meet someone else and ask them out."

I sat back in the little beach chair, digging my toes into the sand as I thought about it. I would have asked Willow and Lexie to help, but they were at an interview at a medical center in nearby Cohasset, and damnit I was her mom, so I needed to come up with good stuff for her! "I'm sure you'll find someone. I got lucky with Lessa, and I got lucky with Willow and Lexie. Hell, I got lucky meeting you too, in a different way. When you're ready to date, you can always talk to me or your other moms, and we'll help."

Bella's voice dropped to almost a whisper, and I had to lean closer to hear her over the gentle waves that were hitting the sand at the water's edge. "I know, and I'm glad I have you all to talk to. I guess I'm still getting used to things. I have a new family, survived a kidnapping, a new home in a new state and then in under two months I have to deal with a new school too. It's just a lot, you know?"

I reached out, threading my fingers through her hair, then gently rubbing the back of her head. "You've done remarkably well, and I know a lot of that was out of your control. Would it make you feel better to do some online classes this year until you get used to the area? I'll probably be around a lot until I figure out what I'm doing, and you could probably talk to Elise whenever you need to if you wanted the advice of an actual teacher."