Sweet Girl

Pick Up The Pieces

"There's a good girl" Stevie whispered, laying Bella down in her arms. She pushed the rocking chair backward and let it swing.

"Are you okay?" She asked.
Bella simply blinked.
Stevie hoped that she hadn't heard the argument. She knew that Lindsey would come down to apologise soon. His stubbornness didn't tend to stretch out so long since they'd moved in together.

"When did you wake up?" She turned her attention back to the girl she was cradling.

"I got you some warm milk," she coaxed, handing a warm glass bottle to Bella. She groaned and turned her head away. Stevie placed it back on the table next to the rocking chair and gathered Bella's legs closer to her stomach. She was slowly becoming more comfortable handling her, and was less anxious about upsetting her.
As she held Bella close, she nervously asked.

"Do you remember getting your jammies on?" trying not to allude to the argument, in case Bella didn't hear it.

Bella stayed silent, buried in her chest.
Stevie gulped.

"Are you okay?" she sang, fearfully, bouncing her arms.

Bella shook her head, pressed into Stevie's middle. Stevie reached her hand down and brushed some of the curls away from Bella's ear.
She paused. Closing her eyes, she asked

"Is it Lindsey?"

A tear crept down her cheek when she felt Bella nodding.

"Was it something from earlier?" she rasped.

Another nod.

"Is it something from upstairs?" She closed her eyes, waiting for a response.

She shook her head.

Stevie silently exhaled.

"Okay, I want you to listen to me," Stevie adjusted her tone of voice and sat Bella upright.

"Lindsey is giving you some space, because he doesn't want you to feel scared here." she swept her tears away, noticing Bella looking up at her.

"He knows it'll take you a while to trust him. Okay? When you're ready, Lindsey is gonna be here for you, as well as me. And we can do lots of fun things together, and we can take you shopping, we can go to the playground. And he's very cuddly" She added, trying to giggle.

"But none of that happens until Bella is ready. We know you're scared. And we're here to take care of you. Okay? And we will." She tried her best to convince herself that her words were sincere.

Listening from the crack he'd opened in the bedroom door, Lindsey furrowed his brow. He was grateful that Stevie had told Bella the truth, but his self doubt failed to stop gnawing at him. He resented how fast the process was, how they had such little time to prepare for Bella living with them. Much more, he resented that he, in his reluctance to admit it, needed Bella's reassurance. The prospect that she may never see him the way she saw Stevie tugged his mouth into a frown. He didn't blame either of them, but his anger felt too consuming to be left undirected. So, he chose Bella's father. Watching Stevie cradling Bella in the distance, he imagined her Father's indifference to his daughter, alone in the house,
'or what may have been a shack,' he heard his head mutter.
Toppling over himself in a bar, lurking around gas stations to rinse the sympathetic passers-by for cigarettes.
'...or crack' the snobbish voice interrupted.

Seeming to gain some control back of his anguish, he smoothed his shirt down, as it had probably been creased while he lay crumpled in the bed. He nodded to himself, satisfied with translating his upset into disgust, toward a man he'd never met.

He crept down the stairs.

"Stephanie..."

Stevie turned her head to find Lindsey standing awkwardly on the staircase.