The Next Chapter

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Okay, we're starting the sequel for A Fresh Start. This will probably be slow going as I want to make sure I tell Marie's story well and appropriately. I'd like to thank all of my readers from A Fresh Start and their stories about their children with Autism. Your recollections will help me tremendously in Marie's story. I'm an educator and I'm familiar with the educational ramifications of Autism, but not living with a child with Autism on a day to day basis.

Anyhow, Twilight is not mine. Never will be mine. Ever. *WAAAH!* David, Lizzie and Marie are mine in a literary sense. Ren, too.

I had a reviewer who said I hadn't done my research. Now, I'm an educator and I've dealt with children with autism. I've also read up about the topic (the fifty pages of research were riveting reading. Ha!) Do not say that an author has not done research until you've spoken to them. That assumption hurt me and ultimately made me quite upset. If you have comment along those lines, use the PM function. Send me a message. Please. No one likes to be embarrassed and that's how I felt when that one reviewer said I hadn't done my research when in actuality, I had. I'm not usually one for epic author's notes, but this has been ragging on me since I got the review.

Soap box moment done.

On with the story...

Chapter Eleven: Baby, It's Cold Outside

BPOV

The next few weeks passed by quickly. I had gone to my appointments with Michele to discuss my feelings surrounding my mother's return. I pretty much accepted that she was a fucking bitch and would never be the mother that I wanted her to be. Thankfully, she hadn't come back to our house after Thanksgiving. If she had, I would have gone bat shit crazy on her.

In addition to my own therapy, we had begun to take Marie to see Dr. Didyme Marcus. The drive sucked, but she was a phenomenal doctor. It also helped that she was closer to Esme and Carlisle's age and was in a committed relationship with her partner, Ariadne, for over thirty years. Marie warmed up to Dr. Marcus immediately. They were more like old friends than a four-year old patient and her doctor. Dr. Di, as she liked to be called, said that Marie had an old soul but a buoyant personality. Our schedule with Dr. Di was pretty flexible but in a way, strict. We met with her once a week halfway between Albany and Sherryville. The times were the flexible part of our time together. However, we knew that we would meet with her every Wednesday.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, Marie had speech therapy with a local speech pathologist. On Mondays, we had occupational and physical therapy. OT/PT was not really needed but we wanted to fine tune her fine motor skills. Marie was a bit clumsier than Lizzie and David.

Before I knew it, it was the week of the Christmas Ball. Charlie and Sue had flown in from Seattle. They were taking their 'vacation' through Christmas before flying to Portland the day after Christmas to spend some time with Leah and her family. Leah and Jared, her husband, were going to be in Santa Fe for the holidays, spending time with Jared's family. Sue was taking Marie to her speech appointment and while Charlie took the other two ice skating at a local rink. I was forced to go to the dress shop, After Twilight Designs, to pick up my dress for the Christmas Ball.

I parked Edward's Volvo in front of the dress shop. Sue had her rental car while Charlie had my Audi to taxi around David and Lizzie. Edward begrudgingly drove to work in his Vanquish. He loved that car but hated it at the same time. Once it hit December, he wanted to keep it in storage. BUT, having my parents in town kind of prohibited that. I could see the wheels in his head. Edward was probably looking to get another car. Why? I have no clue. We are two people. We do not need four cars. What the hell?