Stranger

Lin

I left Nora's room fuming. I couldn't believe the kind of nerve that kid had. If I'd spoken that way to my father, I'd be dead. I walked to the master bedroom and again locked her skateboard in the safe. I was tempted to toss it in the fireplace.

After closing the closet, I collapsed onto my bed, letting my hands run over my forehead. I never knew parenting could be this frustrating. I knew I should be helping Vanessa with bedtime, but I was just too angry. I needed a few minutes to myself. Soon, Vanessa closed Sebastian's door and came into our room, shutting the door. She laid down next to me and began rubbing her hand up and down my chest.

"Are you okay?" She asked me gently after a minute.

I shook my head. "I don't know what to do with her," I admitted. "I really don't. I don't know how to get her to change her decision making process. She goes from 0 to 60 in just a few seconds."

"I know," she agreed with me. "That's how she's survived up until now. We don't understand it, but that's her reality. We just need to be patient and give her consistent consequences."

"It doesn't seem to be working," I admitted.

"She's only been with us a month," Vanessa pointed out. "It's not going to be a quick fix. It will get better."

I stared up at the ceiling, thinking. "You don't think she'd ever hurt the boys, do you?"

"No, I don't," she told me immediately. We'd both seen her with the boys. At first, she'd been very unsure and awkward, but now she played with them easily. She adored the boys and would never intentionally hurt them.

"Well, that's a deal breaker," I told her. "If she ever hurts Sebastian or Francisco..."

"What? You're going to send her back into foster care?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "Not that, but something would have to give."

Vanessa sighed and pushed herself up. "She's your daughter. Our daughter. We're going to get through this. Maybe she needs to start going to therapy or something. We haven't tried that out yet."

I pictured Nora sitting on a therapists' couch, refusing to answer questions. "Something tells me she won't go for that."

Vanessa shrugged. "Might be worth a shot," she said as she went to the bathroom to brush her teeth.

___

The next morning, Vanessa had an early meeting so I was left to get all three kids ready for the day. Sebastian was being particularly difficult. I gave him a task to do, like brush his teeth, and he got distracted 5 seconds later. Finally, I just had to put Franky in his Pack and Play, which he loudly protested, and brushed Sebastian's teeth myself. I took him to his room and directed him to put on every piece of clothing one at a time.

Nora was in the bathroom, her t-shirt pulled up as she put fresh bandages on her wounds. The band-aids from last night looked pretty soiled. As I walked by again, I noticed she was struggling to take her bandages off her back.

"Need help?" I offered, though I really did not want to be interacting with her. I was still pissed off about last night.

"Sure," she said, pulling up her shirt in the back a bit more. I ripped off the bandages as fast as I could to cause as little pain as possible. I probably wasn't as gentle as I could have been. She winced at each rip. I then quickly washed her back off with a paper towel and dried it, then began applying her bandages.

"Was it really worth all this?" I couldn't help but ask, observing the damage up close. She didn't answer. When I'd finished, I pulled her shirt down and dropped the wrappers in the trash. "You better get a move on," I told her. "School starts in 15."