The Cost Of Winning

FIANNA'S POV :

Ash and I are sitting at the real-estate office completing the paperwork we need to file to buy our new house, and my phone rings. I look at the display and see the number for the daycare, so I take the call, clicking on the phone and saying, "Hello, this is Fianna."

"Hello, Fianna, this is Kim Fletcher," I hear. "My husband and I were just wondering if it would be possible for both you and Mr. Purdy to come in to pick up Brenna this afternoon."

"Is something wrong?" I ask, and Ash turns his head to look at me. "She's not sick again, is she?"

"Oh no, honey, she's fine!" she assures me. "There's nothing the least bit wrong with her, it's just something we'd like to discuss with both of you."

"All right, we'll be there as soon as we finish up here. We'll see you soon."

"What was that about? Is Bren okay?" he inquires.

"She's fine, but they want both of us to come pick her up. Apparently there's something they need to talk to both of us about."

We finish up the paperwork as quickly as we can, and head back to the car, where it seems like we've been for most of the day. We dropped Bren off at day-care, then I had a doctor's appointment, and after that we went to lunch, drove out to take one more look at the house before we signed on it, and then went to get that done. As Ash drives across town, I tell him, "After we find out what this is about, and get her picked up, I wanna go home. I've spent enough time in the car for one day."

"I think that's doable," he responds. "We've got plenty of stuff to do there, too. Phone calls to make, gadgets to figure out, things like that."

The "gadget" he's referring to is the blood-pressure monitor that the obstetrician sent home with me, which I'm supposed to use at least three times a day from now on, because it was up slightly when she checked it this morning. This has, of course, made Ash somewhat nervous, and it took me the whole time we were at lunch to talk him out of trying to get the guys to postpone the tour again. I reminded him that his aunt and uncle will be there while he's gone, and promised that someone will call him if there are any problems, and he finally wound down a bit.

We pull up in front of the day-care, get out of the car, and start walking to the door, and we're about halfway there when a man comes storming out holding a little boy. He sees us coming up the walk and stops, asking, "Do you have a kid here, or you just looking for somewhere to send one?"

"Dad, that's Bren's mommy," the boy pipes up.

"Well then, I've got a friendly piece of advice for you," the guy growls, sounding anything but. "Get your kid out of here, this place is going to hell in a handcart!" He marches on toward the parking lot, and Ash and I just give each other a confused look, and go inside.

As he opens the door, a voice behind us calls out, "Hey, wait up, guys!" We both turn, and see Jeff coming toward us. As he catches up, he says, "So did they call you for a meeting, too?"

"Yeah, they did," I tell him. "Did they tell you what this is about?"

"Nope, just said that they needed to see me."

We go through the entryway into the playroom, and see Bren and Ivy playing in the corner with another kid, while some of the others play with puzzles or blocks in various spots around the room. Mr. Bobby is on the other side of the room, by the office door, and we see him stick his head in and speak to who we assume is Miss Kim. Bren looks up about the same time, spots us, and comes running, yelling, "Mommy, Daddy, comes here and sees! Ivy, yous daddy ams here, too!"

"Daddy!" Ivy shrieks, and comes charging after Bren.

Ash and Jeff sweep them up off the floor, and Ash says, "Hey there, cutie! Did you two have fun today?"

"Us have funs, Daddy! Me and Ivy gots a new boyfwend!" she chirps, and I can't keep myself from giggling at the look on both of their faces.

"Hey guys, don't stroke out on me," I say. "Save that 'til they're teenagers, when that will mean something totally different." This gets me a dirty look from both guys, and I giggle again while I kiss Bren on the nose and inquire, "And just how did you two get this new boyfriend?"

"Him is new, and Logan were mean when him wanted to play wif the boys," Ivy pipes up. "And him maked Jamie and Sam be meanies, too."

Bren nods her head so hard her hair bounces up and hits Ashley's face, adding, "Them say bad things to he, and Wogan bweaked he's wunch, so us share wif he, and wet's he pway colors wif we, so him not be sad. Him's name are Navi, him over there, come see!"

We walk toward the corner, and see a dark-skinned little boy with wavy black hair, sitting in the floor looking up at us with enormous brown eyes, still holding a purple crayon in one hand. "See, there him are! Navi, this am mines mommy and daddy!" Bren burbles. "You cans come up, them are nice, them no is meanies wike Wogan's daddy!"

"And this my daddy, him is nice, too," Ivy adds.

He puts down the crayon, stands up, and very quietly says, "Hi, I'ms Navid. Bwenna and Ivy is nice, can them be my fwends?"

"Of course they can be your friends, sweetie," I tell him. "How old are you, Navid?"

He holds up four fingers, and says, "I had my birfday wast week, so I'ms four. My mama and papa gived me a red car, and I can wides it in our yard."

Just then the door opens again, and a slightly plump woman in a blue blouse, black slacks, and a hajib comes flying across the room, followed by Mr. Bobby. She bends down to look Navid over, and mumbles something we can't make out, which he responds to, and she stands up. Mr. Bobby turns to the kids and says, "You go ahead and play, while we talk to your folks in the office, all right? Teresa will be watching you while we're busy, so do what she says."

As we turn to follow him to the office, a little red-haired boy tugs on his pants leg, and when he looks down, the boy says, "I's sorry I were naughty, Mr. Bobby, I won'ts do it no more. But Wogan say hims daddy say it okay, so why him tells Wogan to be naughty?"

"That might be a question you should ask your mom and dad, Jamie," Mr. Bobby replies. "But I will tell you that sometimes grown-ups can be naughty, too. And if you're not sure if you should really do something, you should ask a grown-up who you know will tell you the truth before you do it."

The little boy nods, and says, "Sam's mommy and daddy was weally mad at him. He don'ts get to has TV for all week, and they telled him if he do it any more, they not lets him have his birfday party."

We finally get to the office and sit down, Mr. Bobby introduces everyone, and then he and Miss Kim sit across from us and say, "As I'm sure the girls told you, there was an incident today, and we wanted to reassure you that the matter has been resolved, and we will make every effort to make sure it isn't repeated."

"They said something about some of the other kids picking on the little boy out there, if that's what you're talking about." Jeff remarks.

"Yes, that's it," Miss Kim sighs. "It seems that Logan's father has been filling his head with some rather unfortunate ideas, and he managed to convince some of the other boys that it was all right to act on them. He taught them some very inappropriate words to use against Navid, and unfortunately ruined his lunch before Teresa could stop him."

"I was hoping he wouldn't have to see this yet," his mother, who was introduced as Bita, says, displaying a slight accent. "It's bad enough that my older son has to put up with these things in school, but for people to fill little children's minds with prejudice is even worse."

"Couldn't agree more," Jeff tells her. "I've gotten my share of remarks myself, for being married to a black woman, and having a mixed-race child, and I'd really like to keep it from her as long as I can, so this is definitely not okay."

Miss Kim smiles, and says, "Then I think you'll all be glad to know that Brenna and Ivy took it on themselves to go to Navid and try to comfort him, and shared their lunches, all without even being asked, and they've all been playing very nicely together since then. You have two very thoughtful, generous little girls, and I'm hoping that they'll be an example to the other kids on how they should treat people. You should be very proud of them."

"Trust me, we are," Ash replies.

We go back out to get the girls, and Jeff swoops Ivy up to sit on his shoulder, asking, "Since you were such a good girl today, why don't we call Karla and Cody and go get some fro-yo?" Then he turns to Ash and says, "Heck, we could all go, unless you guys have plans."

He looks at me, remembering that I wanted to go home, and I see Smidge giving us her very best puppy-eyes, so I nod, and then turn to Bita and Navid and say, "You're welcome to come along, if you like. If the kids are going to be friends, we should probably get acquainted."

"We don't want to intrude," she answers.

Everyone assures her that won't be the case, so she calls to find out what time her older boy will be home from sports practice, and agrees to go, which makes the kids happy. As we walk out to the parking lot, she touches my shoulder and says, "We've lived here only for a short time, and still aren't familiar with some American things. Please to explain, what is this 'fro-yo' the children are so excited to have?"

"It's sort of like ice-cream, I'm pretty sure you'll like it," I tell her.

So we all go to have fro-yo, which they do enjoy, and make arrangements for Navid to go to the stables one day, so Bren can show him Daisy, before everyone splits up for home. When we get back to our place, the first thing Ash does is pull the monitor out of the box, figure out how it operates, and watch while I check my blood pressure. Bren is watching as I do it, still prattling about how much fun they had, and Ash looks at her and says, "Funny, I seem to remember you telling me the other day that boys were icky."

"Some of they ams ucky, Daddy. But Navi are nice, and Jamie and Sam pwomise them wills no more be meanies, since Wogan's daddy say he no more cans go to ours school. Some boys ams not ucky, and me will be they's fwend if them are nice."

Ash grins as I reach into my purse for the paper I got from the doctor this morning, and I say, "Well, I guess that's good, since you're going to have another boy to play with soon."

She looks puzzled, and asks, "Who him is? Do he wives by ours new house?"

I open the envelope, take out the ultrasound picture, and put her hand on my stomach. "No, Smidge, he's right here, and we should get to see him just a little while after your next birthday," I say. "See, here's his picture."

Her mouth opens up, and her eyes get big. "Me gets a bubby, too, wike yous gots, Mommy? What hims name is?"

"We haven't picked out a name yet, cutie," Ash explains. "We'll have to think of something good. So does that mean you're happy?"

"Me ams happy, Daddy! Me wikes to has a bubby, and him won'ts wants to takes mines room away, or mines toys, cause him not a wittle girl. This ams even gooder than hasing a new boyfriend!"

She dashes off to color a picture for her new brother, and I see a strange look on Ashley's face as he watches her. "Babe, is something wrong?" I ask.

"I was just thinking about what you said earlier," he mutters. "What the hell are we going to do when she gets old enough to want an actual boyfriend?"

"Trust that she's learned what we'll teach her, about having respect for herself, and not letting anyone push her into anything," I explain. "And hope that she inherits my taste in men."

His eyebrows go up so high I almost expect to see them fly over the top of his head, and I have to laugh as he says, sounding slightly alarmed, "Really, darlin'? I've met myself, and that thought isn't entirely reassuring."

Notes