Meet Your New Stepfather

The grown woman stood in the hallway of the hospital. She had just called her boss and said she would not be back today, and she had called her husband to tell him what was going on, he was leaving work and coming straight to the hospital. She had called her kids to let the two oldest ones that were doing high school classes online know her and their daddy would be late so they would have to look after their younger brothers when they got off the school bus. Last she had called her little brother and told him to come as soon as he could. He was on his way with his girlfriend, with traffic this time of day no one would be here for hours. After all that she just needed to take a breath before she went back in the room, it was going to be a really long day.

She had been taking long lunches all week so she could come to the hospital and sit with her Step father. Her boss had been very understanding of the long lunches and that she wasn't coming back today which was a big plus. Her step father had told her she didn't have to do that but she could tell he was happy she was there. Yesterday she had brought the two older kids with her and he loved that.

The doctor had worked out that she was here at lunch time and had started coming then she could be with her step father when he delivered news. The news had not been good since she started coming. His pace maker had been doing a great job for years, then it had trouble. Her little brother brought him in for the simple procedure to switch it out. Nothing had gone well since then. There had been complications with the surgical procedure and he had slipped a little every day since. Today the doctor said they were not likely to be able to reverse things. He had told him if he didn't have a will they could get him one to fill out. And they were going to increase the oxygen they were giving him by putting on a whole face mask contraption that would force the air into his lungs. After they did that he wouldn't really be able to talk to anyone. That is why she called her husband and her little brother so they could talk to him before they put it on, they were waiting until every one had a chance to talk to him. The nurse was coming down the hall with papers in her hand, it was time to go back in.

First things first she helped him fill out his will. Simple enough. He did not want life support and he wanted to be do not resuscitate, DNR was put on his chart, his wrist band and in several places around the room. As far as his belongings he wanted them all to go to her little brother. She filled it all in for him then he signed it and she signed as a witness and so did the nurse.

The nurse left and then it was just them for however long it took for anyone else to get here. He asked her if she was ok with the will. She said of course she was. He told her that he was afraid her mother would cause trouble for his little brother getting everything. She told him not to worry she would be there and she would make sure everything he wanted to happen in that will would happen. He smiled at her, he said that he knew she could handle her mother.

"There is something else Sugar".

"Anything" she said.

"The boy wants to get married, you know how your mom is. I'm afraid she will do something to ruin it for him."

"I will be there, I will not let her ruin anything. I am under no illusions about who she is or what she is capable of. I will head off her stupidity. I never understood why you married her in the first place, but I'm glad you did."

" Well at first she was really charming, I guess I didn't know her until the boy was born and then i wasn't going to leave. It really didn't occur to me who she was until she came back from the wedding without you. I guess that's when i knew it was over. But given what happened when she divorced your dad I had to wait till the boy was grown." She knew those words would haunt her but she just couldn't deal with them now. She had to be here for him now and her little brother when he got here.

She must have been caught in thought because when he talked it surprised her. "I owe you an apology Princess."

"Cant imagine for what."

"I let your mother talk me into things that I never should have. They weren't legal and they weren't right. I really believed the things she said about your dad, I know now how little of what she said was ever true. At the time I really thought I was doing the right thing for you."

She was not expect that. She had to take a minute before she answered. "I know how convincing she can be. And I always knew you were doing what you thought was best for me. I knew that from the first time I saw you on that playground." That made him smile, she always loved that his whole face smiled when she made him smile, even his eyes, even on this day. He seemed at peace after that and spent. She just let him drift off. When she knew he was asleep the tears came. It had been a long day and she couldn't keep the tears in anymore. Her mind drifted back to that first time they met...

The little girl stepped out of the school and the cold took her breath away. She was not used to northern Minnesota winter. South Dakota had winter but not like this. The school was ok. Like all the others really, just colder. One thing that made this one different was that it had a movie theater. There was a movie every Friday. It was a reward for good behavior. There was a point system, every time you did something bad you lost points, you had to have enough left at the end of the week to get into the movie. The little girl hadn't been inside the theater yet. But at least today she got to go out to recess.

The unexpected result of going to recess with kids who are bundled up in snowmobile suits and ski masks was that the girl really didn't know what any of the kids who were not in her class looked like. And in turn they never really saw her face as it was wrapped up in a scarf. She liked the anonymity. She liked it that very few people at this school had asked her about the warts on her face. When she was little she had warts all over her. Her mother took her to the Dr and they froze most of them off. But there were four that were on her cheek and therefore too close to her eye to freeze them .They made a square just below her eye. She hated being asked about them.

She was not very good with names, probably mostly because she didn't even try to learn the names of kids at a new school anymore. It just wasn't worth it given that next week she could be at a new school with all new names to learn. At this school she was able to keep everyone straight by their coats. Her favorite playmate was the kid in the red snowmobile suit. He didn't ask any questions and he was funny.

They would make big snow forts and play war off in the corner of the playground. They would have so much fun she would almost forget that she was freezing. She had not really gotten warm in months it seemed.

On this day she was surprised to find it was just a little bit warmer. Still bitter cold but any gain was good. She found her friend and they started to play. They were very involved in the German invasion when the man walked up to them.

The man was very tall. He had on jeans and a brown leather jacket. He looked cold. He had a beard and very kind eyes. He instantly made the girl think of a big teddy bear. She was surprised when he spoke to her. “Someone wants to see you” he said. His voice was just as kind as his eyes and without a second thought the girl followed him right off the playground and across the street to the waiting brown truck.

As soon as she rounded the truck the girl knew she had made a mistake. Her mother was there waiting. The man was very close by her and she was boxed in. She really had no choice but to get in the truck. At least the heat was on full blast so it was warm in the truck.

As they drove away her mother introduced the girl to her new stepfather and told her they were going to his house in South Dakota. Then her mother told her if she wanted they could stop at her dad's house so she could get her things.

The girl knew this was a trap. Her mother had come to the school so she probably didn't know where the house was. That meant that her dad and her siblings were safe. She knew her mother wanted her dad to get arrested then she could have all of the kids. While she hated the thought of being alone again she would never give her mother any information that would hurt her dad.

They drove right past the house as they left town. The girl willed herself not to even glance at it. She would not give her mother any ammunition to use against her dad.

As they left town and headed South on the highway the girl wanted to cry but she didn't. She did not want to give her mother the satisfaction of knowing she was upset. She just sat there in between them looking straight ahead. She didn't talk to them but she did listen. She heard that her new stepfather was in the air force. She heard that he had a cat named Shotze that he had gotten in when he was stationed in Germany. She heard that he lived in Rapid City and that was where they were going to live and be a family.

The girl was fuming on the inside. She was very angry at her mother for ruining everything again. She made up her mind to hate the cat and her new room. She wasn't sure yet about her stepfather he seemed like a nice enough guy but she would probably hate him too.

The girl had to hand it to her mother she had learned from her mistakes in the past. She had figured out that when you kidnap kids you should not let them sit by the door.

The girl wanted to scream at her mother. She even wanted to yell at the nice man driving who was apparently her new stepfather. Which was a whole other topic she just did not want to think about right now. How could her mother just go and get married without even telling them. Who was this guy and why would he marry her mother. She had learned that her mother didn't care if she screamed at her. Nothing was going to change how today turned out. She just sat there and said nothing. She knew her dad would come get her.

Her dad was the only one who actually listened to what she wanted. He was also the only one who had ever asked her what she wanted. He had already saved her more than once. He would come get her. She just had to tough it out till then.

They drove straight through until they were out of Minnesota. They stopped at a hotel in eastern South Dakota. That night after her mother and new stepfather were asleep she cried. She cried because she was not in her room with her sister. She wondered how they found out she was gone. Had the school told them? Did the police come to the school? She wondered if they were sad too.

She cried because she was angry. She couldn't believe she had been stupid enough to walk off the playground with a total stranger. Maybe when she told her brothers she would leave that part out. He could have grabbed her and dragged her as far as they knew.

She was angry that she couldn't get away and go home. She hated it that she was just a kid. She did not want to live with her mother ever again. The law said that she could make up her own mind when she was twelve. And she had decided from the beginning that she wanted to live with her dad and her siblings. She just had to wait till she was 12.