Chapter 15

 

The next day was Mortimer and Dina’s day in divorce court. Raven and I decided to sit in the anteroom during the hearing since we assumed it was our best bet to going home and we had nothing better to do. Mortimer and Dina had left their home before we had gotten up. I was a little disappointed, not because we couldn’t find the courthouse - it was the only one in town - but because I wanted to see them leave. I could see Mortimer pulling Dina to get her to go - that would have been hilarious.

There hadn’t been much of anything happening. From what I could hear, Dina was the one who was doing most of the yelling and Mortimer was remaining civil. The only fighting I could hear them both participate in was over the issue of child custody. Most of the time we sat reading a pamphlet titled “Strangetown and the Law” that explained the super quick legal system of the town. Apparently, the paranormal activity of the town had interfered with legal procedures, so any legal activities had to happen fast in order to work around the rapidly changing situations. The fact that Strangetown was a small town in the middle of nowhere allowed things to work that way. If everything went smoothly, the divorce could be done by the end of the day, but based on the raised female voice I kept hearing every 15 minutes I seriously doubted that would happen.

“You know, if you‘re eavesdropping it would be better to stand by the door,” said a familiar voice. Raven and I looked up from the pamphlet to see Bella standing in front of us. I was shocked to see her here.

“Don’t worry, we’re not listening,” Raven said. “We just had nothing better to do.”

“I was only kidding about that,” Bella said. A smile crossed her face.

“What are you doing here?” I asked. Then I realized what I had just said. “Sorry, sometimes things just slip out of my mouth before I think about them.”

“That‘s okay,” Bella said, taking the seat to my left. “Jessica‘s the same way. I‘ve gotten used to it. That‘s a legitimate question though. If Dina found me here she‘d rip me to shreds.”

“We planned a way to avoid that,” I said. Bella looked relieved.

“Do you know anything about her besides the fact that she‘s… difficult?” Bella asked.

“There are plenty of words I could use to describe that woman,” I told her, “but they‘re pretty much all profane so I‘m going to refrain from saying them.”

“Yeah, I figured that much out as well,” Bella said.

“So what are you doing here?” Raven asked.

“I don‘t know,” Bella replied. “I guess this is somewhere I thought I should be.”

“Maybe you thought you should be here to support him,” I said.

“I think you‘re right,” Bella said. “By the way, we never got the chance to formally introduce ourselves. I‘m Bella Goth.”

“I‘m Joan.”

“I‘m Raven.”

We shook hands and sat in silence for a moment.

“You know, I never quit loving him,” Bella said. “Even when I didn‘t remember him, the feeling must have been inside me the whole time. I started to realize it a few months ago.”

“Is that when your memory came back?” I asked.

“It didn‘t come back all at once,” she said, “I just got bits and pieces at a time. The first things I remembered were from when I was a child. I remembered where I lived - my house, my town, my school - and then there was this boy. He was my best friend and we spent a lot of time together and every time I thought of a memory of him, I got this feeling I didn‘t know how to place. It was like I never felt it before. And then, as I remembered more from when I was older, I realized I knew that feeling - I realized that I was in love.”

I had no response, so I just listened to what she had to say. She closed her eyes for a moment and when they opened, they were beginning to fill.

“And then I remembered that I had married him,” she continued, “and that we had kids and…” She paused and closed her eyes again as tears came out. Raven reached for a tissue box and handed it to her. “It was just so hard.” She took a tissue and wiped her eyes as the tears came. “Family is the most important thing to me, and I missed them so much. I didn‘t even get to raise my second child….” She was crying so hard she couldn’t even talk.

“It‘s okay, Bella,” I told her. “We‘re here for you.”

For a while we just sat there. I didn’t know if Bella would mind if I held her hand or anything, so I just made sure she knew I was there and my presence was enough to comfort her.

“What about you?” Bella said to change the subject. “What are you doing here?”

“Same reason you are,” I said. “We‘re not sure but we thought we should be here.”

“Why‘s that?” Bella asked.

There was no avoiding it - I had to tell her the truth. She had just spent the last five or so minutes crying next to me, and I wasn’t going to lie to her. It wasn’t like we were in a situation where revealing our true identities would put any of us in danger, and Bella deserved to know. After all, this was about her.

I squeezed Raven’s hand and when she contacted me telepathically I thought I’m telling her the truth. Raven didn’t say anything - she just nodded.

“Raven and I are actually superheroes from an alternate world,” I said, “We live with our teammates in San Francisco, and the last time we were there, it was the year 2009.”

“I know this may sound crazy,” Raven said, “but just hear us out, okay?” Bella nodded. She didn’t look shocked or anything. She just listened.

“Lighting hit the lighting rod at our house and we randomly found our selves here a few days ago. Based on the date of our arrival, we figured it had something to do with you.”

“What day did you get here?” Bella asked.

“The 23rd,” Raven said.

“So you knew what was going to happen on the 24th?”

“Somewhat,” I answered. “We knew Joanna would find you at the spa and reunite you with your family, but everything that happened after that we didn‘t know about. We don‘t know what we’re doing here or how to get home, so we figured the best thing to do would be to just watch what happens. That‘s why we‘re here.”

Bella nodded. She looked calm and didn’t show any sign of amazement or disbelief.

“You‘re not, like, freaking out on the inside, are you?” I asked.

“No, I believe you,” Bella said. “This is Strangetown. These kinds of things happen here all the time.”

“There was one other place we visited before coming here,” Raven said. I squeezed her hand.

What is it? she asked.

Are you sure you want to tell her this? I asked.

Yes, Raven told me, she should know.

I nodded and Raven continued.

“That place was Pleasantview,” she said, “in April of 1994.”

“We saw the whole thing,” I added. Bella closed her eyes. Were her tears coming back?

“There was nothing we could have done to prevent the abduction,” I told her. “We left the day after it happened, and when we did it was like we were never there.”

“I see,” Bella said, her eyes watering, but not releasing any tears. “And then you found yourselves here?”

“Exactly,” I said.

“Should I keep this a secret?” Bella asked.

“If you know of any one who could help us figure out what happened to us,” I said, “you can tell them. Otherwise, don‘t say anything.”

“Don‘t worry,” Bella told us, “I won’t. Do you have any place to stay?”

“We‘ve been spending the night in the desert,” Raven said.

“That‘s ridiculous,” Bella replied. “You shouldn‘t have to sleep on the ground. I‘m moving out of Lauren and Jessica‘s apartment later today and I‘ll ask them if they know a place where you can stay. Would you like to help me move out?”

“Sure,” I said. “We‘d love to help out. And thanks for helping us find a place to stay.”

“It‘s no problem,” Bella said. “So what‘s being a superhero like?”

“I love it,” I said. “We get to go to new places and do amazing things and sometimes things are crazy, but that‘s what I enjoy about it.”

“Where have you traveled?” Bella asked.

“Lots of places,” Raven said.

“Like Tokyo,” I added.

“Paris.”

“The Amazon Rain forest.”

“Siberia.”

“We even went to the Arctic Circle once. The auroras were amazing,” I said.

“Sounds like you‘ve had a lot of adventures,” Bella said. “So can you do anything special?” she asked curiously.

“She can,” I said, “but I don‘t have any powers - I grew up normal. I know a lot about physical combat though. Don‘t worry, I’d never fight someone unless they’re doing something evil.”

“How long did you live a normal life?” Bella asked me.

“I joined the team when I was 14. I‘m actually really lucky - I‘m the only member of the team who has parents living in the same country as me.”

“Do your parents live in Chicago?”

“Yeah.”

“Your parents must worry about you,” Bella said.

“Yeah, I guess they do. But I go home regularly so it‘s not like I never see them. We go there for Christmas, and things like that.”

“I see,” Bella said. “I can relate to your current situation - I know how you feel. The first thing I remember about Strangetown is waking up in an empty part of town. I had no idea where I was and the only things I knew were my name and my birthday. I didn‘t know what to do, so I started walking through town. Lauren and Jessica were the ones who noticed that I was lost. They were driving somewhere, but they pulled over when they saw me on the side of the road. They took me in and we became best friends, and in a way, like sisters.” Raven and I nodded. We knew the feeling. It was the way we felt about each other.

“That reminds me,” I said, “Bella, I don‘t think he stopped loving you either.”

“How can you tell?” Bella asked.

“Well, two of our teammates have been in a relationship for three years,” I explained, “but for a while before that, they had feelings for each other but just didn’t know it. I‘ve seen it so much that I can tell when that kind of thing is going on and when you looked at each other for the first time on Christmas Eve, it was the strongest look I‘d ever seen.”

“And between him and Dina?”

“Yeah, there‘s nothing.”

“I could see that as well,” Bella said. “I just wanted to see what you had to say.”

“Yeah, that makes sense,” I said.

“She‘s coming!” Raven said as she stood up. I did the same. “I can sense things,” she explained, “and right now I sense that Dina‘s coming.”

“So what‘s the plan?” Bella asked as she got out of her seat.

“We get out of here,” I said.

We left the anteroom of the courtroom and walked down a hallway. We were on the second floor and the stairs were at the end of the hallway.

“They must be taking a break,” Raven said. “There‘s no way they can be done. Dina‘s about to leave the courtroom.”

I felt nervous as soon as she said that. Dina was about to enter an area where she could see us, and we were nowhere near the stairs. Sure, I could hold my own against her, but I would rather avoid her at all costs. At the end of the hall I saw a door slide open and someone step out of a small room. The elevator! If we could just reach it before the doors closed, we’d be out of sight.

“Hurry up,” I said, “we’ve gotta catch the elevator!” We started running for the end of the hallway.

“She‘s at the anteroom door,” Raven informed us as we got closer.

The elevator doors started to close, but we were closing in on our target. I heard the courtroom door open and the three of us made a mad dash to the elevator. We reached the doors and they opened as soon as I stuck my hand in between them. We raced inside and moved to where we couldn’t be seen. I hit the door close button and Bella hit the button for the ground floor. As the doors closed, I saw a flash of blond hair.

We relaxed as the elevator started moving down.

“That was close,” I said.

The elevator reached the first floor and the doors opened to reveal that Mortimer was standing right in front of it. I was startled and jumped. We all must have looked shocked, because we didn’t move. We were acting like we had been caught trying to sneak something past somebody.

“Wait,” I asked, “how?”

“Relax,” Mortimer said, “I knew you were here the whole time.”

“What?” we all said at the same time. We stepped out of the elevator.

“I knew you‘d want to stay away from Dina, so I raced down the stairs to meet you here,” he continued as we left the building. For all we knew, Dina was probably heading down on that same elevator.

“How did you know?” Bella asked him.

“I went to use the bathroom and noticed you crying,” he said.

“And you didn‘t say anything?”

“I was in the middle of proceedings.” He smiled at her. “Besides you didn‘t need me. You already had a couple friends who were there for you.”

 

Chapter 16

 

“Can you believe Dina got custody of Anne?” I asked Raven as we got off an elevator on the fourth floor of Lauren and Jessica’s apartment building. After we left the courthouse, we had gone back to Cassandra’s house to grab a few things and then came to the apartment building where Lauren and Jessica lived. We were helping Bella move out of the apartment, and had just finished loading a couple of boxes of stuff out to Cassandra’s van. She had taken out, or rather had her husband take out, the two rows of back seats to make room for the stuff we had to move across town. Even though she wouldn’t be much help in her current condition, Cassandra insisted on coming. She was mainly supervising - telling us what to pack, when to load it, and where to place it. She even had Amanda helping out by letting her carry some small things.

Bella didn’t have much time to pack her stuff, so we had to do that for her as well. We had finished with most of the small things and had placed them in another car that Alexander and Randy drove back to their house. Bella had talked to both of her children earlier, and they agreed that she and Mortimer would move in with them. Dina and Anne would still live across the street. While we were placing the last load in that car, Mortimer had called Cassandra, and that’s when we received the alarming news about Dina and Anne, along with the news that the divorce was final.

“No,” Raven said. “What were they thinking?”

We walked in the fifth door to the right, the one that was open so we could go in and out of Bella’s apartment easily.

“You can help Amanda with the shoes,” Cassandra said. “That‘s the last box, and then we‘ll move the bigger stuff.” Raven and I nodded and then headed off to the bedroom Bella used.

The apartment was bigger than most of the ones I had seen, but it was small for one with three bedrooms. There was a living area and attached to that was a small kitchenette with a dining space. Beyond that was a hall that had four doors. One door led to the bathroom, and the other three led to the bedrooms. We walked the full length of the hall and through the door on the end. Amanda was in the empty room opening large a box to put the shoes in.

“Oh, and did you hear the reason they gave?” I asked as we started packing pair after pair of cheap flip-flops, sneakers, and dressy shoes in to the box. “That there would be too many people in his house if he got custody. I mean come on! That‘s bull…” I stopped, remembering that there was a five year-old that could hear us, “…loney and you know it!”

“How did she even get custody?” Raven asked me.

“I don‘t know, she probably bribed them.”

“What I don‘t understand is why she would want custody anyway,” Raven said as she rearranged the shoes in the box so we could fit more in. “I mean she doesn‘t seem to care about Anne. Why would she bribe them to give custody of the girl to her?”

“Because as long as she has custody he has to pay her child support.”

“So it all comes back to money.”

“With her it always does.” I placed the last of the dress shoes in the box and moved on to the flip-flops. “And then there‘s what she‘ll get out of the pre-nups, which I don‘t know how much it is, but I would think it would be something after five years.”

“Are you talking about Dina?” Amanda asked us. We stopped packing and looked at her.

“Yeah,” I said. “Why?”

“Mom says she‘s a ‘money grubber who is the lowest piece of scum on Earth.’”

“Did she know you were around when she said that?” I asked as I went back to packing shoes.

“She was talking on the phone, but she turned around and saw me and said ‘never tell your grandfather I said that.’”

Amanda put the last shoe in the box and Raven and I closed it. Then we lugged it in to the hallway. Amanda lowered her voice to a near whisper as we walked into the living room.

“I also heard her talking to Grandma earlier and she said that the only reason Dina married Grandpa was so she could get her hands on his money.”

“Amanda Michelle Goth!” We turned to see Cassandra in the apartment doorway heading right for Amanda. “How in the world did you hear me say that?”

“I was listening to you from the doorway.”

“How did you learn about eavesdropping? Don‘t you know that‘s a bad thing to do?”

“Anne told me. She does it to her mom all the time.”

“Well her mom‘s a… I‘m not going to say it.” Cassandra looked Amanda directly in the eyes. “Never tell anybody I said that again. Do you understand?”

“Yes Mom.”

“Good. Now go ask Grandma to open the car so Joan and Raven can put the box in there. We‘ll need everyone to help with the book shelves.” Cassandra turned around and headed out the door. We followed her.

Amanda asked Bella if she could open the van as the four of us got into the elevator. Once inside, Raven and I put the box on the floor. That thing weighed a ton.

“How can shoes be so heavy?” I asked.

“Joan, there are at least 30 pairs in there,” Raven said.

“I know, but like two-thirds of them are flip-flops.”

“Am I ever going to see Anne again?” Amanda asked.

“Of course, Amanda,” Bella told her. “She‘ll still live right across the street, and Grandpa will let her come over whenever she wants.”

“That great!” Amanda said.

The elevator doors opened and we picked up the box and walked out to the car.

“This is why I never put all of my shoes in one place,” I said as we placed the box on the floor in front of the passenger seat.

We went back up to the apartment and started removing shelves from the bookshelves.

“Does anyone know where I put my glasses?” Cassandra asked as she entered the room.

“On top of your head,” I said.

“Oh, great,” Cassandra said. She took her glasses and put them on her face. “The one place I thought I‘d never put them.”

“Cassandra, you need to get some rest,” Bella said. She dropped what she was doing and went to Cassandra’s side. “Your poor baby doesn‘t need the stress.” Bella placed her hand on her daughter’s stomach. “You should just wait outside by the van.”

Amanda got up from the floor and ran to her mother.

“Can I feel it too?” she asked.

“Of course, honey,” Cassandra said.

Amanda placed one hand on her mother’s stomach and immediately looked shocked.

“It kicked me!” she exclaimed.

“It‘s been doing that all day,” Cassandra said as she placed her hand over Amanda’s.

“Come on Amanda,” Bella said. “Let‘s let your mother rest.” Bella got down and gave her daughter’s belly a quick kiss. Cassandra looked confused. “Now the baby knows it‘s loved.”

“Where did you learn that?” Cassandra asked.

“Lauren‘s sister, when she was pregnant,” Bella replied. “Her husband did the same thing except he kissed her all over her stomach.” We all started laughing at that.

“Okay,” Cassandra said, “I‘ll go wait by the van.” She gave Amanda a kiss on the check before she left and Amanda kissed her mother back on her stomach.

“I love the baby too.”

We went to work on the book shelves. As we removed the shelving, Bella and Amanda took the slabs of wood out to the van. There were two units, and Lauren and Jessica took one and Raven and I got the other. Only one unit would fit in the elevator at a time so we let Lauren and Jessica go first. When the elevator came back up, Bella was inside ready to give us a hand.

“Do you need help with that?” she asked as we entered the elevator.

“No,” Raven said, “we’ve got it.”

As soon as the doors closed, we let go of the unit and Raven started to hold it telekinetically. I started laughing.

“That‘s really convenient,” Bella said, and she started laughing too.

“I told you we've got this,” I said, and I started laughing as well.

The elevator announced that it had reached the first floor and we went back to physically carrying the unit. Bella helped us move it out of the building and put it in the van. Then we went back up to get Bella’s desk - the last thing we needed to move. On it was one single sheet of paper.

“Bella, do you need this?” Jessica asked, holding the paper in the air.

“Yes, that‘s my resignation notice,” Bella said as she took the paper from her friend. “I‘m handing it in to work tomorrow.”

“You‘re not going to work anymore?” Amanda asked.

“No,” Bella told her. “I‘m going to stay home with Grandpa and watch you while your Mom and Dad are at work.”

“Doesn‘t Mortimer work?” Lauren asked.

“He retired early,” Bella said.

“You can do that?” Jessica asked, her eyes wide.

“Only if you‘re rich,” Lauren said.

We then picked up the desk and brought it out to the van. Bella’s friends gave her a hug.

“Feel free to come to our house anytime,” Bella said. “You‘re always welcome there.”

 

Chapter 17

 

Lauren and Jessica invited Raven and I to stay with them. They didn’t have much, but now that Bella had moved out they had a spare room with an extra bed along with a sofa, and running water, which was all Raven and I really needed.

Once we had packed all of Bella’s things into Cassandra’s van, Bella, Cassandra and Amanda went home. Lauren had driven Amanda because Cassandra’s van only had the two front seats. On the way, she stopped at Swirl’s to grab some ice cream, and when she came back, she put it in the freezer so we could eat it cold.

Raven and I placed our things in Bella’s old room and we each took a shower, our first one that wasn’t in a public bathroom in who knew how long. When Raven came out, she asked where she could find a hair dryer.

“We don‘t have one,” Lauren said.

“Why do you need a hair dryer anyway?” I asked my best friend. “We‘re in the desert - just walk outside and your hair‘s dry in two seconds.”

“Yeah,” Jessica said, “In this place a hair dryer is a luxury we can‘t afford.”

We also decided that since Lauren and Jessica were nice enough to let us stay with them, we should tell them the truth about us. We sat down at the small, round dining table and told them over the ice cream. They reacted the same way Bella had - like it was no big deal.

“That is so awesome!” Jessica said. “The superhero part, not the getting stuck here part.”

“Well, we figured that since you were letting us stay in your apartment you deserved to know,” I said, taking a bite of ice cream. It was cookies and cream - my favorite.

“Thanks again for letting us stay here,” Raven said.

“It‘s no problem,” Lauren said. “I love living with friends. I even miss Bella already, and she only left 45 minutes ago.”

“We‘re really happy for our friend,” Jessica said, “but we‘re going to miss living with her.”

“I‘m going to miss her cooking,” Lauren said. “I really don‘t want to eat microwave meals everyday.”

“You don‘t have to,” I told them. “Bella said you could come to her house any time. I‘m sure if you asked she would be glad to have dinner with you.”

“I can‘t wait to taste what she and Mortimer make together,” Jessica said popping a small marshmallow into her mouth. “It‘s sure to taste amazing!”

“Just like marshmallows with ice cream?” Lauren teased playfully.

“Oh, stop,” Jessica said. She gave Lauren a friendly shove. “I know it looks crazy, but I love eating marshmallows with ice cream.”

“It‘s okay,” I said. “We all have our crazy habits. I like to eat ice.”

“Me too!” Jessica exclaimed. “I‘m serious about Bella though. She‘s like the best cook we know.”

“She would always take random stuff out of the back of the fridge and make something that was delicious,” Lauren explained, “and she had no idea how she did it until she got her memory back.”

“We can‘t tell you how happy we are that she found her family,” Jessica said. “These last seven months have been like a roller coaster.”

“How’s that?” I asked.

“Well, her memory didn‘t come back all at one,” Jessica said with a mouthful of ice cream, “it came back gradually.” Lauren gave Jessica a look. “Sorry,” she said and then swallowed her ice cream before continuing. “It didn‘t come back in any specific order, but she did remember her childhood first.”

“When her memory first started coming back things weren’t that bad,” Lauren said. “When that first memory came, she told us that she was thinking about a dream she had. She said it was one of those dreams she had had before, but didn‘t remember having it.”

“Those are annoying,” I said.

“And then,” Jessica continued when Lauren took a bite of ice cream, “She said ‘Oh my gosh, it’s a memory’ and we hugged her but we were so excited that we just started screaming and jumping in the middle of it and we ended up falling down and lying on the floor.” Lauren and Jessica started laughing at the memory, and I joined them since the picture forming in my head was hilarious.

“She was excited at first,” Lauren said while releasing a few last giggles. “She told us about what she remembered, and we all spent the days in anticipation of what she would remember next. She got the most excited when she remembered anything about Mortimer, and she was a little depressed after remembering that they had fallen in love. She didn‘t have to tell us that she still loved him - we figured it out as soon as she told us about that first romantic memory.”

“But when she remembered that they were married, and had kids,” Jessica said, “she was devastated. She sat crying in her room all day and we spent most of the day trying to make her feel better.”

“As soon as we could, we all went out and did something fun,” Lauren told us. “She felt better after that, not too much, but enough to be able to do something productive throughout the day. Still, there were times when she would start crying, and we told her that we would do whatever we could to help her find her family. We started saving money.” She pointed to a jar filled with coins on a kitchen counter.

“There were some funny moments though,” Jessica said. “Bella had a ring and it meant nothing to her so she gave it to me because I liked it. And when my boyfriend at the time saw it he suggested I give it to him for safekeeping. Then we broke up and I never got the ring back. Well one day, Bella and I were eating breakfast and Lauren was on the couch. Bella said ‘remember that ring I gave you?’ and I was like ‘yeah.’ and then she said ‘well, that was my wedding ring.’ And Lauren looked like she was going to eat a cow!” All of us, except for Raven, started laughing hysterically.

“Eat a cow,” I said. “That‘s hilarious!”

“Oh, yeah,” Lauren said, “well what about the time Bella told us that she had been rich? So we were looking at a catalog of stereos because ours broke, and Bella points to the most expensive one on the page and said that she remembered having that in her house. I took one look at the price and asked her how she got the money for it and she said ‘I think we… we were rich.’ Jessica had this dreamy look on her face for like five seconds and then her jaw hit the ground.”

We were laughing so hard that we had a hard time breathing. When she was able to take another breath, Jessica took a bite of her ice cream. She started laughing again and ice cream went everywhere, which made us laugh even more. Eventually we calmed down enough to clean up the mess and by the time we did that, it was time to go to bed.

Raven didn’t mind sleeping on the couch so she said I could have the bed the first night, and we’d trade the next night. The bed was one of those Murphy beds that was folded into a closet. Lauren and Jessica had extra sheets and I used those to make the bed. I climbed in and let my body sink into the cloud-like mattress. The bed might have come out of a closet, but sleeping in one hadn’t felt this good in a long time.

 

Chapter 18

 

“I‘m not kidding you. The ice cream went everywhere,” I said, strapping the latch of my rollerblades around my ankle until I heard the click of the latch being securely fastened. Bella sat next to me on the bench tying the laces of Amanda’s skates. When we had stopped by the store on our way over to the park, Amanda had no desire to try anything but inline skates. She said she wanted to look like she knew how to skate, even though she had never used skates before. Bella and I both knew that she was afraid of looking stupid in front of Lauren’s nieces and nephew, and Bella had even told her that they knew she couldn’t skate, but Amanda still wanted to use the inline skates that everyone else would have. Bella let her have them, as she knew Amanda was a smart girl and could pick things up quickly.

“All the funny stuff happens when I‘m not there,” Amanda said. She got off the bench and tried to stand, but the minute her skates touched the pavement she slipped and fell. Bella was able to catch her before she hit the ground.

“Amanda, maybe you should wait until I can help you,” Bella said. She helped Amanda get back on the bench, and then started to put her own skates on.

“Yeah,” Amanda agreed, “I don‘t want to fall again. Oh, Joan did you see Grandma‘s new ring?”

For the first time, I noticed the ring on Bella’s left hand. It was silver, and the diamond at the top glistened in the afternoon sun.

“No, I haven‘t seen it yet,” I said. Bella stopped tying the laces on her rollerblades, and showed me the ring so I could get a better look. “It‘s beautiful.”

“He said he picked it out because it‘s beauty made it perfect for me,” Bella said. She went back to tying her laces.

“That‘s so sweet,” I told her. She smiled in response.

I got off the bench, and even though I was wearing inline skates, I stood perfectly balanced on the wheels.

“How do you do that?” Amanda asked, amazed.

“I don‘t know,” I told her. “This happened the first time I wore rollerblades.”

“Do you think Jessica will laugh out ice cream today?” Amanda asked, going back to our previous conversation topic.

“She probably won‘t,” Bella replied.

“Speaking of Jessica,” I said, “where is she? Shouldn‘t they be here by now?”

“The kids probably held them up,” Bella said.

We were meeting Lauren and Jessica at the front of the park. Rollerblading had been one of their favorite pastimes since they were kids, and when they became friends with Bella, they taught her to enjoy it as well. Bella even admitted that before she had meet Lauren and Jessica, she would have never put on a pair of rollerblades. The three of them often took Lauren’s nieces and nephew either to the park or the local roller rink, and they had agreed to take the kids out today after work. Despite the happenings of the last three days, they had kept their plans. Bella had invited us to came with her, and while I jumped at the chance, Amanda was hesitant at first. She wanted to spend time with the other kids, but she thought she couldn’t go because she didn’t know how to skate. Then Bella offered to teach her, and Amanda couldn’t wait to go.

Bella finished putting on her skates and she took Amanda’s hand and helped her off the bench. Bella got behind the little girl and placed her hands on either side of Amanda. Amanda was little nervous and began to move, which caused her to slip a little, but Bella was able to maintain a firm grip on her.

“It‘s okay honey, I‘ve got you,” Bella said. Amanda relaxed a little. “Don‘t try to do anything. I‘ll push you, okay?” Amanda nodded.

We took off at a leisurely pace and headed for the opposite entrance since Lauren and Jessica would arrive at the other side of the park. The path we were on circled the whole park and there were playgrounds, tennis courts, basketball hoops and other areas in the middle.

“Where‘s Raven?” Amanda said.

“She went to the library,” I said.

“How come she‘s not roller skating with us?”

“It‘s not really her thing,” I told her. “She likes to read a lot more than skate.”

We turned a corner and saw Lauren and Jessica waving at us. The kids were on the bench putting their skates on, but they jumped off when they saw us and skated in our direction. They greeted us and we stopped momentarily, allowing them to turn around. By the time we reached the bench, Lauren and Jessica had gotten their rollerblades on and they joined us as we skated by.

Because we were helping Amanda, Bella and I were going slower than everyone else, and soon we became our own group while the others pushed on ahead.

“This is fun,” Amanda said. “Don‘t you think so too?”

“Of course,” I replied. “I love being in motion. I always have.”

Bella started telling Amanda how to move her feet. Amanda tried and she almost slipped, but Bella kept her from falling. After our encouraging words, and once we had gotten halfway around the park, Amanda got the movements down. She still slipped up a couple of times, but other than that we were able to move smoothly on the path.

After we had completed one lap around the park, Amanda pointed to the entrance and said “Look, there‘s Anne and Grandpa!”

“Wait a minute, what?” I said, but as I looked in the direction she was pointing, I saw she was right. They were standing with Lauren, Jessica and the kids, who were probably waiting for us to catch up. “Is it just me, or does he have a habit of randomly showing up at places?”

“I‘ve never seen him randomly show up anywhere,” Amanda said, laughing.

“Well, you just did,” I told her, recalling how he had shown up outside the elevator, “and this is, like, the second time in two days.”

“Grandma, what‘s he doing here?” Amanda asked.

“I really don‘t know,” Bella said. “He showed no interest in coming with us so I‘m just as surprised as you are.”

We reached the bench and Bella left Amanda with Anne and the other kids before she approached Mortimer.

“Honey, what are you doing here?” she asked him. “I thought you didn‘t want to come.”

“I didn‘t,” he said, “But Anne did, so I decided to take her.”

“She doesn‘t know how to skate, does she?”

“No, but when she was told Amanda was here, she wanted to learn too.”

I could see Bella look at the ground for a second.

“I… I didn‘t mean to leave her out, I just… just…” Bella stopped and closed her eyes. When she opened them, they looked like they were about to tear up. Before she could cry, however, Mortimer took her hand.

“I know you‘d never do that on purpose,” he said. “Look honey, I thought this would be a good way for you to spend time with her. You don‘t have to do this all at once. Just take it slow, Okay?”

Bella leaned in to kiss him. As soon as their lips touched, she slipped on her rollerblades, and fell right into him. They both fell over and landed in the sand at the side of the concrete path, Bella landing right on top of him. It was hilarious and Lauren, Jessica and I could not stop laughing, no matter how hard we tried.

Bella lifted her head and asked, “Are you okay?”

“I‘ll be fine,” Mortimer responded, placing his arms around her. He was seemingly lost in the moment.

Bella wasn’t going to let that kiss go unfinished. She lowered her head, give him a light kiss, and then they got off the ground.

I noticed Anne was standing next to me. But instead of saying “Ewww!” or “Gross!” like every other five year-old, she just said, “I‘ve never seen Dad so happy.”

“Really?” I asked her.

“My dad‘s never happy,” she replied.

One of Lauren’s nieces helped Anne get her skates and the only trouble was an argument about which skate went on which foot.

Amanda wasn’t ready to rollerblade by herself, so Bella used that as a way to take Mortimer’s advice to take things slow with Anne. Bella asked me to help Anne, so I held her in front of me like Bella was doing with Amanda.

As we took off down the path, Bella told Amanda how well she was doing.

“Don‘t let go, okay?” Amanda said.

“Don‘t worry, Sweetie, I won‘t,” Bella told her.

As we continued, Amanda asked me to tell Anne the ice cream story. Once I finished, and after we had finished laughing, Anne asked Bella to tell her more about Jessica. Bella was a little uncomfortable talking to Anne at first, but as she continued talking about both her best friends, Bella relaxed and was having no trouble at all talking to the girl.

Amanda was doing well on her skates, but Bella, keeping her promise, didn’t let go of her. Instead, she stopped moving her legs all together, and let Amanda pull her on the road. It took Amanda about two minutes to notice this.

“Hey, you‘re not moving,” she said.

“I don‘t have to,” Bella replied. “You‘re skating all on your own.”

Amanda didn’t believe her at first, but then she got the nerve to try without anyone holding her. I let Anne sit down so Amanda could skate over to me. Once she left Bella’s side, Amanda sailed smoothly over to where I stood. I was ready to catch her - Bella hadn’t explained how to use the brake yet - but Amanda figured it out on her own and stopped perfectly right before she reached me.

“I did it! I did it!” she shouted. She skated over to Bella and gave her a hug. “Thank you so much, Grandma.”

“You welcome,” Bella said. She smiled as Amanda took off on her own down the path and Anne cheered her on.

“I wish I could do that,” Anne said. Bella looked over at the girl who was sitting on the sand. Bella knew what she had to do.

“Come on,” she said, “I‘ll help you.” She gathered enough courage to help Anne off the ground, and held Anne in front of her. We took off again, but before Bella could say anything, Anne spoke.

“I like you,” she said.

“I like you too,” Bella told her. “Why do you like me?”

“Because you make Dad happy.”

“Well, I like you because you‘re sweet and kind.”

Bella told Anne what to do. Anne didn’t pick things up as fast as Amanda and it gave Bella and Anne more time to spend with each other. Bella explained things to her, but Anne wouldn’t get it and slip. Each time Anne messed up Bella would say, “It‘s okay. Come on, let‘s try again.” They were both determined, and neither of them wanted to give up. When Anne finally was able to move without slipping, Bella congratulated her. She was not only happy for Anne, but she also seemed happy for herself as well.

As the sun began to set, we met with the others back at the park entrance. Anne went straight to her Dad and told him how much she had accomplished that afternoon as Bella undid her skates. Anne then ran off to talk to Amanda and Mortimer sat down next to Bella on the bench.

“She‘s a very sweet little girl,” Bella said as she untied her laces. “I‘m glad you both came.”

As I removed my own skates, I thought about how I had something new to tell my best friend. Boy, did Raven miss out this time.