The kid seemed to be recovering well.  Every day, V and I helped change her bandages.  Her scrapes and burns were healing well.  Her bruised eye was starting to fade.  Somehow, my little firecracker seemed to be a bit calmer, a bit more open.  It had become a nightly tradition for Nora to join Sebastian and me for story time.  Her mother had never really read to her as a kid, and she seemed to enjoy the stories as much as Sebastian.  It was my favorite time of day.  My two oldest kids, one snuggled up to each side of me as I read aloud.

Sometimes I read the Spanish books we'd bought Sebastian.  Nora didn't know any, and I was determined to introduce her.  She'd grown up with exposure only to her white roots.  My side of the family had a deep appreciation for its culture.  As a first generation American, I made a point to hold on to my Puerto Rican heritage.  That's why Sebastian was already bilingual and could carry on conversations in Spanish with his grandparents.

After finishing the last book of the night, a Spanish title, Sebastian automatically started talking to me in Spanish.

"Papa, Podemos ir al parquet manana?"

"Tal vez.  Podria irse manana."

"Bueno," he said.

I stood up and Nora followed suit.  I leaned down to tuck him in and kiss him goodnight.

"Buenas noches, Papa," the little boy said.

"Buenas noches, Sebastian. Te amo."

We left the room and I gently shut the door behind us. 

"Are you two plotting against me?" Nora asked me as we walked down the hallway.  I laughed.

"No, he asked me if we could go to the park tomorrow," I told her.

"And what did you say?"

"I said maybe, it might storm tomorrow."

She nodded and I could tell she felt a little left out.  "You could learn Spanish too you know.  I could just drop you at my parents' for a couple weeks and you'd probably be fluent."

"Your mom would probably make me clean constantly," she countered.

"Probably," I agreed as we reached the kitchen.  "You've got young legs and a young back."

"Do they even like me?" she asked as I got out two glasses.  It had become a tradition at least a couple nights a week to have milk and Oreos together.  She seemed to open up when milk and cookies were involved.

"Of course they like you," I assured her.  "You're their granddaughter."

"But they don't treat me like Sebastian and Francisco," she said as I poured the milk.  Nora got the cookies from the pantry.

"Well, I think they're trying to take their queues from you," I explained.  "They're not sure what you're comfortable with.  They don't want to go too far."

I knew my parents had restrained themselves from being very physically affectionate with her, which was saying something.  My family was very affectionate.  We constantly hugged and touched, and it was natural.  Nora was a bit stand off-ish, and they didn't want to push too much.

"If you're ready, start giving them hugs when they come around," I suggested as we both started eating.  "They'll return."

Grandparents were a new thing for her, from what I understood.  She'd had minimal interaction with Laura's parents growing up.  It again made me sad, thinking of all the things she'd missed out on as a kid.  Story time.  Grandparents.  A father.

We finished off our milk and added them to the dishwasher.  Nora turned to me and hugged me.  She was starting to be more affectionate with us, and I loved it.  I wrapped my arms around her and kissed the top of her head.  "Love you, kiddo.  It's about time for bed, isn't it?"

"Yeah," she agreed, pulling away.  "Good night."

"Night," I said as she headed to her bedroom.

___

A couple days later, we had take two at family therapy.  This time, Nora seemed calmer before we went in and more receptive.  When we were called back, Nora sat between us again and immediately reached for the fidget device she'd played with last time.  I made a mental note that I needed to buy her one.  If she was dealing with all these feelings and anxieties, it would do her well.

"Good afternoon, Mirandas!" The therapist greeted us as she closed the door.

"And Thomas," Nora corrected her.

"And Thomas," she corrected herself.  "How is everyone today?"

We all responded we were fine. 

"Nora, I sense the last session was a bit hard for you," she began.  "Why did you decide you needed to leave?"

"It's just that everyone seems to bring up how I react to stuff.  It's always been okay to respond with hitting and stuff and now everyone tells me it's wrong."

"We touched on that a little last time," she said.  "So, how does society seem to deal with people who respond to their problems with violence?"

Nora shrugged.  "They put them in jail?"

"Yeah," she agreed.  "So do you think Lin and Vanessa are maybe trying to stop that from happening to you?"

"I guess," Nora agreed.

"Would you be open to trying different ways of dealing with your anger?"

She shrugged and the therapist continued.  "So, when you feel that gut feeling that someone has insulted you or made you mad, what's your first instinct?"

"Take them down," she said honestly.

"Okay," the therapist nodded.  "And what do you think Lin and Vanessa would want you to do?"

"Probably get all Full House and talk about it," she said.  Vanessa and I both smirked.

"What do you mean by 'get all Full House'?"

"Talk about my feelings and work out the problem with talking," she went on.

"Good.  And do you think that might be something you could try next time?"

"I don't know.  Depends on the situation."

"Well, let's do some role playing.  Vanessa, could you help us out?"

The therapist, Vanessa, and Nora all stood up.  "Vanessa, I want you to pretend you're a teenager about Nora's age.  Throw an insult at her."

"Your shoes are ridiculous," she said to Nora.

"Good," the therapist nodded.  "Nora, how would you normally respond?"

"At least I don't look like my face went through a garbage disposal," she spat back, causing Vanessa to ask mock-insulted.

"And what would that lead to?"

"More words back and forth and maybe pushing."

"It would escalate, wouldn't it?  Now, try something else.  Something you wouldn't normally do."

"Mind your own business," Nora said and then turned to walk away.

"Good!  It stopped the situation.  You don't engage with her and the fun is over.  Have you ever stopped to think that people are just trying to get a rise out of you?"

Nora shrugged in acceptance.

"And probably that kid is less likely to mess with you the next time," she said.  "Thank you, you can both sit back down."

Vanessa and Nora took their places on the couch again.  The session went on, and we talked about how things were feeling at home.  I commented that Nora had started being more physically affectionate, and that I like when she joined me and Sebastian for story time.  Vanessa commented that she liked how Nora was coming to her for help with some issues.

The session all went very positively, and Nora stayed the whole time.  I felt better about things as we left.  I knew it wouldn't be an immediate fix.  This would have to be ongoing.  Nora would probably still snap sometimes and get violent, but she would also choose differently sometimes.  That's all I could ask.  She was a work in progress, like all of us.

To celebrate, we went out for ice cream down the street.  Nora seemed to be in good spirits as we all sat outside, licking our cones.  Already, after only two months, she had opened up so much.  At first, she would spend most of her time in her room or with her earbuds in, but now she sometimes spent evenings out in the living room with us.  She laughed.

"What's the worst thing you ever did as a kid?" Nora asked us both.

"Hmmm..." I pondered.  Really, I'd been a pretty good kid.  Silly, but good.  "One time I fed chocolate to our dog just to see what would happen.  We ended up having to get his stomach pumped and got a $500 vet bill.  Which came out of my allowance for a year or so."

Nora laughed at that.  "Vanessa, how about you?"

"Nothing.  I was an angel," she told Nora.  She didn't buy it.

"Come on, spill it."

"I forgot my homework once," she said, raising her eyebrows.  I wasn't surprised.  Vanessa is basically perfect.  She never does anything wrong.

"Seriously?!" Nora protested.  "That's it?"

"She's always been perfect," I told Nora as I neared the end of my ice cream cone.  Vanessa gave me a knowing smirk.

"What's the worst thing you've ever done?" I asked Nora.

"Hmmm..." she thought.  "So many to choose from.  Probably stealing from a store."

"What did you steal?" I asked her.

"A lot of stuff," she said. "Mostly candy.  I did it on a regular basis."

"Do we need to go to Queens and write some convenience store a check for $200?"

Nora laughed and crunched into the bottom of her cone.  "I feel bad about it now, but I never had any money."

I nodded.  It wasn't the worst thing to do.  We finished up and headed back home.  My mother had picked the boys up from daycare and preschool and brought them back to the house so we could all attend therapy together.  When we arrived, the boys were happily playing with their grandmother, glad to have her full attention.

"Mommy!" Sebastian ran to his mother and Francisco waddled over, trying to keep up.  Vanessa showered him with kisses and I scooped up Franky.  The house was abuzz with laughter and love when my phone rang, and I recognized the number as coming from Laura's prison.  I handed off Francisco to my mother and went to the master bedroom to answer.

"Hello?" I asked.  I went through the whole spiel of accepting the charges for the phone call.  A couple clicks later, I heard Laura's voice on the other end.

"Lin?" She asked.

"Yeah, what's up?" I asked.

"They're letting me out."