Trailer Park Princess (21 page)

I look around to find the boys. “Walk with me, Clay?”
  I make sure Rome is out of hearing distance, and we set off to get the boys so we can leave. “Look, I don’t hate her; I’d just rather not be around her. Rome doesn’t hate her either, but when it comes to anything to do with Saige, he flips out. And Zac just had him worked up, spouting off a bunch of bull. So don’t worry about it. As far as talking to Ashley goes, I doubt that happens, but if she ever wants to talk to me, I will listen. I promise.”

He smiles. “Come on, boys, time to go,” he says loud enough that they all three hear and head towards us.

“Thanks, Clay.” I wish Mando had stuck around a little longer this summer. She would have loved to see Clay. He reminds me of her in a way, despite them being complete opposites.

(School starts back up)

Denver starts school this year. This should be fun. One kid left in daycare, and we are done. Maybe one day I will have another kid. Rome doesn’t have any of his own, yet we have four between the two of us.
Wow.
It’s overwhelming when you stop to think about it. Yeah, no more kids for a long, long time. “Wash your face,” I say as I pass the bathroom, headed to Denver’s room to give him his special happy. He loves the Skylanders thanks to Mando’s Christmas gift, so his first backpack is one with the Skylanders on it. He is going to freak. Rome had planned to take him on his first day, but he threw a fit for me to take him. The kid might as well be mine; he is hooked to me at the hip.

I am excited for this changeup. I rarely get to help get the kids ready. By this time, I am usually at work powering through my first round of customers. One thing I did not plan on missing was seeing all the faces of my regulars. I have grown so close to them over the years.
  I run my shift with the help of a few older ladies. It works for us because Mrs. Riaz needs a break. She spends lots of time with her mom now that Mando isn’t around to go over as much. I have a huge problem going back to the park. I wish she would move away from there as well.

“Come on, guys; we need to go.” I pull up to the school, and they all jump out. I am grateful to Rome for taking Saige to daycare; these kids would have run her over. Thax heads towards the bigger of the buildings. “See you this afternoon, Ror.” He high fives his buddy, Jamie, and slides through the doors marked ‘High School.’ I’m glad the school is small enough to house K-12. Not many schools do that now.

We drop Rio off at his class and head to Denver’s. “I’m so scared,” I barely hear him say. I bend down so I am at his level and hug him tight.

“Denver, you know I love you and I would never leave you somewhere if I didn’t think it was safe. Besides, Rio is just a few doors down.” I point down the hall where we just came from. He has unshed tears in his eyes, and I almost lose it. I want to scoop him up and run home with him. I never want any of them to be scared. “My job is to protect you, and I always will.” I hug him again and stand, ready to push the door open, but he beats me to it. When he gets through it, he walks right up to the teacher with a smile on his face.

“Are you my teacher?” he asks boldly, never batting an eye. She looks down at him and smiles.

“Well, if your name is Anna, Jennifer, or Denver, then, I sure am. My name is Miss Stewart.” She reaches down to hand him a tiny bag of candy. “These are for you. Just something to say hello and welcome.” He looks up at me, and I smile down at him. He then hands the bag back to the teacher.

“Sorry, Miss Stewart, but Princess doesn’t allow us to take candy from strangers, and she’s my protector. If she trusts you enough to leave me with you, you better make sure no strangers try to give me anything, starting with you.” He looks back at me, and I smile and hug him again.

“I love you, Denver.” I whisper in his ear. I stand back up, and he heads to the desk she points at, standing tall. He looks more like Rome than Rio ever will. “Thank you. He’ll be a good boy; I promise,” I tell Miss Stewart. She shakes my hand.

“And I’m guessing you’re Princess?” I close my eyes and shake my head, laughing. I could beat Rome for that.

“No ma’am, I am Rory. I am Denver’s…well…I guess I am Denver’s princess,” I laugh again. “I mean, his older brother, Rome, has custody of him, and I am Rome’s girlfriend. We have raised the kids as our own over the years.” I smile again, happy with the way it comes out.
  “It was nice to meet you, but I really need to get to work.” I turn to walk off and wave at Denver.

As I’m walking out the door, I hear Mi
ss Stewart telling the kids, “OK, class, since this is my first year teaching, we can all start this year out as beginners. We are in this together.”

I feel so full of joy as I make my way to work. I can’t keep my mind from wandering back to Carol again. It’s been so long since we’ve seen or heard from her. How can a mother not want her kids? These boys are not even mine, yet I love them as if they are, including Thax. Their Princess. I have to laugh at that because I am not their mom, yet I am more than just some girl. To them, I am their Princess. Thax being the only one who calls me Rory, I can only pray Saige never picks up on the Princess gig.

(Ashley’s Story)

 
As I walk through the door of The Diner, I feel a weight on my shoulders. I know it’s only right I tell Rory my story. It’s not fair to her, going through all this alone for as long as she has. Not that she is really alone. She always has that Rome guy with her, even though they swear they are just friends. I see them around town. They are always together with all those kids, smiling, laughing, and just living life.  They are actually cute together. I’ve worked hard to let my hate and anger go, and now that I have, I can see Rory for who she is and not who she’s with or what she’s taken from me. I think Toby did the same thing to her that he did to me; she was just stronger than I was. She had someone to fall back on. Just looking at that little girl of hers, I see Toby all over her.  She has Rory’s eyes, but everything else is Toby. Anyone who grew up here can see that.

The bell above the door dings, and I hear Rory from somewhere behind the counter, “Welcome to the The Diner! Just sit anywhere, and I’ll be right with you.”

I walk to my booth, the same one I have sat in for the last few years. I am usually by myself these days, though. I’m no longer surrounded by snarky, fake bitches like I used to be. After high school, things changed. Those girls didn’t see the point in growing up. They went off to college to party and screw around. I stayed here to take care of my father. He’s a good bit older than most of my classmates’ parents and needs the help at his pawn shop.

I look up and see Rory as she stands with a sleeve of cups in her hand. She looks over and sees me sitting here. A small smile slips into place. I know it’s her job, but it says a lot that she still smiles at me after all this time. If she had done to me the things I have done to her over the years, I wouldn’t smile at her. Job or no job, I wouldn’t care. My childish ways could have caused her to lose her daughter. I never knew that until Clay told me. I like to think that, had I known, I would have never had Kelly give her the alcohol that night. But I have no way of being sure. I was really messed up back then.

She grabs her note pad and walks over. “What can I get you to drink?” she says as nice as ever and still smiling.

“I just need a shake…whatever the daily special is.” I can’t make myself look up at her when I say it. I feel so horrible. She writes it down and turns to leave. “Rory,” I call to her back, “when you bring the shake, can you give me a few minutes? I have something I want to talk to you about.”

She turns back, confusion all over her face. “Um yeah, sure…give me a few, and I’ll take my break.” She goes into the back before returning with my shake and a cup of her own. Setting mine down and taking the seat across from me, she waits patiently for me to begin. I stall as long as I can by messing with a napkin and opening my straw before I decide diving headfirst is the only way to approach this.

“Rory, I think I know… I mean, I know your little girl…she’s Toby’s, isn’t she?” She immediately stands to leave.

“That is none of your business,” she says as she turns to walk off, but I grab her arm. She jerks free and turns around. I see the tears in her eyes.

“I did not mean anything by that, Rory, honest. I just have something I need you to know, and when I see her around, she’s just… she’s beautiful. I know when I tell you this, you will keep it to yourself if she is. I won’t tell anyone; I swear it. I’ve seen her with Rome. He is her daddy; I know that, too.”

She sits back down. “It’s not a secret, Ashley; I just don’t see it as anyone’s business but mine. Toby doesn’t even care, so why should anyone else.” A tear slides down her face.

“Rory, I need to tell you a story. A few months before you moved here, Toby and I, well…you know we were dating and he dumped me. W
ell, no one really knows why. OK, here goes. . . We had sex one night in his truck, and I got pregnant.” I look across at Rory and see her eyes go wide. “When I found out and told him, he refused to believe me. He even said it couldn’t be true, like we had never had sex or something. I mean, I loved him and still do with all my heart, but he called me a slut and refused to listen. So I talked with his mom. We had been friends since we were kids, and they always knew we would get married. She was like my mom, with mine being dead and all. So I told her, and well…she wasn’t happy, but she told me she would help. One day, she picked me up from school to go to the doctor and told my dad we were taking a long weekend trip. It wasn’t abnormal, so he didn’t question it. I was young and had no idea what was going on. I trusted her. Next thing I knew, we were signing papers, and I was in a bed. When I left the clinic, I was weighed down worse than when I went in. I never even knew what was going on until it was too late. I went in a mom-to-be and came out NOT a mom anymore.” I wipe my eyes. Rory now has tears streaming down her face. “I spent the weekend at their home, where I never once saw Toby until Sunday afternoon. We had a big meeting with his parents. He had been out somewhere with the guys all weekend. He was sweaty and laughing while I was barely able to move. I just stared at him. His parents sat us down and made a big speech about getting too serious when we were so young. They promised Toby they would let him get his new truck if he broke ties with me, and of course, he did.  Once he was out of the room, they offered me a monthly payment to help take care of my dad. They knew his medical bills were high, and with mom’s insurance money gone, we were struggling. I refused it because I could never explain to him how I got it, so they concocted a plan. Every month, Mr. West goes in and buys one nice sized item that helps my dad stay in business. They don’t tell him why, and he assumes they are just being kind. They make the payment, and I keep my mouth shut so my dad can survive.” Rory shakes her head and moves over to the bench beside me.

“That’s why he already had his truck when I moved here?” I nod my head. She is piecing it all together now. “And you hated me because…?” I try to smile at her and wipe another tear.

“Rory, you came right when I was hurting. Everyone wanted to make out like he left me for you. He never believed me about the baby. When he asked me about it at school, I told him the test had been wrong. He called me more names and treated me like crap. The reality is: he doesn’t even know his mom made me get an abortion. I can never forgive myself for letting that happen. I just want to hold my baby. Even if he had never talked to me again, I lost my heart that day along with my child.” She reaches around me and hugs me tight to her. “Rory, I am so sorry for being so nasty to you; I was just so lost.” The hug gets tighter.

“It’s OK
, Ash, I am sorry, too.” I pull back and look at her.

“Does Toby really not care?” I ask.

Rory shakes her head no and says, “He changed his number when he left. He accused me of cheating on him with Rome. I went to his house and told his mom. He’s never called me, so I assume he doesn’t care. She is so evil. Luckily, I didn’t trust her; otherwise, I may have made the same mistake as you. She tries to send money to me every month to leave them alone, but I just return to sender. We don’t need anything from them.” She takes a napkin and wipes her face.

“I bet he doesn’t even know, Rory. I bet she never told him.”