Page 12 of Blind Reality (Blind Reality 1)
"Normally she'd be asleep, but it was noisy coming up the street."
Deja's eyes went to the bruise on Jessie's arm. It was fresh, but she didn't say a word.
"Hi Mia, I'm Deja, and your mom is going to be working with me."
The little girl gave her a smile that would break hearts one day. Deja stood and walked to the fridge.
"I was wondering if you were thirsty." She took out a bottle with milk in it and a sippy cup and handed both to Mia. The child reached for the bottle, and Deja put the sippy cup back in the fridge.
The way Mia drank made her hunger apparent.
"I wasn't sure what children ate, so I cut up some fruit, bought a couple of the children’s dinners they have in the frozen section. Is this one, okay? It has chicken tenders."
Jessie nodded and wiped her eyes. Deja placed the dinner in the microwave, and before long Mia was feeding herself, making a mess in the highchair Deja picked up earlier. The highchair was extra cute because she thought maybe she could reuse it in a year or two.
While Mia fed herself, Deja made Jessie a couple of sandwiches. "My first day at work, Enzo brought me back here and fed me. Then he told me that if I didn't eat, I couldn't work here. I didn't know what I was going to do. I was down to less than fifty dollars. I knew my friend would help me, but I didn't want to put a strain on her. The next day Ven showed up at my door with a bag of food. I guess what I'm trying to say is I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't found The Wolves' Den or Enzo and Ven.
"I serve dinner at six o'clock. I expect to see you and Mia at my table tomorrow and every day after until you're on your feet. Hey, baby girl, you didn't eat all your food. Are you full?"
Mia opened her mouth, showing her small row of teeth in a pleasing smile.
"She doesn't eat a lot," Jessie said defensively.
"Why?" Deja was curt.
Are we going to do this to her? Make her the blame for everything that has gone wrong in her life?
Maybe we're above her now that we've overcome our problems.
Stop. I'm not blaming Jessie. I'm just worried about her daughter.
Look into her eyes and tell me that we're more worried than Jessie.
Deja looked at Jessie. The stress and strain of trying to take care of her child were evident. The fact that she was willing to do whatever it took was also evident.
"Jessie, what happened to the food I gave you yesterday?" Deja picked up Mia and began to clean her face with a baby wipe. "Can I hold her?"
She nodded as Deja placed Mia in her arms and gave her a bottle, gently rocking her to sleep.
"My mother sold the food. She said we needed money more than we needed food. I'm too fat, she says, not that it matters. I have all this extra cushion so I can live for years without eating, but she didn't leave any of it for Mia. She needs to eat; the doctor said she was too little." The horror of Jessie's life was written plainly on her face, but Deja wasn't going to pry. Not yet maybe not ever.
"Ven, you met him yesterday. He’s my son. I've adopted him. So I have a boy, but I don't have a girl, so when I was shopping today, I saw these outfits and these pajamas. They're so cute. I was wondering if maybe you want to change her clothes and put these on her?"
"They're beautiful. I'll pay you back when I get paid."
"I've got a better idea," Deja said, transferring a sleeping Mia to her mother. "You do all the running so I can stand behind the bar, pour drinks, and look pretty, and I'll consider myself paid back in full."
Jessie's head popped up, and she looked at the smile on Deja's face and smiled back at her.
"Deja, I like you."
"I like you too."
Jessie laid Mia down in her little princess bed. Deja showed her around and gave her what looked like an earpiece.
"What's this?" Jessie took it and stuck it in her ear.
"Ven likes to tinker, so I bought a baby monitor and told him I needed a piece you could place in your ear so that if Mia woke up or cried, you would know. He made this; we tested it out, and it works well."