The Strongest Woman

Chapter 1- Brittany

Nobody knew the truth about Brittany.

Nobody except Santana.

Nobody ever tells you how hard it is to raise two children completely alone. Even with money coming in from child support, there is never enough to do more than scrape by. There is never enough time to do more than the bare minimum before you're too tired to move another inch. For a single parent, life is doubly as hard.

The day he left me to be with her, I was cradling a week-old baby in my arms. Brittany was six. She adored her father, and watching her tiny face contort when I told her he wasn't coming back was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. More than knowing I was completely alone, it pained me to have to see my once-bright little girl so low, so quiet.

She would play with dolls a lot. Making happy families and day-dreaming about what it would be like to live in one again. Oh, and animals. She loved all kinds of animals. I spoke to a doctor after he left; about what could be done to ease the pain for my children. She suggested a pet. That afternoon, the girls and I piled into the car and went to choose two kittens- one each in theory, but Brittany was determined they were hers. When she announced their names, I laughed. For the first time in a long time, I laughed wholeheartedly. Who knew my six year old had the imagination to come up with 'Lord Tubbington the third and Charity, mommy'.

Britt did okay in school. Elementary school brought out the best in her; she started dancing and surprised everyone when she advanced quickly through the classes. The teachers loved her vivid imagination and the way she could raise a smile. As I did, they too worried about her daydreaming but assured me that it would pass when things settled down at home. I was doing my best to make sure my daughters had everything they needed, but I wasn't sure what they meant by that.

Elementary school was when Brittany made her first real friend. Santana Lopez was, surprisingly, a slightly chubby, frizzy little girl when she walked into our lives. She was sweet as could be to Brittany, but there was no mistaking the look of mischief in her eyes.

When Brittany asked if Santana could come over to play, I froze. The girl was the child of a doctor and a lawyer, she lived in a huge house overlooking Lima Heights. Overlooking our home on 'the wrong side of the tracks.' I was struggling to make ends meet; our house was small. Ashley didn't have a bedroom yet, just a crib next to my bed. Brittany's room was small, but she managed okay as long as she didn't dance around too much.

Santana didn't mind, though. She was polite, friendly. I don't think Brittany understood enough about our lives to explain to her new best friend why we lived where we did, scraping by. She had never really known any different so maybe she didn't know that normally people got more to eat than we did each night, that normal people didn't buy their clothes from thrift stores on the edges of the town. Either way, Santana became a regular visitor to our little house.

I saw the way she looked at my daughter. And I saw the way my daughter would look at her. There was no way to explain away that emotion, that sense of adoration. Some parents would have been upset or ashamed to discover that their daughter was interested in girls like mine was. But I was happy for her; I knew Santana would never hurt her the way I was hurt. She would never leave her alone holding the baby.

Brittany tells me everything. For a long time, we were all the other had. So we learned to talk about what we were feeling and what was going on in our lives. She explained that Santana had realised what she felt for her, for girls, and that she had declared her love to my daughter in the middle of school. Britt had been dating a boy from the glee club. I didn't know much about him, really. He came over once but I was at work.

I had been upset about that. I didn't like the idea of people knowing that we were poor. But she said he had been fine with our house. When I asked her what she had said to Santana, I could see the hurt in her eyes. 'I told her I couldn't be with her if I was with Artie' she said, hanging her head. 'But, mommy, I don't know what to do next. I love Artie but I don't think I'll ever love anybody the way I love her.'

It was scary to see my baby girl so mature about things like this. It upset me to know that she was hurting, that she was confused. She didn't think in the way most people did, which was refreshing when your life is as mundane as it can get, but it was hard for her to make sense of the world in the way other people did. Above everything, though, I was happy. Happy that my broken life hadn't left my daughter unable to love.

Ashley and I were curled up on the couch when they burst through the door, hand in hand. 'Mom,' Brittany said, taking my attention away from the screen, 'we wanted to tell you that San and I are officially together.' I pulled both of them into a hug and reassured them that I loved them both.

Santana reassured me that she would do everything to protect Brittany. It wasn't much of a promise, she'd been doing that for ten years. The girl had been through so much; coming out, living with parents who were never around for her, facing a world without her beloved grandmother. I admired her for everything she did to make Brittany happy.

My daughter was now growing into a strong, independent and happy young woman. She had grown up living in a world that didn't really suit her. Her thinking was abstract, and she wasn't traditionally seen as intelligent. But Santana and I both knew exactly how special she was. She never let the bullying get to her; never believed she was anything less than magical. And I loved her for it. I still do. Despite everything, despite having to help around the house from being small, despite stepping in and helping me raise a child, she had turned out to be a wonderful person.

One day, she will make the most amazing mother. Santana, I know, will be by her side. I used to be scared that my girls wouldn't understand how to succeed in a relationship; I hadn't exactly shown them well. The few boyfriends I did have after their father left were never anything serious. But there was something about Santana and Brittany together that assured me that they would never leave each other.