"Good lord Jacks, what did you do to your legs?" Nick asked as Jackie slipped into a pair of denim shorts.
Her legs had several bruises on them.
"I hit them on the kids' desks at work all the time, my classroom is pretty small and so I have to put the kids' desks close together which makes it hard to fit in between them to help the kids with their work, and I often smack my legs on the desks in the process." She explained.
"Oh honey, you're middle name should have been Grace." He told her teasingly.
Jackie was the biggest klutz he'd ever met, and if she'd been given the middle name Grace it would have been painfully ironic.
She playfully stuck her tongue out at him.
He laughed.
"So what are your plans today?" He asked.
"I don't know, just spend time with the kids and enjoy my day off." She told him.
The school district had one of their training days, which meant the students didn't go to school. The training was about a new math program, and most teachers had to attend but Jackie didn't because she had already taken a one day class to learn about the math program over the summer, which meant she had the day off.
A few hours later she decided to take the kids out to lunch so Nick could stay home and get some sleep in a quiet house. He was exhausted, the night before at the lab had been taxing, and so despite his offer to go with her and the kids she talked him into staying home and getting some much needed sleep.
She took the kids to a burger joint not far from their house.
Once the food was ready she managed to get the kids situated into a booth to eat.
"Johnna you are making that cheeseburger look delicious." She told the little girl.
Johnna had Ketchup from one side of her mouth from the other.
The little girl grinned sheepishly as she let Jackie wipe off her face with a napkin.
"Is it good guys?" Jackie asked the kids.
"Yeah." Jasmine replied.
Johnna was too busy chewing to answer and Houston was staring at something on the floor. Jackie looked down and noticed Houston had dropped one of his French fries on the floor. The young child started to get up to pick it up.
"No, no Houston, leave it there, you can't eat it once it's on the floor, it's yucky, mommy will pick it up when you are done." She told him.
Jackie then caught Karlie trying to steal one of Jasmine's French fries.
"Kari no, you too little." Jasmine told her baby sister as she pulled her French fries out of the baby's reach.
The baby started to cry.
"Here sweetheart, mommy will get you some baby cereal." She said as she dug in the diaper bag and pulled out some baby cereal, the cereal was the kind where it dissolves in the baby's mouth so they don't choke.
Jackie poured some of the cereal on a napkin, careful to not let it touch the table. Jackie was a germ-a-phobe to the highest degree and the thought of the baby eating something off of the dirty table made her want to gag.
Once Karlie had some of the cereal in front of her she was happy as a clam.
Jackie had just stuck a French fry in her mouth when a woman walked over to her.
"Excuse me ma'am?" The woman said.
"Yes?" Jackie said, not knowing who the woman was.
"Hi, I'm Michelle Harris, and I work as a counselor for domestically abused women at the women's shelter down town.
"Hi." Jackie said as she grabbed her purse, thinking the woman was looking for a donation.
"Ma'am I couldn't help but notice the bruises on your legs, I would just like you to have my card, if you ever need to talk to anyone I am always here to help. Jackie opened her mouth to say something but Michelle cut her off. "I know it's really scary to leave an abusive relationship, it's a huge step, but a very important one, especially because you have little ones." She said as she looked around at the four adorable kids.
"Oh ma'am, thank you for trying to help me and my children but there's been a misunderstanding, I'm in no way an abused woman, I am simply a klutz." Jackie assured her.
Michelle had heard that excuse a thousand times.
"If you change your mind please don't hesitate to call."
Before Jackie could say another word the woman turned and walked away.
Jackie smiled, she was grateful that there were such nice people in this world, Jackie was very lucky that she was in a wonderful and loving marriage, she knew she never had to even give domestic violence a thought but some women weren't nearly as fortunate as she was.
The baby screeched, snapping Jackie out of her small trance. Karlie had been very politely offering the nice lady a piece of her cereal and was not at all happy that the woman had ignored her (in reality she hadn't noticed Karlie's generous offer.)
"Are you trying to share? That's so nice baby girl." Jackie said to the baby.
Karlie then stuck the cereal in Jackie's face.
"You eat it sweetie, mommy's got food." She told her with a smile.
Karlie gave up and stuck the cereal in her own mouth.
After they all had finished their lunch they went to the park for a little bit and then went home.
When they got home Nick was up from his nap.
"Nicky you'll never guess what happened when the kids and I were at lunch today." She told him.
"What happened?" He asked.
Jackie told him the story about Michelle and how she thought Jackie was in an abusive relationship. When she was finished Nick's eyes were wide.
"She thought I was the reason your legs are all bruised?"
"Yeah, I never really thought about how awful they really look but I guess they do look pretty bad, and if you want the truth I would probably think the same thing if I was out in public and saw a woman's legs all bruised like mine are."
"That's it honey, you can't wear shorts anymore until those bruises go away, I don't want people thinking I smack you around." He told her.
The mere thought that someone thought that he was an abusive husband made him sick. He would never abuse any woman, let alone Jackie. She was his sole mate, he loved her more than any other person on the planet (except for his kids), and he'd give his last breath for her without even thinking about it. He would never, under any circumstances lay a finger on her in anger, never.
Jackie went over and grabbed a nice and cool bottle of water out of the fridge.
"I'm serious Jacks, go put jeans or sweats on." He told her.
Jackie smiled at him, took a drink out of the bottle of water she had just gotten and then went upstairs to put sweats on, not because Nick told her too but because that idea just sounded really comfortable.
The rest of the day was spent playing with the kids, eating dinner, giving the kids baths, and then Jackie read the kids a bedtime story before tucking them into bed.
Then she crawled in bed herself. She said a small prayer for women who really are abused. After that she leaned over and gave Nick a kiss goodnight.
After that fell asleep wrapped in Nick's safe and loving arms.
The End!