Abby Scuito McGee strode into the main office of Saint Joseph's Catholic School with the fierceness of a mother lioness protecting her cub. Pausing briefly at the secretary's desk, she said, "I'm here for Caitlyn. Sister Isabella called me."The remnants of that call still echoed through her mind, making her want to forgo procedure and just race in and grab her baby.
"Mrs. McGee," Sr. Isabella had begun, "you need to come and pick up Caitlyn."
At first, Abby thought there must have been a mistake. She was used to getting calls from the principal about Leigh. Leigh was her outspoken, feisty child, the one who would go toe to toe with the devil himself if need be and damn the consequences. But Katie, Katie was far more like Timmy, quiet, bookish, and more than a little shy. Maybe the elderly nun had simply gotten them confused. Abby had been about to question her when a sound in the background of the call caught her attention. A child was crying. Her child was crying.
"I'll be right there," Abby had said, not giving Sr. Isabella the chance to say more. Then, she'd broken all land speed records getting here.
The secretary nodded. "Go right in. She's—"
Abby didn't hear the rest of the sentence. She was already through the connecting door to Sr. Isabella's office. Katie huddled against the wall, arms wrapped around her body, head down, and shoulders shaking with silent tears. Ignoring the disapproving glare Sr. Isabella sent her way, she made a beeline for her daughter.
"Katie, baby, what's wrong?" she asked, kneeling in front of her daughter and checking her for injuries. "Are you hurt?"
Katie gave a barely perceptible shake of her head at the same time Sr. Isabella said, "She's fine, Mrs. McGee. She wasn't hurt in the fight."
""Fight?" Abby echoed incredulously. "Katie? What's going on?" She eyed her daughter critically, checking again for any evidence to support the nun's claim, but aside from her tears, Katie appeared fine. Her long light brown hair was still pinned neatly back in sparkly butterfly barrettes, and her plaid school jumper didn't have so much as a pleat out of place.
In reply, Katie launched herself at Abby, clinging like a limpet. "I'm sorry, Mama," she wailed. "I'm soooo soooorrrry."
Abby reacted on instinct, gathering Katie into her arms and soothing her. "Calm down, baby, it's ok. We'll work it out. Whatever happened, it'll be ok." Leading Katie with her, she moved over to Sr. Isabella's visitors' chair, sat down, and pulled Katie into her lap. At eight, Katie was slight and willowy and Abby held her easily. "Ok, Katie-bug, I need you to calm down now," Abby said gently. "Can you do that?" Katie nodded dutifully, drawing a deep, shaky breath and scrubbing her fists over her eyes. "Good girl," Abby praised, rubbing a gentle hand over her head. "Now, what happened?"
The question was directed to Katie but it was Sr. Isabella who answered, peering down her nose at Abby with obvious disapproval of what she clearly saw as unnecessary coddling. "Caitlyn punched a classmate in the face and busted his nose."
"Caitlyn Jennifer McGee!" Abby burst out. Shock had her responding without conscious thought. She regretted it almost instantly as Katie's eyes filled with tears again.
"I didn't mean to, Mama," Katie stammered.
Abby shot her a stern look. "You don't hit someone without meaning to, Caitlyn."
"But I did," Katie insisted, struggling valiantly to hold back the tears. "Brian was picking on Jesse, calling him a cripple and a retard. Sorry, Mama, know those are d'rogtory, but that's what he said. You know, causea Jesse's chair and all."
"Derogatory," Abby corrected automatically, "And it's ok, Katie, I know you wouldn't say things like that."
"No, Ma'am," Katie said solemnly, wide-eyed, clearly horrified at even the thought. "But Brian did, and he made Jesse cry. So I told him to shut up and stop being stupid."
Sr. Isabella made a low noise of disapproval.
Katie blushed and dropped her head, but Abby heard her mutter under her breath, "Well, he was. Jesse's legs don't work, but he's still just a kid."
It took all Abby's willpower not to burst out laughing. Katie, was, for the most part, her father's child, but every once in a while, she heard her own voice coming out of Katie's mouth. Either that, or Katie started channeling the spirits of the two women whose names she carried, a thought which Abby liked even more. She liked to think of them as Katie's godmothers, of a sort. Guardian angels maybe. Noticing Katie watching her, she asked, "What happened then?"
"Brian laughed at me and said I was a retard too for hanging out with Jesse," Katie replied.
Abby winced. Now she knew why Katie had slugged the brat. "What did you do?"
"I tried to go get Ms. Morgan, but Brian got in my way, and…" Katie trailed off, ducking her head.
"And then you hit him," Abby finished for her.
Katie nodded, tearing up again. "I didn't mean to hurt him, Mama. Just wanted him to move. Really didn't mean to." Katie clung to her, clearly desperate to be believed.
"So," Sr. Isabella spoke up before Abby could say more, "as you heard, Caitlyn has admitted to fighting, which is clearly unacceptable."
"Actually," Abby said coolly, "all that I heard my daughter admit to was defending a friend, who was clearly being bullied."
Sr. Isabella sniffed haughtily. "Yes, well, I can see how you might choose to see it that way, given the violence that you are routinely exposed to in your job," she spat the last word out as if it tasted bad. Clearly Abby's profession wasn't on that she considered acceptable for a woman. "But here at St. Joseph's we have a zero tolerance policy for any type of violence."
Abby took a deep breath and counted to ten. Then twenty. She reminded herself that this was a really good school, for all that the principal was a narrow-minded, judgmental old bat. And it would set a really bad example for Katie if she throttled a nun.
"And the bullying and verbal harassment?" she asked pointedly, once she'd gotten a handle on her temper. "Just what do you intend to do about that?"
"Ms. McGee, I'm sure you're aware that I cannot disclose the details of another student's discipline to you," Sr. Isabella said primly.
"But he was punished?" Abby pressed,
"Of course," the nun said, as though that should have been patently obvious, "we have a zero tolerance policy for bullying, as well."
Abby nodded, satisfied. She still felt Katie had done nothing wrong, but she understood both the policy and the reason for it so she could accept it. "And Katie?" Abby asked, glancing down at her daughter who was still curled in her lap.
"Caitlyn's been suspended for the day. She may return to school tomorrow," Sr. Isabella said, pushing a discipline form across the desk for Abby to sign.
"I understand," Abby said, scrawling her name on the form. "Can I take Katie home now?" Sister Isabella nodded. Abby set Katie on her feet and gave her a gentle push toward the door, following a few steps behind.
Katie moved silently through the office, collecting her book bag and jacket without a word. However, when they reached the middle of the parking lot, she stopped. Abby realized with a start that the little girl was crying again.
She knelt in front of her and asked gently, "What's wrong, Katie-bug?"
"Don't want to go home," Katie sobbed, her tiny body shaking with the force of her tears.
"I know you don't want to miss school, baby, but it'll be okay. It's just one day," Abby told her.
"It's not that," Katie said through her tears.
"What then?" Abby questioned.
"Don't want a spankin'," Katie wailed.
"And you think if we go home I'm going to spank you?" Abby asked.
Katie nodded.
"I'm not," Abby assured her. "I'm not upset with you. In fact, I'm proud of you."
"But I was b-b-bad," Katie stammered. "I hit Brian, and I got 'spended."
"You weren't bad," Abby replied, pulling Katie into her arms. "In fact, I don't even think you made a bad choice. You defended Jesse, and that's a good thing. Brian was wrong. It would've been better if you hadn't hit , but you did the only thing you thought you could at the time, and I understand that."
"Do?" Katie said, shocked.
"Yes, baby, I do. You had to deal with a guy that was trying to hurt somebody else, just like Daddy and Uncle Gibbs do. And sometimes that means fighting. You're not in trouble," Abby explained.
"Really?" Katie asked. Her tears were beginning to subside now, dwindling down to sniffles and hiccups.
"Yes, really," Abby said, leading her to the car. "You're not in trouble. This time. However, if I ever hear of you starting a fight, you'll be in really big trouble. Got that, young lady?" Abby would be utterly shocked if Katie ever did such a thing. She doubted the thought would ever even cross Katie's mind, but she wanted to be sure.
"Yes ma'am," Katie said solemnly, nodding. "But what about Daddy? He's gonna be mad."
"You leave your daddy to me," Abby told her, buckling her in and moving around to get in the car. As if on cue, Abby's phone rang just as she was getting settled in car, and Tim's number popped up. "Hey Timmy," Abby answered. "Yes, everything's fine; they just needed me to pick up Katie. No, she's not sick." Abby paused there, scrunching her nose and biting her lip in a way that Katie privately thought made her look like a little kid. "Well, see, she kinda got suspended." Tim's answering bellow was loud enough that Katie heard it, causing her to scrunch down in her seat in a huddle of apprehension. "You'll do no such thing, Timothy McGee," Abby scolded. "She did the right thing. She got suspended because she got in a fight, but it was for a good reason. Really, Timmy, sarcasm doesn't become you. It was. She was just being a good Marine, defending a friend who was being bullied, and if that's not what we taught her to do I don't know what is. You calm down," she finished. "Katie and I will be there in a few minutes." And then she hung up the phone.
Katie risked a glance at her mother. "Is Daddy mad?"
"Not anymore," Abby told her honestly. "He's proud of you."
They rode in silence for a few moments before Katie spoke up again. "Mama? What about Uncle Gibbs? Is he going to be mad at me?"
"No, baby," Abby replied, giving Katie a small smile. "I imagine he will be proud of you as well. After all, like I told your daddy, you were being a good Marine."