When Peter entered the house, he saw Georgie standing in front of the fridge with the door wide open. The girl looked like she had been staring at the contents of the ice box for a while, hoping that if she kept looking at it, something delicious would appear. But she had had no such luck so far.
"Hey, I have an idea", Peter said as he removed his shoes in the mudroom. Georgie closed the door of the refrigerator and waited to hear what it was. "How about we make a lunch for everyone together? I mean, how often do Lou, Lisa or Jack get a day off without one or all of them having to make a meal for everyone? I think they'd appreciate the effort."
"Well... okay, but... I don't really know how to cook", Georgie pointed out. She knew she was lucky to have a dinner served to her every day and she did try to help with the preparation when she was available, even if meant something as simple as making the salad or slicing the bread, but so far she had not really learned how to make a dinner from scratch. She knew how to bake - thanks to Youtube - but that was a different field than cooking a meal.
"It's okay, you'll learn. Besides, that's the beauty of the team work; you do one thing, I'll do another", Peter explained, walking to the fridge to see what they could use as ingredients. "Let's see what we got in here..."
Georgie was curious. She had never seen her father do anything complicated for dinner, but she still had a sense that Peter knew what he was doing. "How do you know how to cook?"
"My mom taught me", Peter told her. "She always said that she never wanted any of her boys to become a burden for their wives. That we ought to be able to take care of ourselves." He placed some items on the table as he was trying to come up with a dish that they could prepare together. It would require some creativity on their part.
"What about your dad; does he know how to cook?" Georgie asked. She had never really gotten to know Peter's parents very well as she had met them briefly few times, so she wasn't sure what kind of people they really were.
"Well, no. Maybe that's why my mother knew what she was talking about when she said she didn't want her boys to become burdens", Peter joked, making Georgie smile when she realized what he was trying to imply. "I think it's something that has changed over the last few generations - of course not for everyone; there really are no longer women's chores and men's chores, though there are some very physical ones that are more suited to a man because usually they are stronger, but there are women who stronger than some men, so again, it's not everyone. For example, let's take what goes on here at Heartland; Jack cooks even though some men would think that it's women's job, and you see Amy doing things that many would consider to be something a man "should" do. And no one questions it, because it's just what we do without thinking that is Jack's job or that is Lisa's job. We are able to do what we do best and sometimes we don't do so well, but we don't say "you can't" to anyone who wants to help - unless it might be dangerous to them or someone else."
Peter's word to her made Georgie stop and think. She wanted to say something, but she wasn't sure what it was or more to the point how say it. There were some things from the past that were weighing on her, but it was hard to express them in a simple manner as they were much to complicated to discuss casually. But she felt she had to say something anyway. "So you don't think girls are weak...?"
"What?" Peter wasn't sure if he had heard her right. "No? Why would I think that?" He looked at Georgie, wondering if he had ever given her the impression that he thought women were weaker than men.
"Well, I don't know. Maybe because you think it's your job to provide for the family", Georgie said, shrugging. "You're always working, it's like you don't think Lou can provide for us, even though she has Maggie's and the Dude Ranch."
She had heard Lou and Peter have fights about the topic many times, so she knew it was a touchy subject in a way, but that had never stopped Georgie from stating her opinion.
The way Georgie expressed her take on the work situation, one that had been one of his and Lou's biggest issues over the course of their relationship, made Peter think. He wanted to argue Georgie's statement, but he didn't know if he could. As he tried to find a way to explain it all to Georgie, by letting her know that it was a much more complex issue than it appeared, he decided to let the statement stand for the time being and made a mental note to talk about it with Lou. Their issues should not be Georgie's issues, but he did want to touch on the gender thing as he felt that was really the focal point of Georgie's statement.
"It's not that", Peter explained, closing the fridge door. "It's not an issue of gender. I think girls can be as tough as boys and boys who are as gentle as girls. It's about the individual. And I need you to know that you're as good as any boy or any girl. I don't want you to ever think that you are not good enough just because you're a girl, okay?" Peter had stopped what he was doing and checked to see how Georgie was taking what he was saying. He watched as she sheepishly nodded but then smiled when she realized that Peter was watching her intent on knowing that what he was telling her was true. "You can look around you and see all these amazing, strong women in your life - Lou, Amy and Lisa - and know you can do anything they can do and more." Peter smiled as he realized that Georgie had an amazing support system of women in a time where he as a man could not necessarily provide insight on some things.
"I know, I just..." Georgie replied as she searched to to find the words she wanted to say. Peter waited patiently. "There was this... I had this..." she was stumbling on her words and sighed.
Peter noticed how Georgie was struggling to say what was on her mind and that she was about to say something that was hard for her to express. It was not common for her to be at a loss for words and seem so insecure, so he wanted her to know that it was okay to be a little lost. "It's okay, take your time and what you want to say will come to you", he assured her.
Georgie looked him in the eyes, seeing again the father she realized that she could rely on. She knew that Peter would love her in spite of what she had done or said. "I had this foster father..." she began to tell the story.
Peter stood there and listened with both his ears and his eyes hanging on every thing she said and movement she made. Because even though he had been Georgie's parent for three years, there were still blanks in her past that he didn't know about and he wanted to be there for Georgie if she ever felt like talking about them.
This was one of those times and he did not want to miss a thing.
Georgie paused for a while, before she continued. "He was really nice at first, like we did everything together... but then... he started to change. He became obsessed with the baby his wife was about to have - the baby was a boy. It was like... I was no longer good enough because I was a girl. - I don't really know how to explain it, it's stupid anyway..." She started to regret opening up. The more she explained, the more she felt that maybe it was hard for anyone else to understand her situation.
"No, no. It's not stupid", Peter said. As he watched Georgie begin to pull back into her shell. He knew he needed to be extra cautious, but he also needed her to know he was not here to judge her. "So... how did that make you feel?"
"Well... not good", Georgie said. She knew it was kind of obvious answer, but it was the only reply to Peter's question. "I guess I really didn't want to be a girl because... I felt like I wasn't good enough as a girl. So... I wanted to be like a boy, because maybe people would want me more if I was a boy." She could remember that back-firing later as some of the foster parents had not wanted her because she wasn't "a cute girly girl" and she was harder to deal with because she insisted of being "a tough tom boy".
As he listened to Georgie speak, Peter was beginning to realize how this explained most of Georgie's behavior in the past; the way she had hated dresses or how she had hit that boy at school during her first weeks "like a boy" and then the boy had cried "like a girl".
"Well you can be anything you want, as long as you're being you. We love you as you are", Peter said, not wanting to confuse Georgie about who she was like the foster father had. It sounded like this guy had made a big impression on her - and it was not the good kind. It made Peter angry to think how some people were responsible for young children and then they did something that could be irreversible to them, all without realizing what kind of problems they could cause by being a bad example for the kids. "Your foster father was wrong in doing that, and I hope you know that he didn't really love you for the right reasons. Because a real parent would never make you feel bad about being something you can't change."
Georgie felt relieved. The conversation had gone better than she expected, and Peter had somehow been able to understand how bad everything her foster father had done had made her feel.
"You understand that, right?" Peter checked.
"Yeah", Georgie replied.
"Okay, good. And if you ever want to talk about... anything, at any time, I hope you feel safe enough in our love for you that you can talk with either your mom or I. I want you to understand that we are here for you no matter what", Peter explained once more to make sure one last time she did. Georgie nodded and smiled, letting him know the moment had passed. "Alright. - Now... Let's see what we have, roast beef, sour cream, onions, mushrooms. Hmmm... if you get a can of beef broth and noodles from the pantry, we can make a quick beef stroganoff. Then we could steam this broccoli and make a salad to go with it. Does that sound good to you?" asked Peter, wanting to get Georgie's mind back on something fun as they would have plenty of time to explore what she had talked about later.
"I'm down", Georgie said as she went to the pantry. As she was trying to find the ingredients Peter had asked for, she found something else too and had a thought. "Hey, Dad, I found some chocolate chips here as well. Could we make some cookies too...?"
"Sounds good to me", Peter replied as Georgie came back to the table with the broth, noodles and chips. "Are you ready to make the best lunch they have ever had?" he then asked.
"Yeah, I am", Georgie replied a big smile on her face as Peter handed her a knife.
"Good, because we're about to make one."
