It was now a couple of weeks later, Grace had started a new school and settled in well. She had made a lovely group of friends with the support of her mother. She went to school with Craig Tinker who had helped introduce her to his friend group. Maria knew that she was being slightly overprotective but currently the girl didn't appear to mind. She knew that it won't last one though. The girl was turning 15 in 5 days and she knew it wouldn't be long before the girl wanted to start going out again at nights and hanging out with friends.
Grace returned from her day at school and noticed the door was locked. She used her new house key to open the door.
"Hey, how was your day?" Maria asked causing Grace to jump. Grace sighed internally; she had really hoped that the house would be empty. She slowly turned around and Maria knew that something was up. She placed the kitchen towel down and walked towards Grace.
"Did you get into trouble today?" Maria asked setting back on the arm of the sofa. Maria really hoped that wasn't the case, but she was well aware of Grace's past.
Grace shook her head. She had been keeping a low profile and behaving well at school but there was something on her mind. She just couldn't say anything. Maria looked at her daughter and knew that she was hiding something.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Maria tried again and Grace shook her head before quickly running to her room. Maria watched her daughter go. She decided to finish prepping dinner and then go and speak to Grace. She knew that she needed to give the girl time to calm down.
"Can I go and see Gracie?" Liam asked.
"Yeah but remember to knock on her door first" Maria said and Liam nodded. He knocked on the door.
"Go away" Grace replied.
"It's me, Liam" Liam said, and Grace got up and opened the door. Maria knew to leave them alone. She trusted Grace with Liam and would check on them in 15 minutes.
Maria turned the heat down on the Spaghetti Bolognese before turning around sensing someone walking into the room. Due to the footsteps and noise, she knew it was Liam.
"Grace was crying, and she gave me a big hug" Liam admitted. This worried Maria as Grace definitely wasn't a girl who cried often. She nodded and instructed Liam to watch some TV while she spoke to Grace. Once she was sure that Liam was settled and knew not to go near the kitchen she walked into Grace's room.
As Maria entered the room, Grace wiped the tears from her face.
"What's the matter?" Maria asked sitting down on the bed next to her daughter. Grace looked down unable to look Maria in the face.
"I really want to help you but if you don't talk to me then I can't" Maria explained. Grace still couldn't bear to lift her head but did allow a few tears to slip down her face. Maria placed a hand on the girl's chin and encouraged it up so that the girl was looking into her eyes.
"Why can't you tell me?" Maria begged softly and Grace sighed. She felt guilty now. She was annoyed at herself for acting like this.
"It's embarrassing" Grace admitted nervously.
"What is embarrassing? I'm your mum. I know I have only been in your life a couple of months but I really love you and I don't want you to feel that you can't speak to me" Maria said and Grace nodded. She was finding this conversation so hard and just didn't know how her mum was going to react.
"Come on, you spoke to me about birth control. That wasn't that bad was it? I am only 30" Maria said, and the girl nodded.
"It's kind of similar but not really" Grace admitted but Maria was still confused.
"Whatever you need, whatever you want we can speak about it" Maria said moving to take a hold of the girl's hand.
"I'm…" Grace mumbled still not able to actually see the words. She looked at her mother and seeing Maria looking into her eyes was breaking her heart.
"I'm on my period and I don't have anything" Grace said in one breath before nervously glancing up at her mother unsure of her reaction.
"Hey, look at me" Maria said moving the girl's head up to make her look directly in her eye.
"You can always speak to me about periods and growing up. I am here for you. It's not embarrassing at all. Hey, I get periods too" Maria explained, and Grace nodded.
"Come with me" Maria said, and Grace followed her mother. They walked into Maria's room and Grace sat nervously on the bed.
"What do you want pads or tampons?" Maria asked.
"Pads" She admitted nervously, and Maria quickly grabbed a pack before giving them to Grace.
"I'll get you some more but please if you have any questions then just ask me" Maria said pulling the girl into her arms. Grace slipped closer to her mother and relaxed in her hold. They stayed there for 5 minutes before returning to the kitchen.
After dinner, Maria got Liam ready for bed. Once he was settled, she returned to the living room.
"Do you want a hot chocolate?" Maria asked and Grace nodded.
"Everything okay?" Maria asked noticing a slightly grimacing face on her daughter.
"My tummy is so sore" She admitted.
"I'll get you a hot water bottle, that should help" Maria said, and Grace nodded. Maria gave both the hot chocolate and hot water bottle to Grace before sitting beside her. They both pulled the blanket up around them.
"Do you normally get cramp?" Maria asked wanting to find out more about her daughter. Grace shrugged but then realised that she needed to say more of her mother would think that she was being difficulty.
"Not really, it's sort of all over the place because I only started like a year and a half ago and I'm really irregular" Grace explained.
"How irregular?" Maria asked.
"Like anything from 6 to 9 weeks apart" Grace said, and Maria nodded.
"We'll keep an eye on it" Maria said making a mental note and Grace nodded.
"You might go a bit weird being here and then settle into my cycle" Maria explained, and Grace nodded.
"Woman in the same household often have periods at the same time?" Grace asked and Maria nodded.
"Yeah, it can happen. Don't ask me why" Maria said, and Grace laughed.
They spoke for a bit longer before Maria knew she needed to remind her daughter about tomorrow.
"Remember to come straight home from school tomorrow because Rachel is visiting" Maria said, and Grace nodded.
After School, the following day
Grace knew that it was important that she arrived home from school sharp as Rachel was visiting today. She was slightly nervous as it was the first time that Rachel had been to see her since she moved in fully with Maria. She had spoken to her a couple of times on the phone and knew her mother had done the same too.
Arriving home, she was glad that Rachel hadn't arrived, yet which gave Grace time to change out of her school clothes. Just as she returned to the living room, the doorbell rang. Grace announced that she would get the door and allowed Rachel into the building. She waited at the door until Rachel had walked up the stairs.
"Hi Grace, how are you?" Rachel asked giving the girl a hug. Grace hugged her social worker back.
"Good. I love my new school" Grace said and Rachel smiled. She was so happy with how successful the rehoming had been. She could see how settled and happy Grace was.
They walked through to the living room and sat down. Grace even made Rachel a cup of coffee which she previously would have never offered to do. They spoke through the forms that Rachel had and Rachel explained that she was planning on keeping Grace on her records as there had been previous behaviour issues but she would only need to visit once every 3 months and she no longer had to have reviews, unless issues arose. Grace was happy with this as she hated going to reviews. It was so awkward hearing people speak about her.
"So I wanted to ask you if you want to go on the waiting list for family or personal counselling? It's something we offer when you are placed back into your family environment" Rachel explained.
"I'm fine" Grace said cutting Rachel off quickly.
"Are you okay after everything you've been through. Do you speak to mum about any of it?" Rachel asked.
"I'm fine" Grace said.
"I know sometimes when you are upset and it's because of past issues you say that you don't want to talk to me. Would it help to speak to someone else?" Maria asked.
"No, I'm fine" Grace said wanting this conversation to end. Both Rachel and Maria noticed that it was upsetting Grace and knew not to push the girl anymore. They changed the conversation and Grace relaxed again.
Rachel didn't stay too much longer before leaving so that Maria could make dinner. Grace loved eating dinner with both Maria and Liam. They tried to do it every night but it was hard if Maria didn't finish until late. Sometimes Liam ate at Kirk's or his childminder's. Maria and Grace always tried to eat together though.
Grace helped Maria get Liam to sleep before changing into her jammies. She was going to stay in her room but noticed her mother sitting watching TV. Nervously, Grace walked over to her. She lifted up the blanket Maria had wrapped around her and snuggled right into Maria. Maria smiled, Grace hadn't done this herself before usually they were both sitting on the sofa already.
"Everything okay?" Maria asked and Grace nodded but suddenly the tears started, and she was unable to stop them. Maria pulled the girl into her arms and held her tightly.
"What's up?" Maria asked softly once Grace had calmed down.
"I hate what I went through" Grace sobbed "It was like 6 years ago, but it still makes me so sad"
Maria nodded and rocked the girl. It broke her heart hearing her daughter say that.
"What happened will never leave you, but you can find ways to cope with it and the memories will become less" Maria said, and Grace nodded.
"I've stopped putting the chair on the bathroom door but then randomly I'm in the shower and I start breathing really fast if I hear someone walking past the bathroom" Grace admitted.
"I'm so proud of you for not needing the chair and you will start to relax when you have a shower. You'll realise that this is your safe place. This is the place that nothing bad will happen to you" Maria said and Grace nodded.
"I'm sorry for not always speaking to you. I know that I can. It's just I'm not used to having someone to trust. I just get so scared that I will do something wrong and you'll leave me" Grace admitted.
"I will never ever leave you. You are a teenager of course you are going to do things wrong. That's how life works. I'd rather you did things wrong when I am here to help you, than when you are living by yourself because you are older. Even then, I will still be there for you. I know it's hard but I promise. I will never leave you, you just have to trust me baby" Maria said kissing Grace's head. Grace nodded and snuggled even closer to her mother. She did really love her and was so happy with her new life.
