Lace came to as sheets of ice cold water drizzled down her body. She wrapped herself in a towel shivering from cold.
As she pulled on her pajamas she heard muffled laughter coming from downstairs and figured Judy was on her cell phone talking. In her inner dialogue Lacey made her promise to be nice so in the interest of peace she obliged her.
She decided to walk downstairs to check on Judy and maybe even apologize by making dinner suddenly becoming very hungry.
She was still toweling the water out of her hair when she saw Danny's mom Karen in the living room with her mother and a large bag of Chinese Take out on the Table.
"LACEY" she said smiling brilliantly looking as polished as ever. She ran up to her and began hugging her tight then she pulled away to get a good look at her."Oh my goodness you're even more gorgeous without makeup if that's possible".
"Hey Karen" Lace said hugging her back surprisingly happy to see her.
Judy now visibly relaxed sat with a glass of wine in her hand. "Karen came by when she heard from Danny that you were back in town".
"Yeah Danny mentioned that he saw you and I just knew I had to come by and see my girl" Karen said looking at her eyes glazed with unshed tears. I practically flew here she added laughing " Are you hungry? I brought dinner".
Karen sat down patting the couch waiting for Lace to join her. She looked her up and down examining her.
"I'm okay Aunt Karen" Lace said sitting next to her. When Karen lifted her eyebrow questioningly at her Lace said putting on a small smile "I am Really.
"Well I'm not gonna pry about where you've been all this time". "God knows that after everything that's happened to you that you needed a break from this godforsaken town. I wish I could leave" she said trying to keep the conversation light.
Lacey not comfortable talking about her stay in a mental institution was thankful that Karen had let the issue go when in typical Judy fashion her mother said her wineglass now empty.
" I know". "This whole sex tape business has been a nightmare for our family". I had to send Clara to stay with Samuel for awhile until it all dies down and I've even had to take up extra freelance work just to keep up with all of Lacey's legal and medical bills".
Lace becoming irate suddenly got up keeping her lips tightly puckered as she shook her head and walked out the room and back upstairs determined to keep her promise to Lacey
"What? Judy said defensively "Its the truth".
Karen noting that Judy never acknowledged the pain that Lacey must have suffered turned towards her. "Judy maybe talking about this is embarrassing for Lacey".
"Embarrassing for her" Judy said indignant a slightly slurred lilt in her tone. "What could be more embarrassing than having everyone in Green Grove seeing your daughter having sex with the town pariah".
"I don't know Judy" Karen said feeling her temperature rise after hearing the way she referred to Danny. "Maybe being the one everyone in Green Grove saw having sex with my son or the town pariah as you called him".
Taking a deep breath to calm down Karen began again this time emphasizing the real reason for her visit. "Look Judy, Danny AND Lacey have dealt with more than most people our age could handle, and now that I've seen how deeply talking about the tape affects her I think that they are both going to need each other in order to get through this".
Judy paused before delivering her next line.
"No offense Karen but I think Danny has done enough". She then got up and poured herself another glass of wine rubbing her temples before she spoke again.
"Please try and understand as much as I love Danny this whole scandal has hurt everything for Lacey not just her High School Career. Because of their little indiscretion Lacey's dream of a future in Politics is in jeopardy. Even with the FBI and the police tracking the tape we couldn't risk the possibility of it popping up somewhere down the line.
Karen sat there listening Her heart breaking a little at the continued obstacles that life was throwing at her son in his quest to find normalcy.
"But didn't they arrest the Boy and girl who did it"? Karen asked a touch of desperation in her voice.
"Yes, but they're minors and supposedly first time offenders so they only received probation besides the fact that the tape keeps surfacing on the internet on different coded URLs usually child pornography sites. "Its costing us a lot of money to keep suing all these damn websites to take it down even though its obvious that somebody besides those two kids keeps putting it up".
"I'm sorry Judy I didn't come here to fight with you especially after finding out about what you and you're family are going through". Karen said shaken. "It's just that Danny loves Lacey he always has you know that and if he can just get the chance to be a part of her life again she won't have to suffer alone". "Remember how crazy he was for Lacey even the first time he met her.
"I remember Karen". Judy said drifting into her thoughts." I just want what's best for Lacey". "I always have"...
Judy walked up to the large Tudor style home with Lacey in one hand and Baby Clara in her carrier in the other as Lacey's pigtails swung back and forth. Jo the button faced blonde haired girl in Lacey's ballet class and her mother Tess came up the walkway before them and met them on the doorstep.
"Hello Judy". Tess said as she turned towards her then squatting down she said "You must be Lacey, Jo's told me a lot about you".
Judy looked down as Lacey in an almost Queen like manner nodded but remained silent.
Jo picked up Lacey's hand and opening the door without knocking she dragged her along inside "Cmon Danny's probly on the swings" she said before their voices became muted as they walked towards the back door.
"Its okay You can come on in, Karen wont mind". Tess said nodding for Judy to follow her inside. "Danny and Jo have known each other since they were in utero".
"They're almost like brother and sister".
Following behind Tess she ended up in the kitchen where through the window she saw a slim attractive blonde haired woman talking to Lacey and Jo while holding hands with an adorable dark haired boy.
"Thats Karen and her son Danny" Tess said pointing them out to Judy.
The little boy Danny smiled coyly at Lacey shaking her hand in introduction. When he tried to pull her to go with him Lacey still reserved pulled back looking at Karen nervously. In which to the shock of all watching Danny pushed her on the ground and ran away towards the swing set laughing.
Judy still holding Clara sprinted awkwardly out of the door with Tess behind her to see about Lacey but Karen was already helping Lacey up while shaking the grass of of her seersucker romper. "There you are pretty girl good as new" she said pinching her cheek lightly, making Lacey's dimples appear.
"Are you okay" Judy said reaching her and looking at Karen, inwardly annoyed at her sons behavior.
"I'm so sorry he's never done that before" she said apologetically as she grabbed Judy's hand then shook it. "Judy Right". "Welcome to the neighborhood I'm Karen and that little rascal who's father will be having a word with him later on, is my son Danny".
" I'm so glad Jo asked Lacey to come to our mommy group at Dance class because we've been meaning to invite you since you moved here" Tess said.
When Judy hesitantly looked at Lacey then over to Danny, Karen said "I've got wine" lilting her voice and smiling.
Jo hearing her name ran back to the group after chasing Danny. She stood before Lacey and asked "Are you okay"
Lacey nodded and hand in hand they walked off to sit under a tree to talk while Lacey stared daggers at Danny.
"Sure I'll stay" Judy said smiling as she saw her daughter making real friends hoping in time they would replace her imaginary friend Lace who Lacey spent hours talking to especially since the new baby had been born.
The adult women sat down under the patio set to enjoy their drinks watching the children.
Danny did everything in his power to get Lacey to play with him. Running around the tree in circles, throwing grass in the air and doing flips but Lacey refused to look at him.
It was only when he picked up a large Daisy from Karen's garden and ran over to Lacey handing it to her with a sad look on his face that she acknowledged him by smiling.
Karen smiled at Judy and Tess nodding her head towards Lacey "I think Danny's got himself a little girlfriend".
Lacey then to the shock of all watching pushed Danny down on the ground and ran to the swings laughing along with Jo following behind her.
Danny grinned and dusting himself off followed the girls. He took turns pushing them until Lacey wanted to get off. Helping her down he pulled her pigtail then ran away laughing again.
"You know what Thank You Karen" Judy said suddenly enjoying herself. When Karen looked at her slightly puzzled Judy clarified "For inviting me into your group".
Judy laughed as she watched Lacey chase Danny thinking that Lacey's carefree smile was reward enough for her coming...
Refocusing Judy tried to remember how many times in the past 5 months Lacey had smiled like that
Surprising herself and Karen, Judy said "How about Dinner at your place Tomorrow Its the day before Memorial Day we can grill burgers. You can even invite Tess and Jo".
"THAT SOUNDS PERFECT"! Karen said
excited to get home and tell Danny the good news.
When she got there Danny was nowhere to be found so she texted him the details then called Tess to invite her over her mind swimming with ideas on how to make sure tomorrow night was perfect.