Quinn walked down the aisle, pushing the shopping cart for Mrs. Jones in the produce section.
She didn't remember doing things like this with her own mother, that's what the paid help was for, yet here she was with Mercedes' mom doing something so trivial and yet so rewarding. She used to have to listen to Santana moan on about the horrors of shopping with your parents, but Quinn found that she liked it.
It was just her and Angelique, not that she would've protested to Mercedes being there, the girl had become a permanent and welcome fixture in Quinn's life. She could honestly say her relationship with Mercedes is the healthiest one she's ever had. That thought made her feel both sad and happy. Sad, because what did it say about the dismal state of her life that a girl she met a few months ago in a singing club she only joined to spy on her boyfriend was now so integral to her life? Happy, because at least she had met someone who she felt she could truly confide in and be around without the airs she was usually forced to put on.
"Quinn, honey, which would you prefer peaches or apricots? I know you love those fruit salad bowls, so I grabbed three."
Just as Quinn's face began to light up Angelique spoke again.
"But that doesn't mean you're about to eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. That baby needs more than just fruits."
"I will eat whatever you want me to as long as we get—"
"I will get bacon of every variety for you."
Quinn couldn't help but beam a huge smile and do a little happy dance even as Angelique came around to her side. She placed both the bag of peaches and apricots in the cart and wrapped her arm around the giddy girl's shoulders.
"I swear, between your love affair with bacon and Mercedes' with tots, I don't know what I'm gonna do. The lord has my baby girls ready to marry food instead of men."
Quinn giggled at Angelique's mutterings. She did catch the phrase 'baby girls' and the fact that she was included made her feel warm inside, a near foreign feeling for the former ice queen. She leaned into Angelique's arm, pushing the cart through the store towards the register as they joined the line.
"Angelique, is that you?"
"Hey, Sister Patterson, how was Tahiti?"
"Hot," the shapely church sister said.
The two women chuckled but Sister Patterson's eyes cut to Quinn as Angelique still had her arm around her.
"Well, who's this Angie," she inquired, her eyes gazing at Quinn's protruding stomach causing the girl to place her hands there protectively and look down ashamed at once.
"This is Quinn, she's living with me. Quinn, baby, this is Sister Patterson from church, you haven't met her yet because she was away."
"Hi," Quinn greeted timidly.
"Hello. Angelique can I talk to you over here please?"
The two walked out of what Sister Patterson assumed was Quinn's earshot but having been the former eyes and ears of McKinley for Coach Sylvester, she heard them perfectly well.
"I heard the rumors, but I didn't think it was true," Sister Patterson commented urgently.
"What rumors?"
"That you were gallivanting around this town playing mommy to some white girl from some well-to-do family. Look, I'm not gonna tell you how to run your life."
"Could've fooled me," Angelique muttered.
"But that girl and her… offspring do not belong in your life. Our lifestyle isn't for them."
"First off, this isn't the sixties so please don't start preaching no 'separate but equal' BS to me, because you know I'm not trying to hear all that. Secondly, I care for Quinn and I won't have you talking about her like she's trash, not behind her back or to my face. Thirdly, don't you look at her with those judging eyes. She made a mistake and she owns up to that. She's mature enough to realize that she made the mistake and not that baby in her stomach, who might as well be my grandchild. So, don't you walk around this town gossiping about them. That girl had nobody. You're telling me when you were at your lowest you didn't wish a kind stranger would help you out? That's what I'm doing. Not to score brownie points with the big man, but because it's what's right. Now if you excuse me, I'm next in line."
"Call yourself a Christian and you coming at me and my daughter like you were smoking something iffy down there in Tahiti. Must be out your mind," Angelique muttered as she angrily put items up to be checked.
Quinn stared at Angelique in awe. No adult had ever stood up for her like that.
Once in the parking lot Angelique finally took notice of how quiet Quinn was.
"You listen to me, don't pay no mind to anything people like her got to say. There's always gonna be people like her trying to tear you down and make you feel worthless. I don't want to hear none of that self-pity, 'I can't do this, I'm not strong enough', mess coming from you. Because I know that's a flat out lie. They don't know you, so what does what they think matter. Alright?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Good."
Quinn threw her arms around Angelique before they went any further.
"You've done more for me than my birth mom ever has. Thank you, Miss Angelique. Thank you," Quinn whispered.
"You don't have to thank me, baby. You just take care of that baby and yourself and everything will be just fine."
That was the first time Quinn had felt truly protected and at peace throughout her whole pregnancy.