The next weekend was the weekend of Ally's party and Jasmine was practically bouncing off the walls she was so excited.
They got to Heather's house just as the party was starting.
"Jasmine." Ally said happily as she went running at her the second she saw her.
"Hi Jazz, I'm so glad you could come." Heather told the little girl.
"Thank you, I'm happy too." The little girl replied before she dashed off with Ally to go join some other little girls that were playing.
"Hi Jackie, I'm so glad that Jasmine got to come, Ally wanted her too really bad but I didn't think CSI Stokes would let her, I know he's not my biggest fan."
"Well our jobs have nothing to do with our children, Ally and Jasmine are good friends and Jasmine was super excited about the party." Jackie said, not exactly knowing what to say, everything Heather said was true, Nick certainly wasn't her biggest fan.
To Jackie's relief Heather smiled at her.
"Ally loves you too you know? She comes home everyday going Mrs. Stokes said this, or Mrs. Stokes did that, or Mrs. Stokes lost our worksheets again grandma. She adores you, truly."
"Thank you, I appreciate that, she's a very sweet little girl, she's a teacher's dream, and I'm sure she's right when she says I lose their worksheets, I have a bad habit of that." Jackie admitted with a chuckle.
Heather laughed.
During the next couple hours all the little kids bounced in the bouncy house that Heather had rented, had a playful water balloon fight, had chocolate cake and ice cream, and then watched Ally open all of her presents.
All the kids were having so much fun they didn't want the party to end.
Pretty soon it was only Jasmine and Ally left at the party.
"Alright kiddo we better go." Jackie told her.
"Grandma can Jasmine and I play one board game before she leaves?" Ally asked.
"If Mrs. Stokes wants to stay that long it's fine by me." Heather replied.
Jasmine gave Jackie a hopeful look.
"Alright, go ahead." Jackie told her.
"Yay." Jasmine cheered before both of the little girls dashed up the stairs so they could go play.
"Would you like some coffee?" Heather asked.
"Please." Jackie answered.
Heather led Jackie into the kitchen and poured her a cup of coffee.
"Thank you." Jackie told the woman.
To Jackie all of this seemed kind of strange, she'd heard so many stories about Lady Heather over the years but yet this woman seemed completely normal, very nice in fact and a wonderful grandma from what Jackie has seen and heard.
"So Ally went to a different school in kindergarten, why did she switch?" Jackie asked.
"Well she went to a private school and in all honesty it just got too expensive, and really she likes school much better this year, which I'm very happy about."
"That's good." Jackie said with a smile.
"Yeah, I was worried about her having to switch at first but now I'm so glad I made her. She's made so many good friends and like I said she loves you, she hasn't come home sad or upset one day, not even the day she fell down at recess and skinned her knee. That day she comes home and tells me about what happened and then she says but it's ok grandma, Jasmine took me down to the office and Mrs. Caldwell gave me a band aid and then she gave both me and Jasmine candy. I'm not exactly sure who Mrs. Caldwell is but Ally sure loves her, whoever she is."
Jackie laughed.
"That's the secretary, all the kids love her and they should, she's so nice to them."
"You said she doesn't come home sad or upset this year. Did she last year?" Jackie asked.
"Yeah, she didn't really like school very much, her teacher was kind of mean."
"That's terrible, I can't imagine a teacher being mean to Ally, she's so well behaved."
"I think she was mean to all the kids, not just her."
"I hate teachers like that, I've had a couple in my day and I hope that I'm never mean, I never want to be the teacher that makes kids hate school."
"I don't think you have to worry about that." Heather assured her.
"Thank you." Jackie said with a smile.
"Although I have to be honest with you, she was nervous to start school this year because she thought her teacher would be mean like last year."
"I bet she did, it's always bad when kids have mean teachers but I think if they get a mean one in kindergarten it's even worse because that is their first teacher so they just assume that all teachers are like that."
Heather shook her head in agreement.
"Oh and before I forget tell Ally thanks once again for agreeing to hold off bringing birthday treats until Monday, I always like to give kids their special day so I don't like to have two kids bring in treats on the same day. It was so nice of Ally to volunteer to wait until Monday. This month is a crazy month for birthdays in Ally's class, we have six of them, and Ally's and another little boy's just happened to fall on the same day."
"Oh sure, she didn't mind waiting, the only thing she cared about was whether the class was still going to sing her the special birthday song. I told her that if not she shouldn't worry about it because we would sing happy birthday to her at her party but she explained to me that the song isn't happy birthday, it's a special song. I asked her to sing it to me but she said she doesn't remember all the words yet because you haven't sang it much yet."
Jackie laughed.
"Tell her that I promise she will get the special song." Jackie told her.
"Alright, she'll be glad to hear it."
Just then both of the little girls came down the stairs.
"Are you finished with your game?" Jackie asked.
"Yeah." Jasmine answered.
"Ok then sweetie we should go. What do we tell Ally?" Jackie asked.
"Happy Birthday." Jasmine answered.
Jackie laughed.
"Yes, that too but you should tell her thank you for inviting you to her party."
"Thank you for letting me come, it was fun." Jasmine told her good friend.
"You're welcome, thank you for coming to my party, and thanks for the present." Ally answered.
"You're welcome." Jasmine responded.
"And what do you tell Mrs. Kessler?" Jackie asked Jasmine.
"Who's that mommy?" Jasmine asked.
"Ally's grandma." Jackie answered as she nodded at Heather.
"Thank you for the chocolate cake." Jasmine politely told the woman.
"No sweetheart you tell her thanks letting you come." Jackie corrected.
"Thank you for letting me come to the party and thank you for the chocolate cake." Jasmine said, giving Heather a huge grin as she did so.
Heather smiled at the small child.
Heather may have her differences with the young girl's father but there was no denying that she was absolutely adorable.
"You're welcome sweetheart, I'm so glad you could come." Heather said.
Jackie thanked Heather and then Ally wrapped Jackie in a hug before Jackie and Jasmine left the party.
"Did you have fun sweetheart?" Jackie asked as they drove home.
"Yeah." Jasmine responded happily.
"That's good, I'm so glad." Jackie told her sincerely.
Jackie was so happy that she'd talked Nick into letting Jasmine go to the party!
The End!