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Three Girls Chapter Sixteen Times Change by Andrea Lena DiMaggio

Previously...

“I’m so sorry…you’re my best friend and I let you down.” Teddy wasn’t a stranger to crying, but he wasn’t an emotional kid either. But at that moment his conscience overtook his pride and he began to cry. His tears fell from his face and mixed with the girl’s as they ran down her cheek. He stared at her face and saw her for the first time. She was no longer the boy he knew all along. She wasn’t the boy who was pretending to be a girl. And in that instant, not only was his perception changed, but his heart as well.

“Teddy…Yuki…Teddy…Yuki…”

Two years later…Perth Amboy New Jersey…

Margaret Kerenski sat anxiously; her foot keeping time to the song in her head. Rachmaninoff she thought, but she was too distracted to care. She looked at her watch; Yuki was due any moment and Margaret felt her heart would burst as she waited. A knock came at the door. She rose and walked quickly to open it.

“Hi…Margaret. Has Yuki gotten home yet?” The familiar face smiled at her and pulled her into a hug.

“No… her train was late from the city, so she’s probably on her way from the park-n-ride right now. There’s coffee made,” she said as she sat down. She looked out the front window and the music began to replay…Liszt? Prokovfiev? Brahms….nothing she knew seemed to fit. She blinked back some tears.

“Here,” the voice replied as a mug of coffee was thrust into her hands. He sat down in the love seat across from her as the door opened once again.

“Momma-san?” The girl laughed softly as she walked into the living room, but her mood went from gleeful to sober to fearful in a second as she looked at her mother. She turned away slightly and noticed the Marine who sat quietly; his face familiar and his smile warm but his eyes sad. Margaret stood up and walked quickly and the tears in her eyes told Yuki everything she feared. Yuki stood in the middle on the room and began to shake; her fists balled in sad rage as Margaret stammered.

“Honey….Teddy…he…” her words were cut off as the girl screamed and passed out in her mother’s arms. The tall Marine rose and helped Margaret ease Yuki onto the couch. Pat Kelly; former battery mate and best friend to Yuki and Teddy, now the bearer of sad news as Yuki Dudek had just become a widow at 20.

“I’m so sorry, Yuke…” Pat said softly as the girl wept in her mother’s arms. Margaret cursed herself silently for lapsing into her practical mode; the music that had been in her head was a violin piece from an acquaintance of hers… for Teddy’s funeral.

Seven Months later…Chicago…

“Excuse me…Terri? You got a second?” Nina Portland looked up from her desk to see Terri Davies standing going through some mail. Terri walked over to her desk and stood. Remarkably. Her challenges hadn’t abated so much as her success in coping with the Lupus had taken on an almost miraculous proportions. Between diet, vitamins and a new medication, she was able to handle much of what she had before her diagnosis.

“A couple things? Sandy Nikowski came down ill this morning. She has a grief support group over at the Music Institute… can you cover it? It’s at seven this evening.” Terri nodded and smiled. Like the savior she worshipped, she was a person of sorrows; acquainted with grief. Running the support group was mostly just helping others understand they weren’t alone; after the loss of two parents she knew all too well what grief was all about.

“And do you mind if I get a bit nosy?” Terri had an idea where the conversation was going. She shook her head and half-smiled. She had gotten all of her crying done, she thought until Nina frowned and sighed.

“It’s not forever. I’m just not strong enough.” Her surgery had been postponed twice already, and now was on hold until her endocrinologist could see a plateau to her disease; improvement was good, but she had to be healthier. Nina’s empathy did her a world of good and was all-too painful at the same time as she broke down. Her friend came around from behind her desk and hugged her.

“Listen…I can get Pete Jankowski to lead the group. You probably just need to get some rest.” She cringed at the almost patronizing tone of her voice until Terri pulled slightly apart from Nina and smiled.

“You’re probably right, but I think I need this…” The girl looked away and bit her lip. She looked down at her body; feeling doubly betrayed by the loss of her health and the possible loss of her future.

“Okay, honey, but let me know if there’s anything I can do… okay?” She squeezed Terri and then pulled back suddenly.

“Oh. Shit…sorry.”

“Relax Nina, I’m not made out of glass…I won’t break.

Later that evening… Music Institute…

“Hi…Sandy Nikowski isn’t feeling well, and she asked me to sit in for her, will that be okay?” Group therapy can be touchy; new faces can prove too daunting and make it difficult for members to share. After only three meetings, though, it wouldn’t be a problem. Terri smiled.

“My name is Terri Davies. I’m a student over at the Seminary… thank you for allowing me to be a part of your group.” The women nodded; five that evening though the group could be as large as twelve. Terri scanned the faces; the women all seemed to be in their thirties; likely instructors at the Institute save for one younger girl who seemed almost shy. Her soft Asian features and pale complexion seemed almost at odds with each other. But the saddest part of her appearance was the ring on her hand…her left hand. A widow at such a young age.

One by one they introduced themselves quickly… two of the women had lost children. One woman had recently lost her mother after a long bout with Alzheimers. The fourth woman was mourning her brother, a firefighter who had died while rescuing a family from a house fire. But the young girl kept quiet initially. A soft touch on the arm and a smile gained a sigh and a nod. She spoke haltingly.

“My name is Yuki…my….my husband….Teddy…my best friend…since we were little…He…helicopter crash in Iraq…I….” She looked around and the expressions of sympathy acted like a cup of water priming a pump as she burst into tears. And Terri stared at the girl…her own pain seemed to retreat into the background even as her own tears began to fall as her heart went out to the girl...

Next: New Friends and Old Hurts