Her Mother's Daughter - Chapter 21
by Barbara Lynn Terry

When they got "home" and for the holidays, home was Paul's house, they took Jean's new clothes to her room. Shelley helped carry the bags in, and was admiring her new clothes as Jean put them away.

"Jean, you are so lucky to be able to wear anything. I'd give my eye teeth to be able to be this small."

"Shelley, you can be. All you need to do is have the confidence to lose the weight, and don't binge eat. It is not only important for you to be able to wear clothes like these, but also for your heart, too. See Shelley, the more weight you have, the more it presses against the heart.

"I also noticed, too, that when you pick something up from the floor, you bend over. That can be exhausting, and it is not lady like. Ladies stoop down to pick things up. Here, you try it. I will place something on the floor, and you practice stooping to pick it up."

Jean placed one of her big hair clips on the floor, by the bed.

"Now, Shelley, you stoop to pick up the clip."

Shelley tried stooping and almost went head over heels. But she caught herself on the side of the bed.

"It's okay, Shelley. It takes practice, but you'll get the hang of it. Try it again."

Shelley tried it again, but her knees gave out, and she fell forward.

"Are you all right, Shelley?" Jean asked, helping Shelley get up.

"Let me show you a trick. When you are near furniture, use that has a support until you can do it without effort. All right, Shelley, try it again, using the bed as a support."

This time Shelley picked up the hair clip, and wasn't even out of breath like she was when she bent over.

"See. So, until you can do that without even thinking about it, use whatever is near the object you are picking up. Sound like a plan?"

"Yes, thank you, Jean. It is also easier than bending over, too."

"Yes it is. This way, too, you don't flash your lingerie when wearing a skirt or dress."

"Thank you. I will make sure I practice this all the time, if I need to pick up something from the floor, or a low place." Jean smiled, hugging her new friend.

The Anderson house was always a second home to Jean. When she was younger, she had dinner at Paul's house more than once. Shelley was very young then, doing her own thing and not paying much attention to Jean and Paul. Now that Shelley is older, and she has met Jean, she is practicing what Jean has taught her in just one day. Jean was a good teacher though; patient and willing to re-instruct if her "pupil" messed up. Even some professors were not that patient. Jean was going to make a good therapist.

Paul knocked at the door, just as Shelley and Jean had finished putting the last of Jean's purchases away."

"Hey princess, I was just wondering if you wanted with all of us to a movie. They're playing an all time favorite at the Anderson."

"What's the favorite, sweet prince?"

"They're having a matinée of Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer, and then the movie itself is It's A Wonderful Life. Then they are having another matinée of Frosty The Snowman after."

"I have never heard of the Anderson. Where is it at?"

"It is very close. It is closer than you think."

"It sounds intriguing, sir knight. I will be only too happy to join you at the Anderson." The two kissed each other on the cheek, and Paul said he would pick his princess up at seven...ish.

Shelley, Jean and Paul went downstairs, and found that her mother and Mrs. Anderson were baking Christmas cookies.

"May I help, mom?" Jean inquired.

"Me, too," Shelley added.

Paul just could not get over how much of an influence Jean has had on Shelley in just one day. Shelley was actually being a human being for a change.

"Well, yes, I suppose you could. We are making Christmas cookies for the sorority's Christmas party."

Jean looked at Shelley and said she was sorry for forgetting about the party at Gamma Delta.

"Shelley, will you be my guest?"

"Yes, Jean, thank you."

"Now all I have to do is find a chaperone. Do you know anybody who would be willing to escort us to the dance?"

"I would be more than happy to escort m'lady to the dance."

"Why, you look so familiar. Do I know you?"

"I have come from a far away land called college, and I would consider it an honor to escort two lovely ladies to the dance."

"I accept your offer, sir knight."

They have played this game of knight and princess for years, even when they were little. That is what Jean meant when she said Paul never objected to Jean playing the girl in their games. But, being ten year olds, they didn't kiss or even think about holding each other.

One time they played Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Jean, of course, was Snow White and Paul was the handsome prince.

Since then, they have played the knight and lady game all through high school. Jean, of course, really had no problems, because Paul was there to protect her. He wasn't there all the time, but the bullies left Jean alone, afraid Paul would come from around the corner.

Now that Jean was outwardly female, they were the handsome prince and lady and were not shy about letting people know it, either.

Paul's parents had a home entertainment center in their basement with surround sound. When you were there watching a movie, it was like you were actually in the theater. Tonight, Jean, her mother, Paul, Paul's parents and Shelley would watch It's A Wonderful Life on this home entertainment system.

Now, however, Jean, Shelley and their mothers were making Christmas cookies for the dance at the house. The furniture in the living room would be pushed back to make a dance floor, and the buffet would be in the dining room.

Jean loved that she was a part of something and had a lot of fun being a Gamma Delta. The Christmas party at the sorority house was on the twenty third, the day before Christmas eve. Everybody was going to be there.

"A nickel for your thoughts, Jean," Her mother said, with a wide smile.

"It's nothing. I was just thinking about the dance, and how Paul and I always played the kight and lady game, with me being the lady. I thought how Paul always protected me, and how the bullies would leave me alone, because they were actually afraid Paul would show up. Then I thought that it was so nice to be able to be betrothed to my childhood friend. There is only one more person I know of, that married his childhood crush and that was Johnny Cash who had such a crush on June Carter ever since they both were little. Paul and I are going to be sitting next to each other when we watch the movie tonight. Paul was so gallant when he asked me."

"Not only that, Jean," Mrs. Anderson said. "But, in just one day, you have had such an influence on Shelley. It is nice to see her being a lady."

"Mom, do you think I can lose this weight?"

"Yes, dear, I know you can."

"Mom, when I am at the House, do you think you can bring Shelley over, if she needs my help?"

"Yes, Jean, I can do that."

"You would actually go out of your way to make sure I can get help from Jean, when she isn't here?"

"Yes, Shelley. See, Even though I am no longer in college, or in the sorority house, I am still a Gamma Delta. If you need my help getting to Jean when she is at the House, I will be only too happy to take you there. All you need to do is call me and, another thing, too, you don't have to tell me why you need Jean's help. Here is my cell number." Jeannette wrote her cell number down and gave it to Shelley.

"Thank you, Mrs. McMillan."

Jeannette smiled when she said, "you are very welcome, Shelley".

"Now, let me see. We have two dozen Christmas tree cookies, two dozen Frosty the Snowman cookies. You think we should have two dozen Santa cookies, also?"

"Yes, mother," Shelley answered her.

They rolled the dough again and flattened it with a rolling pin. Then they used the cookie cutter to make Santa Claus cookies. When they were finished cutting all but a small part of the dough, they just made that little bit of dough into a regular cookie. This way no dough was wasted.

"Mom," Jean said, seeing that her mother and Mrs. Anderson were all but exhausted. "You and Mrs. Anderson go rest for a bit. Shelley and I can do the clean up."

"Are you sure, Jean?"

"Yes, mother, now scoot."

"Alright, alright, we're going." Jeannette was smiling at her daughter for being so unselfish. She couldn't help but think that Jean was the epitome of what being a Gamma Delta meant.

Jeannette thought, too, that Jean has always been a Gamma Delta even way before she went to college. Jean was always thinking of others before herself. If Jean had something she thought someone else could use, she made sure that person had it. The closest Jean came to cussing was saying butt or darn.

But then, Jean had a wonderful influence in her mother, who taught her many things, but the most important was to treat others the way Jean wanted to be treated. The best part about that was, Jeannette never had to tell her she should do that. It just came natural to Jean.

To paraphrase from a song I heard, "where does the love of God go, when a man's love comes wanting? It goes without saying that the love of a girl, is foremost in his heart." Paraphrasing from Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald by Gordon Lightfoot. But this saying is so true. If a man has love in his heart, but no one to share it with, then he is just an empty shell. But when he has someone to help him share that love, then he is complete and happy. The same with a girl.

Jean and Paul have shared their love since they were ten years old, but they just never knew that was what it was until their first semester in the college. They started out as room mates, and even when Jean pledged Gamma Delta Phi, she never forgot her best friend. It was Paul she thought of immediately to take her to the Pledge Dance. Since then, they have become an open, romantic item.

"A penny for your thoughts, mother," Jean said, startling Jeannette out of her reverie.

"I was just thinking about you and Paul and how you had actually loved each other, even as children, but never knew what it was called until this last semester. I am very proud of you, Jean. Very proud." Mother and daughter hugged for quite a while.

"Ehem," Paul cleared his throat. "I was going to whip us up a dinner tonight, are there any volunteers that would like to help." Jean smiled, as she stood up and took Paul's left arm.

"I would only be too happy help you, sweet prince."

"Then my princess, let us begin the beguine."

They went in the kitchen, and Paul started by asking Jean to get the two packages of tomatoes out of the fridge. Paul got the big stock pot, and filled it two thirds of the way with water. He got out the spices with Jean's help, and placed them on the table. He put oregano and Italian seasoning in the water, and turned on the burner.

"Jean, will you please get out the Italian sausage and the ground turkey, please?"

"Yes."

The Italian sausage was precooked so all they had to do was warm it up in the spaghetti sauce. Paul had learned to make the spaghetti sauce from scratch when he was young. While the water was heating to a rolling boil, he turned his attention to the ground turkey.

"Well, princess, what say we get our hands greasy."

"Sounds intriguing sweet prince. Lead on."

They took the cellophane off of the package, and began rolling the ground turkey into meatballs. As they rolled the ground turkey, Paul couldn't help but notice the dainty way Jean was rolling the meat and how she placed the meatball on to the plate. He smiled outwardly then he looked Jean in the eyes by turning her head to face him.

"Jean, I could sit here with you all day and watch how you do things. Like the way you roll the turkey into a meatball and how you set it daintily on to the plate. It just makes my heart very happy."

Jean and Paul hugged, then kissed each other on the lips.

"You should check the water, sweet prince."

"It can wait a just bit longer, I'm busy right now." Jean giggled.

This camaraderie had been between her and Paul for the past eight ears. They never did one thing that the other would get angry about. Paul was now the official historian of Miss Jean McMillan, his life long friend and fiancée. Paul couldn't help but think of the line Gene Wilder said in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. "Where is fancy bred, in the heart or in the head?" For Paul it was in the heart and his heart was for the love of his life, Lady Jean McMillan.

"Sweet prince, me thinks the water is boiling enough to place the noodles in to the pot."

"Stay right where you are, beautiful, and I will be back before you can count to ten."

"12345678910," Jean said it really fast, then giggled.

"No fair, m'lady doth playeth the game to quickly."

"Yes, sweet prince, in a hurry for you to return." Paul smiled as he placed the spaghetti in to the stock pot. He set the timer to go off in seven minutes, and then he placed the Italian sausage and the meatballs in to the tomato mixture. They had seven minutes to hold each other.

When Paul returned to the table, he looked at Jean and kissed her again. Then they heard the storm interrupt them.

"Ehem, you two need a room. Oh, Spaghetti, home made style."

"Yes, Mrs. McMillan. My mother never makes anything from store bought things, unless it is produce and spices. There is onion powder, onion, garlic powder, garlic, oregano, Italian seasoning, and a few other spices in the tomato sauce and the spaghetti. This is Italian spaghetti and it only tastes good if it is home made."

"I couldn't agree more, Paul," his mother said, coming in to the kitchen."

"Jeannette, since the children are making the dinner, would you like to help me set the table?"

"Yes, this way we can talk, too."

Jean and Paul said they would continue this at the movie. Both turned their attention to the dinner being cooked on the stove.

The whole dinner only took fifteen minutes to cook, because of the sauce. The noodles were turned off and covered, while the sauce cooked a while longer.

While Jean took the spaghetti noodles and drained them, Paul put the sauce in to a large bowl.

Tonight would be something that Paul wanted to see if Shelley was serious about losing the weight she had accumulated over the past four years."