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Isabel sat quietly in the corner of Grace’s bedroom putting a red silk evening gown on one of Grace’s newest Barbie dolls while Grace and her friend Victoria held a coffee party for the other dolls on a nearby table. Downstairs, Rachel and Victoria’s mother Monica (pronounced Moneeka since she married one of the wealthiest men on the islands) Anwar were holding a similar coffee party, and Isabel had been asked to join the younger girls and “baby sit” them while the older women chatted.
Isabel always enjoyed being around Grace who never made her feel silly or like she was too big to play with. But she was conscious of her age when she was with Grace’s friends and usually tried to stay in the background.
Victoria Anwar was the friend of Grace’s that Izzy liked the least. The beautiful, doll-like child had big brown eyes and curly black hair that framed her face like a halo. But underneath the beauty was a spoiled, indulged child who was used to getting her own way. Isabel knew Grace didn’t like the other little girl very much either but tolerated her because Victoria’s father was an important business associate of Step-Stan’s.
Isabel knew most grown-ups didn’t play with Barbies, but she loved styling hair and Grace never minded her aunt trying different styles on her Barbie’s heads. At home, Steve had even bought her a hairdresser’s manikin with actual hair she could style. So while her niece and Victoria made up adventures for their Barbies, Isabel was happy just to sit in the corner quietly running her own Barbie hair salon.
Victoria slid off her chair and dug around in Grace’s trunk of Barbie clothes for a moment then looked over at Isabel.
“That lady has Barbie’s red gown. I need it,” she announced to Grace with a slight whine in her voice.
Grace looked up at her in annoyance then back down to her own Barbie.
“She’s not ‘that lady’ she’s my Aunt Izzy and she’s playing with it right now. Why don’t you try the silvery gown?”
Victoria pouted slightly then swiveled on one foot and marched over to Izzy with her hand outstretched.
“I need that red gown for my Barbie.”
The older woman looked at her nervously.
“But I’m using it right now.”
Victoria put her hands on her hips and cocked her head at the older women.
“You’re too old to play with Barbies. You look silly.”
“Vickie!” Grace snapped from across the room. “Leave my aunt alone. She can play with anything she wants!”
“But I want the red dress!” yelled Victoria, stomping one foot on the carpeted floor.
Isabel quickly pulled the dress off the Barbie she was holding and handed it to the little girl who snatched it out of the older woman’s hand and marched back to where Grace sat glowering at her.
As Victoria laid the dress down on the table to pick up her Barbie, Grace snatched it back, climbed to her feet and stomped back to Isabel and handed the red gown back to her.
“Grace!” Victoria shrieked. “That’s mean! I was playing with it.”
“Izzy was playing with it first!”
“She’s a grown up!” yelled Victoria again coming to her feet and beginning to sniffle indignantly. “She shouldn’t be playing with Barbies she should be downstairs with our mom’s. Just because she’s a retard…”
The words were barely out of Victoria’s mouth when Grace ran over to her and pushed her sending the smaller girl flying, her butt hitting the floor with an undignified thump. Grace stood over the other child, her hands balled into fists.
“You call my aunt that again and I’m going to go all Jersey on your ass!” yelled Grace, her face red with rage.
Victoria sat stunned for a moment before screaming “Mommy!” and bursting into tears. The smaller girl scrambled to her feet and ran out of Grace’s room screaming all the way down the stairs.
Grace turned to look at a wide-eyed Isabel.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” whispered Isabel in fear.
“She’s a spoiled brat,” Grace growled still burning with indignation. “I’ve never liked playing with her.”
Several moments passed before “Grace Eva Williams come down here immediately!” was shouted from the lower floor.
Grace sighed in exasperation before walking out of the room and down the stairs with great composure, a frightened looking Izzy trailing in her wake.
Victoria was curled up in her mother’s lap crying piteously while Rachel stood with her fists on her hips beside the table holding her grandmother’s silver tea service.
Grace came to stand a few feet from her mother looking up at the older women unrepentantly.
“Do you want to tell me what happened upstairs?” Rachel barked, “Victoria said you pushed her to the floor then swore at her.”
Grace folded her arms together and nodded once.
“I did. She took a Barbie dress from Aunt Izzy even though Aunt Izzy was playing with it then she called Aunt Izzy a…the R word.”
Rachel gasped and looked over at Victoria curled in the lap of her thin, expensively dressed mother.
“Victoria, did you use that word?” Rachel demanded.
The smaller girl wiped the tears from her face and shrugged.
“Yes. I don’t want to play with a retard.”
Rachel looked up in horror at Monica waiting for the other woman to discipline her child. Victoria’s mom shrugged like her daughter.
“I know it isn’t a nice word and I’ll speak to Vickie about it, but really, Rachel…”
Rachel raised her eyebrows in question.
“Is there something you want to say to me, Monica?”
Monica shifted uneasily in her chair.
“Well…” she began, glancing nervously at Grace then Isabel and back to Rachel. “I mean it’s enough that Grace has to deal with…you know…,” her voice dropped to a whisper, “…a gay father, but now this? She’s only 10-years-old. She shouldn’t have to babysit a retarded woman.”
Grace stepped towards Mrs. Anwar, little hands bunched into fists again, but before she could speak, Rachel grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her firmly towards the patio doors at the other end of the room. Rachel smiled sweetly at her former sister-in-law.
“Izzy dear, would you take Grace outside for a moment? I need to speak to Mrs. Anwar.”
Isabel nodded shyly and turned to walk towards the patio.
Before she turned to follow, Grace looked up at her mother with a burning gaze. “I won’t play with Vickie anymore. I hate her!”
With that Danny’s daughter stormed out to the patio, again with a slightly shell-shocked Izzy trailing behind.
Rachel turned back to look at her friend, her eyes sparking with anger.
“Monica, I’m going to say this just once and I want you to listen to me. If I ever hear you or your daughter say such filthy things about my sister-in-law again I’m going to tell the entire country club about your “very special” tennis lessons with Jason after hours.”
Monica gasped and pulled her daughter closer to her bosom as if protecting the child from Rachel’s words.
“And furthermore, the only retarded person in this house is you,” hissed Rachel. “Now you get your bratty child and your tight ass out of my home and never return, do you understand me?”
With a huff of indignation “Moneeca” jerked to her feet almost knocking her daughter to the floor. She grabbed Victoria’s hand and began pulling the complaining child to the door. As she opened it she looked back over her shoulder.
“I always thought you were a lady, Rachel Edwards!”
“You’re just lucky I am a lady or you’d have a black eye right now!” snapped the British woman.
**********
Rachel carried two glasses of ice cold lemonade over to where Isabel and Grace were sitting on lounge chairs by the pool. Grace still had a stormy look on her face and Rachel knew it would be sometime before the child calmed down.
“Here,” Rachel said, handing each girl a glass. “I thought you could use something cold to drink.”
Both girls thanked her politely but while Isabel gave her a small smile, Grace seemed to be avoiding her mother’s eyes. Rachel drew up a chair so that she was sitting in front of her daughter and former sister-in-law. She sat quietly for a moment composing her thoughts.
“Izzy, I want to apologize for the terrible name Victoria called you.”
Isabel shrugged slightly and dropped her eyes to watch the sunlight dance across the pool water.
“It doesn’t matter, Rachel. I’ve heard it before. I guess I am a retard cause I have Down syndrome.”
Rachel shook her head firmly and took one of Isabel’s hands in hers.
“You are not a retard!” replied Rachel firmly. “You’re one of the kindest, sweetest, most loving people I’ve ever known. You’re funny and you’re caring, and we all love being around you. I would rather have you for a friend than 100 Monica Anwars. I’m just sorry I brought her and that spoiled child of hers in my house, and I hope you can forgive me for letting them near you.”
Seeing Rachel’s distress, Isabel came quickly out of her chair and bent over to give her sister-in-law a hug.
“It’s ok, Rachel,” she murmured quietly. “You didn’t know what that mean girl would say.”
“I should have punched her!” Grace piped up suddenly, her small face still dark with anger.
“Grace!” snapped Rachel, “You know your father and I don’t want you hitting anyone except to protect yourself or someone else. That’s why you’re not in trouble for pushing Victoria, because you were protecting your aunt, but I would have been very mad if you’d punched her.”
“She deserves it,” muttered Grace obstinately.
Rachel had to fight down the desire to grin.
“Well…maybe so but it still wouldn’t be the right thing to do.”
**********
As Steve and Danny drove Isabel home later that afternoon the detective’s feelings veered wildly between being enraged at the Anwar brat for saying what she did to his sister and being incredibly proud of his baby girl for standing up for her aunt. Steve, on the other hand, was boiling mad and drove with his hands gripping the steering wheel like it was the only thing keeping him from putting a fist through the windshield.
“Babe…” Danny began, reaching out to put a hand over one of Steve’s fists trying to calm his boyfriend down.
“It’s disgusting, Danny,” Steve hissed quietly although Izzy could certainly hear what he was saying from the backseat. “It’s one thing for a child to say something so stupid – that’s the way she was raised – but for an adult to behave like that.”
“I know,” Danny continued in a soothing voice as he dropped his hand to Steve’s thigh, “it is disgusting, but it happens. There are ignorant people in the world. There’s not much we can do about that.”
“What are you talking about?” Isabel piped up from the back seat.
Her brother shifted around in the passenger seat so he could see her over his shoulder.
“We’re talking about how Victoria and her mother behaved with you today, and the mean thing Victoria said. Steve is very angry that they hurt you.”
Isabel leaned forward as far as her diminutive frame and the seat belt would allow and patted Steve on the arm with the tips of her fingers.
“It’s ok, Steve, don’t be mad. People have said mean things to me before.”
“They shouldn’t though, Iz,” replied Steve, struggling to keep his voice calm. “You’re a wonderful person and I don’t like people being mean to you.”
The small blonde woman smiled adoringly at Steve. Danny suspected she had a crush on his boyfriend and hey, who could blame her? Danny had that same crush.
“It makes me mad, too,” interjected Danny. “But it’s like Mom and Dad used to tell you, Iz, people who act like that are silly and dumb. They’re frightened of anything and anyone they don’t understand.”
Danny paused for a moment.
“Do you remember that time you found that lost puppy and when you went to pick him up he bit you?”
Isabel nodded. “He made my finger bleed.”
Danny shifted again so he could see his sister a bit better.
“Remember Dad told you the puppy bit your finger because he didn’t know you and he was frightened. That’s kind of what it was like for Victoria. She didn’t know you but instead of biting she said something mean.”
“But was she afraid of me like the puppy? I didn’t do anything to make her afraid.”
Danny rubbed his face realizing his analogy might not have been the best. As he paused Steve piped up.
“I don’t think she was afraid of you, sweetie, but she probably hasn’t been around anyone with Down syndrome before so that made her nervous. She probably had all these dumb ideas in her head about what kind of person you would be. If she’d taken the time to get to know you she would see how terrific you are she would have loved you just as much as we do.”
Danny smiled at his boyfriend proudly. He never ceased to be amazed at how gentle yet respectful the SEAL could be to his sister. Danny turned his attention back to Isabel.
“Steve is right. Victoria was too silly to bother to get to know you. She just made up her mind about you and decided not to change it.”
“She shouldn’t have made up her mind about me without talking to me first,” Isabel said, shaking her head in disapproval.
“No, she shouldn’t,” Danny agreed. “It’s just as dumb as deciding you don’t like someone because their skin is a different colour than yours.”
Izzy sat staring out the window quietly for a long while. Steve glanced at her in the rear-view mirror and could see she was still troubled about something.
“What are you thinking about, sweetie?” he asked gently. The young woman turned back to look at him.
“Is Stan going to be mad that Rachel made Vickie and her mother leave the house? Do you think Stan won’t want me around anymore when Rachel has company?”
Danny glanced at Steve and shrugged slightly. Neither of them knew Stan that well, but they did know that as a property developer, his business contacts were vital to his financial health. Would he ask Rachel not to let Isabel be around the children of his business associates?
“I don’t think so, honey,” Danny began with a bit of hesitation. “I don’t know Stan that well, but he seems like a decent guy, and Grace likes him. I don’t think she’d like anyone who acted like that, do you?”
Izzy pondered the question for a moment then shook her head. “No, Grace is too smart.”
**********
Steve, Danny and Izzy were sprawled on the couch together later that evening watching TV. Danny’s sister was sitting between the two men, her head resting on her brother’s shoulder. All three looked up when the doorbell rang.
“Can I answer it?” Izzy asked Steve, sitting up excitedly.
“Better let Steve do that, honey,” responded her ever protective brother.
Steve climbed to his feet and walked over to the door. He bent down to look through the eye hole then glanced back at Danny with a surprised look on his face before opening the door.
Stan stood in the doorway holding a bouquet of flowers.
“Hi, Commander,” Rachel’s husband spoke nervously. “May I speak to Isabel for a moment?”
Steve nodded and stepped aside to let Stan into the room. Seeing him, both Danny and Isabel stood up.
“Hi, Isabel,” Stan said walking over to the young woman with a smile. “I brought these for you.”
Isabel grinned happily and took the flowers burying her nose in the colourful bouquet.
“Thank you Stan, they’re beautiful. They smell nice.”
The older man smiled at Izzy warmly.
“I just wanted to come here and give you those to tell you how sorry I am for what happened today, and the awful thing Victoria said to you. I want you to know that Victoria’s father is a good man and he’s very angry at his daughter for being rude to you. He’s grounded her for a week and she will be sending you a note apologizing for what she said.”
Stan glanced nervously at Danny before looking back at the young woman.
“I also want you to know that Mrs. Anwar and Victoria will not be invited back to our house again.”
Isabel looked up at her niece’s step-father with wide eyes.
“You don’t have to do that Stan,” Isabel replied in surprise.
Stan nodded solemnly. “Yes, I do. You’re part of our family and no one is going to hurt this family and get away with it…right Danny?” Stan looked over at Rachel’s ex-husband expectantly.
Danny glanced over Stan’s shoulder at Steve in surprise then looked back at the older man. He smiled and nodded.
“Right, Stan.”