A New Routine

Two weeks passed, and as Penelope began to progress through her therapy and recover more from her head injury, she was cleared to return to work and start participating in all of her normal activities again- although there was a note of caution to not push herself too hard too fast. Penelope agreed, as she had already been itching to return to work and was beginning to go stir crazy with not having much to do around the house. Plus, she wanted to contribute to the household somehow. Even though Derek had told her that it wasn't necessary.

She was spending more time with her dad, and today, he was taking her to DMV to get her learner's permit. She had been studying for the test online, and was excited to finally be able to learn to drive.

She had been sitting in the lobby with her dad for over an hour when her name was called. She smiled brightly as she handed the forms she had filled out along with a copy of her ID to the rep at the desk. "Oh, we're ready to work on learning to drive, eh?" The lady helping her asked brightly.

"Yes! I am so excited!"

The lady looked over all the forms and typed away at her keyboard for a minute. "Alright, right this way! I've got you set up over here on kiosk two." She seemed to be the most cheerful person in the room. The first employee who she had spoken to had grouchily pointed her out to the forms and told her to take a number.

She sat down at a computer, which now displayed her name with a start button. The lady read her a set of instructions and then told her that she could go ahead and start. There weren't a lot of questions on the test, but most of them had been things that her father and dan had highlighted she would want to know. What lanes to be in when, when to stop, how to follow signs, laws on driving impaired, school bus zones, and some other random questions about using turn signals and parking.

When she hit the submit button, she grinned as she saw a green box with the words PASSED in it. Out of all the questions she had answered, she had only gotten two wrong. The lady helping had said her number would be called again after she finished, so she went back to sit down. Another 30 minutes of waiting later and she had her permit fresh in her hand!

Kent beamed with pride as she showed him her new permit. "Look at you! I knew you were going to pass! Now comes the hard part."

The grin that was plastered on her face didn't falter as she asked "Can we start now?"

"Not just yet, Pumpkin. I'm not going to start you off behind the wheel in a busy parking lot next to a busy road. We'll start when we get back to the house this evening. Our first lesson will be on the functionality of your car. Getting you familiar with your controls and where they are. Its important for you to know where everything is and how you should be set up first. Once we do that, then we'll start off in a parking lot in the middle of nowhere and go from there."

Penelope nodded in understanding. "Yeah, that makes sense! I'm still happy that you're going to teach me, though." She beamed as they got back to his car and got in.

"I'm happy that you asked." He said, returning her smile. "You have no idea how badly I've wanted to teach you."

"Why didn't you?" Penelope inquired.

"I would say that its because you never asked, but that wouldn't be fair. The truth is, your step-mother was completely against it. You and Greg are so close in age that when the time came and I brought it up, she wanted me to teach both of you- which is fine- but she wanted me to buy Greg a brand new car when you both turned 16, and was not okay with me getting you anything. We actually got into a huge fight over it, and I told her to forget it.

"I wasn't going to make things between you and Greg anymore unfair than they already were. I told her I would just teach you in my own car, and she could teach Greg in hers. She wasn't okay with that, either. So the subject was dropped. It only came up again when Greg started begging Mary for his permit, and it continued to be a fight. Every time it was brought up, I stuck to my grounds, and Mary would throw a temper tantrum. When you never asked me to teach you, I figured maybe you just weren't interested. Looking back on it now, I wish I would have given her the finger and offered to teach you anyways."

Penelope nodded in understanding. "Its okay, Dad. I did want to learn, but I was too scared to ask. I remember at some point, The Witch told me to not even bother because a girl like me didn't deserve such 'special permissions.' And anytime I came to you for anything, she treated me so much worse than she already did. And for days, too."

Kent grabbed Penelope's hand and squeezed it. "I'm so sorry, sweetie. I know that there is nothing I can do to make up for any of the things that she did to you. I am a terrible father for never realizing just how bad she made things for you."

Penelope shook her head. "Dad, one thing that I know is that you're not terrible. I know that most other kids would probably be bitter or hold a grudge if they were in my shoes. But that's just not something I can do. You aren't responsible for her actions. You can only take responsibility for your own. Mary is a wolf in sheep's clothing. She had you blinded by the parts of her that she made you think were good. I couldn't compete with that. So I endured. And I told myself that one day, I would tell you the truth. To tell you everything, if and when you decided to leave her. I figured that by that time, you would be willing to listen and able to believe me."

"Oh, Pumpkin. I am so sorry. I am here and I am ready to listen when you are ready to talk."

"Thank you, Dad."

~ ~ ~

Across Town

Mary sat with her purse clutched in her lap. Her legs and arms were tucked smugly to her body. Mascara ran down her face, which sported a large, red and purple bruise on one eye. She appeared to be visibly shaken as she stared across the desk at the lawyer she had hired to represent her.

\

Jevon Peterson was well-known to be a shark, and did not stand for any type of abuse. When Mary had initially called his office, he had refused to speak with her. But when she came into his office, sporting her bruise and crying for him to hear her out, he had invited her into his office.

"Mrs. Marks, your case is going to be very complicated to fight. Divorce is already ugly as it is, and given the accusations Mr. Marks has made, and the current investigation of child abuse against his then minor child, along wit the evidence that has been provided to the court, it is going to be very difficult to fight. On top of this, Ms. Marks has evidence of sexual abuse by your older son. The judge has decided to try him as an adult, which is going to damage any testimony he gives on your behalf."

"I understand, but according to my son, she forced herself on him. The 'evidence' she provided was not taken by her, not given. Both of my sons are victims in this." Mary insisted.

Jevon nodded in acknowledgement. "Any evidence that you can provide beyond your children's testimonies will be beneficial. In order to win both of your cases, you are going to have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the abuse made was towards you and your boys, and not Ms. Marks. Pictures would help. But they are best when they have been documented by police after a domestic dispute has been reported, and that has not taken place. Recordings would tell the story better. I can take on your case and do my best to ensure that things end favorably for you, but without more, I cannot guarantee that it will be possible."

"I understand." Mary replied, as another crocodile tear streamed down her face. "Its just that I've been so scared that I didn't know what to do. He was always threatening to kill me if I called the police. This-" she said, pointing to her eye. "This is what he did to me last night when he came home to pick up some of his things. He got angry because I changed the locks on the doors. It was for our own protection, though! Both my boys were there and saw him strike their mommy in a fit of rage over it."

Jevon nodded again, taking down notes as Mary continued her sob story. "And you didn't manage to get any of it on your home security cameras?" When Mary shook her head and told him that she no longer had access to the cameras, he took down more notes. "Are they still up?" He asked.

"Yes. They're wired into the house, and they're too high for me to reach. I'd have to call out an electrician to disconnect them." In reality, Mary had locked Kent out of the cameras, so that he couldn't access any footage that proved he hadn't actually been to the house to hit her in the face. Instead, she'd had Greg draw his fist back and deck her as hard as he could. She had then coached both him and Sean on the story they were going to tell to the judge.

Mark had only packed a few essentials and had not contacted Mary since he had left the house. He had not been back, nor had he contacted her ever since. Instead, he had paid a process server to deliver divorce papers to her which contained explicit instructions to communicate only through lawyers. It was no matter. Mary was a master manipulator. She was going to take Kent Marks to court and strip him of everything he had. And she was going to take his wretch of a daughter with her, too.