The Mechanic.

Chapter 18

"Come on, baby," she said to her son.

****

"Hey baby," Jon said to Ella when he picked up her call.

"Jon? Are you busy?" He heard her harried voice ask.

"Why? What's happening?"

"Can you come over to the house? I need your help with something. It's kind of important."

He frowned. What was this about? Was she okay? Josh. Was he okay? He decided to stop working himself up into a frenzy and just go over to her house.

"Hey. I got here as quickly as I could," he said. "What's happening?"

"Come on in," she said and stepped aside to let him in.

"You're scaring me."

"Calm down a little," she said as they walked to the living room. She yelled Josh's name and he walked into the living room, looking a bit surly.

"What in the world?" Jon exclaimed at the sight of the injuries on Josh's face. The little boy walked into the room in just his underwear and sat on the couch and folding his arms and glaring at the both of them. Jon turned to Ella with a wildly confused look on his face.

"He fought with a kid at school," she said in a monotone voice.

"That doesn't sound like him in the least."

"My thoughts exactly," Ella replied. "Then I asked him why and his reply shocked me."

Jon turned to Josh, then walked over to the couch and sat down beside the boy. "What happened, buddy?"

The boy turned to him. "I already told Mommy. Why can't she just tell you?"

He was still clearly agitated over whatever had happened so Jon just turned to Ella expectantly. Thinking about it now, why had she called him to come over?

"You guys are killing me," he said exasperatedly.

"He told his classmates that his mommy had a new boyfriend," Ella started narrating. She sighed and sat on the other chair in the sitting room. "This was a few days ago. Today, this Micah kid comes to school and tells the whole class that Josh's mother is a bad woman. That only bad mothers have boyfriends."

Jon's eyebrows went up. He rubbed the back of his neck. He understood now why she had called him to come over. What exactly did one say to a child in this situation?

He couldn't even begin to imagine how the little boy felt. Having a classmate tell the whole class that his mother was bad. No wonder the boy had gotten into a fight.

"Josh. You do know that your mother isn't bad, right?"

He received a glare in response. "I know that. That's why I punched him."

Ella sighed. "Josh, I keep telling you that violence is never the answer."

Jon kept quiet on that one. He would have punched the living daylights out of anyone who dared insult his mother. Or his Emma, for that matter.

"Violence was the only answer to what he said," Josh said stubbornly.

"No honey. You punching him was like telling the entire class that you didn't know how to defend yourself and your mommy, so you had to punch him," Ella explained, looking a bit frazzled.

"No, mommy. It was telling them that he is a huge meanie and meanies get punched."

"Josh, you're not listening to me!" she yelled.

Jon watched the little boy's eyes widen at the sound of his mother's raised voice. "Sorry, mommy."

Ella took in a deep breath, but she looked like she was fighting tears. "Sweetheart. I understand that you were trying to defend me, but you could get into a lot of trouble for fighting. You could also get seriously hurt. Even more than you are now. Do you understand that?"

The little boy bent his head now, and Jon thought he looked ashamed. "Yes mommy. I won't fight anymore."

Ella sighed in relief. "Thank you so much. Come and give me a hug."

He got up and walked over to her and she locked him in her arms and kissed his forehead. "I love you baby."

"I love you too," he said.

She let him go. "Go get dressed."

When he walked into his room, Ella let her head drop to her thighs and she made a pained sound.

"Come here." Jon said, patting the space beside him on the dark couch.

When she was beside him, he pulled her into his arms and held her there. He kissed her forehead.

"Sometimes I feel like I'm not doing things right with him," she said into his chest.

"What?" he said, surprised. He had no idea why she would think that. She was an amazing mother.

"I don't know. Children don't come with handbooks so I worry sometimes," she said. "My parents didn't give us much advice. And when we got in trouble, we were locked in our rooms without even being asked what happened. So I don't really know how these things should be handled. I mean, you read all the books but every child is different."

He kissed her forehead again. "I don't know much about parenting myself, but I was rather impressed by the way you handled that. You didn't just tell him not to fight. You actually made him understand why he shouldn't."

"I just worry about him."

"He'll be alright."

She got up and looked into his eyes. "I can't thank you enough for coming. I really just needed the moral support."

"It's no problem." Jon said before closing his lips over hers.