New Beginnings

Repairing the Cracks

A tear falls from Alice's cheek at the mention of Hermione's words. Her girls were resilient, and could handle themselves, but that didn't change the fact that she still worried for them constantly being judged and ostracised for her past mistakes.

"I know that, it's just, for Penelope to blurt out to nearly the entire town that I was sleeping with Hal when the bastard lied to me and then for her to add insult to injury by revealing I was a hooker, it's just, it's just too much for me handle right now." She breathes out before sitting down.

"I would've gone nowhere near him if I knew he was married but nobody's gonna believe that now." She frowns angrily

Hermione takes her hand and rests it upon Alice's. "I believe you. And so does Fred and so do your girls and that's all that matters."

"But it's the judging I can't handle." Alice snaps. "And now the whole towns gonna paint me as the slut who lead him astray."

She takes a second to gather herself together and allow her tears to subside.

She holds her head down onto the table before speaking. "I dealt with enough of this shit when I was younger."

Hermione furrows her brows. "Dealt with what?"

She pauses, taking a deep breath before continuing. "Men treating me like shit." She responds through a shaky voice.

"My Mom kicked me out when she found out I was pregnant. I was 3 months gone, terrified, I didn't know what I was gonna do. I dropped out of high school in the hopes I'd get a job and couch surfed until I luckily found a place, but of course my job didn't pay enough and I had to get inventive, and all I had was my looks so I began selling myself." She quietly reveals.

It was always the one part of her life that she shied away from, it wasn't necessarily the idea of willingly selling her body and owning her sexual autonomy that cut deep, it was always the stigma and judgment from others that came with it.

"I'm not proud of my past, but everything I've ever done was for my family, so they wouldn't grow up the way I did, so they wouldn't end up like me. And now look, Betty's a mom at 15 and Polly's a misdemeanour away from Juvi." She scoffs. "I'm seriously fucking up and this whole town knows it."

"Alice you don't have to explain yourself to me. I don't judge you for your past, we've all done things we're not proud of. And like you said, you did what you had to do to survive, to give Polly and Betty the best life possible." Hermione explains calmly. She hated seeing Alice in this state.

"But I've damn near ruined my girls, they deserve better than me!" Alice snapped sadly

"No. You raised two resilient and independent young women and making sacrifices or decisions that you aren't proud of doesn't make you failure as a mother, it just makes you a damn good one."

Alice softened her face a little before looking back up at Hermione. She had only been feeling sorry for herself, deep down she knew Hermione was right. Regardless of what she's had to do in the past to get by and regardless of how other people viewed her and her family, she knew she had succeeded in raising Polly and Betty to be the amazing young women they are today. They were her proudest achievement.

She blinked back her tears before wiping them away from her face, chuckling as she did. "You always know the right things to say."

"It wasn't about saying the right thing, it was about saying the truth." Hermione assures her

"Thank you. For everything." Alice says to her with a smile.

•••

Working behind bars for half her life, Alice oddly found that there was nothing more therapeutic than restocking fridges.