Love’s Lessons Learned

Author: Queenie

E-mail me at: happygolucky4@hotmail.com

Rating: G

Summary: Mac reminisces on one of the few, happier times of her 
childhood 
with someone she loves. Sort of a sequel to Love’s Lessons Learned but 
you 
don’t have to read that to get this. J

Disclaimer: JAG is not mine, though sometimes, I wish it were.

Author’s Note: This is a sort of sequel to Love’s Labors Found. You do 
not 
have to read that to get this. I thought that since everyone dwells on 
the 
fact that Mac’s childhood was awful ( and I’m not saying it wasn’t) I 
decided to try for a new aspect of it. So, I hope you like it. I’ve 
been 
getting really inspired at school lately with all the books we’ve been 
reading. “Memoirs of a Geisha”, “The Poisonwood Bible”, and also “ God 
of 
Small Things”. I love that type of writing, with all the details, and 
even 
though I’m not even close to being as good as those authors are, that’s 
how 
I strive to write. So I hope you enjoy this. I had fun writing it. And 
this 
takes place in the kind-of close future.


Love's Lessons Learned


May 2009...

“ Okay, Liv. Let’s go get in bed,” Mac said as she walked into her 
4-year 
old daughter’s room. She found her in the corner having tea with a 
couple of 
her favorite companions: Mr. Bear and Miss Rabbit. And, of course, she 
had 
on her Mother’s pair of  heels. Apparently, she had also snuck into her 
Mother’s purse and slipped out her new lipstick. That assumption was 
proven 
by the fact that she had it smeared everywhere around but not on her 
mouth. 
She needs a little practice, Mac thought as she laughed to herself.

	“Mommy, look!” Olivia exclaimed as she noticed her mother standing in 
her 
doorway. Her smile beamed with pride as she picked up her empty, 
plastic 
teapot and began to “pour” tea into her patient companions’ tea cups. 
Mac 
watched as her daughter very properly and politely excused herself as 
she 
reached over the table to serve her guests. Her chestnut curls fell 
over her 
shoulders as she leaned forward, her aqua-blue eyes concentrating on 
the 
little hands’ task.

	“You’re such a lady, Liv,” Mac said with a smile as she crossed the 
room to 
her daughter. Olivia looked up at her with her father’s wide grin, 
dimples 
embedded in her cheeks.

	“I know I am,” she said as she hopped off her chair. She grabbed her 
“blankie” blanket that was laying next to her on the floor and padded 
to her 
bed. Her pink nightgown that she had gotten for Christmas was still to 
big 
for her and wrinkled at her feet, threatening to trip her. But still, 
she 
refused to wear anything else. She climbed into bed and pulled the 
covers 
over her body. Mac followed her over and sat down on the side.

	“Liv, you can’t go to bed with all that make-up on your face,” she 
said 
reaching for a tissue on the bedside table.

	“But Mom, I’m a lady.”

	“Maybe while hosting a tea party but not when you go to bed, stinker,” 
she 
replied, cleaning her daughter’s face. Olivia scrunched her eyes shut 
as her 
mother wiped her mouth; her lips pursed in detest to the tissue as it 
left 
some of itself behind when she was done. She reached over for her 
bedside 
cup of water to help wash the Kleenex shreds off her lips.

	Mac watched her daughter as she used the back of her hand to wipe off 
her 
lips after she was finished with her drink. She fell back into her 
pillow, 
her ringlets framing her face, and she hugged her blankie to her chest. 
The 
perfection of this child was something she’d never dreamed possible. Of 
course, she thought, that that was probably what every mother felt 
about 
their child. But this was different. This one was hers. She reached to 
tuck 
the covers around Olivia and then pushed a curl off her forehead. 
Mother and 
Daughter’s eyes locked and Daughter smiled her baby tooth grin.

	“Mommy, did you know that I love you?”

	Mac smiled and leaned down to kiss her forehead. Yep, this was 
perfection 
alright. “ Yeah baby, I know.”

	“Do you love me too?”

	“Yes baby. I love you a whole, whole bunch.”

	“And do you love Daddy a whole, whole bunch too?”

	“Yes, I love your Daddy very, very much,” she said tickling Olivia’s 
stomach, making her giggle. “ And Daddy loves me just as much.”

	Olivia thought for a moment, moving her mouth from side to side just 
like 
her Father, and then asked, “ What about your mommy and daddy? Do they 
love 
you?”

	Mac thought for a moment, unsure of whether or not to tell her 
daughter 
about her other grandparents she had never met. Looking into her 
innocent 
face, she didn’t want to destroy the simple world in which she was 
living 
in. She had yet to experience the real world and would be unable to 
comprehend such. But deciding to refrain from lying, she opted to tell 
the 
truth in a much kinder way.

	“Yeah, they loved me. Just… in a different way than I love you.” Her 
daughter was looking up at her with her large eyes.

	“Oh,” then, “Mommy, will you tell me a story?”

	“What kind of a story, sweetie?”

	“A story about you and your mommy and daddy when they loved you.”

	There weren’t too many stories to tell. Stories of love and happiness 
in 
her family were few and far between. And her daughter was asking her to 
pick 
out a memory from her childhood that didn’t include the yelling, or 
hitting 
or kicking and swearing. Or even the abandonment and drinking. She 
wanted 
her to remember something happy, something that she rarely experienced 
as a 
child. She was asking her to focus on something positive about that 
period 
of time. Something she had never done. Something she had never been 
asked to 
do. So she searched every part of her memory, looking for any sort of 
happiness that could appease her daughter’s desires. And what she 
remembered 
made the corners of her mouth turn up a bit. It was a memory of one of 
the 
only times her father actually told her he loved her.

	“ Alright baby. I’ll tell you a story,” she whispered, running her 
fingers 
through her daughter’s hair. Olivia smiled up at her, her eyes gleaming 
in 
anticipation. She scooted closer to her mother’s thigh and snuggled 
into her 
blankie.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sarah McKenzie’s childhood home
August 1976

…she counted the tiny, black holes in the deck’s wooden steps as she 
sat 
outside enjoying her last summer evening but anxiously awaiting her 
first 
day of third grade. As the wind moved the night air through the trees, 
she 
looked out over her backyard, her eyes catching the dancing light bugs. 
She 
watched as they turned themselves off and on, communicating to each 
other, 
letting other fireflies know of their presence. She giggled as one 
landed on 
her knee tickling her skin. It soon flew off and her eyes followed it 
as it 
became one with the stars. She stared in awe at their glowing 
brilliance as 
their light showered down onto her face.

	“They’re beautiful aren’t they, baby?”

	Sarah turned around as she heard a voice behind her.

	“Hi, daddy,” she smiled. He gave her a wink and began to walk towards 
her. 
He joined her on her perch and sat down, resting his arms on his knees 
and 
let out a breath. She watched him as he mimicked her previous position, 
his 
face turned toward the dark sky. When he didn’t move or didn’t speak 
for a 
while, she asked, “ What are you thinking about, Daddy?”

	He turned toward her and smiled. “ How many of those stars do you 
think are 
up there, Sar’?”  he asked.

	She redirected her gaze to the sky and scrunched her lips to the side 
in 
thought. “ I don’t know. Probably thousands, I guess.”

	He laughed at her answer a little. “ Maybe thousands right above us, 
Sarah. 
But there are billions and trillions more that we can’t ever see.”

	Sarah’s eyes widened a bit and her mouth formed a round ‘oh’.  “Wow. 
That’s 
a lot.”

	“Yeah. Pretty amazing, isn’t it?”

	“Yeah…it is,” she said looking back up to the night sky. They sat in 
silence for a minute and then she felt her father’s eyes upon her. She 
looked over to him and was surprised to see faint tears in his eyes.

	“You know I love you, don’t you baby?” he asked her, running a hand 
down 
the side of her head. It stopped to rest on her shoulder.

	“Yeah, Daddy… I know.” she answered.

	“No matter what, Sarah, I love you.”

	She reached her small arms out to him and rested her head upon his 
shoulder 
as she gave him a hug. “ Yeah, Daddy. I know. No matter what.” Her 
hands 
gently rubbed his back, making uneven circles of reassurance. He pulled 
away 
from her, giving her nose a light tap. She smiled a little. He looked 
down 
at his hands and started to rub them together. “ Well, don’t stay out 
here 
too late watchin` the fireflies, okay? You gotta be up early tomorrow.”

	“Okay Daddy.” He reached out to the railing and pulled himself up. She 
heard him walk away and the screen door slam shut as she sat alone 
again on 
the steps, watching all the stars with a new perspective…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That was one of the last times her father ever told her he loved her. 
It was 
the last time for many things. But as she looked down at her sleeping 
daughter, she realized that this was the first time she was able to 
pull 
that memory. That was one of the first lessons her daughter would be 
able to 
teach her of love. She smiled as she stroked her rosy cheeks and placed 
a 
kiss on her forehead. “Goodnight baby,” she whispered into her ear as 
she 
carefully stood up and walked for the door. She took one last look at 
her 
beloved child before she turned off the lights leaving Olivia’s 
Precious 
Moments nightlight to illuminate the room. She pulled the door shut 
behind 
her as she walked down the hall to her room.

	He was already under the covers and dozing when she slipped in. His 
bedside 
lamp was still on and he had a book laying halfway open on his torso. 
She 
quietly tiptoed around the bed and pulled the book off his chest and 
dog-eared it, laying it down on his side table. She clicked off the 
light 
and then slipped carefully in beside him, spooning up to his chest.

	“Sarah…” he mumbled.

	“It’s okay… go back to sleep, sweetie.” He slipped his right arm 
underneath 
her body and wrapped his left arm around her waist, pulling her to him. 
She 
inhaled his familiar aroma and closed her eyes. Half-asleep he kissed 
the 
crown of her head and murmured something that sounded like ‘I love 
you’. But 
that’s okay. She didn’t need to understand his words. She already knew. 
Because her daughter wasn’t the only who had ever taught her a lesson 
in 
love. So had her partner, best friend, confidant, husband, and lover- 
Harm. 
She pulled the covers up tighter around them and fell asleep in loving 
arms 
and with happiness in her heart.

~Fin~