Baby May

Milestones

This chapter is going to be entirely in Manhattan focusing on Erin. I will try my best to use the proper American terms, e.g. pre-school instead of nursery and reception, kindergarten instead of Year 1. I apologise if something is wrong, I am British and I've never been to America.

Also, as you might have guessed ice skating is going to be a big part of this story going forward, I don't really know the proper terminology so again I apologise if something is wrong. All my information is what is available on the internet, I do try and research as much as possible.

June 1993

Manhattan

"Come on, Mama!" Erin is standing by the door waiting for her mum is find her car keys.

"Found them!" Tina shouts, back racing to the front door keys in hand, "We won't be late I promise. I know how important this is to you, lets go."

It's Erin first official ice skating lesson and though Erin turned three back in October, Tina didn't have enough money at the time. Once Tina got the money together, Erin had to wait for the start of the new summer session.

It's the first Saturday of June and Erin has been up for the past couple of hours, ready and raring to go.

"You nervous?" Tina asks her when they're in the car.

"A little bit, but you told me never be afraid to try, right?" She remembers someone telling her that but Tina knows it wasn't her, it must have been something Brian or Anita taught her.

She taught can't risk saying no though, "Yeah I did. Well done for remembering, make that your life motto."

Arriving at the ice rink, Tina expected Erin to become nervous or shy but when the classes instructor comes over to greet her, Erin happily introduces herself.

"Nice to meet you, Erin. My name is Ella, come and join the rest of the class," The woman leads her over to the group of children who currently sat on the benches, off the ice. Tina takes a seat in the seating area like the other mums though keeping her distance.

Because of their age, lessons are only 30 minutes long so the first lesson is purely about assessing everyone's ability before splitting them into two groups. Half of the class are returning students while the other half are new like Erin.

Though more advanced than some of the new starts Erin is still in Basic Level 1. But she enjoys it, getting back onto the ice and Tina can see how comfortable and natural her daughter is. The worries she had about Erin getting bored of the sport faded away.

While Tina sat watching the class, she feels as though someone is staring at her. She looks to her left and a woman sat furthest away from her alone, she is indeed staring at her.

It worries her because she's never seen the woman before, but she's looking at Tina as though she knows who she is. She's obviously just a mother to one of the other skaters but why is she staring?

As soon as the class finished, Tina takes Erin straight home looking in all her mirrors as she drives in case they are followed. "Mama? What's wrong?" Erin worries, noting her mums slightly frantic driving.

Tina calms down once there are under the cover of the apartment buildings garage, "Sorry sweety, I thought someone was following our car, that's all."

She turns in the drives seat to look at Erin properly once parked, "Some people in this world aren't very nice or want to snatch children from their families. Usually for different motives but the most common are for money or because they're not right in the head."