Forever Bound (4 page)

“You did really well with it. He was probably glad you did so well.”

“But he said I did perfect.”

I was kind of upset too—not that Lily had misspelled a word but that he hadn’t corrected her. How was she supposed to learn unless he told her? I had to wonder again if it was just a kind of smug laziness—thinking first-grade was easy, that it didn’t matter.

“He probably meant you did really well. And you drew a beautiful tree. I really like how you did the bark.”

“I tried to make it look scratchy like bark is, so I did the triangles.”

I stroked her dark hair as she studied her picture, looking pleased again. “You did an amazing job. I never would have thought to draw bark that way.”

***

That evening, I was still thinking about Declan Curtis and his unwillingness to answer any questions about his background.

Something strange was going on here.

I knew if Chuck was looking in on him regularly, that the kids weren’t likely to be in any danger from him, but I didn’t want Lily to go three months without a teacher who actually wanted her to learn.

So, after she went to bed for the night, I did a web search on his name.

There were quite a few hits about his time in the Marines, including a number of articles about an accident that had killed another soldier when he’d been present. At least he’d been honest about knowing what it was like to lose someone, if it had been a friend of his who’d died. He must have just gotten out a year or so ago, which meant he must have gone to college before he’d joined up.

I searched through the results, but couldn’t find anything referencing a college. I saw a couple of brief references to a security firm, but that must be a different Declan Curtis.

He’d evidently been born in Fairfax, Virginia. And I found one of those look-up-your-old-classmates sites that listed him as having gone to high school there. But no college was listed.

I supposed not everyone’s college could be found through an online search, but something was strange here. I had the dates of his high school years, which put him close to thirty. I had references to his being in the Marines going back for several years. Assuming he was in college for four years, that didn’t leave any time to get teaching experience.

What the hell was he doing subbing in our little private school?

My first thought was to go to Chuck with my concerns, but that felt rather underhanded.

I preferred to be honest and straightforward whenever I could, so I’d go talk to Declan tomorrow morning and see if I could get answers to my questions.

If he blew me off again, then I’d go to Chuck.

He sure as hell better not try to distract me by asking me out again. What kind of a pushover did he think I was, to be diverted from genuine questions by a pair of broad shoulders and a sexy grin?

A very sexy grin.

I really wished I hadn’t started thinking about that, just as I was getting ready for bed.

***

The next morning, I stopped by his classroom first thing, before the kids arrived.

He was crouching down in front of the little bookcase, shelving books quickly and rather haphazardly.

I swallowed at the site of his fine, tight butt in his khakis but made myself push the thought from my mind. I cleared my throat.

It evidently startled him because he jumped to his feet in an automatic posture of defense.

Nick used to do the same thing when he was startled. Too many years of being in harm’s way.

“Sorry to surprise you,” I said mildly.

“It’s fine.” His posture and face relaxed until it had that flirtatious half-smile again. “And how are you this morning?”

I suddenly hated that look. It was like he hid behind it or something. “I’m fine. I wanted to ask you again about where you went to college?”

He blinked. “What?”

“Where did you go to college? And when? And what is your previous experience teaching? I did a little research, and the dates I found don’t seem to add up, so I wanted to ask you about it.”

He came over to where I stood, his presence shifting until it felt almost intimidating. “Why does it concern you?”

My mouth fell open briefly. “Because I’m a teacher at this school, and my daughter is a student in your class. I think I’m entitled to know your background so I can be confident that these kids are in good hands.”

“You have nothing to worry about.”

“Well, please excuse me if I don’t feel comfortable taking you at your word. I don’t know you. And my daughter is in your class. If you’ll tell me about your education and previous experience, then I won’t have to keep pestering you about it.”

His eyes narrowed, and I realized he was bristling—like
I
was the one being inappropriate or unreasonable here. “And if I don’t?”

“Then I’ll have to talk to Chuck. I’m sorry. I promise I’m not in the habit of causing people trouble just because, but this is too important for me to ignore. I can’t think of any reason you won’t tell me the answers to simple questions, unless you have something to hide.”

“It’s not really your business what I’m hiding.” His voice had grown gruffer, and there was something really sexy about his looming intensity—much more attractive than his characteristic manner.

My body was definitely interested in this man. No doubt about that.

But I didn’t have to let my body decide my behavior. This was too important.

“Of course, it’s my business. Should I not care about my daughter’s welfare?”

“Your daughter is perfectly safe with me.”

“I also want her to learn, you know.”

“She already knows twice as much as the rest of the class. And I’ll tell you this.” For just a moment, he looked almost fierce. “I don’t respond well to threats.”

I raised myself up to my full height, which just wasn’t very high. “And I don’t respond well to people trying to hide things that I have a right to know.”

I could tell by his expression that nothing constructive was going to come out of this conversation. He wasn’t going to tell me anything I wanted to know.

I hated the thought of tattling to the principal, but what else could I do?

I’d seen too often the serious, negative consequences of letting suspicious things go when it came to kids.

I wasn’t going to let this go.

Declan

Houston, we have a problem.

I’d been around my share of difficult women before, but seriously? This one took the cake. I got that this was a private school, and I would even concede that she had the right to be curious, considering her daughter was in the class. But what Kristin Andrews was doing right now bordered on harassment. What was she, some sort of fucking narc?

Like this assignment wasn’t shitty enough, now I had to watch my back against some uptight bitch who clearly had some control issues.

Shit
.

Well, two could play at this game. If she wanted to make some waves, then just let her try. She’d be fighting a losing battle because, right now, I was going to beat her to the punch. I looked up and saw that there was still time before the students started to arrive and stalked down to the main office.

“Hey, Rose,” I said smoothly, flashing her a grin. “Has Chuck come in yet?”

“He just arrived a few minutes ago. You’ll find him back in his office.” She gave me a smile of her own and, as stupid as it sounded, it restored my faith in the female of the species. At least
some
people weren’t suspicious of me.

I knocked on Chuck’s door with a little more force than was necessary, and he jumped at the sound. “Sorry. Can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Absolutely,” he said and gestured for me to take a seat. “How are things going? Did you get through the papers last night with the system we talked about?”

Yesterday, Chuck and I had our daily, after-school meeting, and he gave me some advice on how to get through grading homework without wanting to stab my own eyes out. It wasn’t much help, but I didn’t need a shot of whiskey either to get through it.

“It went fine. Thanks.” I shifted in my seat and tried to think of the best way to approach this issue.

“What’s on your mind, Declan? Is it the class? Is it Jessileigh? Has there been any news there?”

“No, no. Nothing like that. So far everything has been quiet on that front.” I took a deep breath and decided to just spit it out. “There’s a problem with a parent. Actually, she’s more than a parent…she’s a…she’s one…”
Shit
. “She’s a teacher here. Kristin Andrews. Her daughter is in my class, and she’s been asking all kinds of questions about my qualifications and about how I run the class and…dammit, Chuck, she’s all but threatening me at this point. What is her deal?”

“Kristin? Threatening you?” Chuck let out a laugh. “I’m sorry, but that’s so out of character for her. She’s normally a very agreeable person. The students and faculty love her. She gets along with everybody.”

“Obviously not,” I said, and I was beginning to feel a little less confident than I had ten minutes ago. “Look, we didn’t discuss giving me a background because it shouldn’t have come up. All of the other parents have been great. But I have to be honest with you, I can’t do battle with this woman every damn day. She can clearly tell that I’m not a teacher, and I can’t tell her what’s going on and risk Jessileigh’s safety.”

Chuck instantly sobered. “No, you’re right.” He huffed out a slightly frustrated breath. “What are her complaints exactly?”

Where did I even begin? “Her daughter is the smartest kid in the class. I haven’t ever taught before or been around kids, but I can see that she’s way beyond a first-grade level in everything. Basically, Lily is complaining that we’re not doing enough.”

“You don’t hear of that happening very often—a student complaining about not enough work.”

“Tell me about it,” I mumbled. “I’m doing the best I can in regards to the teaching, Chuck. You and I discussed this. I never claimed to be a teacher. My main concern is Jessileigh and keeping her safe. I am careful to almost never let that little girl out of my sight while she’s here at school. Kristin Andrews is a problem, and I need you to get her to back off.”

“It’s not that easy, Declan. She’s a teacher here as well as a parent. It’s not like I can ask her to not talk to you.”

“Throw me a bone here, Chuck. I have a job to do, and I can’t have some nosy parent distracting me. Can’t you talk to her? Feed her some bullshit to shut her up. Make up a college that I went to, tell her that you have fourteen golden references to my character and teaching ability…I don’t care. Just…get her to back off.”

My frustration was coming through loud and clear, and I wasn’t proud of it. I’m a fucking Marine, dammit. I should be able to handle one tiny woman—no matter how annoying she was! I hated that this was what I was reduced to. A first-grade teacher running to the principal because someone was trying to bully me.

There was no way I was sharing this with the guys.

No way in hell.

“I’ll have a conversation with her today or tomorrow, Declan. You have my word.” He stood and held out a hand, and I shook it.

“Thanks, Chuck. I appreciate it.”

I walked out of his office and through the reception area and winked at Rose. She blushed. She was cute enough but not someone that I was really interested in.

Damn
. As soon as that thought entered my brain, the only face that came to mind as someone I was interested in was Kristin Andrews.

“I just can’t catch a fucking break, can I?”

***

“Okay, Jess…”

“It’s Jessileigh,” the little girl said quietly. “My mom says that Jess is a boy’s name.”

Right now, I’d love to get my hands on Mrs. Mitzi Vanderhall and shake her. I’d been sitting with Jessileigh since the class got back from lunch. Everyone was working in groups to identify different plants. There was a nice garden set up outside of the first-grade classrooms—all two of them—and the other teacher had agreed to take my kids out with hers while I worked with Jessileigh.

“So what’s the problem?” I asked carefully. When I went to line the class up to go outside, Jessileigh had stayed at her desk and refused to budge. Luckily Robin Moore—the other first grade teacher—had come to my rescue. “Why don’t you want to go out in the garden?”

She looked at her hands which were folded in her lap, and even I could tell that she was nervous. The poor kid never looked like she was comfortable. From her first day back in class, I was able to see that the kid was obviously feeling the pressure of her parents’ situation.

“I…I…I’m not supposed to get dirty. This is a new dress and…if I get anything on it…I’ll be in trouble.”

Ah. Okay. Now we were getting somewhere. “How about if I promise that you won’t get anything on your dress?”

She looked up at me with the biggest blue eyes I had ever seen. They were so big and so sad that something tugged at my heart. I could tell that she wanted to say something but wasn’t sure of herself.

“What if I assigned you a buddy?”

“A buddy?”

I nodded. “Someone that would only work with you so that you won’t be in a group and you could go at your own pace. How would you like that?”

Without a word, she simply nodded.

And then smiled shyly.

“Okay.” Standing, I went to the back door of the classroom that opened up to the garden. I looked out at the group and knew that they still had a good thirty minutes of exploring time, and I wanted to make sure that Jessileigh had the opportunity to participate. I wracked my brain for a minute, trying to remember if there was anyone in the class that Jessileigh was friends with. Unfortunately, I knew for a fact that the little girl spent most of her time by herself.

“Lily?” I called out. “Can you come here, please?”

This could quite possibly kill two birds with one stone. First, Lily could help Jessileigh with the assignment in a non-intimidating way, and second, it would give Lily more responsibility and therefore make her feel like she was doing more.

And get her mother off my back.

“Yes, Mr. Curtis?” she asked as she skipped over to the door.

“How would you like to be a helper?” I have to admit, the idea literally just came to me. Jessileigh needed someone to help her, and I needed something that was going to make Lily Andrews focus on something other than my shortcomings.

“A helper?” she asked, carefully considering my words. “What’s that?”

I crouched down and carefully explained to her about Jessileigh’s concerns about walking around in the garden. “I thought that you would make an excellent helper. You could show her all of the different plants and flowers and, you know, make sure that she doesn’t have any problems.”

For a minute, I thought the kid was going to turn me down. She looked up at me with that same look that her mother usually gave me while she considered her options.

“I didn’t want to ask just anyone to do this, Lily,” I said, doing my best to convince her. “I know that you’re the number one science student and that you’ll know exactly how to show Jessileigh the right stuff without making her get too hands-on. So what do you say? Will you be a helper?”

She studied me for another minute. “Will I get an extra star on my science chart?”

I almost wanted to kiss her. “Sweetheart, if you help Jessileigh out with this assignment, I’ll give you two extra stars.”

I saw her eyes go wide right before she high-fived herself. “Deal.”

Without another glance in my direction, I watched her walk across the classroom and over to Jessileigh. Two minutes later, the two of them walked outside like they were the best of friends.

Maybe I didn’t totally suck at this teacher thing.

***

I was relieved when I looked up and saw that the end-of-the-day bell was about to ring. I lined the kids up and prepared to dismiss them and made sure that Jessileigh was at the back of the line.

Our general routine was that all of the bus riders got dismissed first, then the carpool group. Jessileigh fell into the second group, but I always walked her out and waited with her until her father’s car pulled up.

The bell rang and the first group walked out—following one of the assistant teachers who handled the task on a rotating basis. Three minutes later, the second bell rang for the carpool group. Jessileigh and I followed at the back of the group like we always did. I felt more secure knowing that no one was behind us.

Usually, we made the walk in silence, but today, the kid seemed to have a lot to say.

“Lily showed me the daisies and the sunflowers. Yellow is my favorite color, and both of those flowers had yellow in them. I think I’m going to draw of picture of them as part of our science homework. Would that be okay, Mr. Curtis?”

I was stunned silent by the amount of words the kid just spewed out at me. Looking down at her, I noticed that a bit of the sadness that usually clouded her eyes was gone. It made me smile.

“Sure. I think that would be a great idea.” We made it to the front door, and we stayed back and watched as the line of cars flowed through. I had to hand it to the kid. She was a trooper. She never complained and did what she was told. I knew that the situation with her parents was a bad one and it was taking its toll on her, but she held it together.

“Do you…do you think that Lily could be my buddy in art class tomorrow?” she asked shyly.

Her eyes didn’t meet mine, but I crouched down and looked at her until she did. “I think that’s a great idea. I’m sure she’d really enjoy that.”

I stood up and looked out the door and saw the black BMW pull up to the curb. “Your dad’s here,” I said and together we walked out to the car, and I waited until she was safely inside and buckled up before stepping back and watching them drive away.

As much as I wanted to talk to Jackson Vanderhall, we had agreed that all communications would be done over the phone so that we didn’t upset Jessileigh and didn’t draw attention to ourselves on school property. I made a mental note to call him later and let him know that his daughter was finally starting to feel comfortable enough with me to start opening up about some of her fears.

Progress.

Walking back to the classroom, I knew I had about twenty minutes worth of cleanup to do before I could leave with a clear conscience. There was a ton of handouts to grade—all of which I planned on doing at home—and I was just ready to have some time to myself with no chattering six year olds surrounding me.

Picking up books was its own brand of torture and something that seemed to be never ending. I was in the middle of clearing up the reading corner when I heard someone enter the room.

Lily.

“Hey, Lily. Did you forget something?”

She shook her head and slowly walked over to me. The kid was totally transparent. There was something on her mind, and she was trying to gather up the courage to talk to me.

Stopping about three feet away, Lily took a deep breath and then looked me square in the eye. “I wanted to tell you that I really liked helping Jessileigh today.”

You wouldn’t know it from the look on her face, but I waited her out to see if she had more to say.

“I never really tried to talk to her before. She never seemed to want to be anyone’s friend. But today was really fun.”

“She liked having you for a helper too,” I said, and now I was the one mentally high-fiving myself.