Into Magnolia (Sandy Cove Series Book 3)

by Rosemary Hines

  She almost knocked into the two kids waiting outside the door. “Sorry,” she muttered under her breath, heading into her room and shutting the door. Once she heard them in the bathroom, she took the test stick out of her pocket again. Still positive.

  What am I going to do? she thought, her heart racing.

  Retrieving her cell phone from the nightstand, she punched in Adam’s number. He didn’t answer. Voicemail instructed her to leave a message after the tone.

  “Adam, it’s me. I need to talk to you. Call me.” She flipped the phone shut and threw it into her backpack, then went downstairs, grabbed a couple of cookies, and headed to school, never even telling Cecilia she was leaving. Usually she gave Amber a ride to school, but this morning she had an early appointment with the other kids’ social worker, and Amber had agreed to walk.

  As she walked the two miles to school, she tried to imagine all the possible scenarios that lay ahead. Maybe she’d have a miscarriage. Her mom had said she’d had one between Amber and Jack. Or maybe she’d have an abortion.

  The thought made her shudder. She really didn’t want any doctor messing around with her down there. Plus she felt bad for the baby. It wasn’t his or her fault.

  Maybe she could convince Adam that they could drop out of school and have the baby. He could get a job, and they could get welfare or something until she could start working, too. Her social worker would know about how to do that.

  Amber tried to picture being a mom and living with Adam. They could have cute little apartment somewhere. She really didn’t care where they lived.

  Maybe Jack could come live with them until Mom was well enough to have him back with her. They might even be able to become his foster parents and get some money from the state. That would help.

  Amber started to feel better. She hated school anyway, and she was pretty sure Adam did, too. Why should they waste their time sitting in classrooms? They had something much more important to do now that she was going to have a baby.

  She knew she’d hear tons of arguments from adults trying to tell her she was too young to be a mother. But didn’t girls used to get married and have babies when they were her age? She would be fifteen before it was born. And Adam would be almost eighteen. They could make it work.

  Then she’d have someone to love her always – a baby of her own – plus she wouldn’t have to live in foster care anymore, and she could stay with Adam all night every night.

  As Amber approached the school, she noticed there weren’t any other kids hanging around outside. She flipped open her phone and looked at the time. School had started five minutes earlier. She skipped going to her locker and headed straight to English.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Michelle was in the middle of her second example of a complex sentence when Amber slipped into the room. The class turned their attention to the back of the room, watching her take her seat.

  “Amber, come and get a tardy slip,” Michelle said.

  Amber sullenly moseyed up to her desk, taking the tardy slip from the box on the corner and then proceeding back to her seat.

  Michelle could feel her frustration rising. She redirected the class back to the example and continued with her lesson. After completing the explanation and answering their questions, she directed them to the independent assignment on the sideboard. “If you finish early, you may begin your homework,” she added.

  A few minutes later, Amber approached her desk. “May I borrow a pencil?” she asked.

  “Sure,” Michelle replied, handing her a new pencil, freshly sharpened that morning. “Did you miss the bus? You were pretty late today.”

  “I don’t take the bus. I usually get a ride, but I had to walk today.” Amber leaned over and gazed at the picture of Madison on Michelle’s desk. “Your daughter is so cute,” she added.

  “Thanks. We think so,” Michelle replied with a smile.

  Amber nodded and started to walk back to her desk. Then she paused, turned around, and asked, “Did you find out about the park thing yet?”

  Michelle thought back to her conversation with Steve and winced inwardly. She should never have mentioned her idea to Amber without first thinking it through and checking it out with the social worker and her husband. She shook her head. “Not yet. I’ll let you know.”

  “Okay. Thanks.” Amber gave her a slight smile and walked back to her seat.

  “I’m telling you, Steve, I’m getting through to her.” Michelle followed him into the family room, carrying a stack of papers in her arms.

  “I’m sure you are, honey. And I’m glad you can see that. But why do we have to involve Maddie in this? Don’t you think it’s a good idea to keep your work separate from your home life?” He glanced at the papers in her arms and raised his eyebrows as he awaited her response.

  As much as he loved seeing Michelle so passionate about her teaching, the hours she spent grading papers and working on lesson plans in the evenings and on weekends were really eating into their time together. Now she wanted to add one of her students into her one-on-one time with their daughter on their after school park excursions.

  “Can I just try it once, honey? If it interferes with Maddie, I won’t do it again. But if Amber and her brother just hang out where I can see them and don’t cause any trouble, what’s the harm?” She clearly wasn’t going to drop the issue easily.

  Steve looked at her and hesitated. Her earnest expression and beautiful big eyes pleading for understanding softened his stand. “Okay. One time. But you promise you will be honest with me and yourself about how it pans out?”

  “Promise. If there are any problems at all, I won’t do it again.”

  “Do you think I should join you guys? I could look over my calendar for the next couple of weeks and pick a day when I won’t be in court.”

  “That’s really sweet. But I don’t think it’s necessary. Unless you want to, of course.”

  He pulled her into his arms, crushing the papers she was holding. “I always want to spend time with you and Maddie.”

  She looked up at him and smiled. “If it works out, I’m sure Maddie would love it, too.” She kissed him softly and then set her papers on the coffee table. “I’ll call the social worker tomorrow and see what she says.”

  “Okay. I’ll check my schedule at work, and if she says it’s a go, we’ll see if we can find a day that works.”

  “Thanks, honey.”

  Her smile melted his resolve to work on his opening comments for tomorrow’s court case. “Do you really have to grade all those papers tonight?” he asked, running his finger down her arm.

  “Mr. Baron! Are you suggesting I put you above my career?” she asked with a playful tone.

  He took both her hands in his. “And if I were, what would be your response?”

  She feigned dismay with a dramatic sigh. “Then I suppose I would have to comply.” She moved closer and kissed him again.

  Steve inhaled her cologne and drew her into an embrace. “I love you, Mrs. Baron.”

  She pulled him toward the stairs and they headed for bed, all the paperwork left behind.

  It took Michelle a few days of playing phone tag before she was able to connect with Bonnie Blackwell, Amber’s social worker. She was pleasantly surprised by Bonnie’s friendly manner and her eagerness to accommodate Michelle’s request.

  “It’s not very often that we have teachers willing to help our kids outside of school hours,” the woman explained. “Amber is very blessed to have you in her life right now. She needs positive female role models, and I think it will be great for her to see you in your interactions with your daughter as well.”

  “My husband was thinking of tagging along with us, too,” Michelle added.

  Bonnie did not respond immediately. “I know he’s probably trying to be helpful offering to join you. But my concern is that we have to be so careful about who we allow access to our kids. All our employees and volunteers, as well as the foster parents, must be fingerprinted
and subjected to background checks.

  “I know you have already had both of those to be a teacher, so I’m confident in allowing you to supervise Amber and Jack at the park. But to add your husband into the mix, I’d need to do that kind of paperwork on him.”

  “I hadn’t thought of that,” Michelle replied. “But it makes sense. I’ll just explain that to Steve. I’m sure he’ll be fine with me doing this on my own, He just wanted to help out.”

  “Okay. Great. Well let me know which day is good for you, and I’ll make the arrangements with the kids’ foster parents. I’m free to drop them off at the park most afternoons next week. My only late meeting is with one of my kid’s teachers on Wednesday around four. Other than that, you name the day and I’ll get it set up.”

  “Thank you!” Michelle was suddenly very excited about the prospect. What had started as a charitable idea was now becoming a new way to show Amber that she really cared.

  After going over the conversation with Steve and looking at her calendar, she decided on Thursday as the best day. She called Bonnie, who promised to have Amber and Jack at the park at four. That would give Michelle time to wrap things up at school and get over to pick up Maddie at Kelly’s house before meeting them there.

  Amber approached her after class the following day. “My social worker told me that we are going to the park on Thursday.”

  “That’s right. I’m going to stay there with you and your brother for an hour or so.”

  “Cool. Thanks.” She pointed to Maddie’s picture. “Your daughter will be going, too, right?”

  “Yep. I’ll play with her on the little playground, and you and your brother can hang out on the other side where the big equipment is.”

  Amber nodded. “Does Jack know?”

  “I assume so. I think Bonnie called him last night.”

  “Okay. Well, better get to my next class.”

  “Yeah. See you in the morning. Don’t forget to study for the vocabulary test.”

  “Right.” Amber gave a mock salute and walked out the door.

  Amber was late to class the morning of the park date. She looked pale. “Are you feeling alright?” Michelle asked, wondering if they would need to postpone their plans.

  “My stomach’s just a little upset. I’ll be fine.” She took her seat and pulled out a piece of notebook paper to begin working on the warm up.

  By the end of the period, she seemed to have perked up. Michelle had noticed her sneaking a few crackers out of her backpack to nibble on during class, but she didn’t want to cause any rifts by calling her out on it.

  “See you at four,” she said as Amber passed her desk on the way out the door.

  “Yeah. See you then.”

  The day was a mixture of pleasant surprises and the usual irritations. Her morning classes scored remarkably well on the vocabulary test she gave them, but the behavior in her afternoon groups was so off task and borderline disrespectful that she nearly gave them all zeroes on the quiz and had them spend the rest of the period writing an essay about proper classroom etiquette.

  Four of her worst offenders received office referrals before the period was over, something Michelle hated to do. She wanted the administration to know that she could control her own classes, but these boys were making it nearly impossible for the rest of the kids to focus and finish their quizzes.

  She thought back to her student teaching experience the year before. It sure helped to be able to tag team with the troublemakers. She and Cassie had a great system. Whoever was teaching the lesson would give a warning to any disruptive students, then the other teacher would remove troublemakers from the room if they persisted in their antics.

  Although Michelle really enjoyed this age group, it was frustrating and disheartening to carefully prepare lessons to teach the state standards, and then have a few students sabotage the process by refusing to listen or behave. Calling parents sometimes helped, but often even the parents were at a loss as to how to correct their child’s actions in class.

  Students like Amber helped Michelle see the bigger picture. Many of her kids were hurting, and the last thing they cared about was English. Sometimes she wondered if she should have become a counselor instead of a teacher, but she had a passion for helping them learn and hoped that somehow she could funnel their energy into their studies rather than their obsessive desire to impress their peers.

  She was pretty tired by the time the final bell rang. After the last student left the room, she walked the aisles, straightening the haphazard rows and re-shelving random books that had been left in the baskets under the seats.

  Walking through the teachers’ lounge on her way to the parking lot, she noticed the coffeemaker still had a little brew left in the bottom. It looked burned, but she needed the lift. Pouring it into a Styrofoam cup, she added some creamer, gave a quick stir, and took a sip. Maybe this would revive her before she got to the park.

  Pulling up in front of Ben and Kelly’s house, she saw Maddie watching for her through the front window. The door flew open, and she raced out exclaiming, “Mommy! Mommy! Are we going to the park?”

  “Hi, sweetheart. Of course we are. I promised, remember?” She smiled at Kelly who was following Madison to the car.

  “She had a peanut butter sandwich and some cookies and did her homework paper,” she told Michelle. Handing her Maddie's pink backpack, she added, “Have fun at the park. Let me know how it goes with Amber and her brother. I’ll be praying.”

  “Thanks! And thanks for feeding my little munchkin.”

  “Anytime.” She smiled. “Better get back in there. I left some cookies cooling on the counter, and you know how those boys are.”

  “Okay. See you tomorrow.” Michelle helped Maddie into the car, and they headed for the park.

  Amber and Jack were sitting on a bench with Bonnie Blackwell when they pulled up to the curb to park. Michelle waved at them and turned to her daughter in the back seat. “That’s my student, Amber, and her brother,” she said, pointing to the park bench.

  “She looks nice,” Maddie replied.

  Michelle smiled at her daughter’s sweet innocence. May she always look for the good in people, she prayed silently.

  They got out of the car and walked over to the bench as Bonnie rose to greet them. “So this is Madison,” she said warmly, extending her hand to the little girl. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  Maddie looked up at Michelle, who nodded and smiled. “It’s okay, sweetie. You can shake Ms. Blackwell’s hand.” Maddie held out her little hand and grasped Bonnie’s, who gently shook it. Then she said, “Maddie, this is Amber and her brother Jack.”

  “Hi,” Madison said with a wave.

  Amber waved back and both kids returned her greeting.

  Then Bonnie turned to Michelle. “I’ve told both foster moms that I’ll have the kids back by five thirty, so I’ll pick them up a little after five. It’s not a lot of time, but it’ll be a good first run.” She turned to Amber and Jack and added, “You two need to stay within sight of Ms. Baron at all times and start watching for me a little after five.”

  They nodded, Amber looking over at Jack. “Let’s go over by the log bridge.”

  Michelle nodded her approval, and they walked in the direction of the equipment.

  “Can we go on the swings, Mommy?” Maddie asked.

  “We sure can,” Michelle replied, smiling at Bonnie. “See you in an hour.” Then she led her daughter by the hand to the swing set.

  Michelle periodically glanced over to where Amber and Jack were hanging out. They seemed to be talking most of the time, but they did climb some of the log equipment, and Jack showed his sister a few tricks on the bars. She noticed that Amber watched her and Maddie quite a bit. She almost seemed torn between being with her brother and coming over to hang out with them.

  Shortly before five, the two kids ambled over. “Hi Maddie,” Amber said in an endearing voice. “Are you having fun on the swings?”

  Maddie
grinned and nodded vigorously.

  “I’ll bet it’s really fun to come to the park with your Mommy,” Amber added.

  “Want me to push you?” Jack asked.

  “Yes!” Maddie replied.

  Jack drew the swing back as high as he could before letting go, smiling as Madison squealed in delight. “More!” she cried, and he pushed her higher, glancing over at Michelle for her approval.

  “It’s fine, Jack. Just not too high,” she said. Watching Amber and Jack interact with Madison really tugged at her heart. How she wished she could make everything right for these two kids. Maybe if she talked to Steve again, he’d agree to let her continue seeing them outside of class and possibly even invite them to church.

  Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Bonnie’s voice calling out to them. She was walking their way and waving.

  Michelle thought she heard Amber curse under her breath. “What did you say?” she asked.

  Amber blushed. “Oh…nothing. Just wish we didn’t have to leave so soon.”

  “We’ll try to do it again soon, okay?”

  “Yeah,” she replied.

  Bonnie walked up to them and asked, “So did you two have fun?”

  Jack nodded. “Yeah, I showed Amber my flips off the bars.”

  “Great! Amber, how about you?”

  “Yeah. It was good,” she replied.

  Bonnie turned to Michelle and thanked her. “We’ll talk again soon,” she promised.

  “Bye!” Maddie called out as they walked away.

  Amber turned back and smiled at the little girl then waved. She made eye contact with Michelle and mouthed the words thank you.

  Michelle thought her heart would burst as she whispered to the breeze, “You’re welcome.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE