by Elsie Davis
April shrugged as she bit her lower lip, her head tilted to one side. “I hope you enjoy spaghetti because I made a huge pot of it. I thought it would be easier than you needing to find something to cook soon as you got here tonight.”
She pulled the dog toward the front room. “Stay, boy.” April closed the door behind her, locking him in the room. “If he isn’t put up, he thinks he’s one of the family and should be able to eat at the table accordingly.” She laughed. “I don’t usually him let back out until after dinner.”
“Sounds like a handful. Looks like a handful. Must be a handful.” Garrett forced a smile. April was insane to add a giant dog to her already chaotic mix of responsibility. He followed her down the hall and into the kitchen, the aroma of tomatoes and garlic greeting him. His stomach rumbled. He hadn’t had a thing to eat since this morning on his way to the office.
“You have no idea.” She grinned. “But you’ll get a chance to find out.” Her soft laughter was like music.
Garrett frowned, unsure of what she meant. He was almost afraid to ask, but he sure hoped his mother hadn’t taken in a dog—especially not one the size of Godzilla. He wouldn’t have a clue what to do with it, especially considering his dislike of dogs. He may not have visited his mother often, but they talked at least once every two weeks, and not once had she mentioned getting a dog.
“Let me introduce you to the kids properly. This is Bryan, and he’s nine.” She tapped the top of his head and then moved on down the row of children, almost like a game of duck-duck-goose. “This is Melanie, and she’s seven. And this is Sandy, and she’s three. Sandy doesn’t talk much, but the doctors say she’ll be fine in no time. They’ve all had a lot to deal with over the past few months, and her way of dealing with the emotions has been silence.”
“I’ll take your word for it.” It sounded as though the kids had gone through more trauma than a child should have to deal with, and it made him wonder about their story. When he was Bryan’s age, the trauma of his parents splitting up had been monumental, especially given the divorce was his fault.
April lifted the lid off the first pot. “Just stir this occasionally until you’re ready to eat. The noodles get dropped in the sauce, stir them frequently, and they’ll be ready in ten minutes if you prefer them al dente, otherwise, let them cook a minute or two longer. Easy enough, right?” April looked at him with confidence in her eyes, a confidence he didn’t deserve.
“Smells awesome. Looks as though you made enough to feed an army.”
“That’ll last you a day, tops, but I’m sure your mother’s friends will be stopping by with lots of food to help out. Here’s my card if you need anything. You can call, and I’ll help any way I can. I know this is going to be a tough transition for you—” she reached out to touch his arm, “—but you’ll be fine. I’m sure of it.”
“Thanks. I appreciate that. And don’t worry, I’ll be okay. I’ve handled this sort of thing before.”
“If you say so.” April crossed the kitchen to where a wheeled suitcase was parked in the corner. She pulled up the handle and started toward the front door. Garrett and the kids followed, Melanie stopping to let the dog out.
“Here, let me get this for you.” He picked it up and hauled it to her car. He would have expected a much bigger suitcase considering the kids.
“Thanks. Don’t forget, call me if you need me.” She leaned down and hugged each of the kids. “I’ll see you three soon, I promise. Be good for Mr. Bradley.”
April wasn’t making any sense. And why weren’t the kids getting in the car with her? And for that matter, why wasn’t she getting the dog? Something was seriously wrong with this picture.
She slid in the driver’s seat and started the car before manually rolling down her window. “Take care.” April waved, put the car in reverse and started to back up.
The motion of the vehicle snapped him out of his trance. “Wait. Where are you going? You can’t leave your kids here.” Normally calm under fire, Garrett couldn’t keep the panic out of his voice.
She stopped the car and leaned toward the window. “They’re not my kids, they’re yours.” April seemed confused. Which was far better than stupefied, and exactly how he felt. She had this all wrong.
“I don’t have any kids.” The children looked as though they were about to cry, and he felt awful, but he couldn’t let April drive off without them and the dog.
“Should have known he wouldn’t want us.” The boy grumbled in a low voice, grabbing his younger sister’s hand and taking off for the house. Melanie glanced at April and then glared at him before running to catch up with her brother and sister.
“What’s the meaning of this?” Garrett demanded an answer, his patience running out. He could handle a lot of things, but this wasn’t in his wheelhouse.
April got back out of the car and faced off with him. “Your mother adopted these children three months ago. Haven’t you talked to her solicitor yet? I would have thought—”
Garrett wince. Adopted. As in legally hers. Why would his mother adopt kids at this stage of her life? She hadn’t even consulted him about such an important issue. And she’d had three months to tell him.
You haven’t been home in over six months.
“You thought wrong. What am I supposed to do with them? I don’t know the first thing about children. I have a job. An apartment in the city. What am I supposed to do?”
“Step up.” Her answer was short and to the point, the thin set of her lips driving the point home. She was serious
He swallowed hard and turned back to the house where three kids and the dog were waiting and watching.
“I’m sure Charlie will explain everything.” The compassion in her voice was genuine, making him feel slightly better.
“Our meeting isn’t until Monday, and the celebration of life is tomorrow. Don’t you think you could provide me with a few more details? You seem to know a thing or two about the situation.” He was desperate, and he couldn’t let her leave without a better understanding.
“The children lost their parents three months ago, and your mother didn’t want them to end up in the foster care system, so she adopted them with a promise to always do what was best for them. Their mother was a friend of hers from church. I was the assistant caseworker assigned to them, which is why I volunteered to stay with them until you arrived. They know me. They are sweet kids, and it’s been hard for them to lose their parents and now their grams.”
“Grams?” There was so much he needed to ask her, the meaning of Grams the least of them, but that’s what came out.
“It’s the name they called your mother, short for grandma.”
April got back in her car. “I’m a sucker for these kids and will do anything I can to help, but right now, I’ve got to make sure I can keep my job. I’ve missed a lot of work and need to catch up on my caseload.”
“Fine. I’ll figure a way through this situation for the next few days until my sister can get leave and decide what she wants to do. Clearly, she’s the better option to handle this unexpected situation.” He didn’t feel as confident as he tried to sound. There were two problems. He didn’t know when his sister would be home, and he didn’t know a thing about taking care of kids, not even temporarily.
What happens next?
Don’t wait to find out…
Head to Amazon to purchase or borrow your copy of LOVE & ORDER so that you can keep reading this contemporary romance series today!
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Read the prologue of MOMMY LOVES THE PRINCIPAL, book 1 of MOMMY’S LITTLE MATCHMAKERS…
Molly Romano kicked the back of her Hush Puppies against the leg of the swivel chair. She’d chosen to sit in the grown-up chairs at the Principal’s desk rather than at the small table with the bright orange and red chairs that had the cutouts in the back. She’d never understood why elementary school chairs had the cutouts in the backs? Did teachers think kids needed the ventilation at their backs and bott
oms?
From her perch, she looked around the inner sanctum of the leader of her newest school. It was her fourth school in six years. That is if you count kindergarten. This would be her third principal’s office visit in that time.
On the walls were, of course, pictures of the man in charge surrounded by kids. Like all the other pictures on the other principals’ walls, this one was dressed in a clean white shirt. He had graying hair, but a young face. A very young face. Just looking at his face, Molly would’ve guessed this man was her mom’s age.
Another difference that this principal had over the other two was the kids around him. They were actually grinning, not smiling as though they were being forced. The kids looked like they were having a good time. A few of them were looking up at the principal as though they even liked him.
On the desk was also a gold placard that proudly displayed the words Principal. There was an emphasis on the end of the word as PAL in red, capital letters. Molly supposed it was to indicate that the man wanted to be friends with the kids.
There was also a picture of the same man dressed as Santa. Molly was old enough to know that Santa didn’t exist. Her father had told her so when she was five despite her mother’s protests. He did tell her that reindeer were real but didn’t fly. Rabbits didn’t lay eggs. There was also no Tooth Fairy.
He’d promised there were no monsters in her closet. But she wasn’t so sure about that one. She was sure there hadn’t been any in her old home which had been an apartment. On the other side of the closet had been her parents’ bedroom. She’d heard them arguing loud enough to scare away any potential closet monsters.
She now lived in an old house with two levels and a big backyard. She wasn’t sure what was on the other side of her new closet. It was quiet in her grandparents’ old house. All so very quiet.
Molly hated it.
A knock sounded on the other side of the door. Molly wondered if she should say come in? But there was no need. The door swung open and in the frame stood the man that was in the picture frames.
“Good afternoon, Molly.”
His smile was big and bright. Molly was instantly suspicious. Instead of greeting him the way she was taught by her mother -with manners- she stared mutely; the way she’d observed her father do.
“My name is Principal Kidd.”
He stuck out his hand. She was already in enough trouble, she decided to show she did have some manners. She shook his hand. But lightly, and not firmly like her grandpa had taught her.
“I hear you’ve been causing a bit of mischief in your class,” Principal Kidd said as he took his seat.
Molly shrugged. “It was just a joke.”
“Mrs. Steen didn’t think so. She didn’t think glitter on the whiteboard eraser was a laughing matter.”
“I still say that it could’ve been a fairy come to brighten her dull lesson.”
And that tall tale would’ve stuck. But the whole class had told on her. Every single head had turned to her, many fingers pointed, her name came out of the mouth of each kid in the classroom. What kind of kids didn’t appreciate a joke played on the teacher? Especially a lemon-pinched mouth, something-smells-bad nosed, beady-eyes-peering-over glasses teacher like Mrs. Steen.
Since she’d been here the last two weeks, not a single person had missed a homework assignment. Every hand went up when the teacher asked a question. Molly was sure she was in the Upside Down version of schools and Mrs. Steen was a Demogorgon sucking the spirit out of these kids.
But the principal didn’t try to abduct her into another realm. He leaned back in his own adult-sized swivel chair and chuckled softly. It wasn’t a monstrous, big belly laugh. He didn’t flash sharp teeth. It was almost a giggle, like when she and her mother used to have tickle wars.
“Mrs. Steen said that the other day you erased the numbers on her ruler?”
“We were talking about world leaders. I was trying to participate in the lesson with a utilitarian ruler.”
Now the principal threw back his head and outright laughed. It surprised Molly. It had been so long since she’d heard an adult laugh, especially a man. Her father was always frowning, or upset, or just plain angry.
“You’re a smart kid, Molly. You have a great imagination.”
Molly couldn’t figure this guy out? “So, you’re not going to suspend me? Or give me after school detention?”
The gray-haired man with the young man’s face tilted his head like Tweety Bird. “Why would I do that?”
“Because what I did was… wrong.”
Mr. Kidd nodded.
Uh oh. Was this it? Had she slipped and fallen into his trap? Was he now going to tell her that she was doing what she did for attention? She’d watched a couple of episodes of the Dr. Phil show with her grandma. This was some of that reversal psychology.
“I’ve read your file,” he said. “Before coming to Barton Elementary, you’ve been to three different schools in the past six years.”
“My family moved around a lot.”
“But you’ve always received high marks in your academics…and a lot of notes about your behavior.”
Mr. Kidd lifted his brow at her. But he didn’t roll his eyes like the last two principals did. Or like her father did when she tried to talk to him but he was too busy, always too busy.
Mr. Kidd didn’t look too busy at all. He didn’t frown or look upset, or angry. He was still smiling at her.
It reminded her of how her mom smiled. In fact, his laugh had also reminded Molly of her mom. It had been so long since she’d heard her mom laugh.
“I think you’re a special kid,” Mr. Kidd was saying. “In fact, you’re my favorite kind of kid; smarts and imagination. I think you can fit in here if you give us a chance.”
Molly felt something twitch in her chest. She gazed up at the principal and the sincerity in his gaze. He wasn’t playing any tricks. He meant it. Maybe he wasn’t like the rest? Maybe she could give him a chance?
“I will have to call your parents.”
And now she wanted to revoke that chance. Her shoulders slumped at the thought of her mother receiving yet another call from a school. “It’s just my mom.”
“I’m guessing by your tone, she won’t think the fairy eraser was funny?”
“She would’ve thought so. Before the divorce. Now she’s always so serious.”
Instead of reaching for the phone, Principal Kidd leaned forward. “My parents are divorced too. They got divorced when I was your age.”
Molly spied a picture at the corner of the principal’s desk. In it was a picture of an even younger version of the man, still with gray hair. He wore a square cap on his head and was dressed in a dark cape. Likely his graduation. He was standing between two smiling adults.
“Yup, that’s them. Oh, they get along. They just weren’t right for each other. They’re both happily remarried to other people.”
Molly knew her dad was seeing other women. He’d started while he and her mom were still married. Maybe that’s why they got divorced? Molly wasn’t sure. But her dad did seem happier now. The few times she’d seen him since the divorce.
Her mom hadn’t dated any other man at all. Maybe her mom should start to date? Then maybe she’d laugh again.
Just like the principal laughed…
Molly looked up at Principal Kidd. He didn’t have a ring on his left hand. She hadn’t seen any pictures of him with women his own age. Just pictures of him with his parents and with kids.
“What’s your mom’s name?” he asked. “Oh, I’ve got it here. Kylee...”
“Kylee Romano,” Molly finished for him. “But she’s going by her original name, her maiden name.”
“Kylee Bauer? Your mom is Kylee Bauer?”
“Yes. Do you know her?”
Her mom had grown up in the small town of Saint Judith’s in Northern Virginia. Molly had never visited before now. Her grandparents would always come to visit wherever they were living at that moment in tim
e. Molly and her mom were living in Grandma and Grandpa’s old house now that they’d retired and moved to Florida.
“Yeah,” said Principal Kidd. “Yeah, I know Kylee Bauer.” His eyes got that gooey faraway look like a Looney Tunes cartoon character when they fell in love.
Wait? So, Principal Kidd knew her mom. And he got the lovey-dovey look just at hearing her name. And he wasn’t married.
A plan began to form in Molly’s brain. One that would require a bit of imagination and probably some fairy sparkles if it were to work.
Head to Amazon to purchase or borrow your copy of MOMMY LOVES THE PRINCIPAL so that you can keep reading this contemporary romance series today!
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