Walking Away (The Walking Together Series Book 2)

by T. E. Killian

  With that, the three left and Grace watched Kent closely as his daughter walked away without looking back at him. A quick painful expression passed over his face. She could see that he had his work cut out for him and he seemed to know it too.

  Grace didn’t know why, but right then she decided that she and Brianna were going to do all they could to help father and daughter become a family.

  Grace turned her gaze to Sheila when Kent looked back at her. That was when she realized that Sheila had been watching her watch Kent all that time. How embarrassing. What was more, Sheila had a knowing smirk on her face. Was that good or was it bad? She had a feeling that she didn’t really want to know the answer to that question right then.

  Sheila clapped her hands together and looked back at her brother. Well, I’d better get to work. I’ve got a busy day ahead of me. But I will find time to stop at the store and pick up a car booster seat for Michelle. I’ll just drop it off with Mrs. Livingston in the high school office so you’ll have it when you leave this afternoon.”

  With that, she was gone, leaving Kent and Grace standing close but looking anywhere except at each other.

  Finally, Grace looked at Kent just as he looked at her. He tried to smile. “I guess we’d better get next door before Payne sends the dogs out after us.”

  As they started out the door, she said, “Is Dr. Payne already giving you trouble, like Mom said he has in the past?”

  He shrugged his shoulders and smirked. “No more than I can handle. Anyway, I’m used to it.”

  She felt bad for him but didn’t know what else to say. So she asked what was more important on her mind. “It looks like you apparently have Michele for a while.”

  He chuckled dryly. “Yeah. Can you believe what my ex-wife did? She ran off with Michelle five years ago and no one has had a clue where they were all that time.”

  He stopped and so did she as he turned and looked into her eyes. “Then, out of the blue, she dumped Michelle at the bus station yesterday. When she wandered into the diner, Trish called Hal. There was a note in her backpack saying that she was my daughter and to take her to me.”

  He started walking again. “Oh and there was a copy of Michelle’s birth certificate in the backpack too.”

  Grace searched desperately for something to say next. “Did she have clothes in that backpack?”

  He grunted again. “Yeah, for what it’s worth. What she’s wearing this morning was about the only thing in there that was good enough to wear to school.”

  “Is Sheila going to take her shopping this evening?”

  He shook his head with a frown. “No, she has a couple of appointments this evening. Looks like I’m going to have to go it alone.”

  Grace didn’t know why she said what she did next. “Brianna and I would be glad to go with you. She simply loves to pick out clothes even if they’ll be for someone else.”

  He snorted again. “Maybe we’d better see how those two get along today first. I’m not sure they started out all that great.”

  She laughed. “Oh Kent. I’m not worried about that. Michelle just seems a little frightened right now and who can blame her. But I think she and Brianna will get along famously. You’ll see.”

  She was surprised when Kent agreed. Or should she have been surprised? There was no time for more since they had arrived at Kent’s room, which was a few doors closer to the office than hers.

  She only had time for a few more stray thoughts on Kent and Michelle before the students in her first class started arriving. What was she getting herself into now? Did she want to spend time with Kent, knowing how he used to feel about her? Did he still feel that way? She had a feeling that he did and she didn’t know what to do about it either.

  * * *

  Kent was almost walking on air by the time he reached the relative safety of his empty classroom. He shut the door behind him and quickly looked at the clock. Good. He had a few minutes to unwind and reflect on all that had just happened over at the elementary school.

  First, Michelle. His thoughts of his daughter dwelt on the short time he had spent with her last night after Sheila and her family left. Man! Had that ever been awkward. He didn’t know who had been more uncomfortable, her or him. He was just glad that Sheila had cooked supper and they’d all sat down together to eat it.

  That had taken up some of the evening. But then, as soon as Sheila and her family left, neither father nor daughter had known what to say to the other one.

  All he knew was that it was going to take some time for the two of them to get used to this whole new situation. He had barely gotten more than one word answers out of Michelle all evening. They’d finally sat in front of the TV while she watched some kid shows. When she started to fall asleep, he’d convinced her to go to bed.

  When he had gone into her bedroom with her, he noticed that not only had Sheila helped Michelle put her things in the closet and drawers but she’d also laid out an outfit for Michelle to wear to school the next day.

  Then this morning, it had started all over again. He was lucky that he’d had some cereal that she would reluctantly eat for breakfast. Not only were they going to have to go shopping for clothes later but they were also going to have to get some food that would be suitable for a little girl, whatever that might be. Maybe Grace could help with that too.

  Grace! That’s where his thoughts wanted to go most of all. She was still the most beautiful, kind, and generous person that he’d ever known. He’d just spent fifteen of the best minutes he’d spent in years. She did that to him. He felt like he’d floated from the elementary school all the way over to his room with her by his side.

  He didn’t have time for any more thoughts as his students began filing into the room. If he thought they had been noisy and rambunctious yesterday, they were even more so today.

  He’d been disappointed when he’d gone into the break room at lunch and Grace hadn’t been there. But now it was three o’clock and time to go. Man, he sure was looking forward to being with Grace again even if it was shopping, which he normally hated to do.

  As he was passing by the office on his way out, he heard little girl giggles coming from in there. He stopped and stuck his head in. Linda Livingston was sitting at her desk as usual and he noted that the sounds were coming from the conference room and it sounded like more than one little girl.

  Linda looked up at him and smiled. “Oh hi Kent. Michelle is in there with Brianna.”

  That was when it struck him that he’d neglected to find out what time the elementary school let out. Obviously, it was earlier than the high school or the girls wouldn’t be sitting in there.

  Linda smiled up at him. “I’ll bet you didn’t know what time they let out did you?”

  He shook his head. “How did she get over here then?”

  Linda stood and walked over to the counter where he was. “I go over there at two-thirty and walk Brianna back over here and when I saw Michelle sitting in the office, I just brought her too.” She placed her hand on his arm. “I hope I didn’t overstep by bringing Michelle back here.”

  Kent shook his head, more to clear it than anything else. “No. No, that’s okay. I’m glad you did. I just feel kind of dumb to not have checked on what time they get out. I just plain didn’t think about it.”

  He was thinking about how bad it looked for him to forget his own daughter when Linda spoke again.

  “It’s understandable Kent. All the rest of us were with our kids from the time they were born on. But you’ve lost five years of your daughter’s life.”

  He groaned and shook his head. “Yeah, that’s the part that really tears me up. Sometimes I’d just like to get my hands on Shelly and shake some sense into her.”

  Linda patted him on the arm and looked into his eyes. “If you’d like, Kent, I can bring Michelle over here every day after school when I get Brianna.” She gestured toward the conference room. “I think they’re starting to get along quite well and it will help me keep Briann
a entertained too.”

  Kent pointed toward the principal’s closed door. “What about him?”

  She giggled. “Don’t you worry about him. He knows that I run this office and he’d be totally lost without me. So he lets me do whatever I want. And that includes having Brianna come over after school. He probably won’t even notice that Michelle is in here too. But even if he does, I won’t let him say a word about it.”

  She winked at him then, just as Kent noticed movement out of the corner of his eye in the conference room door. When he looked over there, Brianna was standing there. At least he thought it was Brianna. Then Michelle stepped up beside her and he was sure. Man, did those two ever look alike.

  Brianna spoke. “Grandma, is my Mommy here yet?”

  Kent started walking toward them then and Michelle stepped back into the conference room. He immediately stopped. Now what?

  Just then, Grace came into the room and apparently saw enough to be able to bail him out, again.

  “Hey girls, are you two ready to go? Brianna, we’re going with Michelle and her dad to help her pick out some new clothes for school. Okay?”

  Brianna clapped her hands together and squealed. “Sure Mommy.” She turned back into the conference room. “Let’s go Michelle. We get to go shopping to get you some new clothes.”

  Linda reached down under the counter and pulled out a booster car seat. “You’ll need this. Sheila dropped it by this morning.”

  As Kent watched Grace take both girls by the hand, he was amazed at how well Michelle reacted to her. Of course, Brianna probably helped a great deal. But later as he followed them around from store to store, he marveled at how very much they all three looked alike. Michelle could easily have passed for Grace’s daughter. In fact, some of the sales clerks even commented to Grace on how beautiful both of her daughters were.

  Kent wasn’t quite sure how he should feel about all that. In one way, he felt kind of strange that Michelle favored a total stranger so much more than she did her own dad. But then, he was beginning to realize that he had never stopped loving Grace. Therefore, shouldn’t it be all right for them to become close?

  Whoa! What was that? He couldn’t. Not after how much it had hurt the last time she’d turned to another man. He knew he wouldn’t survive if that ever happened again.

  * * *

  Grace couldn’t really put her finger on exactly why, but she was having the time of her life. Sure, the two giggling little girls had a great deal to do with her fantastic mood, especially since they were getting along so well. It was almost as if they had been best friends for a long time.

  But then, she suspected that there was another reason for the fun she was having. Kent? Was he really part of the reason? Yes! She had to admit that she was certainly enjoying being with him. Oh my! That was going to take some considerable thought.

  When she did stop to think about it, she realized that she’d always loved Kent. Yes, she could admit that. But she’d always thought it was the kind of love best friends had for one another, not the husband and wife kind of love.

  Or was it?

  She suddenly realized that Kent was talking to her. She acted as if the girls’ giggling had kept her from hearing him so she asked him to repeat what he’d just said.

  He laughed but gave her a strange look. “I said that I forgot to tell you that Mrs. Anderson called me when we were on the way over here. She invited all of us over to her house for supper.”

  At her surprised look, he laughed. “I think she still loves little kids, and misses being around them. Of course, little girls most of all.”

  Grace laughed at that. “Did you tell her we would?”

  “No, I told her that I’d ask you as soon as we got here and call her back.”

  Grace smiled and her whole being seemed to be just floating and she couldn’t understand why. Or maybe she didn’t want to know why. “Yes, of course, tell her that Brianna and I would love to. How about you and Michelle?”

  He laughed. “Sure. She usually has me over to supper at least once a week. She says it’s to repay me for all the little things I do for her around her house. I also think it’s simply because she’s lonely there all by herself.”

  That made her feel ever better about the man she was standing next to. But it also made her think about her new neighbor.

  “Oh Kent, I think that it’s just so sweet of you to help her out that way.”

  She could tell that she’d embarrassed him, so she quickly changed the subject with the help of the two little girls who came running up to them with a new outfit for Michelle to try on.

  The rest of their time shopping went quickly with Brianna taking Michelle by the hand and showing her all the things that she liked.

  Grace marveled at how animated her daughter was. It was such a welcome change from the quiet, almost depressed little girl she’d been for quite some time back in St. Louis. It suddenly hit Grace that most of the time that Brianna had been so down had been after spending time with Randy’s parents.

  Oh no. What was she going to do now with them buying a house down here so they could spend time with Brianna? Somehow, she was going to have to limit the time Brianna spent with those stern, unsmiling people. She’d have to make sure she was always around. But she didn’t like being around them either. They were always criticizing her for something. But for Brianna’s sake, she would gladly face them.

  In the car, on the way home, Brianna was singing some of the songs that she’d learned in Vacation Bible School that summer. It made Grace feel good to think of how much Brianna was learning about the Bible.

  “Mommy, can Michelle come over to play at our house tonight?”

  Grace realized that she hadn’t told Brianna about supper.

  “No, Brianna, that won’t work out tonight. Because we’re all going over to Mrs. Anderson’s house for supper. You remember our new neighbor who lives between our house and Michelle’s house?”

  “Oh yes, Mommy. I like her. She’s so nice to me.”

  That made Grace wonder about Brianna. She seemed to judge people by how nice they were to her. Grace wondered if that was a good thing or not.

  By the time they were walking next door to Mrs. Anderson’s house, Grace was singing along with Brianna and they were giggling when the door opened and Mrs. Anderson was standing there smiling back at them.

  It was a few minutes before Kent and Michelle joined them since they had to take all of Michelle’s new clothes and the groceries they’d bought into the house and put them away. While they waited, Mrs. Anderson sat with them in the living room.

  As she and Brianna sat on a comfortable sofa, Grace looked around the room. If she would have ever thought about what Mrs. Anderson’s home would have looked like, she was sure she would have visualized it just like this.

  Brianna was keeping up a steady chatter with Mrs. Anderson, which gave Grace the opportunity to examine the room more thoroughly.

  There were family photos all over one whole wall and on every table in the room. Grace knew that Mrs. Anderson had three daughters who were all at least ten years older than Grace. They all lived in the Kansas City area now. That made her wonder about what Kent had said about the dear sweet lady being lonely here all by herself.

  She decided right then that she and Brianna would try to visit with Mrs. Anderson as much as possible. She had a feeling that Kent was already doing that. Her two new neighbors certainly seemed to have a close relationship.

  Her thoughts were interrupted when a knock came on the door. Kent opened the door without waiting for an answer from Mrs. Anderson and Michelle stepped in ahead of him. That little action just seemed to prove how close Kent and Mrs. Anderson were. Oh my. That certainly spoke highly of the man, didn’t it?

  As soon as the newcomers entered the living room, Mrs. Anderson stood. “Well, why don’t we all go into the dining room now? All I have to do is get the stew and the biscuits out of the kitchen. Everything else is already on the table.�
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  Grace jumped up and followed her into the kitchen to help her. As soon as they were all sitting at the table, Mrs. Anderson held out her hands to Kent on one side and Grace on the other. Grace watched Kent as she took the hand offered to her and she held out her other hand to Brianna who, in turn, grabbed Michelle’s hand.

  Michelle was giving the rest of them a strange look until Mrs. Anderson smiled over at her and said, “Dear, we thank the Lord for our food and ask His blessing on it in my house.”

  Michelle still had a puzzled look on her face but reluctantly placed one hand in Brianna’s and the other in her dad’s hand. Mrs. Anderson prayed then said, “Let’s eat.”

  Soon, they were all busy eating the delicious stew and homemade buttermilk biscuits.

  * * *

  Kent was embarrassed that he hadn’t warned Michelle about Mrs. Anderson always saying grace at meals. He’d gotten so used to her doing so that he never even thought about it anymore. But he knew it must have seemed quite strange to a little girl who had probably never been around church or even anyone who went to church.

  He tried not to stare at Grace during the meal, but he just couldn’t help it. She was talking with Mrs. Anderson just like they’d been together all the time instead of apart for so many years.

  Of course, as she always did with him, Mrs. Anderson told stories about Grace when she was in first grade. He had to hide his laugh every time it made Grace blush. Then on top of all that, Mrs. Anderson began telling the two little girls stories about how their parents were together a lot when they were in first and second grades.

  If the sound of their laughter was any indication, the girls were loving it. Kent felt so good about all of this. In fact, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d had so much fun simply eating a meal.

  Before he even realized it, the meal was over and Grace was helping Mrs. Anderson to clear the table. He almost laughed when Brianna started helping too. Because of course, Michelle wasn’t going to be outdone by her new friend. But their help only turned into a giggle fest.