by Dana Corbit
“Mr. Donovan, I already explained that our custodian caught Chelsea in the act of pulling the alarm.”
He shook his head, a nervous chuckle bubbling in his throat. “No, I’m not questioning your employee’s word. I have no doubt that she set off the alarm. I’m just saying that it was a misunderstanding that inspired our little incident here.”
Mrs. Pratt leaned back and crossed her arms, taking on a tough stance that no doubt served her well in her chosen profession. “I’m afraid you’re going to have to explain.”
Gripping her hands together, Dinah leaned forward and opened her mouth to speak, but Alex shook his head.
“If you don’t mind, Miss Fraser, I’d like to handle this one.”
But instead of turning back to the principal and giving what could only be an uncomfortable explanation for all involved, he turned in his chair to face Chelsea.
“Sweetheart, did you pull the alarm because you wanted to bring Miss Fraser and me together in the same building?”
“Sure, Uncle Alex.”
That she didn’t even bother to hesitate or to deny it struck him as gutsy, but he couldn’t allow himself to be proud of her for these antics. Besides, he couldn’t be proud of any action that humiliated Dinah Fraser as much as Chelsea’s had.
Mrs. Pratt started to say something else, but he held her off by continuing his questioning. “Why did you want to do that?”
Again, Chelsea gave him one of those dumb-parent looks, but she answered anyway. “If you were here together, then you could ask her out on a date.”
He’d been giving the child his full attention, but when he caught sight of the principal again, she was pressing her lips together in a firm line, as if trying not to smile. He couldn’t blame her.
If this were happening to someone else, he would have been rolling on the floor, only to feel guilty for his insensitivity later. As it stood, he was one of the unfortunate targets of this matchmaking scheme, and he could only try to survive with some small part of his dignity intact.
“Now, Chelsea, we’ve already discussed this.”
Chelsea nodded. Okay, that wasn’t the best beginning he could have chosen. Now the two women had to wonder why Chelsea and he had discussed this matter and what conclusions they’d drawn, but he wasn’t about to go into that right now. He cleared his throat and tried again.
“I know that you love your teacher. Miss Fraser has been great to you.” He couldn’t help flicking a look Dinah’s way, but she was staring at her clenched hands. “Also, I know that you have these ideas about the two of us dating, but our social lives are not your business.”
Even with that comment, Chelsea’s smile remained unchanged. She appeared pleased with herself that her plan had been successful. She’d brought Dinah and him together, all right. Together in embarrassment. Somehow, he had to make her understand that.
“What you’ve done today was wrong.”
As soon as he said it, Chelsea’s shoulders curled forward and her expression fell. Strange how he longed to draw the words back into his mouth and coax her smile to return when he understood that she needed to be disciplined for her actions. So this was what parents meant when they said, “This hurts me a lot more than it hurts you.”
Dinah lifted a hand to interrupt him, but he shook his head again. He was Chelsea’s guardian, and in her parents’ absence, his responsibility was to help her learn to make good choices.
“You put your teachers and classmates in danger when you pulled that alarm. You, and the other students who set off the pull stations, have taught your friends not to take a fire alarm seriously.” He shook his head to emphasize the grave point. “Someone who doesn’t take an alarm seriously could get hurt.” Or killed, he almost said.
“And if there were a real fire somewhere else, the department wouldn’t have any trucks or firefighters to send to it.” Alex stopped himself when Chelsea’s lip trembled. He couldn’t tell if he’d taken his point too far or just far enough, but he knew he’d reached her.
“I’m…sorry…Uncle Alex,” she managed to get out as two huge tears trailed down her face.
Slipping one arm around her shoulders, Alex used the other hand to wipe the tears from her cheeks. “I know you are, punky. I know you weren’t trying to hurt anybody when you pulled that alarm. It probably seemed like a really clever idea.”
The smile was back, though a weak one, combined with a case of the sniffles.
“Clever idea or not,” Dinah began in a kind tone, “we can’t have students pulling fire alarms in our school. It’s just too dangerous.”
Alex nodded, ready to let the others participate in the discussion. “Miss Fraser’s right, Chelsea. There’s going to be consequences for your actions—here at school and at home.”
At that, Mrs. Pratt pushed up her wire-frame glasses and took charge of the meeting. “At school, young lady, that is going to mean working with the custodian, emptying trash cans and cleaning the dry-erase boards. You’ll need to stay for an extra thirty minutes each afternoon for two weeks. You’ll also be expected to spend your recesses in the office for those two weeks.”
“Lunch recess, too?” Chelsea looked as though someone had stolen her dog.
“I’m afraid so.”
Alex was nodding his agreement with the punishment when Chelsea turned from the principal back to him.
“At home?” Chelsea asked.
With a flourish of her hand, Mrs. Pratt turned the meeting over to Alex.
The wheels started spinning in his thoughts, but nothing came to mind. He’d never handed out punishments before and had no idea what worked with a nine-year-old.
Dinah glanced over at him and grinned. “A lot of my parents take away special privileges as a consequence. Chelsea, do you remember which privileges Brandon lost last year when he got in trouble for making prank calls?”
Alex glanced sidelong at Dinah, and nodded his thanks. Of course Dinah knew about the time that Brandon got into trouble. Teachers tended to be privy to all kinds of private information from their students’ homes.
He turned back to Chelsea, trying not to wonder what the child had told her teacher about him. “Do you remember?”
“Mom said he couldn’t talk on the telephone, and he couldn’t have playdates,” Chelsea said.
“Playdates, huh?” He doubted Brandon would appreciate a term like that. Still, he was grateful for the information.
Maybe he was new at it, but he could do this. He just needed to decide which of her privileges were more important to her and to limit them for now.
“You won’t be able to have playdates, either, until your punishment at school is finished. And you can’t watch any TV,” he continued. “I want you to understand how serious this thing today was.”
“Am I grounded?” Chelsea asked, tears back in her eyes.
Alex shook his head, drawing his eyebrows together. “I didn’t say—”
“If I’m grounded, we can’t go work on the stuff for the fall carnival.”
So that was it. Now he knew which of her privileges was most important to her. Alex thought for a moment before speaking.
“I didn’t say anything about grounding you, though maybe I should have. But no, the people in the youth group need our help for the carnival, and we’ve already volunteered. It wouldn’t be fair to punish all of them or Brandon for your behavior.” The thought crossed his mind that the plan would have punished him, too, but he chose to ignore it.
Chelsea nodded, her tears disappearing as quickly as they’d appeared.
Dinah clapped her hands once. “Now that that’s settled, Chelsea, why don’t you go back to class? The adults need to talk for a few minutes. I’ll be there shortly.”
“Yeah, go ahead.” Alex put his arm around the child and squeezed and then helped her to stand.
As soon as Chelsea had left the room and closed the door behind her, Dinah turned back to her principal. “I am so sorry about this, Mrs. P. I had no idea…”
Her words trailed off as a grin spread across the principal’s face.
“Well, I’ve been in education a long time, and I thought I’d seen everything.” Mrs. Pratt shook her head, still smiling.
“Leave it to my family to prove you wrong,” Alex said.
Laughing for a few seconds, they all stopped at about the same time, as if they jointly recognized it was time to deal with the serious matter at hand.
“Something has to be done about all of these false alarms, though,” Alex said, verbalizing what they all knew to be true. “You could go to the trouble of installing glass enclosures around pull stations so the glass has to be broken before an alarm can be set.”
Slipping off her glasses, Mrs. Pratt closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger. With school budgets always being tight, she probably was considering that expense in terms of the bottom line.
“But since this is a place of learning,” Alex continued, “I thought you might want to consider an educational alternative.”
The principal’s eyes opened at that, and she put her glasses back on. Dinah shifted, looking interested, as well.
“What would you two think if I volunteered to give fire safety presentations in the school?”
“I’d say you’re hired,” Mrs. Pratt deadpanned.
Despite the easy sale he’d made, he continued his presentation. “Now before you turn me down, hear me out. This will be about your students’ safety, in and out of school. There have been too many pulled alarms this year, so I want the kids to understand about the complacency that comes with crying wolf.”
Dinah leaned her head forward so he noticed her. “Are you finished? May we speak now?”
He sat back and crossed his arms. “Sure.”
The principal squeezed her eyes closed as if considering before opening them again. “You drive a hard bargain, Mr. Donovan, so I guess we’ll have to take you up on it.”
“It will be great for the kids,” Dinah chimed. “They think firefighters are real heroes.”
“And you don’t?” he asked.
Dinah didn’t answer, but her cheeks reddened in that attractive way they always did.
“You’ve got to give Chelsea credit for her inventiveness in pulling the fire alarm,” Mrs. Pratt said, drawing their attention back to her.
Alex stared at her. “You’re not proud of her, are you?”
“Of course not. And don’t you tell her what I said, either.” She waved an index finger at them. “But I have to say, I’ve never seen a matchmaker go to that kind of length to bring two people together.”
“Leave it to Chelsea for reaching to new heights in the amateur matchmaking business,” Alex said.
Dinah chuckled with him. “She’s an overachiever, all right.”
Both of them looked to Mrs. Pratt, expecting her to chime in, as well. Instead, she settled her elbows on her desk and rested her chin in the cradle formed by her hands. Silence only made the tiny office feel smaller and made Alex’s clothes feel warmer. Sweat trickled from his temple, and he brushed it away with the back of his hand.
“Do you have something to say?” Alex asked when he couldn’t stand any more.
The educator removed her glasses in the practiced move of one used to being thought of as wise. “Have you ever considered that Chelsea might be right?”
Chapter Six
T he first time they’d visited the Chestnut Grove Youth Center, Alex had figured that the place couldn’t be any more chaotic, but as he looked around that Tuesday evening, he knew he’d been wrong.
Around him, teens and grown-ups alike milled about carrying two-by-fours, lettered signs and buckets of paint and brushes to different “centers” where work was under way on everything from the ring-toss and pie-eating booths to the ever popular Pick-A-Duck booth.
Alex was tempted to back out of the door he’d come through. He and the children didn’t really know these people. This wasn’t even his church. Anyway, the folks here appeared to have whatever they were doing under control. Brandon and Chelsea stood next to him, taking in the same scene, but instead of appearing reluctant to get started, both of them looked as if they couldn’t wait to get their hands dirty.
“Alex Donovan, is that you?”
Alex recognized the tall man with dirty-blond hair immediately. “Hey, Eli.”
His old friend crossed the room in long strides and hugged him, patting him several times on the back. “How have you been? I’ve barely seen you since you moved to Chestnut Grove, but I’d heard you’ve been busy.” Eli glanced at Alex’s young cousins.
“Brandon and Chelsea, this is Dr. Cavanaugh.”
“Hi, guys.”
The children greeted Eli politely and then disappeared into the crowd, making the decision for Alex that they wouldn’t be leaving.
Across the room, one of the older boys narrowly missed another boy’s head as he passed with a sign. “This place is a madhouse,” Alex said.
“It does get crazy this time of year, but the carnival is great.” Eli had been watching a group of teens painting a mouth-shaped sign for the beanbag toss, but then he turned back to Alex. “I didn’t know you went to this church.”
“New development. The kids joined the youth group. We haven’t even visited Sunday services yet.” He didn’t mention that they attended services at his own church irregularly at best.
“Then you need to give the church a try. Reverend Fraser’s the best.”
Eli must have said something else after that, something about how great Chestnut Grove Community Church was, but Alex didn’t hear it. The only sound filtering into his ears was Dinah’s musical laughter, like a tinkling of ice cubes in a tall glass of lemonade.
He heard her before he saw her, sitting in a group of teens and painting a huge sign. Her usually pretty hands were dotted with red poster paint.
“…Dinah Fraser is pretty great, too.”
The last brought Alex’s head up with a snap. His friend gave him a knowing look. He could only imagine what Eli had seen, but he didn’t doubt it was more than he ever intended to reveal.
“So I guess that you’ve all made some new friends here.” Eli’s comment wasn’t as inane as it would have sounded to someone walking by right then.
“A few.”
“Never can have too many friends.” Eli smiled like a man with a secret before glancing over at one of the workstations. “I’m helping to caulk the inside of the dunk tank tonight. We had some leakage last year.”
“Sounds like a problem,” Alex agreed. “Why are you here tonight, anyway? You don’t have any teenagers at home.”
“A lot of the church members just come in to help the youth center teens get ready for the carnival. They need all the help they can get. Besides, Rachel and I do have a future teenager right over there.” He pointed to the tiny lump inside an infant car seat next to the wall.
Alex stepped closer to the car seat and bent to examine the pink-cheeked baby covered with a fuzzy blanket. Tufts of light brown hair poked out from beneath a little pink cap.
“That one looks like a keeper, Eli. What’s her name?”
“Madeleine. She’s already two months old.” Eli spoke with the pride of a father who’d enjoyed every minute of those first few months.
A sudden stab of envy surprised Alex, but he pushed it to the back of his mind where it belonged. Since when had he started thinking about having children, anyway? Or even dating, for that matter? An obvious answer was since a certain parent-teacher conference, but he tucked that thought away along with the other one.
“There seem to be several pregnant women and a lot of little kids around here. Is this church having a population explosion or what?”
“You sure could call it that,” a feminine voice from behind him said.
Alex turned to see Dinah, paint-spattered hands and all. How she could have escaped his notice long enough to sneak up behind him, he wasn’t sure.
Eli chuckl
ed. “Rachel, Pilar Fletcher and Kelly Van Zandt even called themselves ‘belly buddies’ because they were all pregnant together, but my Rachel was the first to drop out of the club. Pilar’s next. She’s right over there.”
He pointed out an olive-skinned woman with raven-colored hair tied in a long ponytail. The rounded tummy of her advanced pregnancy stood out against her trim figure. “Rachel and I and Zach and Pilar were married in a double ceremony two years ago. Now we’ll be raising kids together.”
“It’s great the way God has been blessing the families in our church lately,” Dinah told Alex. “These families are growing through births and through adoptions.”
With a tilt of her head, she indicated two brown-skinned preschoolers with curly brown hair. They looked to be brother and sister.
“Those two are Adriana and Eduardo,” she said. “Zach and Pilar are adopting them through Tiny Blessings.”
Alex lifted an eyebrow. “But Pilar’s already pregnant.”
“The Fletchers want a big family,” Eli said, grinning. “In a few years, we’ll have to double the size of the youth center to fit all of us.”
A strange, stark look appeared in Dinah’s eyes, but she shuttered it away, leaving him to wonder if he’d seen it at all. Did Dinah worry that hers would not be among the children to populate the Chestnut Grove church community? Did she long to have a husband and be one of the “belly buddies”? Okay, he doubted she would be clamoring for that particular club membership, but did she someday want a home and a family?
Eli cleared his throat, drawing Alex’s attention back to him. Dinah turned back, as well, from watching Eduardo and Adriana scurry through the room.
“Well, that leaky tank is calling me, so I’ll see you guys later.”
Eli waved as he left, a smirk playing on his lips. Dinah must have missed it because she went on as if no awkwardness had just passed between them.
“How’s Chelsea dealing with her punishment?”
Alex studied her. “Why? Did the custodian say she’s been doing a bad job?”
“No way. Mr. Vinton said she’s such a hard worker that he wished he could hire her as his personal assistant…after her assignment is completed, anyway. I was talking about her punishment at home.”
