Teaching Ms. Riggs

by Stephanie Beck

  “Ben.”

  She looked up and realized Teddy had moved toward the front of the garage, and Mark was closer than before.

  He put his hands on her shoulders, and she forced herself not to jump. “Honey, it’s fine. I’m just going to take it for a spin around the block. Teddy is going to give me a police escort. It’s not every day a guy gets that offer without the cuffs.”

  Dropping the keys into his hand was one of the hardest things she’d ever done. He grinned and his confidence did what it always did, gave her courage and reminded her to trust him.

  “Now, no burn outs.” She pushed for a scolding tone and he smiled.

  “I’ll bring her back in one piece.”

  Fifteen minutes later they were on their way home. Back to the farm, Ben instantly corrected herself. The farm was not yet her home. It certainly had everything she wanted in a home–space to roam, people to love, kids to keep her young, animals to tend and spoil, and a man who could also fit that role.

  Thomas had called Mark’s cell and asked him to get more milk and cereal. Ben laughed as he ran in the store and picked up two gallons of milk and four boxes of breakfast food.

  “I’ll say it again,” she said when he tossed the bags in the backseat, “I know teens eat a lot, but I don’t know where he puts it all.”

  “I don’t know either, but I remember those days and always being hungry. It didn’t matter what was available, if it was food and it wasn’t rotten I wanted to eat it.” Mark laughed. “Mom said in the span of a summer our grocery bill doubled just to keep up with me. Milk, cereal, vegetables, yogurt, beef, chicken, soup, hell, it didn’t matter. If she had it in the house, I’d eat it.”

  “And now the tables have turned. It’s good you’re taking care of the kids. Your mom is probably still tired from keeping you from eating the furniture.”

  “Yeah.” He tensed at the mention of his parents, just like he always did, and her teasing fell flat.

  Silence stretched between them. She hadn’t asked Don questions when she’d thought things bothered him. If the situation was one she could help with in any way, she always knew he would come to her when he was ready. With business deals and issues, she’d never expected to be a confidant, but she’d been a willing ear when Don decided he needed one, which hadn’t been often. With Mark things had to be different.

  “Mark, when did your dad die?” She asked the question gently and hoped the time was right.

  “Ah, about a month before Kira was born,” he answered.

  “Was he sick?”

  “No. He was out plowing. We’d had a fight about timing on the field. I wanted to wait a week. He wanted it done right then, so while I was out with some friends he went out to plow. A storm hit and his tractor tipped on him.”

  “Oh, Mark, I’m so sorry.” His words were blunt and didn’t invite more questions. She could feel the loss and grief, as if they were tangible things in the car, even though a full decade had passed since the incident. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”

  “Thanks.” He didn’t rebuff her hand when she reached across the bench seat and put hers on the one he had resting between them. “It’s been a long time, but Mom never got over him dying. They’d been married too long, so she needed a new place. I took the kids in after she moved.”

  “I’m glad that worked out so well.” Ben understood the pain of losing parents, and she was glad Mark hadn’t lost both entirely.

  “It did. I’m glad she’s happy. She’s in a retirement community. Last year they went to Ireland for a week,” he replied.

  “You miss her?”

  “Sometimes. Thomas does too. She and Dad raised him the first few years, but he understands now how sick she was after Dad died.”

  “Kids know.”

  He nodded. “Your parents died when you were a kid.”

  “Yes, but it was different, I think. They died in a car accident. I was seven, so I remember being horribly sad and shaken, but my aunt took me in right away. I think it would be harder for Thomas and Kira to have their parents alive and uninterested. I hate that my parents died, but I know they didn’t have a choice.”

  “Right, I think that little thing with their parents is either going to put them off having families of their own one day, or it’ll have them making me a grandpa before I’m ready.” Mark’s grin held a note of sheepishness. “There’s a therapist I talk to once in a while, and she says the same thing.”

  “You’d be a wonderful grandpa.” Ben smiled at the thought of him rolling around with babies and taking the little ones out to pet the calves. “They’re both smart though, so I bet you’re not too worried.”

  “Not so much. They are good kids.”

  “And you’ve got no problem stepping in and making sure they don’t get in over their heads too early.”

  “I already had the sex talk with Thomas, and Kira still thinks boys are disgusting. I think I have some time.” He laughed, but she heard the strain in it. “Dear Lord, I hope I have some time.”

  They pulled up next to the garage. Thomas and Kira were getting out of Mark’s car, milkshakes in their hands, which explained the time difference.

  Even from a distance, Ben could hear them throwing insults at each other.

  “Uncle Mark! Thomas called me a booger eater!” Kira shouted.

  “If the shoe fits, then I call it a booger eater.” Thomas walked behind his sister, flipping Kira’s ball cap off her head.

  “Shut up. I do not eat boogers. You eat boogers.” She chased after him and smacked his back with her hat. “And I’m telling Melody too. I bet she won’t want to kiss a snot licker!”

  “Like I said…” Mark laughed as he helped Ben out of the car. “I think I’ve got time.”

  Chapter 10

  “Ben, can you get that?”

  She looked up from the paperwork her insurance company had sent about getting approved for counseling. The phone was a long way away, but Mark was farther or he wouldn’t ask. She maneuvered her crutch and winced when her broken leg hung funny at first. She’d never broken a bone before, so it was all new and incredibly painful.

  The yellowed phone buzzed shrilly as she made her way across the tile. Being tired from working all day and being dragged down by the constant ache was making the relatively simple task harder than it needed to be. What she wanted to do was go to bed.

  “Hello, Dougstat residence.”

  “So you are staying out there.”

  The lack of greeting might have startled Ben if she hadn’t recognized the speaker. There was no mistaking her aunt’s voice.

  “Hi, Aunt Willy.” Ben tried for a peppy, upbeat tone. It didn’t work, but she tried. “How’s Seattle?”

  “Fine. It’s raining again. Now, why in the world are you at the Dougstat farm? You’ve only been back in Flathead Falls for a few months, and you’re barely out of your widow garb. What are you thinking shacking up with some man? I raised you better than that.”

  “Aunt Willy, who told you I was shacking up here?” Ben reached with her crutch to pull a chair closer. The cord was long enough for her to walk to the table to sit, but she didn’t want to move that far.

  “Mary Johnson and Bernice Finkle both called me with the news,” Willy huffed. “Unacceptable, young lady, especially for a teacher. You’ve got an example to set for your students, and living under the same roof with an unmarried man and his bastard children–”

  “Kira and Thomas are not bastards,” Ben snapped, increasingly tired and frustrated with her aunt’s incessant rant. “They are Mark’s niece and nephew, and he is their guardian. He’s a wonderful man, and he has graciously offered to help me right now out of good Christian duty. You should know about that, Lord knows you told me every day about doing your duty.”

  There was a gasp on the other end of the line and Ben wished back her words. Fighting with her aunt never went well. Ben always lost. Always.

  “Well, if he’s doing all those wonderful things, you ju
st scoot out of there, missy. A little broken leg won’t kill you, and Mary said the new windows were put on your apartment days ago,” Willy said coolly. “Playing the damsel in distress doesn’t suit a woman of your size or years, Bennie. Have some pride.”

  “We’ll see, Aunt Willy.”

  “We’ll see? See what? He’s a farmer. I raised you to do better for yourself. You should consider moving to a bigger city.”

  “I’m happy here,” Ben insisted.

  “I’ll even pay.” Willy’s gallant offer caught Ben’s attention. Her aunt was frugal to a fault. “Yes, I will. If you gain entrance to an acceptable school to finish your degree, I will foot the bill for the move and medical school.”

  “Medical school?” Ben hadn’t thought about going into the medical field in years.

  “Yes. Something with a specialty, cardiology or neurology I’m thinking would be best. In another six years you would be Doctor Benfri Riggs Wiggert. It has a nice ring to it.” Her aunt sounded uncharacteristically pleased, and part of Ben hated to burst her bubble. A bigger part of her wanted to lie down and not have to talk to her again until the idea of doctorates was out of her old head.

  “Aunt Willy–”

  “Think about it,” Willy broke in. “I trust you will make the right decision. Shacking up with some man, being a glorified nanny and milkmaid, is not who I raised you to be. I’ll look around and start getting you some applications.”

  “Okay, Aunt Willy, you do that.” The nanny and milkmaid comment made Ben want to fire back with something ugly and harsh. But to fight would have meant prolonging the conversation, and that was the last thing she wanted to do.

  Kira slid across the vinyl beside her on fuzzy socks, a happy grin on her face. She opened her mouth to say something, saw the phone and did the locking motion over her lips. Ben smiled and she didn’t think after her aunt’s tirade she’d be able to do that anytime soon.

  “You’ll see,” Willy said, a long drawn out sigh punctuating the warning.

  All Ben saw was Kira reaching down to the kitchen floor and attempting a handstand. The kid was too darn funny.

  “I know what I’m talking about,” Willy continued. “After your parents died you needed a firm hand to bring you out of the disrespectful, self-destructive path you were on. I may be older, but I’m willing to be the one to put your head on straight again.”

  Kira plopped on her butt and looked up, her big green eyes trusting and full of good humor. Ben’s eyes burned with the need to cry, but she refused the tears life. Her discomfort must have shown though, because Kira hopped to her feet, crossed the distance between them, and gently wrapped her thin arms around Ben’s shoulders.

  Aunt Willy was wrong, very wrong. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise, but Ben had always looked to her aunt for the advice that mattered in her life. She was the one who’d raised her and loved her in a way. But it wasn’t going to be her way, Ben decided as she wrapped her free arm around Kira.

  “I’ll talk to you soon, Aunt Willy.”

  “You’ll get out of that house then?” Willy asked in satisfaction.

  “Nope, not for a while,” she answered, content with her answer.

  “Ben–”

  “No, don’t worry about me, Aunt Willy. I’m in a good place and will think very intently about the things you’ve said,” Ben interrupted, tugging Kira’s fire-red ponytail.

  “Of course, I’ll worry,” Willy bristled. “You’re my only kin, and I love you. Even when you make your horrible decisions. Just don’t shame me, Benfri.”

  “I love you too, Aunt Willy.”

  Ben placed the receiver back in its cradle and leaned on one crutch as she brought Kira in closer. She smelled like a kid–dirt, sweat and sunshine, the best things in the world.

  “Did you talk to your aunt?”

  “I sure did.”

  The little girl looked like she wasn’t sure what to make of her answer and really, Ben didn’t need her to understand, just needed her to keep being sweet and young for as long as possible.

  “How about we watch a movie?” Ben asked, the aches of the day real, but she wanted to listen to Kira talk nonsense and nine-year-old business.

  “With popcorn?”

  “Okay, why not?”

  * * * *

  Mark didn’t hate Teddy. That would have been like hating puppies and vanilla ice cream. No one hated those things, not seriously anyway. But the younger man’s presence grated on his nerves. He was a good deputy, and was doing the best he could on the case considering he wasn’t a detective. The kid hadn’t done anything wrong.

  What Mark couldn’t handle was seeing Teddy’s face light up whenever he saw Ben. He and the deputy were going to have to have a talk soon. Ben was closer in age to Teddy, but that didn’t matter, because what was growing between Mark and Ben had only gotten stronger since she moved in.

  Teddy moving in on his territory wasn’t what Mark worried about, not really. Ben was faithful and true. He just didn’t want Teddy to embarrass himself or put Ben in an awkward place.

  Usually Saturdays were a reprieve from the overeager pup, but this time he’d brought a therapist for Ben to talk with about the attack. The woman was one of Teddy’s many cousins, and that had been a positive sign for Ben. She’d been having some rough dreams, and Mark could understand why. That level of personal danger weighed on a person. She did well a good eighty percent of the time, but the other twenty, got very long.

  Since he was spending his nights on the couch, only feet from his room, he could hear when she woke, gasping. She didn’t scream or cry out, but her panic induced breathing woke him from a dead sleep every time.

  He would have rather been in the house, sitting at the table with her in case she needed him. Instead he was out cleaning the chicken coop, trying to pass the time until he could make sure Ben was all right.

  “Oh, hey there, Mark.”

  He froze. How the hell had Teddy snuck up on him? He turned and didn’t even try for a smile. The grin on Teddy’s face faltered, and Mark figured every drop of his displeasure showed.

  “Sorry to interrupt.” Teddy’s nerves filled the tiny chicken coop. “I just left Karin with Ben. They were going to have some coffee, and Karin told me to get lost. Do you need any help?”

  Mark looked Teddy over. He wore jeans and a collared shirt. His shoes were the kind Thomas liked, kinda wimpy looking with accent stripes on the sides. He looked like a young twenty-something who did well for himself. Which he was, Mark reminded himself. Other than knowing so little about car maintenance, Teddy was a resourceful guy. Who had once peed on his truck tire.

  “Doesn’t look like you’re dressed to be helping on a farm, Teddy.” Mark tossed the last of the straw into the far corner as the chickens pecked closer to see the new presence in their home.

  “I brought rubbers.”

  They looked at each other a moment, Mark letting Teddy’s words sink into the younger man’s head. When they did, Teddy’s ears lit fire engine red.

  “I mean, shoe covers,” he stuttered. “I help my granddad sometimes, and I keep a pair in my car.”

  “Yeah, I know what you meant.” Mark decided since the subject was practically up, that he’d use the opportunity to talk with Teddy about Ben. “Which reminds me... You understand why Ben’s here, right?”

  “Of–of course.” He was tripping over his words like a teen in interrogation. “You’ve got a good setup, and it’s great you’re helping her while her leg is hurt.”

  Mark nodded. “You’re right, it is good and I’d help anyone I could. But how many people have you known me to welcome into my home, Teddy? Ben’s special to me.”

  The red was ebbing a little, but transferred to Teddy’s cheeks as he understood better.

  Mark nodded as he thought Teddy was starting to get it. “Yes. She is very special, and Teddy, you’re a really nice kid, but if you’re entertaining–”

  “Wait a second,” Teddy broke in. He cleared hi
s throat as he pulled himself up to stand taller. “Okay, I’ll be honest here, Mark. Ben Riggs is a hell of a lady. If things were a little different, yeah I would have asked her out already. But things aren’t different. The second I found out you were in the picture, I threw in the towel.”

  Mark stared at Teddy a second and then laughed. “Why the hell would you do that? I’m not saying to start fighting now, but a few months ago there was no reason not to.”

  Mark liked the grin that came to Teddy’s face and he hoped he found someone nice soon. A nice kid like him deserved a good girl to come home to. Just not Ben.

  “You might be old and have shit on your shoes most of the time, but everyone around here knows what a good guy you are, Mark. And the more I learned about Ben, the more I knew you were what was best for her. She’s just a friend now. It hasn’t been my intention to step on your toes, but I’m not going to stop caring for my friend because it makes you growl a little.”

  “Damn, boy.” Mark shook his head, feeling his forty years in seeing little Teddy Williams stand up to him. “Where the heck was I when you grew up so well?”

  Teddy grinned. “Probably out milking a cow or pitching shit.”

  “Probably.” Mark set aside his pitchfork. “Well, I’ve got a spare set of coveralls in the other barn. If you’ve got the rubbers and the time, I’ve got some sheep pens I was going to get mucked out today.”

  “Karin said to be gone for two hours. I’ll grab my boots.”

  Three hours later with no Ben or Karin in sight to stop them, they’d gotten the whole barn mucked out and bedded with fresh straw. Mark and Teddy leaned against their pitchforks, sweaty and dirty.

  From his place, Mark could see Ben and Karin exit the side door of the house. Teddy had said something about a text message a few minutes earlier, but wasn’t making any rush to get out of the borrowed clothes. He was breathing a little heavy, not used to the hard work, and while it amused Mark, he didn’t rub it in. Not after getting more work done in a morning than he’d planned for the whole day.

  “Wow.” Ben looked between his and Teddy’s shoulders into the barn. “You two got a lot done out here.”