And the Greatest of These Is Love: A Contemporary Christian Romance Novel (12 page)

Antonio eyed her suspiciously but didn’t move.

“Miss T has a blanket for you,” Andrew said, coming up next to the child and gently indicating Gabi across the room, but still Antonio didn’t move. He looked like a tiny, wary animal about to get caught in a trap. Finally Andrew took charge. “Here, I’ll tell you what, how about if I go lay with you. Would that be better?”

Antonio let him put his hands on his shoulders and lead him across the room as Gabi put the blanket on the table and backed away from it. It was going to be a long time before the child trusted her again.

“That’s it,” Andrew said as Antonio lay down on the blanket he had spread out. He folded his tall frame down onto the floor. “See, and I’ll lay right here with you, and everything will be okay.”

The floor was harder than it looked, and colder. But Antonio needed him, and Andrew wasn’t about to let the little boy down. Warily Antonio eyed him, suspicious of even this act of kindness.

“Why don’t we close our eyes and take a nap?” Andrew asked the child, making the supreme trusting gesture of closing his eyes first.

He lay there and tried to make his breathing even and deep, hoping this would help Antonio calm down. Sure enough when he peeked out again, Antonio had shut his eyes tightly — he wasn’t sleeping, but he was following Andrew’s lead, and that was a start.

It was well after two when they finally got the children around the piano. Gabi noticed thankfully that Andrew and Antonio had paired up as buddies. That would delay having to put Antonio with one of the others at least until Monday.

Monday. It was a thought she couldn’t bear to think about. The center wasn’t going to feel the same without Andrew here. He was a part of it now. He was a part of her now, and letting him go would be the hardest thing she would ever have to do.

Andrew sat on the floor with Antonio curled right next to him. It was strange how many things could change in such a short time. Only a few days ago, he’d watched her play for the first time, and now here he was at her feet — a part of her group, and he couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.

It seemed to her that Antonio wanted nothing more than to be next to Andrew. They sat and watched the other children write. Antonio in Andrew’s lap — never moving, never participating, only sitting.

She watched later as they played blocks with the others. It was impossible not to watch them. Antonio looked so small protected by Andrew’s body, but he obviously felt safe there, and she wondered for a moment if that was because he was afraid of her, but she pushed that thought out of her head and tried to concentrate on the other 20 children in the room. However, her thoughts and her eyes always returned to them and lingered.

It wasn’t long before Gabi began to get very nervous about what was going to happen at 3:30 when Andrew had to leave. Antonio had been stuck to his side like glue the whole afternoon and had no idea of Andrew’s imminent departure. But Andrew seemed not even to notice the time or anything else. He looked thoroughly comfortable right here.

She smiled as she watched him lying on the floor with Antonio on one arm and Shaniquille on the other as Bugs Bunny ran around the television screen. It was hard to believe he was even the same man who’d walked into her classroom at the beginning of the week.

As soon as he walked in the gym, Irvin looked for Mr. Clark. The blood and the window had been on his mind all night and most of the day. He kept telling himself it was no big deal, but his mind wouldn’t find a different topic no matter how hard he tried.

Mr. Clark wasn’t to be seen, so he decided to bite the bullet and go talk to Mrs. Jones — surely she would know.

“Hey, Ms. J,” Irvin said, trying to look tough, which by the look in her eyes was working. “Where’s Mr. C?”

“Mr. Clark is helping out in another classroom today,” Mrs. Jones said, eyeing him with concern.

That knocked into Irvin in a way he hadn’t realized it would. “Oh. Is he gonna be here?”

“I’m not sure. I was just told he was helping out somewhere else today,” she said, clearly hoping he would go away.

“Oh, okay.” Irvin shrugged as though it were no big deal to him whether Mr. Clark were here or not.

“Hey, Irvin!” one of his friends called, and Irvin trotted off to join their game, leaving Mrs. Jones to breathe normally again.

“So, how’d he do?” Mrs. Hopkins asked anxiously as she stood in Gabi’s doorway just after five.

“He’s a great kid,” Andrew said with no trace of sarcasm as he stood behind Gabi, so close her body could feel the heat from his. Not that she should have been noticing such things at the moment, but some things about him were impossible not to notice.

“Really? He was okay?” the older woman asked, puzzled.

“It was a little rough at first,” Gabi said, being sure to hold her arm carefully against her side so the marks weren’t visible. “But I think we’ll do just fine.” She smiled down at Antonio, who studied his shoelaces.
Fine as long as Andrew’s here
, she thought but hid her misgivings behind the smile she beamed at Mrs. Hopkins.

“Well, I really appreciate this,” Mrs. Hopkins said with a grateful sigh. “I didn’t know what I was going to do.”

“Well, we’re glad we could help,” Andrew said, smiling, and when Gabi glanced up and back at him, that smile about did her heart in.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” Mrs. Hopkins asked.

“We’ll be here,” Andrew said, cheerfully. She nodded and led Antonio out. Andrew checked his watch — 5:05. “So you think you can handle it from here?”

“Yeah, I think so,” she said, wishing he wouldn’t stand so close to her, it made her body and mind do strange things.

“Great, ‘cause I got a game to get to.”

“Have fun,” she said. “Be careful with the hand.” Wow, he was gorgeous, she thought in spite of herself as he put up a tiny wave in her direction.

“Will do. I’ll see ya later.”

“Yeah. I’ll be here.”

Irvin knew none of the other guys noticed the relief he felt the second he saw Mr. Clark come in the doorway, and he was glad of that. It would have destroyed his “I don’t care about nobody” rep. However, he’d been watching that door nonstop throughout the game, and suddenly when Mr. C appeared, the world was right again.

“Hey, guys.” Mr. Clark came walking right over to them. “How’s it going?”

“Hey, Mr. Clark, we didn’t think you would show,” James said, catching sight of him and picking up his dribble.

“Not show? Are you kidding? I wouldn’t miss the game of the century.”

Gabi ran her hand over the little table, dumping the crayons loudly into the metal bucket. The kids were long gone, and she was alone with her newly replaced window and nice, red gashes that still stung something terrible. Twenty-four hours. How could it have been just 24 hours ago when he was here fixing her window? That was before Antonio had crashed into her life, before she had seen Andrew bleed real blood, before she herself had bled real blood. Back when things were normal. Before, when her classroom was hers and didn’t feel so incredibly empty without him. She looked across it and closed her eyes.

What was happening to her?

“I think we’d better call it a night,” Andrew finally said as the gym emptied out and only he and Irvin were left.

“So, are you going down to Miss T’s room?” Irvin asked, suspiciously, following Andrew off the court.

“I’d thought about it,” Andrew replied as he stored the ball in the rack.

With his tough-guy façade on, Irvin eyed Andrew. “She’s cool.”

“Yes, she is,” Andrew agreed, and then he realized this was his golden opportunity. “How well do you know, Miss T anyway?”

“Pretty well. She helps me sometimes with school work and stuff.”

“I see.” Andrew set about taking mental notes. “And why do you go to her? I mean there’s lots of teachers here.”

“Yeah, but there’s only one Miss T,” Irvin said, and Andrew couldn’t agree more. “I don’t know. She’s different than the others. I feel like it’s all right to not know stuff with her. She doesn’t put me down for it. You know?”

Andrew nodded, understanding and learning at the same time.

“Miss T makes me feel like a real person. Like studying and stuff ain’t hopeless. Like I have a chance to really do something with my life.”

“Is that why you come here?”

“Well, when I was little, my mom made me come, but now, I don’t know. I don’t know what I’d do without this place, you know?”

“Yeah.” He was beginning to see that in ways he never had before.

“Sometimes I think without it, I’d probably be out on the streets — or dead,” Irvin said, and there wasn’t a trace of sarcasm or levity. “It gives me something to do. Somewhere to go where I feel like —” He shrugged. “Like I belong or something.”

Andrew suddenly knew why Gabi was so protective of these kids. It had obviously taken a long time to build up Irvin’s confidence, but even now it was as fragile as fine porcelain — and just as precious.

They entered her room in tandem, talking quietly, heads tilted together.

“Well, hello,” Gabi said, looking up from her desk, not really surprised although it was strange to see them together like that. “Not going to play basketball all night?”

“No, Ma’am,” Irvin said, coming up and out of the conversation, and Andrew smiled down at him. The politeness wasn’t a farce, and it wasn’t fear. It was genuine respect.

Gabi stuffed that in her heart and kept it there. “How’s the paper coming?”

“I wrote the introduction last night,” Irvin said. “I think it’s gonna be okay.”

“And you’re going to bring it to me and let me read it when it’s done, right?”

“Of course,” Irvin said. “If you don’t mind.”

“Course I don’t mind. That’s why I’m here.”

There was a pause as they all contemplated the next move. Irvin was the first to fill the gap. “I see you got the window fixed.”

“Yeah,” Gabi said, “now we won’t freeze to death.”

“It looks nice,” Irvin said, shifting self-consciously. “Well, I’d better go. I got a paper to write and everything.”

“Oh. Wait a minute. We’ll walk you out,” Gabi said, quickly standing and gathering her things. Being alone with Andrew was, in her mind, a dangerous proposition at this point, and Irvin was her only line of defense.

As she got ready and they went out, she made small talk with Irvin, and Andrew just watched them, fascinated. Tough guy Irvin had suddenly morphed into an all-American kid with dreams and hopes and fears. Just like every other kid Andrew knew.

Around her Irvin as a totally different person. He looked like a young man on his way up not on his way out, and Andrew wondered to himself again how she did it.

“So, how was the history test today?” Gabi asked as she locked the center door.

“Fine. I really think I did okay on it.”

“And how is the hunt for colleges going?”

Irvin continued to walk, but suddenly his voice disappeared.

She tipped her head in concern. “You are looking, aren’t you?”

“Well, yeah, but…” He shrugged but didn’t continue.

“Irvin...?”

With that, he swung on her. “Come on, Miss T, I don’t think I’m gonna have the funds to go. You know that.”

“But your grades are good, right?”

“All B’s and one A.” He shrugged again. “Not that great.”

“But good enough.” She sighed. “We’re just going to have to find some funds.”

“Yeah, right,” Irvin said, and the defeat in his tone ripped at Andrew’s heart.

“I’ll tell you what, why don’t you go talk to the counselor and pick out a few schools you’d like to go to? Then we can write to them and get some more information about scholarships and stuff?”

Every movement from the kid stopped completely as he looked at her. “You’d do that for me?”

“No. I’ll do that
with
you,” she corrected. “Anything you’re willing to work for, I’m willing to help you with. Remember that, okay?”

They were now standing on the sidewalk, none going in the same direction.

“Okay,” Irvin said with a nod. “So, I can come by tomorrow?”

“And bring the college catalogs?”

“Yeah,” he said, smiling.

She grinned at him. “I’ll be waiting.”

“K. Sure thing. I’ll see ya later, Miss T.” He started off, stopped and turned. “Oh, you, too, Mr. C.” With a breath of a wave, he trotted off into the dark night.

Andrew waited until Irvin was gone from sight before he put his thoughts into words.

“Irvin’s lucky,” he said almost under his breath.

Gabi looked up at him like he’d lost his mind. “Lucky?”

His gaze trailed down to hers and locked there. “Yeah, to have a friend like you.”

“Some friend.” She shrugged, shook her head, and started for her car. “All I do is look at some papers and push him to do better.”