And the Greatest of These Is Love: A Contemporary Christian Romance Novel (18 page)

“So, any requests?” Gabi asked as she settled herself on the bench, trying to block out the adult faces staring at her from the back of the room, which wasn’t at all easy. One little hand shot up. “Yes, Leslie?”

“Old McDonald,” Leslie said as if totally oblivious to the crowd around her.

“Okay. Old McDonald it is.” With a breath, Gabi steeled herself for the daunting task. Her eyes swept the children’s heads, and then she saw him — Andrew — sitting on the floor in his three piece suit with Antonio snuggled right up next to him. She smiled at the sight, and all jitters left.

In moments the tension in the room was replaced with the happy voices of the children as they sang about horses, and cows, and chickens — animals many of them had never seen except in storybooks.

Andrew sang every song. It wasn’t a job. It wasn’t a show. It came from his heart and lit up his whole spirit. By the end of sing-along time, he had almost forgotten the business at hand. But when Gabi stood from the piano to take her charges back to the classroom, he remembered his own task.

“Okay, Antonio.” Andrew stood the child to his feet. “It’s time for you to go with Miss T. I’ll be there to get you in a few minutes.”

However, Antonio clutched his hand — obviously unwilling to let go.

“Who is this handsome young man?” Bryan asked, breaking free from the group and striding over to his brother. He looked down at Antonio who looked up at him in wide-eyed terror.

“Bryan, this is Antonio.” Taking the child’s hand, Andrew guided him around his leg; however, Antonio never really let go of Andrew. “Antonio, this is my brother, Bryan. Can you say hello?”

Antonio looked up at Bryan with fearful eyes and ducked back behind Andrew’s pant leg.

“Antonio’s new to the center,” Andrew said in a voice loud enough for all of the others to hear as they drifted over in curiosity, but not so loud as to be an announcer. “He’s been in and out of different foster homes all across the state. They dropped him off a few nights ago at one of the foster homes down the street. He’s had it pretty rough.”

“Well, Antonio.” Bryan bent down to look the little boy in the eye. “I see you’ve taken a liking to my brother. He’s a pretty good guy, isn’t he?”

Antonio looked at him without saying a word, but the fear and the need for love were obvious.

“You don’t talk much, do you, Antonio?” Bryan asked, reaching out to the scared child with only his eyes and words.

“Antonio hasn’t said a word in the three years he’s been in the foster care system,” Andrew said as much to the rest of the room as to Bryan. “No one’s really sure how much he even understands.”

Bryan stood and looked at his brother with pride. “Well, I think he understands you.” The admiration he felt for his brother and the security Andrew offered the little boy couldn’t be denied.

Andrew ducked, fearing they were treading on dangerous ground with this very public conversation.

“Antonio is just the kind of little boy I think that you all can help,” Andrew said, stuffing his feelings down inside of him. “He needs you all, and so do all the children you saw today. I know it’s already been an hour, and if you need to get back, I understand, but in a few minutes some of the older kids will be arriving from school, and you can stay and talk to them if you like. Find out what they think of the center. Find out for yourselves what the center means to them.”

“I really need to be taking these kids back,” Gabi said from just behind him so softly only he heard. He hadn’t even realized the other children hadn’t left.

Andrew spun and smiled at her. “Oh, of course.” Then he looked back at the others. “If any of you would like to go with the four-year-olds, I think it’s clay time.”

Gabi looked at him with uncertainty. “Do you want me to take Antonio?”

Pulling the child closer, Andrew gave her a reassuring smile. “No, Antonio can stay with me.”

The business group broke up as some of them chose to follow Gabi’s group down the hall and a few of them walked with Jerry down to inspect the nursery and the other classrooms. Andrew sat on one of the couches with Antonio perched on his lap as happy as he had ever seen the child.

“So, Andrew, how did you come by this place anyway?” Mr. Harwood asked, sounding genuinely interested.

Andrew laughed at the memory. “Well, Bill Smith, my editor, sent me out here to do a story on the place, and I fell in love with it.”

“How many kids did you say come through here?” Bryan asked as he smiled at Antonio.

“Between two and three hundred in any given week,” Andrew said. “They keep the little ones all day. That makes up about half of them. And then the older kids come later — after school. They mostly play basketball in the gym and hang out around out here.”

“So tell me about what you plan for the donations,” Mr. Harwood said.

“Shaniquille, this is Mrs. Phelps,” Gabi said, introducing the two. “Why don’t you take her to your table and show her how we make things with the clay.”

“My table is over here.” Shaniquille needed no more instruction than that. She took Mrs. Phelps by the hand and led her across the room. “This is where I usually sit.”

Mrs. Phelps smiled at the child who seemed so together even though it seemed everything around her was falling apart. It was clear that the child was proud of the tiny table with one wobbly leg. There was so much to be fixed, so many things that needed attention, but the young lady teaching the children created such a mesmerizing atmosphere in spite of everything, that it was difficult not to believe the tiny table wasn’t the most perfect one ever built.

“Irvin,” Andrew called the second he saw the teenager enter the front doors. “Come over here. I want you to meet some people.”

Irvin took one look at the assembled group of suits, and fear snapped into his face. Slowly and not at all confidently, he ambled over to the group. “What’s up with the suit, Mr. Clark? Is this your way of forfeiting today’s game?”

Andrew laughed. “You know me better than that, Irvin. No, I invited a few friends to come and see the center. I thought maybe you could sit with us a little while and talk.”

“Me?” Irvin’s eyes widened. “Are you sure, Mr. C?”

“Gentlemen, this is Irvin Thompson,” Andrew said, totally ignoring the last question. Irvin was the man for this job without a doubt. He just didn’t know it yet. “Irvin, this is my brother, Bryan Clark and his partner Kevin Turner.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” Irvin shook each man’s hand in turn.

“And this is Mr. Harwood, Mr. Marris, and Mr. Jacobs.”

“Nice to meet you,” Irvin said, shaking each hand politely.

“Now, Irvin, I thought maybe you could answer some of their…”

“You forgot one,” Irvin whispered as if they were involved in a conspiracy, and he pierced Andrew with his eyes. Andrew looked at him, puzzled for a second and then followed Irvin’s eyes downward.

“Oh, excuse me. You’re so right. Irvin Thompson, this is Antonio Walls.” Andrew knelt next to the child. “Antonio, this is Irvin.”

Irvin immediately sat on his knees to look the child in the eye. “It’s nice to meet you, Antonio,” Irvin said and formally extending his hand.

Slowly as the adults all watched in amazement, Antonio reached out and took Irvin’s hand and shook it. The pride shone in both boys’ eyes, and no one missed it.

“Why don’t we have a seat?” Andrew suggested when Irvin was on his feet again. They each found a comfortable chair, or as comfortable as the center offered, and sat down.

“Irvin,” Bryan began before Andrew had the chance, and Andrew momentarily panicked. It was cross-examination time. “How long have you been coming to the center?”

“Since I was about six,” Irvin said, never missing a beat. “My mom works, and it’s nice to have somewhere to go after school. You know?”

“I can imagine.” Bryan nodded. “So, you play basketball?”

“Mostly,” Irvin said. “Mr. C… uh, Mr. Clark here keeps us on our toes, but I don’t just play basketball. Sometimes I get help on homework and stuff, too.”

“Oh, the volunteers help you?”

“No, Miss T does mostly.”

“Miss T?” Bryan asked, puzzled.

“Gabi,” Andrew interjected as if that was helpful, and then he realized it wasn’t. “Oh, uh, Gabrielle Treyvillion, the young lady who played the piano today.”

“But I thought she taught the little kids,” Bryan said, even more puzzled.

“Yeah, that’s where I met her.” Irvin nodded. “She came when I was younger, and she kind of took me under her wing. She helps me with homework and stuff after her kids go home sometimes. Right now she’s helping me pick out a college to go to.”

“Oh. So, you’re going to college?” Bryan asked, not hiding his surprise very well.

Irvin ducked, clearly trying to think of a good way to say what he was thinking, but nothing came.

“Irvin’s got the grades to get in just about anywhere,” Andrew said, afraid Irvin wouldn’t tell them the whole story. “But his financial situation isn’t going make that easy.”

“Where do you want to go to?” Bryan asked. “If you had your choice.”

“IT.”

“IT?” Bryan asked as if he was impressed. “Wow. That’s a good school.”

“The best,” Irvin agreed with a spark in his eyes, but then the spark vanished. “But I’ll be lucky to go to Stanton.”

“But Mr. Thompson,” Mr. Harwood said, “can’t you get scholarships or grants or something?”

“Yeah, but I don’t even have the money to make up the difference. I’ve been working during the summers, saving up, but it’s tough to save that much money,” Irvin said, suddenly sounding very defeated. “Mom barely makes enough to keep the house warm and put food on the table. I don’t want to stress her out anymore by talking about college.”

“What about your father?” Mr. Harwood asked.

There was a long, silent pause.

“I haven’t seen my father since I was three,” Irvin finally said, quietly.

“I see,” Mr. Harwood said, chastened.

“That’d be part of the plan I hope to implement,” Andrew said, sensing his opportunity. “I don’t just want to give the kids a safe place to come and play after school, I want to give them a real chance once they leave this place. One of the things I hope to do with the money would be to set up a computer lab here at the center that the kids could use to write papers after school. I also want to set up a program that would allow the older kids to help with the younger ones and pay them for their services.”

“Are you serious?” Irvin asked as if unable to contain himself.

“Yes, Irvin, I’m very serious,” Andrew said with a nod. “I think you have done your part. You’ve stayed out of trouble and put forth the effort in school to get good grades. Now I think it’s up to us to do our part.”

He looked around at the assembled group. “Well, I’ve said what I came here to say. I guess it’s up to you all now.”

“Look at mine, Mrs. Phelps,” Shaniquille said, plopping her clay structure onto the table.

Mrs. Phelps looked at the object. “And what do we have here?”

“It’s my dog, Bozo,” Shaniquille said proudly.

“Oh. Well, so it is,” Mrs. Phelps said just as the door opened, and a rotund black woman entered.

“Mama!” Shaniquille squealed, jumping up and running to her mother. “You have to come meet Mrs. Phelps. She’s really nice.”

Ms. Lawrence allowed herself to be dragged across the room.

“This is my Mama.” Shaniquille puffed her little chest out, and her love for her mother clearly evident. “Mama, this is Mrs. Phelps.”

“Hello.” Ms. Lawrence shyly extended her hand.

Mrs. Phelps smiled and shook her hand. “Hello.”

“Hi, Ms. Lawrence,” Gabi said, coming forward.

“Miss T.” Ms. Lawrence grinned. “Oh. I have to thank you for taking Shaniquille early this morning. I talked to my counselor, and it looks like I’m going to be able to graduate in May after all.”

Overcome with joy at that news Gabi reached over and hugged the woman. “Oh, Mabel, that’s fantastic.”

“You know I owe it all to you. If it weren’t for you and the center, I wouldn’t have had any place to take Shaniquille — not any place that I trusted anyway.”

Gabi smiled.

“I’ll never be able to repay you.”

“You get that diploma,” Gabi said. “That’ll be payment enough.”

There was a strange hush in the gym. The kids were playing, but they were also watching the six men sitting in the stands watching them play. Rumors were rampant throughout the court, but no one was quite sure what it meant. They had all heard that the center might close soon, and somehow this new development was seen as a bad omen.

Surely men in three piece suits sitting in the stands was not a good thing, but it didn’t go unnoticed that Mr. Clark was one of the suits — which was a real puzzlement. Why was Mr. Clark consorting with the enemy? Unless he, too, was the enemy. But even that didn’t make sense because he had the little boy with him. Something was definitely going on, and each and every kid on the court wished they knew what it was.