Maybe This Time (The Educators Book 3) (14 page)

Steph seemed to think of something. “Then why did you volunteer to babysit me after school if you weren’t going to see him again?”

“Because it was the right thing to do.” She took in a deep breath. “Besides, there’s something else I have to tell you. I, um, I’m pregnant.”

“Oh, my God, I’m gonna have a little brother or sister?”

“You need to know I’m happy about this. And so is your dad. When I told him, we realized we’d always be connected. But as I said earlier, you were so fragile, and your relationship with him was so tenuous, that we decided to wait to tell you.”

“What were you going to do? You and dad in the long run?”

“I don’t know. Seeing him so much, being with him, we formed a deep relationship. We didn’t know yet where it was going to lead.”

Stephanie stared at her a long time. Then she grinned and said, “Cool! If you’re gonna do something about this.”

“What do you mean?”

“You better get married.”

“We never really got to talk about all that, honey.”

Her gaze narrowed on Delaney and she knew this was one of the times kids sensed things you were trying to keep from them. “You had a fight, didn’t you? That’s why you’ve been so sad and he’s been a bear. Both of you said you’re sorry back there.”

“He’s been a bear?”

“Yeah. And sad, too. I thought it was because of me and the Schmooze thing.”

“Honey, everything’s not your fault.”

“I guess not.”

“As for the future, we’ll just have to see what happens. But no matter what, you’ll always have a sibling, and me, in your life.”

The nurse approached them. “Mr. Grayson can have visitors now. Only family.”

Steph said, “I’m his daughter.” She glanced at Delaney.  “She’s his new wife.”

Delaney didn’t correct Stephanie’s lie because she had to see Gage.

Still, when the nurse left and they stood, Delaney touched the girl’s shoulder. “You shouldn’t have lied. Because I did something I shouldn’t have doesn’t mean I’m going to let you get away with bad behavior.” She smiled to take the sting out of her words. “Except maybe this time.”

Steph linked their arms. “I know. I promise to be better, too. When Dad got hurt…” Tears again.

Delaney tugged her close. “I know, honey. I realized I could lose him, too. We’ll both be better and so will he.”

As natural as a spring rain, Steph leaned into her. “I love you, Delaney. Hah! I get to call you that now.”

 “Okay, but not in school.”

Arm-in arm, they headed in to see the man they both loved, ready to prove it to him. Delaney felt a sense of well being and optimism she hadn’t experienced in a long time. Maybe ever. And she guessed Stephanie finally felt the same.

Epilogue

Gage sat in a chair on the beach of his friends’ house on Crystal Corners Lake and watched all their children play with their mothers. Nick Corelli, next to him, bounced baby Jared on his knee and Dylan Kane was sipping a Molson’s. All wore bathing suits including the baby.

“Mine are the best looking,” Gage said off-handedly to rag on the guys. In truth, he enjoyed his almost year-long friendship with the two men. He hadn’t realized how much he was missing by not having male friends.

“Hush your mouth, Yank,” Nick said, covering Jared’s ears. “The first three years are important to a child’s self-esteem.”

“Goo…” Jared agreed, batting Nick’s face.

“You two are pathetic,” Dylan put in, “and besides my guys are handsome devils.”

Annie and Dylan had decided not to have any more children, though he was as close as any biological father to his adopted twins.

Evidenced by Danny, who waved from the lake and yelled, “When you coming in, Dad?”

Dylan swallowed hard.

“Still gets to you, doesn’t it?” Nick commented. “Jared said Da Da at eight months and I cried like a baby.”

Gage, too. Little Cora, her name meaning
light
because she’d brought so much to their lives, had him wrapped around her tiny finger. So did Steph, who walked out of the water. With Matt Keller.

“Hey, Daddy,” Steph said when she reached them. Her hair was back to its natural color, the same as his, and looked great on her.

“Hi, beautiful. That suit’s too skimpy.” 

She kissed his cheek. “The agreement was that I’d put on a T-shirt when I got out of the water, remember?”

“Yeah, okay.”

“Can Matt and I take the rest of the ones that can walk down to the ice cream stand?”

Matt was behind her. “Can we, Nick?” The boy was now nineteen and had finished his freshman year at Eastman School of Music, but he still asked permission of Nick. Though Matt was seeing his father on a regular basis to repair their broken relationship, he lived with the Corelli’s when he was out of school.

“Fine by me.” Gage reached into his pocket.

Dylan handed them some bills. “Let me, since you’re as poor as a church mouse after moving to the District Attorney’s office.”

Gage laughed. Who would have thought he could be happy prosecuting people instead of defending them? Delaney Dawson Grayson had wrought changes in his life that he couldn’t believe sometimes.

Even though it was over a year ago, he could still picture her tearstained face in the hospital, with Steph at her side, telling him she loved him and they should get married. He’d been pissed he didn’t get to propose first, but when he recovered, he took her back to Belhurst Castle and made it official with a moonstone ring—his woman wasn’t the diamond type.

Cella, Matt, Steph, Danny and Trevor took off. Jared began to fuss, so Nick put him in a carriage in the shade and rocked him a bit. He turned around to see Brie coming out of the water in a sleek black bathing suit and smiled as if someone had given him a million bucks. She joined him at the carriage. “Little guy out?”

“Yep. Have I told you you’re prettier than a sunrise on the lake in that suit?”

Dylan caught Gage’s gaze and rolled his eyes. “We’ve all got it bad.”

Annie was the next in. She grabbed a towel and dried off. She stared behind them and shook her head. “I can’t believe we own this place.”

Brie and Nick had moved into his home and the Kane’s scooped up her lake front property next door.

Reaching for her hand, Dylan pulled her down to the chaise. “You deserve it, love.”

Nick told Brie to take his lounger and dropped into a chair beside her.

Annie gestured out at the lake. “Delaney is so in love with that child.”

Gage didn’t respond. He was choked up at watching her swirl their ten-month-old in the water. Her giggles along with Cora’s wafted up to him like a warm breeze. After a while, she came out of the water. She wore a leopard print two piece bikini. On her hip was a colorful tattoo of a Tinkerbelle. Her hair had some gold streaks in it that caught the light of the sun. She walked up from the beach, bouncing the baby, who was so good-natured it amazed Gage.

“She is
so
good in the water,” Delaney said. “I think I’ll sign her up for swimming lessons.”

“She isn’t even a year.”

“Yeah, but they offer baby aquatics at the high school pool on Saturday mornings. Since you and Steph spend that time together, it’ll give me and Cora something to do.”

Even though he was home more, Gage had made sure he spent quality alone time with his older daughter.

Delaney dumped the wet child in his arms while she threw on a cover up. Cora’ dark brown eyes stared up at him and her curly hair brushed his arm. She looked like her mother. “You’ll be ready for the Olympics in no time, baby girl.”

After Delaney breast fed and changed Cora, the child also went to sleep in a second carriage. Then, in typical uninhibited fashion, Delaney came back and gave him a big kiss on the mouth. “I love you, man.”

“Get a room,” Nick said, but was holding Brie’s hand.

Feeling a deep sense of contentment he’d never known before, Gage stood and slipped his arm around Delaney.

All the adults were quiet as they stared out at the lake, gilded by the summer sun, with the whir of boats in the distance. The reflective mood happened every once in a while when all of six of them were together and were overcome by how their lives had turned out.

Gage himself had no doubt that the woman cuddling close to him was the cause. After the silence stretched out, Nick broke it. Bending down, he picked up Brie in a carry. Dylan laughed and did the same to Annie. Not to be outdone, Gage scooped Delaney off her feet.

“What the…what are you doing, Dylan?”

“Nick, come on, I don’t want to go back in…”

“What the hell?” Delaney said, “I just dried off.”

“Don’t worry, sweetheart, I’ll go in with you. I’ll go anywhere, anytime, with you.”

She looped her arms around his neck and whispered, “Well, then, that makes everything all right.”

And, Gage thought as they all ran to the water, it really did!

-o0o-

Author’s Note

Dear Reader,

Delaney and Gage’s story touched my heart, and I hope it touched yours, too.

For some reason, the character of Delaney resonated with me very much. Maybe it was how strong she was, maybe because she overcame such odds, maybe because she stood up for students so unapologetically that I found myself really caring about her.  A former teacher myself, I have a lot in common with Delaney. As I wrote the book, I kept picturing my early years in the classroom, how involved I was with the kids, how everything seemed so overwhelming and wonderful simultaneously.  But like Delaney, I waded through and made my mark on the school. I could also relate to the camaraderie she finally lets herself feel with the people she works with. Some of my closest friends are the ones I found in the school where I taught.

Creating this love story was a pleasure. Once again, Gage and Delaney are very different and clash over a myriad of things. But they have an inner core which is similar, though they don’t necessarily see it right away. And they learn to compromise. Gage comes to see that his priorities need adjustment and Delaney begins to understand she’s not always right about her students. Yet, even before they discover these things about themselves, they gravitate toward each other and want to be together. The baby just cinches things.

And wasn’t it fun to see what happened to Brie and Nick and Dylan and Annie? I loved the epilogue where they are all together. (If you haven’t read them yet,
Still the One
and
Maybe This Time
are both available!) I’d be hard-pressed to choose my favorite couple out of this trilogy.

Finally, in this Educator series, I’ve tried to show how a modern high school functions, how good teachers care about their kids, their jobs and the welfare of the school. In this day and age, when there are state cutbacks in education and protestations against tenure for teachers, we all need to be reminded of exactly how much excellent educators affect the lives of everyone around them. There’s a saying, “Teachers change the world one kid at a time.”  I really believe this and hope it came across in all these novellas.

Kathy Shay

o0o

Contact Kathryn Shay at
www.kathrynshay.com
(contact Kathryn);
www.facebook.com/kathrynshay
;
www.twitter.com/KShayAuthor

o0o

Kathryn Shay’s Books available on Amazon:

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