Returning Pride (8 page)

She had kissed Iian all of four times. The first time was when they were no more than children. The second was a chaste peck on New Years. The third was a heated kiss over a hot stove. This kiss was unlike any before. The slowness of the sweet kiss lasted until she began to shake with want.

She tasted like spring. She felt better than he had imagined over the years. Taking his time, he savored every inch of her mouth. Her lips were softer than any others that had come before. Her taste, sweeter than anyone else. He could lose himself in her mouth, in her taste. He had waited years, a lifetime it seemed, and wanted to savor every moment, every feeling.

He was sure that if he could bottle up the essence of her, he would quickly become a millionaire. He ran his hands over her slender form, enjoying the slight curve of her hips. He slowly traced the lines as she clung tight to his shoulders.

When he started to pull back, she reached up and grabbed a handful of his hair to pull him back to her mouth. This time, she controlled the speed. He could feel her vibrating and knew she was moaning. He could feel her melting against him. He used his hands on her hips and pulled her closer. She was soft, so very thin, and he enjoyed the feel of her body next to his.

Finally, she pulled back and rested her head against his shoulder. Taking a big breath, he enjoyed the feel and smell of her.

When she walked him out to his car, he kissed her again. He could just stand here forever with her on the front walk, in the night air, with the sparkling stars overhead looking down on them. The rain had washed everything clean, the clouds had dissipated, and the stars were out lighting the whole sky. The night air was still crisp enough that it reminded you that you were alive. Holding her closer, he thought the feel of her helped him feel alive as well.

It was late when he got back to the house. He was pumped. He couldn’t explain it, but being with Allison gave him energy to spare. Instead of hitting the shower and bed, he headed back up to the large attic. He figured he would use the extra energy to bring a few things back downstairs from storage in the attic.

He spotted a large luggage box that he hadn’t seen in years. He knew the precious items that lay inside, since the trunk had been up in the attic forever. No one really opened the box. In fact, he thought the last time someone looked inside was when he was a kid looking for some chalk.

On this particular evening, however, he felt the need to go over and open the lid. His grandmother’s painting supplies were neatly tucked away. A large wooden easel sat in pieces that he thought could easily be put back together. Paint brushes and other art supplies were neatly tucked in individual boxes with labels. Oil paints that he thought might be dried and unusable were still in their packages unopened. There were canvases that sat lined up along the back of the large box.

Making a decision, he started to drag the heavy box towards the stairs.

T
he day after her mother’s little
lock the front door game
, she was back at the school enjoying one of her favorite groups of kids. Several of them were happily drawing the flower arrangement she had brought along with her. It was almost lunch time when Megan stuck her head in her door.

Happy to see her friend, she rushed to grab the little girl struggling to get out of her arms. Sara was one of the happiest, chubbiest babies Allison had ever had the pleasure of handling. The girl was giggling and drooling and had her faithful bunny hanging from her chubby hands. She wore a light pink dress with ribbons down the front. Her blonde curly hair had matching ribbons. The small white sandals were almost falling off her tiny feet. Matthew was shyly standing behind his mother’s side. He was dressed in khaki pants with a blue shirt and a small tie. His dark hair had a slight curl to it and she could see the Jordan cleft in his little chin, so much so that he looked like a smaller version of his daddy and uncle.

“Here’s my favorite kids.” She held onto the squirming girl. “What a great surprise!”

“We were just down here registering Matthew for preschool next year and thought we would stop by to see if you wanted to have some lunch with us.”

“What a wonderful idea. We just have ten more minutes to go before the bell.” She turned to the room and said, “Class, this is Miss Megan and her children Matthew and Sara. Please welcome them.”

Her class behaved wonderfully and sent out a greeting.

“I can set these two up with some crayons. I’ve got paint jackets that they can wear so they don’t mess up their pretty clothes.”

Less than two minutes later, Megan, Matthew and Sara sat at one of her classroom tables with the other kids drawing.

She thought that they had actually enjoyed their time. After the bell rang, it took her less than a minute to clear the tables and leave for lunch.

It was over lunch that Megan said something that bothered her.

“I don’t mean to be a snoop, but I can’t not say anything. You know my past, where I came from. What I came from.” Megan looked to both of her kids who were happily eating next to her. “I’m concerned about one of your students. I only sat with him for a few minutes, but well, I know the signs.”

“What are you talking about?” Allison was starting to be very worried. She knew Megan’s past, the abuse she had suffered from her ex-husband. Did she think one of her students was being abused?

“Some of the things little Tommy Williams was drawing concerned me.” She looked over to her own son, who looked like his tired head would drop in his bowl of macaroni and cheese. “Allison, he was drawing dead animals. At that young of an age, boys should be drawing cars, trains, or trucks, not animals with their heads ripped off,” she whispered.

“What? He was drawing that? I know Kevin. His father is into hunting; he probably takes the boy with him. I’ll have a talk with Tommy about what we should and shouldn’t draw in class.”

“Well, it’s more than that.” Megan hesitated.

“Megan, you can tell me anything. You know that.”

“
I think he is being abused,” she blurted out.

When Allison just looked at her friend, she continued.

“
There were marks on his arms, and some of the things he was saying about his sister concerned me. Well, I don’t know what the school can do, but I think you should have someone look into it. At least keep a close eye on him and follow your own instincts.” Megan leaned over and pulled a sleepy Sara into her lap.

“You know I never did like Kevin Williams. He was the star football and baseball player. The only sport he wasn’t the star in was basketball. Your brother-in-law Iian took that roll. But Kevin always acted like he was better than everyone else. He made fun of others, pushing the smaller kids around, and he cheated on his girlfriends. He actually asked me to a dance in junior high, when he’d been going out with someone else. That’s the dance I went to with Iian.” She smiled, remembering that night.

“I’m going to look into this Megan. The thought of any child being treated bad…” she stopped and took a deep breath for her friend’s sake. “You know it hurts me knowing what you went through, after you told me.”

“I know,” Megan reached over and patted her friend’s arm.

“Thank you for telling me. I guess I’ve been too caught up in my new teaching role to notice some things.”

Over the next few days, Allison watched the boy carefully. She also had his younger sister Susie in another class.

It was really what she saw in Susie that caused her to be in Tanya’s office with a stack of their drawings and her own notes of items she wanted to point out.

The little girl’s bruises and marks on her arms and legs were worse than her brother’s. Her drawings told a different story than Tommy’s. Where her brother’s drawings were about animals and death, Susie’s were filled with fear. More fear than a child of seven should have.

Oh, some of her kids drew monsters in the closets or hiding under their beds. Susie’s monster was in every picture. When she painted flowers, there was a dark figure on the corner of the paper. When she water colored the Easter Bunny, the figure was poised just behind it. She had even colored blue spots on the bunny, and when asked what the spots were, the girl replied, “The bunny had been bad and had been punished.”

That was when Allison had made up her mind. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Megan’s opinion, she had just wanted to be sure before going to Tanya with something this life changing.

Almost two hours later, Allison left her friend’s office feeling assured. After making her case with Tanya, her friend had called an emergency meeting with the children’s other teachers. Some of them had voiced their concerns as well. Then they had called in the professionals, the Child Protection Services. And after relaying their concerns to them, Allison and the other teachers had left and allowed them to do what they needed.

On her drive home, she was so nervous and wondered if she’d done the right thing. She ended up driving to the shoreline instead of home. Pulling out her bag filled with paper and art supplies, she headed to a secluded spot along the beach to sketch away her worries.

He stood over the hot stove and watched his kitchen staff rush around him and realized that this was the reason he had had chosen to be a chef. The sights and smells of a busy kitchen were so embedded in his brain as a wonderful thing, he’d never had the time to think any negative thoughts about it.

Since losing his hearing, all his other senses had heightened, but nothing compared to what his sense of smell had become. He could tell if something would taste by smelling it. Herbs and spices thrown together gave off a different smell and he could mix and match as he pleased with ease. Some of his recipes called for unorthodox herbs and seasons but every one ended up being a masterpiece.

Sweat trickled down his back and his muscles screamed at him from the hard work he’d been doing at home. Still, he stood over the stove and created what he knew would be yet another great dish.

Things were looking up for him, the work at the house was almost done. His relationship with Allison was coming along slower than he wanted, but he knew her mother and new job were taking priority right now in her life. He remembered the other night sitting on her front porch and smiled to himself as he finished one plate and started working on the next order.

A few days later, Allison was late leaving the school. It was her last day for the week and her classroom had been a mess. She couldn’t really blame the kids, since it had been her idea to work with clay that day. It had taken her almost an hour to clean up all the clay that the kids had smeared everywhere.

She’d heard from Tanya that both Tommy and Susie, along with their younger sister, had been removed from their home by the Child Protective Service
s
.

It was hard for her to think that Kevin or Brenda would do anything to hurt their children. After all, she’d gone to school with both of them. Kevin had been the picture-perfect athlete back then. Brenda had been the head cheerleader and most popular girl in school. Of course, since high school, Allison hadn’t really been close to either of them. Actually, she hadn’t been close to them in school either.

She knew Kevin worked in the mill across the river. After graduation, he had taken to hunting as his main hobby or sport. He went everywhere in town in his camouflaged outfits. He even drove a large truck that had a roll bar and lights on it. Sometimes he would carry his four-wheeler in the back. It too, was decked out in camouflage and she’d even seen his hunting guns strapped to the back.

Once, she’d seen him come back with a pile of deer in the back. He’d had a couple of other guys with him that time.