Valerie Hansen - Everlasting Love

Chagrined, she looked around the kitchen for something to keep her busy till he got back. “Can I help you with anything else?” she asked Inez.

“Nope. Everything’s ready. Why don’t you take Bobby Joe into the dining room?”

“What a wonderful idea.” Megan crouched down to be on the child’s eye level and asked, “How about it? I don’t know how you do things around here. Will you show me?”

To her delight, the fair-haired boy nodded.

Straightening, Megan took his hand. “Good. Let’s start with where we’re supposed to sit to eat, shall we? I want to be ready when Mr. Harris comes back.”

“Zac hit me,” Bobby Joe said.

“I know. That was too bad. You look fine now, though.”

“I bleeded on my shirt,” he announced, sounding proud. “Bunches. It was gross.”

“I saw. Why were you fighting with Zac?”

“’Cause he’s mean. I hate him.”

“That’s too bad. Well, maybe you’ll get to go home soon and you won’t have to see him anymore.”

“Uh-uh.”

Megan suddenly realized she’d gotten so caught up in their conversation, she’d spoken out of turn. To glean the most from her project, she knew she’d have to rely on facts, not supposition. Like James Harris, some of the children she’d be working with would never be welcomed at home—if they even had a home. Perhaps Bobby Joe was one of those.

Rather than make things worse, she tried to change the subject by pointing to one of the long tables. “So, do we sit here?”

“Yeah.” He clambered onto the bench and folded his hands while Megan joined him. Then he said, “Zac gave me a swirly yesterday.”

“A what?”

“He dunked me. My hair got all wet.”

“Oh.” Megan was starting to relax till the child added, “Yeah. Then he flushed.”

By the time James returned with the other five boys plus Aaron and Roxy, Megan had had time to imagine lots of scenarios, most of them bad. She breathed a sigh of relief. Clearly, her previous work hadn’t prepared her for the challenges she was going to encounter here.

She glanced down at the angelic little boy seated beside her and smiled. He was a doll, the kind of well-behaved, eager-to-please child who brought out her maternal instincts and made her want to protect him. Too bad the would-be hood who had clobbered him hadn’t had the same kind of good upbringing.

The other boys marched up to the table and quickly took their places while Roxy flirted with Aaron in the background.

James remained standing and glared down at Megan. “Don’t you ever do that again.”

“Do what?”

“Leave the boys unsupervised. When I tell you to watch them, I mean watch them.”

She got to her feet to face him on more equal ground. “Oh, come on. They were just washing their hands. Zac said he’d take care of the littler ones, and it looks to me like he did a fine job.”

“That’s not the point. You didn’t follow orders.”

“I’m sorry, okay. I guess I wasn’t thinking.”

“You can say that again.”

“You don’t have to yell at me.”

“I’m not yelling.”

“Well, you sure could have fooled me.”

Inez was entering the room, bearing a platter heaped with crispy fried chicken. Megan let her pass, then grabbed James’s arm and tugged him toward the kitchen. When he resisted, she scowled. “Come with me. I want to settle this in private. It won’t take long.”

He gave in reluctantly and followed her through the door. “It better not.”

Megan whirled, her voice husky, her eyes blazing. “Don’t you dare threaten me.”

“I wasn’t. I didn’t.” James gestured back toward the dining room. “What do you have to say to me that couldn’t be said just as easily in there?”

“Plenty.”

She couldn’t believe he didn’t realize what he’d done, what he was still doing by not lowering his voice and confronting her as quietly as possible, so she set an example by rasping at him in a near whisper, “You told me not to question your authority in front of the kids, yet you just made me look like a fool in front of those boys—and my sister.”

“I did not.”

“You most certainly did,” Megan insisted. “Everybody makes mistakes. Even me. I was joking when I told you I thought I was perfect. From now on, if you have anything derogatory to say to me, I’ll expect you to say it in private.”

One eyebrow arched. He gave a slight shrug and spoke more softly. “All right. I’ll spell it out for you. These kids may look angelic but many of them are seriously disturbed. One at a time they’re usually pretty agreeable. In a group, anything can happen—and often does.”

“You mean I’m supposed to treat them like they’re in jail?”

“Not exactly. When one of them merits trust we give it, up to a point. Next time you’re not sure whether or not to permit something, ask me or Aaron about it first and we’ll avoid problems like this.”

“That sounds reasonable enough.” Megan chanced a slight smile. “I’m sorry I caused you extra worry. I thought my decision to let Zac take them to wash up was perfectly logical.”

“I know. It’s partly my fault, too. I should have warned you these kids would try to bamboozle you big-time. You’ve learned that on your own, I take it.”

“No kidding. Talk about a trial by fire.”

“Everything turned out okay. We’ll forget it ever happened. Now, let’s go eat before the kids get so hungry we have a mutiny on our hands.” He pushed open the swinging door between the kitchen and dining room and held it politely. “After you.”

To Megan, the most amazing thing was his apparently complete change of mood. In the blink of an eye, James Harris had gone from delivering angry retorts to being a gracious host. She frowned at him as she passed, unsure if she was reading him right. While her stomach was still tied in knots and her hands were trembling from their encounter, he seemed calm, totally in control.

Everyone stared at them as they left the kitchen together. James headed for his normal spot at the head of the table, escorting her as he went.

Megan slid into the place where she’d been sitting, directly to James’s right, because it was the only available space. There was no gracious way to move away from him as she had on the porch. Therefore, she figured she’d better follow his example and start acting more normal or the boys might get the idea they could pit them against each other again.

Seated beside Aaron and Roxy at the opposite end of the long table, Inez quietly bowed her head. Megan was expecting someone to say a blessing on their meal but no one spoke. They simply observed a quiet moment while she used the time to pull herself together.

When everyone suddenly looked up and began talking, she felt much better, much more at ease. She decided to break her silence and let James know she’d simmered down by asking him a question. “You don’t say grace?”

“Can’t. Separation of church and state,” he said. “The silent prayer was Inez’s idea. So far, nobody’s questioned us about it. Most folks are pretty tolerant out here in the sticks. It’s when the kids go home that we may hear complaints.”

“I see.” Megan lowered her voice for privacy, though she wasn’t too worried about being overheard above the boisterous conversation going on at the table. “Speaking of home, tell me about Bobby Joe. What’s his situation?”

“He’s temporary, like all the others. I’ll give you access to our files as soon as you set up your computer.”

“What about Zac? Why do you let him pick on Bobby Joe so much?”

James chuckled. “Let him? Not hardly. I do my best to keep them apart. Being brothers, they naturally gravitate to each other.”