Glynna Kaye - Pine Country Cowboy

“Little red schoolhouse!” the local kids shouted in unison, guessing the game Brett had been about to suggest. Giggling, they hurried to be seated around a low, rectangular table.

He shrugged as he shot Abby a grin that she didn’t return.

“This is so cool,” Betsy informed the visitors as the chatter continued around the table. “His mom taught him this game.”

“And her mom taught it to her,” Brett added. Grandma was a sly one. As a youngster, he’d fallen for it for years. Glancing at an obviously disapproving Abby, he merely waved her toward one of the diminutive chairs. “Come on, ma’am, you won’t want to miss this.”

With a crease still etching her forehead, she pulled out a chair and carefully perched on it, almost as if expecting it to collapse like in the old Goldilocks tale. He gave her an approving nod, but didn’t coax out a smile.

“Okay now.” Brett clapped, getting the attention of the still-jabbering children. “When I say the words little red schoolhouse...one, two, three, what do we do?”

“We see who can go the longest without saying anything,” Betsy piped up, proud that she knew the answer.

Abby’s eyes widened as she stared at him in disbelief. Catching on now, was she?

“Does the winner get a prize?” one of the visitors demanded, his freckled face screwed up in concentration at the challenge ahead.

Brett’s Jeremy had sported freckles, too. Blond hair and the biggest blue eyes, just like his mama. “There’s no prize. But it’s fun, so we don’t need prizes.”

The boy didn’t look convinced, but Brett pulled up another tiny chair and sat down, too. Then he leaned forward to clasp his hands on the table and the children likewise clasped theirs. After a slight hesitation, Abby followed suit.

“Are we ready?”

Nods all around the table. A giggle from Mary garnered her a glare from the others.

“Okay, here we go. Say it with me.” He made eye contact with each eager face, making sure all were on board. This was such a fun age. Or it could be when kids were healthy and whole, not laboring for every breath drawn into fragile lungs.

“Little red schoolhouse...” a chorus of childish voices chimed in with his. “One...two...three.”

Blessed silence descended as each child pressed lips tightly together, watchfully peering around the circle of faces in search of the first culprit to break the quiet.

As the blissful moments stretched, a broad smile appeared on Mary’s face and several others pointed accusingly, hands clamped to their own now-smiling mouths to keep from saying anything.

“She’s still in the game,” Brett assured softly. “She hasn’t said anything.”

Mary gave them a “so there” look, lips tightening with renewed resolve. Brett winked at Abby, who slowly shook her head. He imagined she’d remember this crowd control ploy for some time to come. It was so quiet he could hear a baby crying in the nursery across the hall.

Abruptly, the boy who’d demanded a prize gave a loud, overly dramatic gasp and gulped in mouthfuls of air. “I can’t breathe!”

Initially startled, the other kids stared with rounded eyes. Then almost in unison, they cried out in grinning triumph. “He talked!”

“You don’t hold your breath, silly,” red-haired Skyler admonished with a sigh of disgust. “Can we start over, Brett? He’s doing it wrong.”

Brett leaned over to pat the visitor on the back, making sure he was okay. He was fine, but liked putting on a show.

“That’s right, don’t hold your breath. You can breathe through your mouth or through your nose or...through your ears if you want to.”

The kids giggled.

Mary plugged her ears with her fingers and made a face of distress. “I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe!”

The room erupted in laughter, and Brett caught Abby’s eye. She was laughing, too, and his heart unexpectedly lurched. Man, was that glimpse behind the starchy-mannered exterior worth waiting for.

The now-composed boy grinned. “I won’t hold my breath again. I promise.”

“We’ll play one more time.” Brett again caught their teacher’s eye. “Then I believe Miss Abby here has a Bible story for us and probably something fun to make to take home.”

Abby nodded and the kids turned to look at her as if noticing her for the first time. Another round of the game and the kids were settled down enough to focus on a Bible lesson. All except Skyler, that is, who gave Mary’s ponytail a tug. Brett hauled him into his lap and, after a halfhearted struggle, the boy finally relaxed against him, a too-familiar weight and little boy scent that brought back memories. Wrapping his arms around Skyler’s waist, Brett rested his chin atop the soft thatch of hair and nodded for Abby to begin.

David and Goliath. A bittersweet heaviness settled into Brett’s chest. Wouldn’t you know it? One of Jeremy’s favorite stories. Right up there with Noah and the ark, Jonah and the whale, and Daniel in the lion’s den. Thankfully the Lord had gotten hold of that precious boy’s daddy just in time or he’d never have heard those stories—or about how Jesus loved the little children.

Brett swallowed, forcing away the past as he concentrated on the woman in front of him. She recited the story slowly, with enthusiastic animation, as she moved magnetic cutout characters across the whiteboard. The gentle voice, tinged with a slight huskiness that lent it a distinction of its own, held the children riveted.

Brett shifted Skyler on his lap, as captivated as any of the kids. His ex-wife, Melynda, never read Bible stories to Jeremy. She’d wanted no part of God after the cystic fibrosis diagnosis, and no part of her husband, either, once Jeremy passed away. Brett didn’t often allow himself to dwell on those dark times and God had been faithful to ease the relentless, piercing pain of loss. So why today?

If there was anything he’d learned over the past seven years since losing Jeremy and the shock of his wife’s departure, it was that there were good days and there were bad days. On both, he could only thank God for allowing him to have a wife and a son in his life for as long as He had—and take another step into tomorrow without them.

* * *

Abby had never seen anything quite like it. The man had merely entered the classroom and suddenly the world was all about him. Or the children’s world anyway. Even when at the hour’s conclusion they’d gathered up their papers to await their parents, Brett had once again become the focus of their attention and she was all but invisible.

Had she known Brett went to Canyon Springs Christian, she wouldn’t have been so easily persuaded to take on Meg’s Sunday school class. It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate how he’d settled the children down with that clever schoolhouse game of his. She’d been on the verge of panic before his arrival. But really...had he needed to remain through the entire lesson? Help out with the crafts? Not that she wasn’t grateful for the assistance, but his watchful eyes, teasing remarks and knowing smiles had made it harder on her, always wondering what he was going to do next.

That was one thing she’d appreciated about Gene, her steady-as-he-goes fiancé. Twelve years her senior, the long-widowed university professor was a man of fixed routine and predictability. A creature of habit. No surprises there. Or at least that’s what she’d thought until he broke off their engagement, annoyed that she’d be unable to fulfill her part of the marital bargain and had messed up his carefully laid plans to father a child of his own. He’d acted as if it hadn’t been as equally a painful blow to her.

Brett saw the last of the kindergartners off with a wave, then turned to where Davy had joined her to help gather materials back into his mother’s canvas bag. Snatching up a roll of paper towels, the cowboy moistened a few in the room’s corner sink, then wiped down the tables with every bit as much enthusiasm as he seemed to lavish on anything he set his mind to. Which, she had to admit, could be irritating. Must be nice not to have a care in the world.