Page 38 of Symphony of Salvation

Envisioning our secluded homestead in the woods, I scrambled to find my coat and go after them, determined to do my fatherly duty and ensure Constance remained innocent andfree from the pressures of hormonal teenage boys, but Niles stopped me before I made it to the door.

“Do you have a minute?”

“No.” I scrambled to get my arm through the sleeve of my coat. “I have to take care of something. I can’t stick around.” I tugged the classroom door, but Niles stopped it from opening with a hand.

“The most valuable thing you can offer a teenager is your trust.”

Halted by his words, affronted by his audacity, I frowned. “Excuse me?”

“Do you have rules surrounding boys?”

“Do I have… Yes. The strictest.” I didn’t, but my determination to invent them arose on the spot.

“Has Constance been taught about sexuality, pregnancy, disease, protection, consent?”

I opened my mouth to respond and closed it again, waffling because I had no idea. “How is that your business?”

“Has she?”

“Yes. I assume so. From her mother. We’ve never had those… conversations.”

Niles stubbornly kept his hand on the door. “At Timber Creek, it’s part of the curriculum.”

“Great, I’ll keep that in—”

“Every year in September and January. Every class. Every grade. Education is the best defense you can give a teenager when it comes to sex, drugs, alcohol, and all life’s nasty negatives.”

“And this coming from the man who doesn’t have children. I need to go. Please remove your hand from the door.”

“August…”

“Oh, it’s August now, is it?” An internal clock ticked the passing minutes. Sweat peppered my forehead. How long untilthey got back to the cottage? “With all due respect,Mr. Edwidge—”

“The bell has rung. It’s Niles now. And what are you planning to do when you find her? Slap her in a chastity belt and homeschool her for the rest of her life? What about when she leaves for Juilliard? Are you going to follow? Are you going to make her wait until she’s eighteen before she’s exposed to boys? Would you prefer she have no experience in dealing with her hormones or navigating someone else’s?”

“I don’t think this has anything to do with you.”

“Walk with me.”

“No. I have to—”

Niles moved his hand to my arm. The heat of his fingers bled through jacket and shirt both.Thrum.My mouth instantly dried.

“Please trust me for five seconds. I know you have good intentions, but I can’t send you off to war without arming you with knowledge first.”

“You don’t know my daughter.”

“Do you?”

That stung, and when I flinched, Niles held up his hands in surrender. “I’m not trying to be an asshole. You told me the other night that your relationship with Constance is tumultuous at best. You said you were new to this. I’m only trying to help. No, I don’t have kids, but I’ve been helping to raise teenagers for well over a decade. Let’s pretend I know a thing or two.”

I hesitated. The urge to run was eclipsed by Niles’s calm demeanor and assuredness. Without a doubt, confronting Constance would lead to war. How many battles would I have to lose before I accepted that she was stronger-willed, and I was powerless?

“Walk with you where?” I asked.

***

Ice crunched under our boots as we followed a cedar path between buildings. Timber Creek Academy occupied an isolated niche by Chemong Lake. Surrounded by woods and far from the city, its ancient, monolithic buildings emitted an eeriness I’d never noticed before, especially with the noise-dampening effects of snow.

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