Page 10 of Sweet Surrender

Cal’s face brightened, and he ran to join his brother, who was already sprinting to a group of boys from both classes, who were playing at the jungle gym.

It was great to see Cal looking like himself again, but it was odd that he hadn’t been playing with those kids to begin with. She frowned in thought.

“How’s it going?” a familiar voice asked.

She turned to see that Mrs. Staley had joined the group. She was looking curiously at Becca.

“Oh, hi,” Becca said. “It’s going really well. They’re great kids, aren’t they?”

“It got pretty noisy in there,” Mrs. Staley said with a slight frown.

Becca racked her brain for when they could have possibly been making too much noise. Maybe in theGetting To Know Yougame where she learned their names?

“I think we were just having fun,” she replied weakly.

“Well, without classroom management, you’ve got nothing,” Mrs. Staley told her. “Don’t let things get out of hand now, or they’ll walk all over you.”

Becca nodded, feeling almost like she wanted to cry, though all the woman was doing was offering advice.

“Jack Hayes,”Mrs. Staley yelled.“Eleanor Tuttle, no climbing on the garden wall.”

“JackEllisonHayes,” the boy shouted as he jumped from the wall and sprinted away.

Mrs. Staley headed off to reprimand the kids before Becca could say anything more.

“Don’t take that to heart,” Linda said right away, patting Becca’s arm. “She believes that stuff, and it’s probably true for her. But you can always do things your own way. I certainly do.”

“Thank you,” Becca said firmly, hoping the other teacher didn’t want to continue the conversation. Becca definitely didn’t want to engage in anything that felt like gossip or a disagreement with another teacher on her first day.

Besides, her eyes were already searching the playground for Nick and Cal.

Sure enough, there they were, together. Nick was laughing his head off at another boy who was hanging upside down fromthe jungle gym and waving his arms around, and Cal stood beside his brother, a genuine smile on his face.

“What do you think about the Lawrence boys?” she asked.

It seemed clear to her that they ought to be in the same class together. But maybe there was something more to know.

“Ha,” Linda chuckled.

“What’s so funny?” Becca asked.

“It’s just that it’s not the first time we’ve heard that question,” Linda explained. “Only it’s usually from one of the young women in town, and they’re asking it about the boys’ dad and uncles.”

That made sense to Becca. She would have to have been blind this morning not to notice how attractive the father was. But of course she would never say as much.

“It’s such a sad story,” Emily said, nodding knowingly. “About their mother.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Em,” Linda said. “She’s not from here. How would she know any of that? The boys were born very early, and their mother left before the two of them even got out of the hospital. I think it was too much for her.”

Becca’s heart hurt at the thought.

“The rumor mill says otherwise,” Emily pointed out.

“The rumor mill is wrong as often as it’s right,” Linda said, shrugging. “At any rate, what we do know is that when the twins finally came home, it was only with their dad. It’s a blessing there’s a big extended family living there on the farm to help out.”

“He’s got an awful lot on his shoulders,” Emily put in.

“I met him this morning,” Becca said, thinking of the big cowboy who was so focused on his kids. “He seemed all right.”

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