Page 3 of Sweet Surrender

On the right wall was a huge blackboard, with her desk in front of it. The wall opposite the door was all windows overlooking the school’s front lawn. But the other two walls were decorated with homemade posters that Becca felt awfully proud of, if she did say so herself.

Mrs. David, whose class she was taking over, had only been out on family leave to look after her mother. But when her mom took a turn for the worse, she had decided to take an unexpected early retirement.

So Becca hadn’t been given much notice at all that she needed to rush out to the small, rural town.

As she feverishly searched for info on the area the night before she had to head out, she decided that maybe the children would enjoy an enrichment project that involved researching and reporting about their hometown.

And she could honestly use their help. There was precious little on the internet about Sugarville Grove, Vermont. A place called Hayes Maple Sugar Farm sold maple syrup and related gift baskets online. There was a pretty lake and a cute local paper that was print-only, so she couldn’t access the issues. She saw a couple of mentions of the Fighting Woodchucks, Sugarville Grove’s high school hockey team, in a bigger nearby newspaper that had digital files for browsing. And other than a reference to a town founder called Stone Lawrence on a site calledSmall Town Vermont Facts, there wasn’t much else to learn.

So she had used magazine cut-outs and her trusty stencil set to create cheerful posters with questions about the landmarks, industry, community, and history of the town. With any luck, the kids would be eager to share everything they knew.

She had also brought Mrs. David’s book of lesson plans and grades back to her apartment with her to review last night. It looked like the children had a solid second grade foundation. But Becca had so many fun new ideas to try with them if there was time.

It’s good I have all this, she thought to herself without meaning to. There’s no time to be lonely for my parents or my brothers and sisters.

There was no time to wish for a family of her own either. When the time was right for romance and marriage, she was sure it would all come together. But it would probably be years before teaching wasn’t taking up all her bandwidth. For Becca Hawthorne, this wasn’t just a job, it was a true calling.

She would never forget the day she knew she was going to be a teacher when she grew up. That thought gave her an idea, and she dashed over to her desk to make a note for herself.

Once she was deeper into the room, she could see out the windows to the street in front of the school, where the first of the big yellow school buses was pulling up. She really wanted a chance to watch the kids piling off the buses, playing on the playground, and interacting before she met them in her classroom.

She grabbed her coat and hurried out of the classroom, nearly colliding with another teacher as she tried to put it on and jog at the same time.

“Oh, my goodness, I’m so sorry,” Becca gasped, trying to untangle her hand from her coat so she could offer it to the other woman. “I’m Becca Hawthorne, the new second grade teacher.”

“Denise Staley,” the other woman said, wrinkling her nose as she took Becca’s hand and shook it. “I’m the other second grade teacher. You had a lot of questions.”

Mrs. Staley’s tone was just the tiniest bit accusatory.

Becca bit her lip. She had found the other woman’s email address on the school website and sent her an introduction, and what she thought were just a few questions. But it probably had been a lot, if the expression on the face of the tall lady gazing down at her was anything to go on.

“Sorry, that probably could have waited until we met in person,” Becca said. “I’m just really excited about this job.”

“That’s fine,” Mrs. Staley said, a faint smile appearing on her face. “I’ve got to get my coffee now though, so maybe after school?”

“Yes, perfect,” Becca told her, suddenly remembering why she had been in such a rush in the first place. “I’ve got to run now too. I’m going to miss the bus.”

2

ZANE

“We’re going to miss the bus!”

Zane Lawrence grabbed his keys, pausing to gaze out the window at the acres of peaceful, snow-covered farmland that surrounded their big old house. He took a deep breath and enjoyed the sense of calm the familiar landscape always brought him, even in the typical morning whirlwind of convincing both of his boys to put on clothes, then getting their breakfast on the table and ideally at least some of it into their stomachs.

“We’re going to miss the bus,” his seven-year-old son, Cal yelled again, hisssounds slurring slightly from his missing front tooth.

“You’re not going to—” Zane began.

“The bus already came,” Cal’s twin brother, Nick called down the stairs in delight. Hisssounds practically whistling because he had lostbothof hisfront teeth. “I saw it out the window.”

“Oh, no,”Cal wailed. “I can’t be late today. I’m supposed to meet my new teacher.”

The front door swung open, revealing his mother before Zane could reply.

“Grandma,” both boys shouted, running for her as if she might be trying to escape.

“Good morning, boys,” she said fondly, hugging the two blond heads momentarily to her bosom. “Calvin, I brought a basket of homemade pumpkin muffins for you to bring to the new schoolteacher.”

---