Page 6 of Sweet Surrender

“Is your homeworkinyour backpack?” Zane asked.

“Yes,” they yelled back.

“Then I guess it’s time to go,” he told them, smiling back when he saw the funny, missing-tooth grins they were giving him.

Love filled his heart, and he wondered how he ever found the strength to just leave them at school and not keep them all to himself.

But there was no time for wondering. The boys were already piling into the rear seat of his truck and he had a sinking feeling that if he didn’t get in quickly, they would somehow drive away without him.

“Don’t forget,” his mom said, handing over the basket for the teacher that was covered in plastic wrap with a pretty cloth bow around it.

“Thank you,” he told her softly.

“I love you, you know?” she said, reaching up to cup his cheek in her hand.

“Love you too, Ma,” he told her, patting her hand. “Thank you for these.”

She winked at him again before heading into the house, presumably to clean up their plates, but thankfully not to clean up anything else.

By the time he was strapped into the car, the boys were singing “The Twelve Days of Christmas” at the top of their lungs, with Nick really belting it out every time they got to line about the five golden rings.

“I guess we don’t need the radio today,” Zane joked as he started the car.

When he glanced in the rearview mirror, he could see they were smiling at him as they sang.

Myboys,he thought to himself.

He definitely wasn’t a perfect parent, but he was giving it all he had. And while Nick’s energetic behavior certainly could be a handful, and Cal was awfully quiet, they both seemed to be happy most of the time, and they had a strong bond with each other. Zane was more proud of that than he would ever be of anything else in his life.

He drove down the long, tree-lined lane that led from the family farm out to the road, and turned onto Fox Hollow toward town, slowing down as he approached the covered bridge.

“Pause your song, boys,” he said firmly.

They did as they were asked right away, and he rolled down his window and listened for car engines for a moment, before moving forward into the darkness of the one-lane structure, the wooden planks clunking under his tires as he passed through.

It was town custom to give a little honk of the horn before entering the bridge. But now that the Johnsons, who lived in the cottage just north of the bridge, had retired, he hated to tap the horn this early in the morning.

“Sing on,” he announced once they were out in the early morning sunshine again, and the two songsters in the backseat took up right where they had left off.

By the time they were turning left onto Maple Street, the twins had sung through all twelve days of Christmas two more times, and Zane was humming along with them.

“We’re here,” Cal said, breaking off from the song when he spotted the elementary school.

“Excited to meet your teacher?” he asked.

Suddenly, Cal’s lips were buttoned and he didn’t say a word.

Zane’s heart ached again. The boy was plenty talkative at home, but he clammed up so much at school.

“I’ll walk you back to the playground,” Zane decided.

No one replied, but when he glanced in the mirror again, Cal looked relieved.

It was unlikely the brand-new teacher would have pulled playground duty already. Zane’s little sister, Allie, had gotten a job teaching kindergarten last year, and he knew they had given her a little time to ease into her position before she started taking shifts welcoming kids off the bus and onto the playground in the mornings.

Maybe this teacher has a lot of experience from another school, he told himself.It’s possible that she’ll be outside, and he can meet her with his brother and me there, and she’ll get to see how he really is.

They all piled out of the truck and he even remembered to grab the basket of muffins. Though by the time he retrieved it, the boys were already streaking across the school’s front lawn on their way to the playground.

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