Page 50 of Annika's Aurora

She held up the paper with Suzanna’s poem on it. “Before coming in here, I went back into my classroom for the first time. It was just as we’d left it. Which included the latest homework assignments that were still in my inbox.” She looked at the students in the front. “And don’t think that just because I’ve been absent that I am not going to grade them all,” she told them in her stern teacher voice.

“Oh crap,” Sam called out. “I forgot to turn mine in. Can I email it to you, Miss Northrup?”

Annika sighed in exaggerated frustration. “‘I might just as well have ordered a tree not to sway in the wind’ as to ever get you to turn in an assignment on time.”

“Who said that?” Sam asked.

“Part Joseph Conrad, part me,” she answered as the audience laughed. “Now, will you stop interrupting me?”

“Sorry, Miss Northrup,” he said, not seeming at all sorry. Annika realized how much she’d missed this?bantering with her students. They kept her on her toes.

“As I was saying. I found Suzanna’s poem from that assignment. If it’s okay with her parents, I’d like to read it to you now,” she said, looking at the Hoffsteaders, who nodded. She read the poem to the quiet room, watching and listening as a sort of peace fell over everyone. Suzanna’s words had that effect.

“For so long, I had been lost in my grief over my brother, and now in my grief for Suzanna, but after reading this … Maybe Suzanna was letting me know that I could forgive myself for my perceived failures and let her go; she was going to be okay. So even in our darkest grief, there is always a little bit of light to give us hope. And looking down at all of your faces, I see that hope’s light. Sam and Liam, you’re right; the future does indeed look bright!”

Everybody cheered once more, and Annika took a moment to drink it all in. The hope for the future as she looked at all those faces. The hope forherfuture as she looked at Logan. For the first time in fifteen years, she found herself excited for what the future might bring her.

“So, thank you, Mr. Macrone, for this great honor. Thank you to my fellow coworkers who came back to this building to ensure our students had that bright future. Thank you to all my students, past and present. Seeing you all here, this is why we teachers do what we do. Thank you to the Nighthawks, who I’m pretty sure had something to do with the Marcus Rayne stuff. Thanks to Marcus Rayne for his generosity. Thank you to my parents for your unwavering support througheverything! And thanks to Logan Cain for bringing the light back into my life just when I needed it most.” She smiled down at Logan, who gave her a wink.

Then she thought of one more thing. “Oh, and to the Hoffsteaders, if you don’t get a book of Suzanna’s poetry published, I will. The world needs her words!” The cheers and applause from the crowd were deafening. Annika hurried off the stage to the wings, where Logan met her, arms wide. She went directly into them, letting the rest of her tears fall. It had been an overwhelming day, but here in the dark wing of the stage in Logan’s arms, she felt comfort.

Logan watched as Annika greeted her students, both past and present, feeling a tremendous pride for her. Each and every one of them greeted her with such love and respect, it spoke volumes for the type of teacher she was. She certainly had taught him a lot just in the last couple of weeks alone. But watching her as he was, he could see the lingering effects of the grief she still felt for Suzanna. It had been an exhaustingly gut-wrenching day for her, and Logan could see she was hanging on by a thread, putting on a brave face for everyone. To the casual observer, she looked to be full of joy, but Logan could see the fatigue beginning to envelop her.

Graham joined Logan in the corner where he was watching Annika and slapped him on the shoulder. “Hell of a woman you’ve got there.”

“That she is,” Logan replied.

“You seem so close. Did you two just meet when you rescued her from the bluff?”

“No, I’ve known her since grade school. I was the friend in the car accident that killed her brother,” he confessed.

“Why haven’t you brought her around before?”

Logan winced. “I hadn’t seen her since the night of the accident,” he answered sadly. He would always regret his actions from all those years ago.

“What did you do?”

“What makes you think it was something I did?” Logan asked in an attempt at humor while Graham looked askance at him as if to sayit’salways us guys. He sighed then confessed his greatest regret to his boss. “I ran away.”

“Yeah, guys are pretty good at that. I ran because I was afraid of feeling too much too soon at too young an age. It was a mistake I’ll regret forever. What was your excuse?” Graham and Natalie had shared a special day together when they were in high school. Having been neighbors for most of their lives, they had grown up together but had gone their separate ways in middle school, different interests dragging them in different directions. Then they watched as a tornado destroyed Graham’s house that same day. Natalie helped Graham dig his brother out, not knowing her own sister had been terribly injured. Since his house had been leveled, Graham and his family moved in with his grandmother a few towns away. That was the last time he’d seen Natalie. Until two months ago when she came to him asking for his help in finding two of her students who’d gone missing. They had been apart for twelve years and had reconnected instantly.

“I ran because I thought I’d killed her brother.”

Graham looked at him in surprise. “It was a car accident, wasn’t it? Why would you think you’d killed him?”

“I was driving,” Logan answered simply.

“Did you cause the accident?”

“No. A truck driver was drunk and crossed into our lane. He hit us, sending us down an embankment.”

“Doesn’t sound like you killed him to me.”

“I couldn’t get him out in time. There was a fire. I was trying to pull him out when the jeep exploded.”

“Fuck, Logan. You are lucky you weren’t killed as well. Where was Annika?” Graham looked across the room at her; she was still surrounded by her students, giving hugs and laughs, a ray of pure light in the room. Logan could hear in her laughter the uncanny ability to lighten his heart.

“I’d already pulled her out.”

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