Need You Now (8 page)

By five o'clock, Darlene was a bit anxious about how her own children were faring this first afternoon without her at home. And as good as it felt to be out in the working world, she was having a hard time with not being home when they ran through the door today. She reminded herself that they weren't babies anymore, but she was still glad she didn't have far to drive.

Cara was a lovely girl, and Myrna had spent all afternoon with Darlene and Cara. The first two hours, they worked on simple tasks that helped strengthen Cara's ability to stay focused—reading short stories together, working simple math problems, and practicing hand-eye coordination exercises. From three to five o'clock, they'd focused on communication skills. Cara didn't speak clearly, and she talked fast. Myrna had said it was like her speech couldn't keep up with her thoughts, so when her mind resolved an issue, she just quit talking. Myrna also told her that some autistic children don't like to be touched. Cara was one of those children, although, Myrna said, she showed affection toward her father.

When Cara didn't want to listen anymore, she would hold up her hand and tap all four fingers to her thumb, a hand motion Darlene often made to Brad when she couldn't get off the phone with someone. She'd had to stifle a grin the first time Cara made the motion to Myrna—while Myrna was explaining a math problem.

They'd taken lots of breaks, gone outside to play, and had a snack around three o'clock—angel food cake that Cara's father had sent that morning. Expensive angel food cake. Darlene had noticed the price tag on the outside of the gourmet bakery's box. Twenty-two dollars. It was a good cake, but Darlene would never have paid that much for it.

Darlene had trouble staying focused most of the afternoon too, since she'd spent the entire time either sitting on her hand or tucking her hand under her arm to hide her wedding ring. It was going to take more than a little warm water and soap to get her ring off tonight. She'd taken off her other jewelry, some small silver hoop earrings and a silver bracelet Brad had given her for her birthday last year.

“Cara, I see your father pulling up outside.” Myrna peered through a window that faced the front of the building. “Let's clean up our work area and go introduce Ms. Darlene to Dad.” Myrna began to stack some workbooks into a pile, but Cara just stared at Darlene. Then, for the first time all day, she addressed Darlene directly.

“Are you going to your house?”

Darlene nodded. “Yes.”

Cara stood up when Darlene and Myrna did. Darlene folded her hands behind her back, and she was almost eye to eye with this beautiful twelve-year-old. Cara was tall, taller than Ansley, who was the same age, and her auburn hair was cut in a cute bob that curled under, just slightly above her shoulders. Her sparkling green eyes peeked from beneath wispy bangs.

Myrna had already told Darlene that Cara's mental capacity wouldn't change much. Their job at the school was to help her with basic functions and behavioral tasks. Apparently, when Cara got angry or upset, she became physical—slapping, hitting, scratching, and even biting sometimes. Myrna said her outbursts were few and far between, but she warned Darlene just the same.

“Hey, baby girl.” A tall, dark-haired man wearing tan slacks and a yellow polo shirt made his way toward them. Cara walked quickly to him and folded her arms around his waist, then she pulled away and pointed to Darlene but didn't speak.

Myrna took a step forward. “Darlene, this is Dave, Cara's father.”

There was no mistaking where Cara got those amazing eyes. Dave looked to be about Darlene's age, late thirties. His light brown hair was cut short, his face clean-shaven. As he approached them, his cologne was a couple of feet ahead of him, a pleasant smell, and surprisingly not overbearing. He extended his hand.

“I'm Dave Schroeder.” He didn't smile, and the handshake was brief.

“Nice to meet you.” Darlene folded her hands in front of her. “I think we've had a really good day.”

Cara was instantly in front of Darlene, tugging on her wedding ring. Hard.

“Oh dear,” Myrna mumbled as she took a step toward Cara.

“No, honey, I'm afraid it's stuck on my finger at the moment.” Darlene tried to ease her hand away. Cara pulled harder on Darlene's ring until Darlene could feel the points from the small diamonds on her band digging into her finger. Any harder and the girl was going to draw blood. She tugged back, but Cara began to groan, yanking harder on the ring.

Dave put a firm hand on Cara's arm. “Cara, no.” Then he narrowed his eyes at Myrna. “Didn't anyone tell
her
about jewelry?” He cut his eyes toward Darlene, then refocused on getting Darlene's hand free. “Cara, let go.”

It took several more forceful attempts before Darlene had her hand back. Dave didn't say anything as he ushered Cara out to the car. Cara cried the whole way, looking back at Darlene several times.

“I'm so sorry,” Darlene said to Myrna after Cara and her father were out the door. “I was so careful all day long, and then . . .” She shook her head.

“These things will happen, dear.” Myrna raised her shoulders, then dropped them slowly. “But I'd probably try to get the ring off tonight if possible.” She grinned, but quickly her mouth curled under. “You are coming back, aren't you?”

Darlene had never considered not coming back. “Of course.”

“Oh, good. We've run off a few teachers the first day.” Myrna pulled the curtains closed in the classroom, and Darlene helped Myrna push in the six chairs around the table. They were the only furniture in the large space. Darlene looked around, noting that the calming shade of baby blue on the walls matched her mood. The walls were also covered with drawings the children had done, giving the room a warm and fuzzy feel. Then she noticed a sign in the midst of all the artwork that she hadn't noticed before.

And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children. Isaiah 54:13
.

It brought a smile to her face. At a time when schools were eliminating God from the classrooms, Darlene was glad to see that The Evans School didn't fall into that category.

“I'm looking forward to working with Cara,” Darlene said, as much to herself as to Myrna. Maybe Darlene could make a difference, help Cara a little bit. Her own children didn't seem to need her as much these days, except to prepare food and clean their clothes. And maybe Cara didn't really need her either, but being here was a welcome change, and she was going to be the best teacher's aide she could.

After Darlene left the building, she was glad she'd be home in only five minutes. Plenty of time to make dinner and throw a load of clothes in the washing machine. Later this evening she'd try to finish Layla's dress. The alterations weren't anything Darlene couldn't handle, but fear of ruining such an expensive gown had caused her hands to tremble more than once. She'd be glad to get it back to Layla.

When she pulled into the driveway, she saw Ansley walking from the chicken coop with a smile stretched across her face.

“I bet I know what you're smiling about,” Darlene said as she closed the car door.

“Yep! Look!” Ansley held out both hands. “Two eggs.”

“That's great, sweetie.” She wrapped an arm around her daughter. “Guess I better cook something that needs eggs, huh?”

Ansley stopped and frowned. “We can't eat these until after Dad sees them.”

Darlene stifled a grin as she nodded. “Okay. Besides, I think I'm going to make beef and cheddar casserole, and that doesn't call for any eggs.”

“How was your first day of work?” Ansley walked in the front door and held it open for Darlene. “Are you going to be cranky at night now like Dad?”

“Dad isn't cranky. He's just . . . tired. Especially during tax season. And tax season ended today.”

Darlene tossed her purse on the couch and crossed the living room to enter the kitchen. “Where're Chad and Grace?” She pulled a pound of hamburger from the freezer.

“Chad's upstairs. Grace didn't ride home with us.”

Darlene stopped pulling the wrapper from the meat. “What? Where is she?”

Ansley shrugged. “She said she'd walk home.”

Darlene looked at the clock on the wall. “School was over almost two hours ago. She didn't say why she was staying late?”

“Nope.” Ansley added her two brown eggs to a store-bought carton with four eggs left in it. “Wish I would have had these to decorate at Easter a couple of weeks ago.”

“You kids haven't wanted to decorate Easter eggs in years.” Darlene placed the hamburger meat on a plate and put it in the microwave to thaw.

“That's before we grew our own eggs.”

Darlene smiled. “
Grew
our own?”

“You know what I mean.”

They were quiet for a few minutes. Darlene cut up an onion. Ansley poked her head in and out of the refrigerator until she finally settled on a piece of cheese.

“I hope Grace is okay.” Darlene paused, thought for a moment. “It's almost five miles from the school to home. Maybe I should send Chad to go look for her.”

“Good luck with that.” Ansley giggled. “Since he's got a girl upstairs.”

Darlene's stomach roiled as she spun around. “What?”

“Cindy Weaver. He's been trying to hook up with her since we moved here.”

Darlene didn't wait for an explanation of “hook up,” but instead moved quickly to the stairs, taking them two at a time. She paused at Chad's closed door and knocked.

“Yeah, come in.”

Darlene eased the door open, unsure what she'd been afraid of. She'd never had to tell the kids that members of the opposite sex weren't allowed when she wasn't home—she'd always been home. “Hey,” she said as relief washed over her. Chad and Cindy were sitting at opposite ends of Chad's bed with books and papers laid out in between them.

“Hey, Mom. This is Cindy.” Chad didn't look up from the book he had his head buried in.

“Hi, Mrs. Henderson.” Cindy looked up and smiled, and Darlene silently blasted herself for suspecting that anything other than homework might be going on.

“Nice to meet you, Cindy.” She smiled before turning to Chad. “Do you know why Grace stayed after school?”

Chad still didn't look up. “Nope. She just said she'd walk home later.”

Darlene folded her arms across her chest, thought for a moment. “Okay, well, if she's not home by six, I want you to go look for her, okay?”

Chad sighed. “I guess.”

“It's no problem, Mrs. Henderson. We can go look for Grace. I know where some of the girls hang out after school.”

What a nice girl
. Darlene smiled again. “Thank you, Cindy. We'll give it another thirty minutes or so. I can see you two are busy with homework.”

“Yes . . . we are,” Chad said as he finally looked up at her with a scowl.

“Again, nice to meet you, Cindy.” Darlene backed out of the room, hesitating for a moment before she closed the door. Cindy was polite, well groomed, and very pretty. She recalled some of the girls Chad had dated back in Houston and shook her head. She was pleased to see him dating a nice girl. Most of Chad's friends back in Houston had avoided Darlene and Brad.