Texas Weddings 3 & 4 (10 page)

“For me, too,” Shauna
said, giving his hand a squeeze.

“What I’m trying to
get at
is.
. .” He looked nervous.
Very
nervous.
“Would you like to do this again sometime?”

Shauna looked at the
anxious young man before her.
How could I
turn that down, Lord?
“I’d love to,” she said.
And then, for some reason completely unknown to her, Shauna reached
up and gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek.

eleven

Kent yawned then glanced at the clock on his desk. 11:47
a.m. “Feels like the day should already be over.” He hadn’t slept much last
night. In fact, most of the hours had whittled away while he argued with
Charity about sleeping in her own bed. He had lost the fight—as usual.

Lord, she’s getting harder to control every
day. I don’t know what I’m going to do with her. I know she’s spoiled,
but.
. .

Kent just couldn’t
seem to finish the sentence. He didn’t have an answer, and though he prayed
about the situation daily, things only seemed to be getting worse.

She needs her mother.

The words raced
through his mind before he could stop them. Unexpected tears followed. Kent laid
his head on his desk and wept openly.
I
miss Faith so much. She would have been such a wonderful mother to Charity. I
can’t do this by myself, Lord.

Warm tears rolled down his cheeks, but he pushed them away
as he drew in a deep breath and tried to gain control of his senses. His
daughter needed the influence of a godly woman—someone who could show her
how to grow into the woman of God she was destined to become. Charity would
never know her mother, but perhaps the Lord would bring the right woman in her
life—to mentor and to love.

Shauna Alexander. For
some reason, Kent couldn’t help but think of her.
She loves children. She said so herself. And she’s trained to work with
them. Is that what
You
’re doing here, Lord? Have
You
brought Shauna into my life so that Charity will have
her influence?
Or had the Almighty brought Shauna Alexander into his life
to satisfy the empty ache in his own heart that seemed to consume him each day
since Faith’s death?

Once again, the tears
came, though slightly softer now. Would he betray Faith if he began to care for
someone else? He reached up to touch the spot on his cheek where Shauna had
softly kissed him just a few short nights ago. Shauna clearly felt something
that night, too. There was no denying the physical attraction, but Kent knew he
had to move carefully—to protect both his own heart and that of his
daughter.

There’s so much at
stake this time around.
But Lord, I leave
it in
Your
hands. You know what Charity and I need
even better than I do, that’s for sure.

A light tap on the
office door roused him. He lifted his head and wiped his eyes. His secretary,
Joanna, stuck her head inside, looking at him curiously. “You’ve got a
visitor,” she said with a smile. His mother made her way through the door.

“Mom.” His fears
automatically vanished. Even at his age, being around his mother always made
things better.

“Are you all right?”
she asked as she crossed the room toward him.

“I am now. I was just
having
a.
. .a moment.”

She nodded
sympathetically. “No explanation necessary, Kent. Healing takes time. Lots of
time.” She sat in the chair across from his desk, gesturing for him to have a
seat, as well.

He shrugged as he sat. “Sometimes I just get so worried
about Charity.”

“Something wrong with our girl?”

“No, nothing specific,” he explained. “It’s just that she
gets harder to control every day, and I’m not doing the best job in the world
at disciplining.”

“Even with two parents in the household, you’d still face
that problem,” his mother assured him. “Trust me, I know. Would you like me to
remind you of what you were like at her age?”

Kent groaned. “I’ve heard all the stories. Don’t think we
need to go through that again.”

“This is a stage she’s going through, Kent. It’s called the
‘Terrible Twos.’ ”

“That’s what you said last year,” he responded with a groan,
“and things have only gotten worse. She’s almost three, remember?”

“I never said it ended at three!” His mother raised her
hands in self-defense. “Some children take years to get through this stage of
development. In fact, if memory serves me correctly, I struggled with you until
you were nearly four. And then there were the teen years. Remember those?”

Kent leaned his head down onto his desk again. “I don’t know
how you did it.”

“A lot of prayer and some good sensible discipline.” She
gave him a knowing look. “And if anyone knows what it’s like to go it
alone—without the help of a spouse—I do. In the years after your
father
died.
. .”

Her eyes misted over, and Kent pressed a tissue into her
palm. “In the years after your father died, I felt like a part of me died,
too,” she said. “I have to confess, I let you get away with far too much in
those first couple of years because I was just so absorbed with my own grief, I
couldn’t cope with much more.”

“I remember.” Kent knew all too well what he had gotten away
with during those critical years.

“If not for the Lord, I doubt I would have survived,” his
mother explained. “But I did more than survive, honey.” She reached to touch
his hand. “I’d like to think I’m an overcomer. I’m in a new place now, as are
you. You still have a future ahead of you and so does Charity.”

“I just worry that I can’t do this alone.”

“You’re not alone. It might feel like it sometimes, but
you’re not. And just so you know—Charity might be a challenge right now,
but she’s going to grow into a beautiful young woman whom we’ll all be
extremely proud of.”

He managed a smile with his response, “In the meantime, I’m
sure not getting much sleep.”

She snickered. “You should be used to that by now.”

“I’m not. In fact, if you and Andrew didn’t live so close, I
don’t know what I would have done. You’ve been such a big help to me. I can
never pay you back.”

“Pooh.” She said with a smile. “That’s what grandparents do.
But that reminds me why I stopped by. I’m headed out of town tonight for that
women’s retreat. Did you remember? You’ll have to pick up Charity from day care
tonight.”

“Oh, man.” Kent flipped through his memo pads, looking for a
familiar one. “I’ve got an appointment at five thirty with the folks from the
Houston Food Bank to discuss the Thanksgiving Outreach. I can’t get out of it.”

“Well, you’ll have to work something out,” she said,
glancing nervously at her watch, “because I’m on my way right now. In fact, the
other ladies are already in the church van waiting on me.”

Kent bit his lip as he stood to give her a hug. “Have a good
time, Mom. And don’t worry. It’s under control.”

“Sure it is.” She responded with a grin then turned toward
the door.

***

“Well?” Ellen asked, staring at Shauna. “How did it go?”

“Great,” she said,
trying not to show too much excitement. “He’s such a nice guy—a real
gentleman. But I found out something kind of odd. He has a child.”

“You’re kidding.”

“No. But she sounds
really sweet—a little precocious, maybe.”

“What’s her name?”

“Charity!” Shauna
called out frantically as the youngster hit Dinah on the head with a spoon. “We
don’t hit.”

“I no hit her,
teacher,” Charity said with a pout. “She hit me.”

Shauna walked over to
her, taking the spoon from the child’s hand. “Charity can sit in time-out again
until she learns to tell the truth.”

“No, teacher!” The
little girl began to cry in earnest. “I sorry I hit. I sorry!”

Shauna shook her head
in disbelief and reached to take the youngster by the hand. “That’s fine,
Charity, but you’ve still got to sit in time-out. Now come with me.”

Charity kicked and
screamed all the way across the room, but sat obediently in the corner at
Shauna’s leading.
At least we’re making
some progress.
“Now sit still until the others are finished,” she
instructed. She made her way back to the table to see about the others. Little
Dinah had dried her eyes and turned her attention to Abigail, who clutched an
item of her mother’s clothing, left for that very purpose.
What am I going to do about that? This has turned into an everyday
obsession.

“I have to go potty,
teacher.” Clay Peterson bounced up and down.

“We’re almost finished
with lunch, honey,” she said. “Can you wait?”

“Now, teacher!”

“All right,” she
instructed, pointing just a few yards away to the bathroom door. “But come
right back.”

He nodded with a sly
grin and then shot across the room.

“What were you
saying?” Ellen asked, as Shauna turned her attentions back to the conversation
once again.

“Oh, I was saying Kent
has a daughter,” she said. “But I didn’t get her name. I think we must have
gotten distracted.”

At that point, Charity
began to wail loudly from the corner. “I want my daddy. I want my daddy!”

Shauna sighed deeply
and leaned against the counter. “Now what do I do?”

“Look on the bright
side,” Ellen scraped leftover food into the garbage disposal. “The day’s almost
over. You’ve only got five and a half hours left.”

“Right.”

Just as Shauna took a
step in Charity’s direction, a five-year-old boy ran from the bathroom
hollering, “Clay pee-peed in the trash can. Clay pee-peed in the trash can.”

Shauna slapped herself
in the head. Ironically, the only person she hurt was herself. She headed off
to the restroom to deal with the prankster, hoping the rest of the day would
flow a bit more smoothly.

Throughout the
afternoon she struggled with how she felt about Charity. Clearly, the child
needed discipline, not just at school but also in her own home. Her situation
warranted some sympathy, to be sure, but not this much.

Shauna must work up
the courage to speak to Charity’s family about her behavior. Surely this was
the only answer. Together they would come up with a workable plan to get the
little girl through this difficult season.

She spent the better part of the afternoon writing the
speech in her head. By the time the workday came to a close, the message had
been crafted in its entirety. Shauna stayed behind after most of the other
children left, preparing herself for the inevitable. Mrs. Fritz startled her by
entering the room at six twenty-five.

“Shauna, what are you
still doing here?” The older woman glanced at her watch then looked up at
Shauna with curiosity. “It’s nearly six-thirty.”

“I know.” Shauna
continued to put toys away as she spoke. “I’ve decided to stay a little later
tonight. I’m going to wait until someone comes to pick up you-know-who so that
we can have a little talk about her behavior.”

“You-know-who?” Mrs.
Fritz looked around until her gaze fell on the youngster in the corner. “You
mean Charity? What’s she done?”

“What hasn’t she
done?” Shauna continued to pick up toys as she spoke. “She flushed my contact
case down the toilet. How she got it, I have no idea. She bit Dinah. I
documented that, just in case the parents had any questions. She refuses to
obey. No matter what I tell her to do, she won’t do it.” Shauna looked to the
director for a sympathetic smile, but did not receive one. Instead, Mrs.
Fritz’s face remained taut with concern.

“That’s so odd.” The
director gazed at the youngster compassionately. “I never seem to have that
sort of trouble with her.”

Shauna bit her lip to
keep from responding. “Well,” she said finally, “I’ve had nothing but trouble
with her, and I really feel I need to tell them so. Discipline needs to begin
at home, so I’ll be looking to them for serious help on the home front.”

The day-care
director’s brow furrowed a bit. “Just promise me you’ll choose your words
carefully.”

“Of course I will.”

“Things aren’t always
what they appear to be,” Mrs. Fritz continued, “so be careful not to
overreact.”

“I won’t.”

Shauna took Charity by the hand, and together they walked up
the hallway to the front door. There they waited, Shauna biting her nails and
Charity coloring a picture.

Shauna looked at the large clock on the wall. Six
thirty-five.
They’re late. Don’t they
know the center closes at six thirty?

Shauna continued to
wait, looking through the glass front door into the large parking lot. A
familiar vehicle pulled up, causing her heart to skip a beat. When Kent Chapman
stepped out of the car, she found herself in a semi-hypnotic state. What in the
world? Well, this was a pleasant distraction.