“What do you mean?”
“I got involved with drinking and drugs. I. . .” his gazed shifted to the table. “The whole thing was awful. But everything came to a head when I was involved in a car accident that could’ve killed me.”
“Oh, Kent. . .”
“I wasn’t driving,” he was quick to add, “but I might as well have been. We all lived so close to the edge that it could have been any one of us at any time. And when you’re hurting like I was, you just want the pain to end. I guess in some way, I probably wanted to die back then.”
“Wow.”
“You’d think the accident would have been enough to set me on the right course, but I didn’t give up some of my bad habits until my mom remarried. My stepdad is great. And I didn’t realize how much I needed a male role model until he came into the picture. God began to work on my heart about that same time.”
“You’ve been through so much.”
“Yeah.” He shrugged. “I guess you could say I have a ‘testimony,’ but I still tell the kids in the youth group that the greatest testimony of all is living a life for God—uninterrupted by the junk life has to offer.”
“Agreed.” She smiled warmly. “I guess you could say I have that kind of testimony. I’m one of those kids who was raised in church and loved the Lord from the time I was a little girl. Never really got involved in drugs or anything like that.”
“That’s wonderful.” Kent gave her an admiring look. “And that’s exactly what I want for my daughter.” He paused for a moment before asking, “You said you were born in Texas, but you didn’t say if you grew up here in Houston.”
Shauna laughed. “Yeah. I loved it here as a kid. My parents were big on horseback riding and the rodeo. What about you? Your family into the whole country/western scene like most everyone else around here?”
“Hardly,” he said with a laugh. “My parents were into the opera, the symphony. The arts, in general. My sister Jessica sings with the Dallas Metropolitan Opera.
“Wow.” Shauna gave him a wide-eyed stare. “That’s amazing. I can’t sing a note.”
“I sing a little,” he said with a shrug. “And play the guitar. Just enough to occasionally lead worship in the youth group.”
“You’re a man of many talents.”
“I love good music,” he explained. “And going to the theater—that kind of thing. But now that I’ve got my daughter to think of things are changing a little. Her idea of entertainment is an evening at Chuck E. Cheese followed by a cartoon video. Things are shifting pretty rapidly around our place.”
“I know what you mean,” Shauna agreed. “Ever since I took my job—” She stopped herself abruptly. “No, I won’t talk about that. I’m not at work right now, and I made myself a promise I would try to put this day behind me. Trust me, if you had any idea what sort of week I’d had, you’d understand.”
“Oh, I understand all right,” he concurred. “Trust me. I understand.”
***
Shauna walked up to the front door, nervously anticipating her last moments alone with Kent.
“I had a great time,” she said, coming to a stop just under the porch light.
He grinned then shifted his gaze to the ground. “Me, too. Not bad for a first date.”
“Not bad at all.” She reached into her purse for a house key. She fumbled for a minute or two, finally giving up. “I must have left my key inside,” she said, reaching to ring the bell.
Kent caught her hand just before she touched it. “Wait. I mean, do you mind waiting just a minute?”
“Of course not,” she said, turning back toward him, her heart beginning to race. If he tries to kiss me on our first date, it will ruin everything.
“I just wanted to say thank you,” Kent said, taking hold of her hand. Shauna began to tremble immediately. “The last few weeks I feel like all I ever do is rush back and forth between home and the church. Taking care of a toddler is so hard, and work isn’t much easier. But tonight has been great.”
“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.
Shauna opened the front door, letting him in. “I don’t believe it,” she said with a cool grin. “How did you figure out where I worked?”
“Where you work?” He looked confused.
“How did you find me?” She couldn’t help but wonder, though the fact that he would take the time to find her workplace warmed her heart.
The puzzled look never left his face. “Find you?”
“Yeah. How did you know which day-care center to look for?”
“Shauna, I. . .”
“You could have just called,” she whispered, looking around for Mrs. Fritz. “Not that I’m not happy to see you. I am. I really am. But our director’s not really keen on strangers coming into the facility. Just the parents.”
He had a curious look on his face, one she could not seem to read. For some reason, he looked nearly as surprised to see her as she did to see him. Something about all of this just seemed. . .wrong. Off.
“Shauna, you don’t understand,” Kent stammered.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean. . .” He reached out his arms to scoop up an all-too-familiar youngster. “I am a parent. And I’m here to pick up my daughter. That’s all. To be honest, I didn’t have a clue you worked here.”
Shauna stared in disbelief at the child in his arms and fought to catch her breath. You’ve got to be kidding me.
“Charity?”
***
Kent drove home in numbed silence, trying to absorb Shauna’s words. Your daughter needs discipline. You daughter is a problem in the classroom. Your daughter. . .