Watch Over My Child: Book Three in the Michal's Destiny Series

  “The next time you bother me, I’m going to beat the hell out of you. If you think this was bad, you don’t know what bad is. You are in for a real surprise, because next time I won’t be so gentle. Now if you don’t understand me because my accent is too thick, you better ask one of your friends to translate for you. Because if I were you, Seaword, I’d be real careful of me,” Elias said.

  After glaring at his enemy with a stare that could frighten the devil, Elias got up and sat down in his seat. He wiped Seaword’s blood from his fist onto the hip of his black pants. Mary Kent had never seen any of the boys not back down to George before. She was impressed. Elias had so much going against him because he didn’t speak perfect English, but he’d proven he was not afraid to stand up for himself. Seaword had been a problem for many of the teachers. So even before he’d set his sights on Elias as his next victim, Mary had expected trouble from him. What she had not counted on was Elias’s courage.

  Mary didn’t mention the fight. She could have taken both boys to the headmaster’s office, and she probably should have. But she didn’t. Instead, once everyone was seated, she said, “George Seaword, would you like to go to the nurse?”

  “No. I’m fine,” he said. He’d wiped most of the blood from his nose on his shirt sleeve, and it seemed to have stopped bleeding. It probably wasn’t broken, Mary thought.

  “All right, take out your math books. And we’ll begin,” Mary said.

  The blood was drying on Seaword’s face and on the floor.

  Elias smiled at her, and she felt the heat of his desire. This was not the first time a student had gotten a crush on her. In fact it had happened with so many other boys during her short teaching career and she’d ignored their stares. But Elias was not like one of the boys. Intellectually she knew he was only fifteen, but emotionally to her, he was more like a man than a lot of the older men she knew. He looked at her like a man, not like the other students in the past. Perhaps it was because Elias had been orphaned at birth and grown up in an orphanage that he was mature beyond his years. He spoke very little, but what he said, he meant, and what he didn’t say with his voice, he said with his eyes. Mary knew she was making a mistake even as she asked him to stay after class. What she was about to do was wrong, but she couldn’t stop herself. In fact it was Mary who had started it. It began on a Thursday afternoon.

  After the rest of the class left and Elias and Mary were alone, she felt uncomfortable. She couldn’t look directly at him.

  “Do you think you should telephone your foster family and let them know that you are going to be late?” Mary cleared her throat. Perhaps she would just ask him to mark papers. I mean this was sheer madness.

  “It’s alright, Mrs. Kent. They don’t pay too much attention to my comings and goings. I sort of do whatever I want.”

  Mary Kent nodded. “Well, I have to lock up this classroom, so perhaps we can go into my office and you can help me with the papers there.”

  The sexual energy was pulsating like an electrical storm firing off inside of her. She could lose her job, lose her marriage. He was only fifteen. What was she thinking?

  “Me?” He laughed. “I can hardly get through class … let alone judge somebody else’s work.”

  His English was improving rapidly. She had two students in other classes that were part of the same Kindertransport program of Jewish children sent to safe homes in England from Nazi Germany. They had not progressed nearly as fast. There was no doubt in her mind that Elias was a bright boy even though he didn’t take his schoolwork seriously.

  “I think you’re smarter than you realize.” She smiled.

  “Do you?” He smiled and shook his head “I don’t know. I need to find a job, something that pays me. School is a waste of my time. I mean, the Blossoms have been very generous in taking me in, but I would rather work and be on my own.”

  And it was true, the Blossoms were a fairly well-to-do family. Mr. Blossom had a position working in the bank. Their children were grown, married, and on their own. They’d taken Elias in when they had attended a retirement party at Mr. Blossom’s office. All of the guests at the party were buzzing with the news of what had happened on that terrible night when the Jews were attacked in their homes and on the streets in Germany. There had been several frightening broadcasts over the BBC. The bank president, Michal Eppleshine, was Jewish, and he’d announced that he had planned to take a child from the Kindertransport. Patricia and Sebastian Blossom glanced at each other. It would be a strategic career move to show their generosity by offering their home to a needy youngster. Eppleshine would appreciate the kindness. And besides, Patricia Blossom was appalled to hear how the Jewish children were being treated in Germany. It certainly wasn’t easy for the Blossoms to open their home to a stranger. Since their children had grown up and were gone from the house they’d enjoyed a peaceful existence. But overall it was a wise choice, and so they’d put their name on the list of those willing to take a child. And that was how Elias came to live with the Blossoms.

  Elias followed Mary Kent into her small office. She carried a pile of papers and put them down on her desk. Then she turned around to close the door. He saw the sway of her hips and his heartbeat sped up. She walked back to sit behind her desk. Now, Elias felt bolder because they were alone.

  Elias walked over to Mary and twisted a curl of Mary’s hair around his finger and smiled at her. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered in a husky, hoarse voice.

  No one in Mary’s entire life had ever called her beautiful.

  She shook her head and stared at him. “Don’t do that,” she said as strongly as she was able to, and she wished she meant it. Elias lifted her out of the chair and held her in his arms. Then he pushed her up against the wall and kissed her, and then kissed her again. His hand slid up her blouse, cupping her breast and she was lost.

  That was the beginning. Every day when she got up in the morning and headed off to school, she promised herself that she was going to end it. But as soon as they were alone and he looked at her she was lost. He had a way of staring into her eyes i that made her tingle, then when he took her into his arms, she forgot her promise. She was guilt-ridden, sick to the very core with shame, but Elias was like a drug and she was addicted.

  And now, so many months later, they lay on the rug in her office naked.

  “What kind of job do you think you can get without an education?” Mary asked him, gently touching his well-muscled chest.

  “I don’t know. I just know that I want to get some kind of work and make some money. I can’t stay here and waste my time sitting in a classroom.”

  “It would be a real shame for you to drop out of school,” she said.

  “I love it when you act like my teacher. It makes you even sexier than you already are….”

  No one had ever called her sexy. Mary was breathless. It would be best if he left school. But she didn’t want to see him fail, and quite frankly, she couldn’t bear to let him go. “If I can get you a job here on the campus perhaps as a caretaker after classes, will you stay in school? You’ll be able to earn some money, but at least you’ll still be getting an education. You’re a bright boy, Elias. And you’re going to need to have some education behind you if you want to find a decent job. You don’t want to spend your life doing manual labor, do you?”

  “You think that you could find a job here at the school for me? I mean, you’d do that for me?”

  “I don’t know, but I am certainly going to try.” She meant it. She had so many reasons to try.

  It wasn’t difficult for Mary to secure a few hours of paid employment each day for Elias. There was always cleaning and repairing to be done around the building, and a student would work cheaper than an adult would. She talked to the headmaster and explained that Elias was with the Kindertransport and he was an orphan. She explained that he was living with a family and that he felt funny asking them for financial help. So, it would really be good for him to earn some money of his own. r />
  He was hired. It was that easy and that quick. Elias’s schedule included a free hour between the end of his classes and the beginning of his job. During this hour, he was expected to eat his dinner and get ready to work, but instead he spent the time with Mary.

  Every day they met in the classroom at the end of the school day and then went to her private office. Mary knew that he was falling in love with her. And as odd and impossible as it seemed, she thought she might be falling in love with him as well. She told herself that he was just a boy, but her heart and her body told her a different story. If she got caught, Mary was certain that she would lose her job and most likely she would be blackballed and unable to find another job teaching anywhere. I must be insane, she thought, but she was unable to stop. For the first time in her life, Mary felt beautiful, reckless, and excited about being a woman.

  When they were in class, Mary diverted her eyes from Elias’s gaze. She was afraid that one of the other students might detect the current that ran between them. But once they were alone, the passion she had for him was all-consuming.

  It was rare that any of the other teachers stayed as late as Mary and Elias did. For the most part they wanted to be on their way as quickly as possible, most of them marking papers and completing lessons for the following day from their homes. But one afternoon after school a female colleague who was a friend of Mary’s knocked on the door to her office. Mary was not expecting any visitors, and the knock sent her into a panic. She and Elias had been lying on the floor. Neither of them fully dressed. Alarmed, Mary got up quickly and straightened her clothes, but there was no place to hide the boy.

  “Mary…” It was Miranda. She recognized the voice. The two women had been friends since Mary started teaching. “Mary, are you alright in there?”

  “Get dressed, and straighten up. Hurry,” Mary whispered to Elias.

  “Yes, yes, give me a minute.”

  Mary checked to be sure her blouse was buttoned properly. She glanced at Elias. He had his clothes on, but he was still disheveled. With her hand she smoothed down Elias’s hair, trying to make him look presentable.

  “Mary, are you sure you’re alright?”

  She nodded at Elias. “Are you ready?” she whispered.

  “Yes.” He nodded back. Then Mary tried to smooth his hair one more time and then her own. She took a deep breath and opened the door.

  “Elias came in to see me about his science project,” Mary said. Even as she told the lie, Mary cringed at how stupid she sounded.

  Miranda gave Mary a look of disbelief. Then she shook her head, and Mary knew immediately that Miranda was aware of what was going on between her and Elias in that office. Perhaps it was seeing the look on Miranda’s face that sobered Mary. What she had been able to hide from herself before was now very clear to her. The truth was that she had been engaging in sexual activity with an underage student. Shame and embarrassment caused her face to flush. This had to end. It had to.

  “We can talk later,” Miranda said. Then she turned and walked away.

  Mary couldn’t speak. She knew Miranda well enough to know that her secret was safe. But what if one of the other teachers or the headmaster had been at the door? All of this time she had been making excuses, trying to ignore the dangers of her behavior, but now it was slapping her right in the face. She would miss the boy, she would miss their wonderful sexual trysts, but this incident with Miranda felt like a warning and it made her realize that she was walking a serious tightrope. Today could have been disastrous. If it had been anyone else at the door and she and Elias were caught it would end her career and her marriage. She would have nothing.

  “I think you should go, Elias. Go to work.” She was shaking.

  “Mary?”

  “Please, leave me now. We can talk tomorrow. I need to go and see what Miranda wanted.”

  “But, you seem so upset. I don’t want to leave you yet. Let’s talk about this….”

  “Leave me alone now, please, Elias?” Her eyes begged him and he knew that it was no use to pressure her.

  He nodded, and then he took his books and went to work. The following morning when he came to school, a teacher’s aide, a stocky, red-haired boy with a face covered in freckles, was standing outside of Mrs. Kent’s classroom.

  “Hold on a minute there, Elias. You’ve been transferred to another class. It’s right down the hall.” The boy pointed. “It’s that way.”

  “What? Why?” Elias asked.

  “Don’t know. I just know I was told to stand here and tell you to go to the room down the hall when you came to class.” It was clear that the red-haired boy was afraid of Elias. But Elias had no heart to fight with him. He wanted to talk to Mary. He tried to look inside Mary’s class, but the door was closed and the aide stood in front of the small window built into the door.

  “I’m real sorry, but you can’t go in there,” the aide said, his voice cracking with fear. Elias knew he could easily have taken the boy; one punch in the stomach would have disabled him long enough for Elias to go right into Mary’s classroom. However, he didn’t want to cause trouble for Mary. His head was spinning. He needed time to think. As he walked down the hall to his new class, Elias began turning possible scenarios over in his mind. Had they been discovered? Elias wasn’t really concerned about his own welfare. If they kicked him out of school, so what? But Mary, he cared what happened to Mary. She might be losing her job. The uncertainty of what was happening was making him frantic. Had he caused all of these problems for her? The only way to find out the truth was to go to Mary’s classroom and ask her. To hell with the other students, to hell with the administration. He was too distraught to wait until after school. That was far too long to sit and contemplate what might be happening. Elias had to know right now.

  After the aide walked away, leaving Elias at the door to his new class, Elias turned around and went back to Mary Kent’s room. By the time he arrived, class was just getting into session. Mary looked haggard. She wore a severe, matronly dress and her hair was pulled back away from her face into a ratty looking bun. He could see the deep lines and dark circles around her eyes and assumed she’d not slept well. She stood in front of the class holding a book in her hand. Then as she was reading she looked up and saw him through the window in the door.

  Their eyes met. Elias opened the door and walked in. Mary’s eyes grew wide. The expression on her face was begging him to leave.

  “Mary?” he said. The rest of the students turned around. “I mean, Mrs. Kent. I need to talk to you.”

  “We can talk later, Elias.” Her voice was trembling with fear and warning. But that didn’t stop him. He couldn’t wait until later. The anxiety was too much for him.

  “I need to talk to you now.”

  “I am in class now.” She tried to sound like a teacher instead of an emotional lover.

  “Why have I been transferred?”

  “Elias, please … go to your classroom.”

  One of the girls who was sitting in the front row giggled nervously; otherwise the rest of the students were silent.

  “Why are you doing this to me?” he said, holding his hands out to her.

  “Elias, go, please leave, we can talk later.…”

  He walked out of the room, but he didn’t go to his classroom. He was far too upset. Instead, he waited outside her office. He sat on the floor next to her office door until school ended. When she arrived, he stood up and glared at her. Then cocked his head as if to demand an explanation. Elias was struggling against a flood of emotions that felt as if they might drown him. Yet he was trying like hell to appear strong.

  “What happened?” he asked.

  “I can’t do this anymore. I am afraid of losing my job, my marriage.

  “You should have thought of that before we started.”

  “I know. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

  “Well, so now what?” he said, trying to take her hand, but she pulled it away, “Listen, Mary, we can be
more discreet. We can meet outside of the school. It doesn’t have to end like this,” he said, trying to steady his trembling lower lip. Don’t cry, he told himself. Men don’t cry.

  “Elias, I think it’s best if we stop this now. I am sorry. I am so sorry. It was selfish of me. You looked at me with such admiration. I was taken in by all of it, but it’s wrong. You’re young and I’m married, and even worse, I’m your teacher. I am so ashamed of myself,” she said, looking away from him. Passion cannot be turned off like a switch, and she didn’t want him to see how she felt about him by the look in her eyes. Her heart ached, but she knew she must force this breakup before things got really bad.

  “Mary, I love you.” He almost choked on the words.

  She shook her head. “Please don’t say that.”

  “What can I say? What the hell have we been doing all these months?”

  She felt sick. What had she been doing? This was just an amazingly sexy and attractive boy. But the fact of the matter was that he was in truth just a boy, and her student, and she was just a woman who needed attention. “I’m so sorry, Elias. But it’s over.”

  He threw his hands in the air and shook his head. She walked into her office and closed the door. She leaned against the wall and began to cry, heart-wrenching sobs. Feelings didn’t just disappear. What had she done to herself? What had she done to Elias?

  Elias couldn’t move. The door to the office was closed to him and so was Mary’s heart. His legs were weak and he felt glued to the floor. Somehow hoping against hope that she would change her mind. He stared at the door, willing it to open. But it didn’t. Elias felt tears welling up in his eyes, but he refused to cry. He wouldn’t do that. His throat was raw with suppressing his feelings. For a moment, Elias thought of banging on the door with his fists and yelling until she opened it. But what was the point? She didn’t love him, and so nothing else mattered. Pull yourself together, he thought. She’s done with you. He’d shed a single tear. With the back of his hand he wiped his eyes harder than necessary. Then he left and went downstairs to work in the caretaker’s office. At least his boss wasn’t there. He didn’t want to face anyone right now. His shift was only three hours that night and somehow he got through it.