Chapter 191: Grace
I was in the classroom with Sammy as her teacher started the day the way she always did. Today there were plans for a big arts and crafts project that I was helping to set up for. Ms. Ellen was a wonderful teacher. I loved how creative she was with so many of her lessons, putting a lot of things into perspective for such young kids to understand. I didn’t know how she ever managed to do it all. I was always ready to help, but I was still learning everything myself, so there was only so much I could do. Ms. Ellen and all the teachers here, really, did everything themselves with such little support. I felt for them. Once the war was over, and I was officially Luna Queen, I would figure out a system to help them and give them more support.
“Luna Grace,” Ms. Ellen drew my attention back to her.
“Hm?”
“Can you read this story with the kids, please? I have to go get something for the project.”
My eyes nearly bulged out of my head. “I can go get the supplies,” I offered.
“No, no, I’ll be right back, you’ll do great.”
She didn’t give me the chance to protest anymore. She just pushed the book gently into my chest and left the room. I swallowed hard. I had hardly read out loud since my days working with Arlo. His name left a bitter taste in my mouth, and I was not looking forward to seeing him later.
I pushed the later problems to the back of my mind and approached the stool that Ms. Ellen had left for me. The book wasn’t terribly long... I had seen some of the kids read it during their free time on occasion. I just didn’t want to be the one reading it...
I took a deep breath and steadied myself. It was just a book. A children’s book. A children’s book that I truly was more than capable of reading.
I gave the class a small smile and pretended that I knew exactly what I was doing. Before I knew it, I was adding in voices and gestures, forgetting all about the fear I had felt only a few minutes before.
“The end.” I finished, and to my surprise, the kids all clapped.
I hadn’t expected them to care so much that I had read them a book, but I must not have done a bad job. Heat rose to my cheeks when I noticed a louder clap than the kids. I turned toward the door and saw Ms. Ellen, and Rhys.
My heart fluttered as I stood up and scurried out of the center of attention as Ms. Ellen took back over her class and began asking questions about the book.
I made my way slowly over to Rhys and wondered how long he had been standing there.
When I got close, he immediately opened his arms, and I walked right into them.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, not sure I wanted to know the answer.
“I came to support my mate,” He answered, giving me a kiss on my temple.
“You knew I was going to be reading?” I asked in surprise, ushering him out into the hallway, so we wouldn’t disrupt the class anymore.
“Ellen told me that you’ve been working even harder than the kids in the class to catch up on all the things maybe you missed as a kid. She said you had been doing really well, and she wanted to give you this opportunity to succeed.”
“What if I had failed?” I asked in horror, completely taken aback by being setup like this.
“She and I both knew you could do it, but didn’t want you to overthink it, and she was ready to rescue you if she needed to, or I would come in and pull you away for a disaster. But I knew that wasn’t necessary. I just came to support you and see you succeed on your own merit. And you did amazing, my love. I’m so proud.”
I could see the pride in his eyes, but I still felt a little embarrassed about being setup like that.
“Next time, a little warning would have been nice.” I mumbled, as leaned back into his embrace tiredly. I wasn’t a big coffee drinker, but I had had multiple cups today.
“You would have overthought it. You needed to be thrown to the wolves, literally, so that the next time something like this happens, you’ll know you can do it.”
I rolled my eyes. The next time something like this happens, I’m immediately going to think it’s another freaking setup.
“This is why you were adamant about Maizie and Michael coming to school today, isn’t it?” Rhys asked after a moment of silence.
“Yea,” My voice came out much softer than I meant it to. “I didn’t get to go to school. Being able to go to school is a privilege. They don’t realize that because they’ve never been behind before. Their program at least gave them that despite all the other horrendous things that happened there. They’re smart kids. And they’ve made the best of their situations, but they're still kids, and I don’t want them to grow up too fast because they think they need to. They deserve to be kids, and hate going to school, and to hold onto this all for just a little bit longer. They just don’t understand that yet. But they will.”
Rhys kissed my forehead again, and I knew that meant he understood.
“I didn’t fight you on it because I figured you had your reasons,” He told me gently. “I love it that you care so much for them. And I can’t wait to see you with our own kids in the future.”
“I’m not sure I’m really truly ready for that yet,” I replied hesitantly.
“That’s okay.” He answered, wrapping his arm around my shoulders as he guided me toward the front of the building. “We have a lifetime together to figure it out.”
I smiled at him, but as the front doors came into view, I froze.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“We are going to see Arlo.”