A Gift of Love (New Beginnings Book 5)

by Margaret Daley

  He could barely hold his life together, trying to earn a living while raising Jana and giving her what she needed right now—stability, especially when he didn’t feel that way inside. He felt as if he were walking on a thin sheet of ice, cracks spreading out from his footsteps. Any second he was sure he would plunge into the cold water.

  * * *

  The next afternoon as the other five children arrived for their math lesson, Jana, carrying her new dog, ran to the door and opened it for each one. “I just got her this morning. Her name is Sugar. Alexa and I decided she has dachshund, bulldog, beagle and maybe some bloodhound in her.”

  Alexa stood back and greeted the students, having met them all the week before. Randy who was eleven arrived first, his hair redder than Jana’s. Haley quickly followed right behind him, entering on his heels. Haley and Jana were both ten, but Jana didn’t say much to the other girl. After the first two, Dylan, the oldest at twelve, came with his best friend, Brent. The last to arrive at the house was eleven-year-old Ashley, who Jana gravitated toward and sat next to during the lessons, conducted in the classroom by Ian.

  Jana passed Sugar to Ashley. “Isn’t she cute?”

  Her friend cuddled the small dog. “I love her,” while all the other kids said the appropriate words, but their wary looks indicated they thought the animal was a drowned hairless rat that they preferred not to touch.

  With Sugar in her arms, Jana started back to the classroom where everyone had headed. Alexa stepped into her path. “I’ll take Sugar while you’re doing your math lesson.”

  “Ah, Alexa, she’ll help me learn better.”

  “Just how is she gonna do that?”

  Jana rolled her eyes toward the ceiling and contemplated that question for a good twenty seconds. “She calms me when I hold her. You know how anxious I get with math.”

  “Oh, I see. Do you think your father will approve?”

  “Yes—” the child’s gaze dropped to the floor “—no. He’ll make me put her in her crate, and I don’t like to see her in jail.”

  “Jail?” Alexa laughed. “I guess the crate can seem like that, but your dad thought it was a good idea. A lot of people use them.”

  “Hey, Jana, the class is waiting.” Ian approached them in the foyer. “We’re going to tackle subtracting fractions today.”

  “Oh, goodie.” The corners of the child’s mouth drooped, and she hugged Sugar to her even closer.

  Ian peered at Alexa with a frustrated look, as though to say, “See what I’m dealing with concerning math?”

  “I’ll take Sugar for a walk while you work on math,” Alexa said, aware the whole time that Ian stared at her. The warmth from his look sent a zing down her spine.

  “Fine.” Jana gently plopped Sugar into Alexa’s arms and stalked off toward the classroom.

  “Thanks. I’m beginning to think this pet idea isn’t a good thing. Since she brought Sugar home, the dog has been attached to my daughter. How did you get any work done earlier?”

  “We did activities that didn’t require the use of both her arms.” Alexa chuckled. “I have to admit, it was getting hard to think of things to do. Hey, if you’re doing fractions, you might try having them measure different objects. Maybe first have them estimate how long the objects might be, then total them all up. After that, you can have them find the differences between the objects.” Right before the kids showed up, she’d seen on the dry eraser board the ten math problems, involving a few addition ones and the rest subtraction. Dry was the optimum word here.

  “I shouldn’t start with the board problems?”

  “Hands-on at the beginning can help them learn the concept faster, then use the problems on the board to review.”

  Ian kneaded the back of his neck. “What objects?”

  “Any—books, desks, a windowsill. They don’t even have to be in the classroom.”

  A smile slowly graced Ian’s mouth, and he stepped closer. “Thanks. I’ll try it. Maybe it will help Jana and Ashley. They have a harder time with math than the others.”

  “Maybe Ashley could stay after the others leave, and I can help reinforce what you teach both of them.”

  “That would be perfect. Jana really likes Ashley. I’ll talk to her mother today when she comes to pick her up. You’re just full of good ideas.” He touched her arm briefly, squeezing it, before he spun on his heel and hurried back to the classroom.

  Alexa stared at the place where his hand had been on her as though it had left a mark on her skin. Maybe not a visible one, but definitely in five days since she had come to the house, he’d left one on her heart. Although his outlook on life was different, he was kind and loving toward his daughter. How could a person not respond to that?

  Yeah, that’s it. I would react to anyone like him. There’s nothing really special about Ian. Just a single dad trying to do his best.

  Alexa rubbed her cheek against Sugar. “I guess it’s you and me for the next hour.”

  Suddenly the six children flew out of the classroom, all going in different directions. Jana rushed to Alexa, petted her dog, then started for her dad’s office.

  “What’s going on, Jana?”

  The young girl swiveled, grinning. “Dad wants us to find something to measure. Anything in the house we can carry back to the classroom. I’m getting his telescope.” The child began to turn, stopped in midmotion and swung back toward Alexa. “On second thought, I’ve got a better idea.” She ran to Alexa, snatched Sugar from her grasp and kept going, saying over her shoulder, “She’ll be perfect to measure.”

  “But—” Alexa’s words came to a halt. Ian’s daughter was already back in the classroom.

  Alexa arrived at the door into the room, stepping to the side as the other kids poured back inside with various items to measure. Randy lugged a sofa cushion and plopped it down on his desk, while Haley carried in an oblong planter. When Alexa peeked in, Ian’s wide-eyed gaze connected with hers. The look in his eyes shouted the words: What have you gotten me into?

  He crossed to her. “Okay, I probably shouldn’t have said, ‘let’s see how big a number we can get.’”

  Alexa laughed. “Are you okay with Jana using Sugar?”

  “Yeah, why not? I fear I’ve lost control of the lesson anyway.”

  “Do you want me to stay and help?”

  “Please. I think I’m in over my head.”

  For a few seconds, his gaze met hers, and Alexa knew she was in over her head.

  Chapter Five

  Jana tapped her finger against her chin and made a full circle in the classroom. “I hate this room.”

  Alexa looked up from the student desk she sat in next to Jana’s. “You do?” Maybe now she could do something about the place. After spending over a week in here, she was ready to spend her own money, as scarce as it was, to redecorate the classroom.

  “Dad was so proud of fixing up this spare bedroom, I didn’t say anything to him.”

  “I will if you want.”

  “Great.” Jana plopped down in her desk. “I’d love to paint the walls hot pink.”

  Hot pink! Thinking about the living room done in black and white, Alexa could imagine what Ian would say to that. “Let me see what he has to say.”

  “What?” Ian stuck his head through the doorway, dressed in his overcoat, his car keys in his hand.

  Alexa slowly turned toward him. The sight of him stole her breath every time—which she didn’t understand since they were polar opposites. He was nothing like Daniel, her high school sweetheart. And why was she even comparing them? He was her employer. He was much older than she was. They didn’t agree on much—well, except about wanting to help Jana. But she had to admit since eight days ago when she’d come to work with the young girl, they were becoming acquainted and fitting into a loose routine, which pleased Ian. Having a schedule had its advantages in keeping Jana on track.

  “We were just talking,” Jana said to fill the sudden silence.

  “Yeah, about ma
ybe doing something to this room to make it more appealing.” Alexa rose, gesturing toward the walls. “Maybe paint them a hot pink.”

  For a few seconds Ian’s mouth fell open. “Hot pink.” The words exploded from his mouth.

  “How about instead of painting, Jana and I go to the store and buy some posters for the walls?”

  He pinched the bridge of his nose right above his wire-rimmed glasses as though he had a headache. “Posters? What kind?”

  “Something to interest kids. Something Jana likes.”

  “I don’t know—”

  “Please, Dad. Alexa and I can go today. Ashley’s told me about a neat store downtown called Pop Art and More.”

  Alexa looked at Jana. “Oh, I love that place. We should find something there.”

  “I can’t go right now. I’ve got an appointment.”

  “If you aren’t going to be too long, you could drop us off then come back and pick us up.” Alexa slid another glance toward Jana to see if she would object.

  The young girl blinked, her face going pale, but she didn’t say anything.

  “I guess I could. I shouldn’t be more than half an hour. Okay, Jana?”

  Jana nodded slowly, her hands balling at her sides.

  Thirty minutes later, Alexa and Jana were flipping through the posters at Pop Art and More and had selected four already. Each one was of a famous place on different continents. When Alexa spied the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, she paused, a warmth suffusing her as she took in the sight of an almost one-hundred-foot-tall Jesus with his arms outstretched as though he was drawing the whole world to him. In the background were the azure blue water and Sugarloaf Mountain at the mouth of Guanabara Bay.

  Alexa tapped the poster. “I hope I can see that one day in person.”

  “Where is it?”

  “Brazil.”

  “Where the Amazon is?”

  “Yeah, it’s one of the largest countries in the world.”

  “I don’t know anything about Brazil, but I know the Amazon has a lot of unusual animals.”

  Alexa pulled the rolled-up poster from its bin. “Would you like to learn about the Amazon and Brazil?”

  Jana smiled. “Yeah, it would be fun.”

  “Then we will.”

  “We will? Don’t ya have to ask Dad first?”

  “I’ll talk to him.” Every evening they discussed what Jana was learning, what worked and didn’t, where Jana was having a problem, but so far, he hadn’t objected to what she did with his daughter since that first day.

  Jana glanced at her watch. “Dad should be outside by now.”

  Alexa and Jana headed for the cashier. After Alexa paid for the purchases, using the money Ian had given her, she and Jana left the store. Ian had told them he would park next to the building, and if they weren’t outside, he’d come inside. They stood near the entrance of the parking lot and waited for him to show up.

  “We can hang these up when we get home.” Alexa checked the area for Ian’s car.

  Jana chewed her fingernail and didn’t say anything.

  For the next fifteen minutes Alexa tried to keep up a running dialogue about some of the animals she knew lived in the jungles of Brazil, but as the seconds ticked away with no Ian, Jana began pacing, her teeth worrying her bottom lip.

  “Where’s Dad? He should have been here by now.”

  “He’ll be here. The traffic is heavy.”

  Jana made another trip to the curb, searched both directions, then came back to Alexa. She curled her hands then uncurled them. “Please call him. Something might be wrong.”

  Alexa dug into her large purse and retrieved her cell, then punched in Ian’s number. Jana stepped closer, concern etched into her features as the phone rang. When he didn’t answer and Alexa was switched to voicemail, the color in Jana’s face drained. “Ian, Jana and I are outside the store waiting for you. Call back.” Alexa slipped her phone into a pocket and faced Jana, taking her hand.

  “I knew it. Something’s wrong. I…” The thickness of the child’s voice, the tears glistening in her eyes attested to her agitation.

  “He’s probably still in his meeting and turned his phone off.”

  Jana shook her head. “No. No.”

  Alexa wound her arm around the young girl’s shoulders. “What animal would you like to investigate first?”

  “I—I—”

  Alexa’s cell rang. She quickly answered it and nodded toward Jana, mouthing the words your dad.

  “I was on the phone and missed your call. I’m only a block away. Be there in less than a minute.”

  “Great. See you in a sec.”

  When Alexa hung up, Jana sagged against Alexa. “I thought something had happened to him.”

  “It’s not gonna happen, Jana. Your dad loves you and will be here for you no matter what, but things do happen to delay people. It’s okay.”

  “But what if something does happen to him? I’ll be alone.”

  “You have a lot of people, me for one, who care about you. I’d never let that happen.” Alexa wasn’t even sure where that conviction came from, but as she said those words, she meant each one.

  * * *

  An hour later Ian nailed the last poster to the wall in the classroom.

  “If I may say so, this room looks much better.” Alexa stepped back from the Brazil poster and tilted her head from one side to the other.

  “Yeah, much better.” His daughter stood next to Alexa.

  “Okay. Okay, you two. I get it. I shouldn’t be in charge of decorating any place.”

  Jana giggled.

  “But hot-pink walls? You two have to admit that’s a bit much.” Ian faced his daughter and Alexa.

  Jana lifted her chin. “Nope. Maybe I can paint my bedroom hot pink.”

  “Or at least add some posters,” Alexa said with a grin and a wink at Ian.

  The smile went straight to his heart. In that moment he realized he would really have to work to resist Alexa Michaels. She had been in his house for just over a week and already things were changing. And he didn’t like change. The past fifteen months had been one series of changes after another—enough to last a lifetime. So why was it that all the changes Alex brought about made him want to smile?

  Jana crossed to the picture of the statue of Christ and ran her hand over it. “Yeah, like this one from Brazil. Alexa, I can see why you’d like to go there one day.” Then she turned to the one beside it. “Or this one. I’d love to see Australia.”

  “Me, too. And Africa. Think of the animals you could see there. One day I’ll go. That’s my dream.”

  The enthusiasm in Alexa’s voice made Ian scan each poster. Every one of them was of a different country in the world. He hadn’t really noticed that as they were putting them up. “You want to travel?”

  Alexa’s gaze fixed on the poster of Brazil. “More than just to visit, I want to live in other places. There is so much to experience and see. Have you ever been anywhere outside the United States?”

  “No.”

  Jana’s forehead creased. “Why not?”

  “Because…” He hadn’t ever thought about it. “I’ve been to Hawaii.”

  “Dad, that doesn’t count. It’s part of our country.”

  “I know, but it took eight hours in a plane to get there. I discovered I don’t like to fly, especially that long.” He’d had to turn control over to a pilot and that hadn’t sat well with him.

  “I haven’t flown, but I would like to.” Jana moved from one poster to the next, studying each one.

  “Where would you go first?” Alexa asked as she came up behind his daughter, standing in front of a picture of the Alps in Switzerland.

  “I don’t know.”

  “By the time we learn about different countries, maybe you can answer that.”

  Jana whirled. “Yeah. Let’s start right now with Brazil.”

  “Okay. We can start with an online search. Maybe then go to the library and c
heck out some books on Brazil.”

  “The library.” Jana peered at her father, a shadow in her eyes.

  “I can go with you two when you’re ready if you like, or you can go with Alexa. It’ll be your choice.”

  Jana nodded then headed for the computer set up on a table before the window.

  “I’ll leave you all to work.” He glanced around the classroom. “I actually like the posters.”

  Alexa’s gaze seized his. “I do, too.”

  The smile that graced her lips tightened his gut. She covered the distance to Jana and sat beside her. He stepped toward the door, paused and peered back at Alexa—then forced himself to look away. Too young for him. What she wanted to do with her life was nothing like his. He’d never thought much about traveling, greeting each day with something different. He liked his familiar everyday existence—where he knew what to expect.

  * * *

  “Dad! Dad, where are you?”

  Jana’s frantic tone sent a bolt of alarm through Ian. He surged to his feet and hurried into the kitchen. Her pale face and tear-filled eyes alerted him that something was definitely wrong. “What’s the matter?”

  “Sugar ran off. I was sitting on the bench by the lake, watching the geese and ducks. She was sitting in my lap. A squirrel chasing another one came by, and she leaped off and began racing after them, barking. I tried catching her leash. I couldn’t. She ran into the underbrush by the woods.” More tears welled in her eyes, and a few slid down her cheeks. “I can’t lose her.”

  “We’ll go search for her.”

  “Just us? She may be long gone. She hasn’t even been here three weeks yet. She probably doesn’t know her way home. Let’s call Alexa. She’ll come help.”

  Ian glanced at the kitchen wall clock. “Hon, it’s Sunday. Her day off.”

  “We need people to help. I can go next door and get Kelly. She’ll help, too. Plee—ese, Dad, call Alexa.” Jana swiped at her wet cheeks.