For Love of Emily

by Bonnie Gardner

  For Love of Emily

  By Bonnie Gardner

  Published by Astraea Press

  www.astraeapress.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and events are fictitious in every regard. Any similarities to actual events and persons, living or dead, are purely coincidental. Any trademarks, service marks, product names, or named features are assumed to be the property of their respective owners, and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement if any of these terms are used. Except for review purposes, the reproduction of this book in whole or part, electronically or mechanically, constitutes a copyright violation.

  FOR LOVE OF EMILY

  Copyright © 2014 BONNIE GARDNER

  ISBN 978-1-62135-271-6

  Cover Art Designed by FOR THE MUSE DESIGNS

  To Wayne, my own military hero

  Chapter One

  Silver Burdette wished she could disappear through the looking glass. The tardy bell rang, and she hurriedly checked her appearance in the blurry, faculty restroom mirror. There wasn’t much she could do with her straight, blond hair. She ran a comb quickly through it and frowned. The Alice-in-Wonderland hair did nothing to enhance the competent image she wanted to achieve. Why couldn’t she have been born one of those athletic, golden blondes like her roommate Carole?

  But she couldn’t fret about her appearance now. If she expected to make a good impression on Emily Thibodeaux’s father at this conference, she’d best be on time. She couldn’t do a thing about her stick-straight, platinum hair. She took one last, long look in the mirror and shrugged. She looked as professional as a second-year teacher could. She might as well go on and face the music.

  Silver had called the conference herself, requesting help from Mr. Thibodeaux — Major Thibodeaux, he had haughtily informed her. He and his daughter Emily had just moved to Fayetteville, the town just outside Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Now Emily was having a difficult time adjusting to the change. Silver hoped that the girl’s father could help ease the transition. But from the moment Silver had dialed the Thibodeaux number, nothing had gone right. Starting with the goof about Thibodeaux’s rank, the conversation had gone downhill quickly. Silver had been quite relieved when the man had so readily agreed to see her today. Now, she wondered if her relief was premature.

  From the moment she had heard Thibodeaux’s voice over the phone, Silver had sensed something odd. He had sounded vaguely familiar, but at the time, she couldn’t put her finger on how she might know him, nor could she now. She knew she’d never met anyone named Thibodeaux before; it was certainly not a name she’d be likely to forget. Yet, maybe it was her teacher’s instinct, but something told her that this was going to prove to be more than a normal conference with a parent.

  Pasting an assured smile on her face, Silver walked out of the restroom looking more confident than she felt. But when she glanced into the office area and saw who was waiting at the reception desk, her false bravado fled.

  Standing there in his desert-brown, camouflage battle dress uniform and high-topped, laced boots, with maroon beret in hand was a man’s man. The man with whom she’d had an embarrassing encounter at a party prior to the start of the school year.

  He hadn’t told her more than his first name, nor had he said he had a child. Frankly, Silver could not envision him as a single father with a twelve-year-old daughter. No wonder Emily seemed so troubled. What kind of life did they have together?

  As Silver entered the office, Major Thibodeaux turned toward her. She froze, holding her breath as she hoped that he wouldn’t mention their previous acquaintance. She was mesmerized by the piercing blue of eyes fringed by dark lashes that she would kill for.

  She could understand why women claimed to fall in love at first sight. He looked as though he could fight a horde of barbarians to protect her, but today those eyes suggested tenderness as well.

  Mrs. Taylor, at the desk, gestured toward her, so Silver forced herself to step forward. She expelled the breath she’d been holding. She swallowed and extended her hand.

  “Major Thibodeaux, I’m Sylvia Burdette.” She hoped he didn’t remember her from that night. She had been dressed very differently and since the school office was definitely out of context, he might not make the connection.

  It could be disaster if he did.

  Thibodeaux looked at her absently and closed her fingers in his strong and sure grip. As they shook hands, he looked at Silver as if he were trying to fit her into the teacher image he’d probably pictured for her. “Miss Burdette,” he said smoothly, loosening the hold on her hand.

  Silver experienced a slight tremor, composed herself, and flexed her fingers, telling herself she must have imagined the slight charge of excitement she’d felt from his touch. “My classroom is this way,” she said, hoping her nerves wouldn’t make her sound like a silly girl. She smiled and indicated the direction. He followed her down the long corridor, his heavy boots clomping loudly in the empty corridor.

  Having not been long from the classroom herself, Silver still felt like an interloper in the empty building after hours.

  “Emily speaks very highly of you, Miss Burdette,” the major said as they walked. His deep voice made the halls seem much less empty. He paused and looked carefully at her, as though he were appraising her every feature, Silver realized uncomfortably. Was he trying to place her?

  “She’s a lovely child. I like her very much.” Silver squirmed under his intense scrutiny.

  “Forgive me, Miss Burdette,” Thibodeaux apologized in a disarmingly rich Louisiana accent. “I hadn’t expected to be meeting with someone so young.”

  Silver had heard this pronouncement from parents in her first year of teaching, and hoped that it meant that he wasn’t remembering where they had met before. Still, she had hoped that the well-rehearsed speech she’d had to memorize last year would not be necessary this year. “I’m twenty-five years old, and this is my second year of teaching, Major,” Silver replied, silently cursing the heat that had risen to her cheeks. There was nothing like blushing to ruin her hard-earned professional image.

  At least, he didn’t seem to have associated her with the woman he’d met that night last summer.

  “Well, you seem to be doing an excellent job. Emily talks about you constantly.” Had the man’s assured air faltered? He cleared his throat. “I know you must wonder why I couldn’t talk about Emily on the phone last night.”

  He continued. “You also wondered why I seemed so ignorant of my daughter’s habits.” He straightened as he spoke. “I haven’t been a big part of Emily’s life since her mother and I divorced when she was an infant.”

  Immediately, Silver’s imaginary antennae came up. What he had just told her could certainly explain Emily’s reticence. A young girl living with her father, a man who was accustomed to giving orders and expecting compliance, without a woman to act as a buffer would certainly be troubled. About what?

  She didn’t dare think that. Emily had given her no reason to think that she’d been abused.

  “My classroom is right here,” Silver said as she tried to banish the thoughts that rose unbidden in the back of her mind. She hoped she was wrong and listened without interrupting as he told his story. “Have a seat by my desk.”

  He settled onto the chair next to her desk and continued as Silver took her seat. “Emily’s mother and I were married very young, still in college, and Emily came along too soon in our marriage. She was the reason for the marriage, I’ll admit, and when Emily was nine months old, we gave up trying to make it work.

  “I hope I’m not embarrassing you, Miss Burdette, but the story is pertinent.” He continued. “Immediately after graduating, I enlisted in the army and attended Off
icer Candidate School. Within six months I was a second lieutenant with a commission in one hand and divorce papers in the other. As you probably know, the situation in the world has made it necessary for me to be away for long periods of time.

  “Emily has lived with her mother for the last twelve years, and hasn’t had much time to get to know me. Though I tried to keep in touch with my daughter, the life I’ve chosen has made it very difficult.”

  “How is it that Emily is with you now?” Silver felt compelled to ask.

  “Emily’s mother wrote to me last year and asked me to take her.” Angelie had been caring for her own mother who has a degenerative disease. Though she had health insurance that covered herself and Emily, she had to take a second job to finance the nursing care her mother needed. With Angelie working so hard, Emily was getting short shrift.

  “My ex-wife didn’t want Emily to feel neglected, and since I was returning stateside after a tour in the Middle East, she suggested that Emily and I get reacquainted.”

  “I’m sure Emily’s mother must have had a difficult time giving her up,” Silver interjected.

  “She did. And it has been equally difficult for Emily to adjust to living with me, but what has made it more difficult is that Angelie was killed in an automobile accident a few months ago, barely weeks after Emily had come to live here. She had been driving home late after her second job and was broadsided by a drunk driver. She died at the scene.

  “My daughter was probably confused enough about why Angelie sent her away in the first place, and then to have her mother die. She also hasn’t experienced the frequent moves that most army kids do.” He stopped abruptly as if he were afraid to display any weakness. Or didn’t know what else to divulge.

  Silver realized the situation with sudden clarity. “So Emily is adjusting to a new town, new friends, and, for all practical purposes, a new father,” she paraphrased. “No wonder she seems overwhelmed. Have you tried explaining why Emily’s mother sent her here?”

  “Yes. She’s a bright child. She knew what was wrong with her grandmother. She’s just had so much to adjust to and then to have her mother die as well… it’s overwhelmed her.”

  “I understand, Major Thibodeaux. What you’ve told me explains a good deal about Emily’s behavior.”

  “Tell me how to help my daughter.” The question, though phrased as a demand, was plaintive.

  Silver was slightly taken back by the request and paused a moment before speaking.

  As if she were an expert!

  To him, she probably was, she realized. If he only knew! Her rapidly beating heart seemed loud enough to be heard in the next room. The first thing she would do after this meeting would be to arrange an appointment for Thad and the guidance counselor. And maybe one for herself.

  Calm down, Silver. You can do this, she assured herself before answering. “I imagine you’ve been a weekend, good-time dad up until now, and you haven’t figured out quite how to deal with her every day.”

  Thad nodded. “I’m either barking orders at her or taking her out for a treat. I can’t seem to find a happy medium. How do I do that?”

  Silver sighed. Mrs. Barbour, the guidance counselor, would be better at this, she thought. “I’m certainly not an expert, but I’m going to set you up with our guidance counselor who is. In the meantime, let me tell you how my father dealt with me. He was also a military officer used to ordering people around and expecting them to jump. Then one day everything changed. He was severely injured in a training exercise between the first and second Middle East wars. It put him into a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Not only did he have to adjust to his new restrictions, but he had to adjust to a new life without the rank and authority he had become accustomed to having. That first year after he came out of the hospital was very difficult for my family.

  “He would either bark orders or want to hug me. It was very confusing for an eight-year-old. Luckily, a wise psychologist at the Veterans Administration Center was able to help us work through it. I think the same advice might apply to you.” Silver smiled reassuringly.

  Thad returned the smile. “I’m open to anything that’ll help.”

  “It can’t be fun and games all the time, nor can it be orders and chores. You have to moderate your orders and rewards and lower your expectations. Instead of taking Emily places and buying her things, try spending quiet time with her. You know, quality time.” Silver sketched imaginary quotation marks in the air with her hands. “Play a board game. Let her win or not, but just be with her. She needs time to get to know you as well as needing your attention and love.”

  “It all sounds very easy, Miss Burdette. But I’m used to showing her how much I care for her by taking her places and giving her things. I’m afraid she’ll think I don’t love her if I stop.”

  “She may feel you don’t love her because you don’t want to be alone with her.” Silver glanced at the clock on the wall.

  Thibodeaux’ eyes followed Silver’s gaze. He got to his feet.

  Silver’s heart leapt as she felt him towering over her. She caught a whiff of his tangy, citrus-scented aftershave and momentarily forgot the reason he was there. She felt restless stirrings deep in her center and struggled to get her thrumming heartbeat back to normal. His parting words brought her back to earth.

  “Thank you, Miss Burdette. You’ve been very helpful. I appreciate the suggestions, and do set up that appointment with the counselor. Feel free to call me about Emily any time.” Thad picked up his beret, pivoted smartly, and left the room. He stopped just outside the classroom and turned back, and looked at Silver intently. Was he still trying to place her?

  Then he said, “Thank you for being her friend.” He narrowed his eyes and looked at Silver again. With a slight shake of his head, he hurried on.

  The room seemed surprisingly empty without the bulk of the man in it, and Silver felt lost in its vastness. She sighed. “That’s funny,” she mused, half out loud, “I asked him for help, and I ended up helping him.”

  ****

  Thad reached his sport utility vehicle in the parking lot and stopped abruptly. Something about the woman he’d just met nagged at him, something beyond her apparent youth, but he couldn’t figure out what it was. She’d seemed perfectly competent, and that was a good thing. Still, he didn’t understand what it was about her that bothered him. He’d sensed a sort of recognition, but he couldn’t imagine where he could have possibly met her.

  Surely, he wasn’t attracted to her. He didn’t go for her pale, wispy type, yet he had sensed something warm lurking beneath the alabaster veneer, something that promised fire beneath the ice. Her baby-fine, straight, platinum blond hair had almost begged his fingers to play in its silky tresses.

  He had no business thinking about the woman or letting anyone else into his life, even an intelligent, sensible woman like Sylvia Burdette.

  He tried to shake that vague attraction and tugged open the door to the SUV. It had been months since he’d even had time to go out on a date, and he certainly had no business thinking about such things now.

  ****

  In spite of her conflicted emotions about Emily’s father, Silver’s relationship with Emily improved. And as the weeks passed her worries about the girl’s father faded into a back corner of her mind. Now that she knew what had caused the child’s problems, Silver found it easier to make helpful suggestions. She was the first to see Emily open up, but soon other teachers were remarking about the change in the pixy-faced girl.

  From the entries in Emily’s daily classroom journal, Silver could see that things were going better at home. Though the child had never complained about her home life before, she had never written anything about it at all when she had first come into Silver’s class. Silver now knew that Emily’s reluctance to write about her father in her journal was not because she was afraid of him, but because she didn’t know him well enough to write anything. Now, instead of long paragraphs about how wonderful things were in Lo
uisiana and all the friends she missed, Emily wrote about time spent with her dad.

  How Silver envied those nights of family movies on television and board games.

  ****

  One night, as Silver sat daydreaming over Emily’s journal, a slow smile crept across her face.

  “A penny for your thoughts, roomie,” her friend Carole offered from her spot across the room in front of the television set.

  “Hum?” Silver asked vaguely.

  “Wake up, sleepyhead. You’re on cloud nine or something,” Carole commented as she reached for another handful of popcorn. “Want some?”

  “I was thinking about something.”

  “I could see that, silly. It looked pretty luscious. Care to share the details?”

  She was tired of keeping it in, and she really needed to talk to somebody about it, so Silver decided to tell Carole about Major Thad Thibodeaux. “I have a crush on the father of one of my students. Is that stupid or what?”

  “Depends on whether his wife minds,” Carole answered flippantly.

  Silver had to laugh at her friend’s impertinence. “He’s single and has been for years. His ex-wife is dead.”

  “Not good for the kiddo, but okay for you. Who is it?”

  “Remember Emily, the girl I was worried about?” Without waiting for Carole to respond, Silver continued. “He’s her father.”

  “And… ? Did he make a pass at you?” Naturally, Carole jumped to the wrong conclusion.

  “No. It’s just… just that I felt something almost from the moment I first saw him waiting in the office. Then I realized that he was the man…”

  “From the pool party?” Carole finished.

  Silver fiddled nervously with the red marking pen she held. “I don’t know what to do about it. It was embarrassing enough at the time, but now it seems worse. What if he remembers and reports me to the school board?”