Mom Over Miami Part 14

Sam let go of the shoulder harness, and it slapped against his chest. He didn't flinch or even seem to notice, just sat there staring out the window.

"All these cars can't be headed to the same place we are. Why can't we make any headway?" Payt made it through the intersection only to come to a dead stop again.

A million hopes and fears did their own version of gridlock in Hannah's being.

"No rush," she whispered again.

Payt gave her arm a squeeze, then raised his head to speak to Sam in the rearview mirror. "You're going to do fantastic in this new school, pal."

"Okay, I'll try. I just..." The child folded his arms over his belly and bent forward.

Payt shot Hannah a laughing look.

Tessa threw a colorful cloth teething toy at Sam.

He batted it away and hunched his shoulders. "I just hope I'm well enough to make it through the day."

"Hmm. Well, maybe we should cruise on past the school and head straight for Payt's office to get you checked out?"

Sam stayed all scrunched over for a moment, then slowly straightened. "That's okay. I kind of feel better now."

"Do you?" Hannah asked.

"Huh?"

"Feel better? Really?" Really?"

"No. Not really really."

"Want to tell us about it?" Hannah asked.

Sam shook his head.

They drove the last few blocks to the school in silence.

Payt pulled the van into the small parking lot and found a s.p.a.ce.

This was it. Big moment.

First day of school.

Hannah held her breath.

She and Payt had toured the long-established nondenominational school twice before deciding on it for Sam. They had gone through new student orientation and met with the school administrators, Sam's teacher and her aide. They'd even seen the cla.s.s hamster.

Sam had reacted to it all with resignation.

Hannah had wanted to give the child every reason to look forward to the experience, but Payt had asked her to hold some details back. He did not want them to build up Sam's expectations only to have them dashed by a last-minute change of plans.

That's what Payt had said, "change of plans." What he'd meant was that he feared Sam's father might have a change of heart and want the boy to go someplace else to live and attend school.

Hannah pushed the possibility aside and had gone about trying to prepare Sam to take the fourth grade by storm. All the coolest school supplies. Crisp, clean spanking-new uniform. She had done all she could to make sure Sam was ready.

But nothing she had done or could do would have gotten Hannah ready for this moment. All summer long it had been her and Sam and Tessa. Payt and Aunt Phiz and the soccer kids, too, but mostly the three of them. Together each and every day, learning from each other. Now Sam had to go off and learn from someone else.

"You know, all of a sudden my my tummy doesn't feel so good." She laid her hand over her abdomen. tummy doesn't feel so good." She laid her hand over her abdomen.

"C'mon, don't lose it now. Everything will be all right." Payt got out of the van.

The sliding back door rumbled as he pulled it open for Sam.

Tessa waved her fist in the air.

Sam watched the baby for a second, then bent to pick up her toy and handed it back to her.

"C'mon, kiddo," Payt urged.

The boy kicked his backpack one more time, then heaved it up onto his shoulder and hopped out onto the blacktopped parking lot.

Hannah got out and scanned the lot. Here and there families stood beside cars, adjusting uniforms, making little speeches. Moms dabbed their eyes. Dads cleared their throats.

Corny as it sounded, the whole thing eased Hannah's worries just a little. She'd done such a checkered job as Snack Mom, she'd hate to have failed at being school mom by being the only who didn't handle the first day's parting with absolute cool.

A gust of wind blew up from behind and tossed her red hair over her face. She started to slip her sungla.s.ses on and poked herself in the eye.

Cool. Like that ever was an option for her her.

Shading her watering eyes against the sting of the morning sun, she tossed her sungla.s.ses into the van and slammed the door.

The instructions sent home for parents clearly stated they should not accompany the children inside the building. Volunteers stood waiting at the curb to shepherd the students to their rooms.

Hannah leaned one hip against the side of the van, staying near the open side door to monitor Tessa. "I should have signed up as a room escort."

"Oh, yeah, you have time for that." Payt patted her back. "Let it go, Hannah. Let him him go. G.o.d's got this covered, you know." go. G.o.d's got this covered, you know."

She knew. But sometimes didn't G.o.d deserve a little help?

"Okay, pal. Here you go." Payt rested his large hand on the boy's thin shoulder. "Any questions, concerns or true confessions before you head off?"

Sam pulled on the neck of his uniform s.h.i.+rt.

A few feet away two little girls squealed at the sight of one another and ran headlong into each other's arms.

Sam frowned at them and placed his open hand on the van door. "Did you have friends in school, Payt?"

"Sure. I guess." He shrugged.

"Did you have friends, Hannah?"

"I had sisters-does that count?" She worked up a meager smile.

Sam nodded. He took one bold step away from them then twisted around, his face pale. "What if..."

Hannah's heartbeat swelled in her chest. She swallowed hard and bent at the knees to make better eye contact. "What, honey?"

"What if I don't make any friends?"

Friends!

"Oh, no." She winced. In her anxiety, Hannah had forgotten to tell him the news about the school, the news Payt had wanted her to hold back until they knew for sure he'd attend.

"What if n.o.body likes me here?" Sam pressed on before she could get a word out. "What if I don't get asked to any birthday parties? At the last school I didn't get asked to any parties at all."

"Oh, Sam." She held her arms open to the boy.

For a second or two she thought he wouldn't come to her.

Then he inched closer.

And closer.

She held her breath.

He ducked his head. He rubbed his knuckles over his nose.

She didn't try to force things between them, just waited and watched.

His lips twitched.

He wasn't going to come to her.

Her jaw tightened. She didn't dare blink for fear she'd tear up.

"Sam," she whispered so softly, she doubted he even heard her. She brushed his back with her fingertips, then started to stand.

In a flash, the small boy rushed forward and flung himself at her, wrapping his arms around her so tightly that she almost fell over backward.

"Sam." She laughed against his coa.r.s.e straight hair. "You don't ever have to worry about being alone again. You have me now."

"And me," Payt chimed in.

"And Payt." Hannah hugged the boy hard enough for the both of them.

"And Grandpa Moonie," Sam added as he stepped back, his eyes filled with hope.

"If you want to claim him."

"Hey!" Hannah lifted her index finger to warn Payt to behave.

Her hubby grinned. "Then yes-sir-ree, you got Grandpa Moonie one hundred and eighty percent."

"And Aunt Phiz." Sam tugged his backpack firmly into place.

"Sure. And don't forget Tessa." Hannah nodded toward the baby flailing her legs and arms about in the confines of her car seat.

Sam wrinkled up his nose. "Tessa's a baby."

"But she likes you. Haven't you seen the way her face lights up and her whole body wriggles when you come into the room?"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." Payt jiggled the pack on Sam's back to s.h.i.+ft the school supplies down so the thing didn't throw the kid off balance. "And don't forget, wherever you go, G.o.d goes with you."

"I heard Aunt Phiz say that G.o.d isn't allowed in schools anymore."

"Some people want that, but that's just because they don't understand that they can't tell G.o.d what to do or where to go. He's everywhere." Hannah fussed with the boy's collar. "You just have to pray. And before you tell me prayer isn't allowed in school, it is is in this one." in this one."

Sam whooshed out a long breath. "Good."

"And that's not all." Hannah drew her shoulders up. "You know this school we picked out for you?"

"Uh-huh."

"You know why we picked it?"

Sam looked at the blond brick building with the bright red doors. "Because it's a Christian school?"

"Yes, that, and also because we got some personal recommendations about it."

Payt had worried about the expense of private education but Hannah had put her foot down. They had no idea how much time they would have with Sam. They owed it to the child to give him as much as they could for as long as they could. That meant an education that exposed him to the values they shared in a clean, safe environment. It also meant helping him to feel less isolated. To give him the gift of not just being loved but the blessing of being liked liked.

"You know who recommended this place to us?"

He shook his head.

"Stilton's mom." Yes, Hannah had turned to her exemplary counterpart for guidance. If anyone knew the best, it would be Lauren Faison. "Stilton goes to this school."

"Really?"

"Yup, and his mom says that a couple of the other boys on your team go here, too."

His mouth hung open for a second before he narrowed one eye and c.o.c.ked his head. "Just 'cause they go there doesn't mean we'll be in the same cla.s.s."

"Well, that's why you you are headed to school, young man. are headed to school, young man. You You don't know everything. This school only has one cla.s.s in each grade." don't know everything. This school only has one cla.s.s in each grade."

He looked at the school, then at Payt, then Hannah, then the school again. "So I'll be sure to have my friends in my cla.s.s? For sure?"

"For sure."