she led Thad to one of the meeting rooms. She could hear the kids already. It was playtime until her program began.
She checked on Thad, who looked ahead to where the noise was coming from, his brow low with dread.
“Kids aren’t complicated,” she said. “Just go with it. Be a kid again yourself if that helps.”
“I’m okay.”
She smiled at his false bravado and then led him into the room. It wasn’t a large room. There were four round tables and a small platform where she was supposed to sit on a stool and read while they followed in their own copies.
Thad put the box down on the nearest table, and Edith noticed their arrival.
“All right, everybody,” Edith said, an older, plump woman in a pink dress who was in charge of this event. She clapped her hands. “Take a seat.” Parents sat talking at one of the tables in the back. Some of them dropped their kids off and picked them up after the two-hour session was over.
Edith was a retired schoolteacher who inherited a comfortable sum from her mother and who wasn’t ready to stop teaching.
The yelling and running around slowly calmed. Boys and girls scurried for seats at the tables, swinging feet and fiddling with the books in front of them.
Lucy had to stop a quick laugh when she saw how Thad stiffened and watched out for small torpedoes with feet.
Lucy spotted seven-year-old Sophie charging toward her. She crouched for the impact of the girl’s hug.
“Lucy! Lucy!”
Lucy’s heart soared with affection. Why this youngster had taken to her so tightly, Lucy couldn’t guess, but it warmed her to the nth degree.
“Hey there, Sophie.” Sophie Cambridge was a special little girl. Recently orphaned after her mother was killed in a car accident and her father hadn’t stepped forward to take responsibility for her, she’d been thrust into the hands of the state. Her studies in school had rapidly declined, as anyone would expect.
She ruffled the child’s thick head of shoulder-length light brown hair. “How’s my girl?”
“I read a book!” Her golden-brown eyes were alight with innocent pride.
“You did? Which one?” Sophie reached out for approval whenever she could.
“A red dog.”
“A Clifford book? Good for you!” Sophie was behind the others in her class in reading. Lucy was sure she’d struggled with the book. “Did Rosanna help you with it?”
Sophie’s face fell, and she shook her head. “She had to do dishes.”
Housework was more important than a child’s ability to read? Rosanna seemed like a good foster mom. Lucy searched for her in the room and didn’t see her. “Where is she?”
Sophie shrugged.
Rosanna had dropped her off and hadn’t stayed for the program. Something must have come up. “Well, that’s okay. At least you’re here. Are you ready for a story?”
The child’s face beamed once again, and she nodded vigorously.
Lucy steered her to the table where Thad stood. Sophie grew shy when she saw Thad towering over her, but she sat down as Lucy guided. She’d be good for him. Nothing like a sweet seven-year-old to melt a few cubes of ice around a heart.
“Take a seat here.” Lucy pointed to a chair and waited for Thad to register her command. He looked from the girl to the chair and then Lucy.
“She won’t bite.” Wow. Was he really this awkward with kids? The hero cop had a handicap.
He saw how Sophie eyed him uncertainly and sat down. “Hi.”
Sophie glanced up at Lucy. “Thad is a police officer, Sophie. You’re safe with him.”
Sophie wasn’t convinced, staying in her shy shell that had probably intensified since her mother had died.
Edith came over and Lucy introduced him to her and Sophie. The old woman studied the handsome man and then turned speculative eyes to Lucy. Lucy never brought anyone to her literacy volunteer job and Edith was well aware of her hunt for a husband. Helping kids read better was a deep part of her, a part that meant a lot to her. She didn’t share her love of written words and belief that all children should be able to read them with just anyone. Reading was intelligence, and with intelligence, kids could make their dreams come true.
Lucy held up the book to Edith. “We aren’t going to start with this. I have a story I’m going to tell first.”
Edith smiled with her good-humored reproach. “In one of your moods, huh?”
Every once in a while she broke free of the expected and went with whimsy. She began to pass out the box of books, and Edith helped, announcing to the room of kids, most of whom hadn’t settled down yet, “Quiet down now. It’s time to start.”
Lucy took a seat on the stool and waited for the buzz of children’s voices to go silent.
“Before we read from the book you each have in your hands, I’m going to tell you a story,” Lucy began, capturing the attention of ten young faces. Stirring their imagination was her favorite part. “It’s a true story about a girl from New York. She lived a long time ago, long before any of you were born. She was an orphan who wanted to learn all she could about the world.” Lucy saw Sophie listening with wide eyes, immediately connecting to the girl in Lucy’s story. It’s what Lucy had intended. “Imagene Evertine ran away from her mean stepmother and went to live in a library. At the library, she could read all the books she wanted and could learn about the world. She taught herself how to read, and read she did. She read and read and read.”
Lucy paused and met each one of the children’s faces. “Imagene lived a long and happy life. She got married and had kids of her own, who she taught to read and took to the library where she grew up. Like all people, one day Imagene became old and, at last, God said it was time for her to come to Heaven. He had a calling for her. A job. So after she passed here on Earth, she took over as Heaven’s chief librarian. She’s still there today, happily making sure all children have books to read.” Lucy held up the one she was going to read tonight. “That’s where these came from.”
Murmurs spread across the tables, and some of the parents exchanged knowing smiles. Thad sat back on his chair and smirked at her.
“Did she give them to you?” one of the boys asked. He was about six.
Lucy nodded. “Yes. I know Imagene very well.”
“Does she really give you books for us?” a little girl asked.
“Oh, yes.” Lucy nodded.
“She was an orphan?” Sophie asked.
“Yes, except she grew up in a library, not a foster home. And no one adopted her.”
Sophie mulled over that, too serious of an issue for a child.
“But she was very successful and happy her whole life,” Lucy said, giving the girl more to ponder.
She didn’t let her ponder too long. She began reading from the book. On words she suspected would be difficult for this crowd to read, she spent extra time pronouncing them and used a whiteboard to write them out and explain what they meant and why they were spelled the way they were before moving on in the story.
* * *
Two hours later, Lucy’s mouth was dry and she sipped from a bottle of water Edith had given her. After closing the book, she looked up to see Rosanna sitting at one of the tables in the back with all the other parents. Kids dispersed, meeting up with their parent or both parents, depending on who’d brought them here. Rosanna went over to the table where Sophie sat. She hadn’t gone to her foster mom.
Lucy went over there.
Rosanna