Married in Haste. Roz Fox Denny

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СКАЧАТЬ for the first time ever, Abby would attend regular middle school. She’d been elated at the prospect. As the daughter of missionaries, she’d always felt rootless.

      Bless Elliot. He’d given up his scholarship, returned home and gone to work at a grocery store to keep Abby out of foster care. Those had been tough years. Instead of making lasting friends, Abby was shut out by kids at school who blamed her parents for the disaster. As if they could control the weather.

      Elliot’s unswerving faith got Abby through. He attended college at night, and made her study hard as well. As a result, she earned a scholarship to Washington State University, where she earned a teaching degree. Teaching allowed her to make a difference in young lives. In Abby’s classes, every child counted.

      Considering everything Elliot had sacrificed for her, baby-sitting seemed a small repayment. Especially since he’d delayed his marriage to his childhood sweetheart because of his responsibilities to Abby.

      She broke into a grin. Once Elliot and Blair did marry, they set to work repopulating the Drummond clan with five boys. Two sets of twins and an only. It wasn’t hard to see that Blair needed a break from being a stay-at-home mom.

      But who was Abby kidding? This uncomfortable feeling wasn’t only a matter of not being available to baby-sit her brother’s kids. Quite simply, Elliot would disapprove of her going with a man. And Elliot liked Ben well enough. Her brother would never condone sex outside of marriage; the who wouldn’t matter. In Elliot’s mind, Abby would forever be his baby sister. His responsibility.

      She supported her chin on one hand and stared at the chalkboard. It hadn’t been a week since he’d mentioned how many of her contemporaries’ weddings he’d officiated at over the past year.

      Marriage was a difficult issue for her. The forever-after vow bothered Abby. Nothing lasted forever. While she hated to disappoint Elliot, marriage was a subject on which they held fundamentally different views. He just didn’t understand. Elliot would never bend a single one of the ten commandments. Ever. Not for any reason.

      While she wasn’t one to avoid confrontation, Abby decided she ought to rehearse what she’d say to Elliot and Blair. There was no one sweeter than Blair. And no one who deserved a break more.

      Abby stacked her tests to take home. She’d think about it overnight and maybe something would come to her.

      Nothing did. She stalled for two more days and nights.

      Friday, her back was to the wall. She had no choice but to go by their house before work and ’fess up. But when she phoned to inform them of her plan, Elliot didn’t have time to talk. He said he had a meeting in town. Blair was accompanying him so she could use the van later. “Sam needs shoes,” Elliot said, sounding rushed. “And we have to drop the twins off at school.”

      Abby turned her calendar and panic set in. It was her morning to do the breakfast shift in the cafeteria. “I forgot I have morning duty. But what I have to tell you is important. I can’t sit for you guys next week. I’m going skiing with Ben. We’re going to Canada.”

      “What? Nonsense!”

      “Sorry, Elliot. I have to dash or risk being late. Is your meeting an all-day affair, or can I call you on your cell phone during my lunch break?”

      “I’ll phone you at school as soon as I finish my meeting,” Elliot told her sternly.

      Abby wrinkled her nose at the buzzing phone as she hung up.

      CHAPTER TWO

      WHILE HER CAR IDLED off the morning chill, Abby was pleased to see sun chasing off the clouds. She hoped this would turn out to be a nice day. For February, Seattle enjoyed relatively mild temperatures.

      Her breakfast duty started at seven. Their school had so many single moms and working parents, they’d long since instituted a hot breakfast plan five days a week. If she’d thought sooner, Abby would have offered Blair the use of her car. She wouldn’t need it for a week, and Ben could as easily pick her up at school. Besides, it would be easier to talk to Blair about her plans. She was less…uncompromising than Elliot.

      As she approached the school, Abby scanned the line of cars pulling through the bus lane to drop students at the cafeteria. If she saw her brother and his wife, she’d still make the offer. Unfortunately, the Drummonds’ aging van wasn’t among those parked in the circular drive, so Abby drove by and parked in the faculty lot.

      She’d missed them, she discovered as soon as she entered the building. Her nephews were lying in wait to pounce on her. Nine-year-old Noah and Michael both had missing front teeth, which made what they said hard to understand. Ultimately Abby deduced that they were regaling her with the latest antics of their beloved boxer, Ruffian. “You know what, Aunt Abby? Ruffian chewed holes in Daddy’s best tie this morning.”

      “Yeth,” agreed one of the younger twins. At seven, Brad still lisped. He tugged Abby’s jacket, wanting to be heard over Reed, his more gregarious twin. “Mama covered our ears, ’cause Daddy said bad words.”

      “No kidding?” Abby knew she should let remarks of that sort slide rather than draw attention to them. But it seemed so…not like Elliot. She paused to consider whether or not he might be exceptionally upset by her news. Or were things rocky at his church? She knew from past history that working with congregations wasn’t always sweetness and light. Ministers were often unduly pressured by either their flocks or their governing boards. Maybe Elliot and Blair needed a break more than she’d assumed. What if they were really counting on her for next week?

      Blair had been vague about their plans, but still…

      Friends of the boys called to them. True to their fickle natures, her nephews abandoned Abby and hurried off to line up for chow with their pals.

      Other kids circled around her. Abby rarely lacked the company of kids during her cafeteria or playground duties. Her attention wandered to a group entering the room. Ben’s nieces were among them. Abby hadn’t seen Erin and Mollie with the breakfast bunch before.

      She worked her way in their direction, deciding to ask if there’d been a change in their mom’s schedule.

      “Girls, hi.” Abby spoke to the girls even as her eyes strayed to a rowdy collection of fourth-and fifth-grade boys who seemed to be getting out of control at one of the tables.

      “Ms. Drummond, how come you’re on morning duty?” Erin exclaimed.

      “All teachers rotate morning and after school, hon. I was just thinking I hadn’t seen you and Mollie here before.”

      Mollie danced from foot to foot until Erin stilled her. “Mommy’s insurance office went to flex time.” The eight-year-old’s elfin face grew serious behind her wire-rimmed glasses. “Mollie and I have to get up earlier now.”

      “I don’t like it,” Mollie interjected.

      Erin, the more sedate of the two, placed a firm hand on her younger sister’s shoulder. “We don’t really mind. It means Mommy’s home at two-thirty when school lets out.”

      “Well, that’s good. So you’re no longer going to Mrs. Scott’s?”

      “She moved to California to live with her son.”

      Mollie piped СКАЧАТЬ