Page 38 of Protective Phlox

“We have lots of languages he can choose from. We offer ten in total right now, and he is welcome to take up to two a year.”

“What about security,” Nathan asked, and I excused myself as Cutter slipped into a classroom.

I reached the door and looked inside to find him sitting at a desk, his legs swinging as he listened to the teacher speak. The class had to be grade four or five, and they were all looking at him.

I was about to step inside to grab him before he disrupted the class, but it was too late. The teacher had spotted him.

“Bonjour, je m'appelle Madame Druide. Quel est votre nom,” she asked. My French was rusty, but she’d spoken slow enough that I knew she’d introduced herself and asked for Cutter’s name.

“Je m'appelle Cutter, ravi de faire votre connaissance, Madame Druide.” Cutter sat up straight with his reply. My mouth fell open as Madame Druide’s eyes grew wide. When the hell did he learn French?

Dean Montgomery and Nathan walked up to me, and I put a finger to my lips to keep them from interrupting.

“Tu parlez couramment le français?”

Cutter shook his head. “Non.”

“What did she say,” Nathan asked.

“She wants to know if he speaks French fluently. He said no.”

Madame Druide walked up to Cutter’s desk and watched him as he slowly wrote down what was on the board.

“You weren’t kidding,” Nathan said, and I shook my head. “Did you teach him to write?”

“Yeah, he wanted to learn, so he started with crayons and moved up to pencils in a blink.”

“Tu êtes ici pour visiter l'école?”

“Oui,” he answered, never taking his eyes off what he was writing.

“Es-tu ici avec tes parents?” Cutter nodded and, like he knew we were there, pointed to the three of us standing just outside the door.

“Cutter, I think we’ve disrupted the class long enough. We need to get going,” I said, walking into the room. “Hi, I’m Cutter’s mom, Savannah.” I held out my hand to Madame Druide, and she shook it, smiling.

“He speaks incredibly well for his age. Where was he taking French?”

“I honestly don’t know,” I said, and she blinked at me. Cutter tugged on my hand, and I looked down at him.

“I watched videos on the tablet Dad got me,” he said, and my heart stopped. I looked at Nathan, and he was staring at Cutter, shock written all over his face. That was the first time Cutter had referred to Nathan as Dad.

I cleared my throat. “Thank you for letting Cutter sit in with your class. He’s missed school since we moved here.”

“He is welcome back anytime.” Madame Druide looked down at Cutter. “Au revoir Cutter, ce fut un plaisir de tu rencontrer.”

He grabbed his paper and handed it to me before taking my hand. “Au revoir Madame Druide, merci.”

“I see what you mean,” Dean Montgomery said as we stepped out into the hall. “Since Cutter seems so keen to learn, I have some workbooks that he may find fun that will prepare him for next year.” He took off his glasses and wiped them on his shirt.

“That would be great,” I said.

“Why don’t you wait in the garden area out front? I’ll bring you all the paperwork to read over.” Dean Montgomery walked away, and the three of us made our way to the front of the school. It was a beautiful location with an old-world feel, but everything was modernized.

“Can I go play on the swings,” Cutter asked when we stepped outside. I nodded.

Nathan seemed to still be in shock, his eyes locked on Cutter. “You okay?”

“Yeah…hell, I’m better than okay. My son just called me Dad.” Nathan’s head slowly turned down, and there was a lightness in his eyes that I’d never seen before. “I’m a dad.”