Page 3 of Heart of a Hero

“I want Mommy back,” Lizzie said softly.

“I know. I want her back too.”

She leaned against his chest. “Grammy says that she’s in heaven and that she’s an angel mommy now. That she still loves us and watches over us to keep bad things away.” She looked up at him with wet eyes. “But sometimes Grammy lies.”

That was a surprise. “She does?”

“Yeah. If Mommy keeps bad things away, then why does Billy Harper keep pulling my and Bethany’s hair?” Damn, how wonderful it would be if life were that simple.

“He does?” Conrad said.

“Yes, and I don’t like it. Neither does Bethany. He made her cry yesterday.” Indignation filled his daughter’s face, as though she were a five-year-old avenging angel.

“Then pull his right back,” he told her. “You don’t have to take people being mean to you.” He wanted her to stick up for herself. Conrad had never done that when he was in school. He had been quiet like Lizzie, and Rodney had always said he wanted to toughen him up. But all he did was bully instead.

“But I’ll get in trouble and the teacher won’t like me anymore,” Lizzie said, looking up at him as though it were Sophie’s Choice.

“Sweetheart. Standing up for yourself is something we all have to do, and your teacher is not going to stop liking you because of it.” She looked skeptical. “Honey, it’s true. If Billy is mean to you, then you can tell the teacher, or you can stand up for yourself. And you can always tell me like you did just now.”

“Will you help me?”

He hugged her tightly. “Always.” And it turned out she was going to need his help sooner rather than later.

Chapter 2

FORREST COULD hardly believe it was only the second week of school and blood had already been drawn. The kids were at recess, and he was outside the principal’s office with Billy Harper and Lizzie Langdon. He had seen Billy pull Lizzie’s hair, and he also saw her turn and punch Billy right in the nose. She really let him have it.

“What’s with the fisticuffs?” Harlon Brown asked when Forrest went into his office. “I understand that you have a bloody nose on your hands.”

“Yes, we do,” he began as a knock sounded on the door. Then it cracked open.

“Mr. Langdon is here,” his assistant said.

“Send him in,” Harlon told her, and Conrad came in, dressed in tan pants and a lavender polo shirt. “We seem to have a problem,” Harlon began.

“Yes, you do,” Conrad said, glaring at Harlon as though he were ready to take his head off. “Lizzie had told me twice about Billy pulling her hair in class. I sent Mr. Scoville a note about it.”

“And I took Billy aside for it. He even said sorry to Lizzie. But as I was about to say before you arrived, I saw Billy do it again today, and I saw Lizzie whale on him.” He couldn’t help smiling. “Harlon, he deserved it, and she was only defending herself.”

Conrad crossed his arms over his chest. “So what are you going to do about it?”

“According to the rules, they both should be suspended for three days.”

“Right,” Conrad said as he approached the desk, like he was a prowling lion and Harlon was a damned gazelle. “So she gets attacked, repeatedly, and finally defends herself, and she gets in trouble?” He drew even closer. “So what are you going to do if I decide to punch you in the face? Sit there and take it or defend yourself? That is what she was doing.”

Harlon put his hands up. “There is no need to resort to that. I get your point. Billy will not be suspended either, but I will be talking to his parents. And when they see their son, I suspect I’m going to get an earful from them too.”

“Probably. But Mr. Scoville saw what happened, so it’s pretty clear.” He smiled at Forrest. “Lizzie told me last weekend that she was afraid to stand up for herself because she didn’t want her teacher to be mad at her.” Forrest realized that Conrad was standing up for him. “I appreciate that you both have a tough job, but kids have to be able to stand up for themselves and to the bullies. And I’ll talk to Lizzie to make sure she uses her words before her hands. But she will defend herself.”

Forrest smiled. “Thank you.” He checked the time. “I need to get back to the class. The kids will be in from recess really soon.”

“Of course. But I wanted to say that whatever you’ve done with Lizzie, it’s a miracle.” Forrest stopped, his hand on the knob. “She lost her mother a year ago, and she’s been very quiet and shy ever since. But you seem to have brought her out of her shell, and I’m very grateful.” He held out his hand, and Forrest shook it, trying to ignore the zing of attraction that rocked him like a thunderbolt. Damn.

“You’re welcome.” He hurried out of the office down to his room and sat behind his desk. Lizzie returned at the tail end of the kids. Billy came in a little later. His face had been cleaned up and he was no longer bleeding. But his nose was puffy, and Forrest had no doubt he would be facing his parents as soon as the office could get hold of them.

Still, as he got the class seated and began story time, he noticed that Billy sat as far away from Lizzie as he could. Kids often had a way of working things out for themselves, and he had little doubt that the kids would be nice to Lizzie going forward.

“Let’s start where we left off yesterday,” Forrest said and began reading from Winnie the Pooh. Not the Disney version, thank you very much. He loved this time of the day. The kids were run out, and they sat enthralled as they listened.