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“Yuck!” one of the boys crowed and then snickered when Ruby stuck her tongue out at him.
Maizy thanked the secretary and carried the arrangement in the squat, round vase to the desk and removed the cardholder. The rose stems were cut shorter and the blossoms were clustered closely together, giving an inverted bowl effect with just a touch of greenery around the edges.
She held the card in her hand as all the children sniffed the flowers. When she noted that the secretary still hovered, she placed the unopened card in her desk drawer. The suspense was killing her but she knew if she opened it the woman would ask. Chances were good the secretary or whoever had accepted the delivery had already looked at the card. As it was, she was sure she’d get grilled by whoever was in the teacher’s lounge when she went to get a cup of coffee at recess.
Looking a little disappointed, the woman excused herself when Maizy slid the drawer closed and called the children to their seats once more. She led the children in vowel drills, trying to focus on them instead. Her heart gave a little lurch every time she caught a whiff of the roses or thought of opening the card.
Three guesses who they’re from.
Unable to stand it until recess when her volunteer would come and march them to the playground out back, Maizy finished the drills and then allowed them to play in their centers. She smiled when she heard two of the little girls repeating the vowel drills to each other while they played with the dolls, betting that those were two of her “easy” readers. Reading skills just came easier to some.
She checked the time and her schedule and then sat down at her desk, with her hand on the drawer. Her mind was flooded with memories of the night before, of Heath teasing her, Cody cuddling her and then surprising her from her nap, and Spencer sucking on her toes. Heat crept up her neck as the sensations rushed back along with the memories and she fanned herself. Those men were potent. She quietly slid the drawer open. Her heart fluttered again as she slid the small card from the envelope.
You’re an amazing woman.
-S.C.H.
The roses were from all of them. She noted the initials and pondered the men’s hierarchy. Cody was undeniably the leader of the three of them, although no one in their right mind would ever view Heath and Spencer as subservient or second best. The order among them seemed natural…innate, and she recalled that Cody had mentioned that some of it had to do with having been raised in foster care. He’d said that Heath and Spencer were a year younger than him and had been smaller than him when they’d met. Had he always been the leader and protector? Having gotten to know Cody, it made sense.
Spencer’s initial was first on the card and that was probably by Cody’s suggestion, since he’d told her the night before that Spencer was her boyfriend as far as the public was concerned. That did not sit well with her, any of it. She knew Cody would probably care less whose initial was first but she viewed them as equals and wanted to give to them equally. It was a little frightening, but every time she pondered living life publicly in a ménage, with three men no less, she couldn’t see a future for herself as a teacher. She looked at her students, and around her classroom. A dull ache entered her chest because she knew how much she’d miss it.
The words her mother spoke to her at a low point in her college education, when she’d doubted that she would be able to finish her degree, came back to her. “You need to have faith in an outcome that you can’t see right now. This moment is the past even before I finish speaking it and this struggle you’re having might not make sense to you until you look back.”
Chuckling wryly, she wondered what the members of the high and mighty Frozen Chosen, as Lucy referred to them, would say if they knew she considered this a question of faith.
* * * *
Florida Georgia Line’s “Get Your Shine On” was playing on the radio as Spencer drove down Main Street on Monday. The humidity had been blown away during a short-lived storm that morning and he had the windows down, enjoying the all-too-brief respite from the cloying heat.
He’d risen before the sun was even up to work on the deck and had been glad for Heath and Cody’s help. In the brief moments where they’d chatted, Heath had suggested sending her flowers or something and Cody had agreed. Spencer hadn’t thought flowers were enough. Any guy could send flowers and he wanted her to see them differently.
