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Luck was finally with her when they got to the hall where the pageant was being staged and she parked her car in the last vacant space in the lot. Uttering a silent prayer of thanks, Raina helped JJ from the car and grabbed his shepherd’s costume before heading toward the foyer. Inside was a cluster of angels on one side, shepherds on the other and all other variety of pageant costumes in between. And Spider-Man, Raina told herself. Don’t forget him.
A tingle of awareness spread through her body as she sensed a movement to her right-hand side. Jeb?
“No’an!” JJ cried.
Raina felt her body sag. Was it in relief or in shock that he’d come? Right now he was definitely the lesser of two evils.
“Raina, I hope you don’t mind me being here, but I didn’t want to let JJ down.”
“The pageant is open to everyone,” she replied. “Just a small donation is requested for the local food bank.”
“I know, I’ve already donated,” Nolan said.
Just then, someone jostled her from behind, making her lose her balance, and Nolan immediately steadied her, his large warm hands at her shoulders. He let go of her just as soon as she was steady on her feet and for some stupid reason, tears sprang to her eyes. Raina blinked furiously to rid herself of them. She’d weathered tough days before and this one wasn’t any different, she reminded herself.
A call went out for the shepherds to assemble and to go with one of the day care teachers.
“C’mon, JJ,” Raina said, shaking out his costume. “Let’s get you changed.”
“No. I’m Spider-Man, Mommy.”
JJ’s voice was raised and Raina saw several faces turn toward them. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.
“Maybe we should just go home,” she muttered to herself but JJ overhead her and pitched his voice so that everyone in the foyer could hear him.
“No! Not going home!”
JJ was normally an even-tempered child but when he threw a tantrum it had force equal to the tornado that had leveled so much of Royal more than a year ago. On top of everything she’d dealt with in the situation with Jeb, this was one thing too many for Raina. She reached for JJ’s hand, determined to take him back out to the car, drag him if she had to, but Nolan put a hand on her arm.
“Maybe I can help,” he offered, taking the shepherd costume from her and squatting down in front of JJ. “Hey, champ, you’ve blown your cover.”
JJ eyed Nolan with a wary but intrigued expression.
Nolan gave JJ a serious look. “No one knows who Spider-Man really is, right? He hides his suit until his special powers are needed, doesn’t he?”
JJ nodded slowly, his eyes growing wide.
“Quick,” Nolan suggested. “Before anyone notices. Let’s cover you up.”
To Raina’s stunned surprise, JJ let Nolan dress him in the rough cotton overshirt, complete with rope belt, and secured the tea towel she’d brought for his head with another length of twine.
“Great work,” Nolan whispered to the little boy. “I think your secret is safe.”
“Raina, is JJ ready?” one of the day care teachers asked, clipboard in hand and a harried expression on her face. “Oh, great, I see he is. That’s everyone accounted for. I’ll bring him out back so you can go and take your seat.”
Before she knew it, JJ was amiably holding hands with his teacher and walking away. But all of a sudden he broke free and ran back to Nolan and beckoned for him to lean down. Her little boy whispered something in Nolan’s ear and gave him a massive hug around his neck.
This time Raina couldn’t hold back the tear that spilled over and traced a line down her cheek. She brushed it away but not before Nolan noticed it.
“Thank you,” she said to him, her voice shaking just a little.
Nolan didn’t say anything right away, just pushed his hands in his trouser pockets and looked at her. Raina self-consciously looked away. She wasn’t at her best tonight. A sleepless night followed by the tension of today, capped off by JJ’s behavior, had left her feeling more raw and vulnerable than she had in a long time.
“Raina, we need to talk.”
“No.” She shook her head. “No we don’t. Thank you for settling JJ for me, but we’ve said all we need to say to one another. And, to be honest, the time for you to talk to me was when we met. Not now.”
She turned to go but Nolan caught the sleeve of her coat.
“Please, Raina. Just give me five minutes. You won’t answer or return my calls—what else was I supposed to do but turn up to see you?”
