“I thought it would be best if you slipped out the back through the cafeteria while I distract the vultures out front.”
Some sense of relief came with that offer, ushering a weary sigh past her lips. “Yes, Mr. Yeager, that would be the best.” She stood and reached for his hand. “Thank you, sir, for all you’ve done. It’s been a pleasure working for you. I’ll…” She swallowed back the emotion rising in her throat. “I’ll clear out my desk and take the personal things from my room later…after some of this has died down.”
He shook her hand firmly, placed his other one over their clasped hands. “I truly hate to lose you, Darby. Please take care of yourself and let us hear from you now and again.”
She nodded, uncertain of her voice at this point.
Darby didn’t miss the sympathetic looks directed her way by the other teachers, but she didn’t slow down long enough to talk. She had to hurry. The ladies working diligently to prepare the day’s lunch barely noticed her zip through their territory. One or two offered her a grudging smile.
How could saving those children have caused such extreme complications? Instead of being a hero, she was looked at as a freak. Not that she’d done it for any sort of personal gain, certainly not hero status. She’d never wanted to draw attention to herself. But this total shutout was the last thing she’d anticipated. It seemed every friend she’d had was now too busy to even offer condolences for her dire straits. She’d just lost her job, had been forced to move from her home. Even her cat Wiz wouldn’t sleep in the bed with her anymore. He preferred the leather sofa in the new place. She was completely alone in this.
As she hurried across the playground at the rear of the school, someone called her name.
Darby turned to find several of the children from her former class racing toward her.
Oh, no.
She should just keep going…shouldn’t…
But she just couldn’t walk away like that. They wouldn’t understand that she was no longer welcome here, that no one wanted her close to their children. Though Anna’s parents had been thankful at first, they, too, had feared her continued contact with their child.
It pained Darby deeply. She had no one with whom she could share this hurt, no one to hold her as she cried.
Forcing a smile, she squatted down and offered open arms to the children. They hugged her, a half dozen little voices chiming all at once, asking where she’d been and when was she coming back.
Hard as she tried, she simply could not hold back the tears. She loved these children. This was so unfair.
“I’m afraid I’m going to have to be gone for a while, boys and girls,” she said when she recovered her voice. “But you’ll have a new teacher and she’ll take really good care of you.”
“But we want you,” little Lisa Andrews said. “We miss you.”
“Miss you, too, sweetie.” Darby hugged the children closest to her once more. “I’d better be going.”
She didn’t miss the uncertain looks being cast her way by the other teachers monitoring the playground. They had their jobs to consider, she understood that. It wasn’t personal, at least she prayed it wasn’t.
Darby stood and waved a final goodbye to the children before striding toward the gate. She couldn’t look back, couldn’t bear to see all that she’d worked for slipping away from her.
“Darby!”
As she reached the gate, she turned to face the woman who’d called out to her.
Sandra Paige. Her closest friend at work. The one person she’d expected to be on her side fully in all this. It still stung that she hadn’t gotten so much as a call from her friend in the last three days.
Darby bit back the hurt that wanted to well. She would not question her friend. It wouldn’t be fair. On some level, she actually understood the reactions she’d encountered.
Sandra hurried to where she stood. Her eyes looked suspiciously bright and Darby had to look away.
“I don’t understand why they’re doing this,” Sandra said, her voice reflecting genuine despair. “I wish there was something I could do.”
The words…whispers in her mind…hit Darby with all the force of a hurricane. No one from this school is to have contact with her. Is that understood?
Yeager had given that strict order. He, of course, had been ordered to do so by the board. She’d felt his sincerity during their meeting only minutes ago. He hadn’t wanted to do this.
“I’m so sorry, Darby.”
Sandra hugged her and Darby felt immense relief because now she understood. Her friends hadn’t deserted her; they were simply protecting their jobs. She couldn’t hold that against any of them.
She drew back and looked into Sandra’s eyes. “I’m okay now. Really. I’ll be fine. But thank you for offering. That means a great deal to me.”
She left, not wanting to risk the media circus out front getting wind of her sneaky departure.
That her friends had not turned their backs on her made the reality of her life at the moment much more tolerable.
She might just get through this after all.
Aidan watched Darby Shepard hurry across the street that flanked the rear of the Iris Goodman School. He didn’t have to see her face up close to know that tears spilled down her cheeks. Pain twisted in her chest and she wanted to get away from all of it.
He stayed far enough behind her that she wouldn’t feel his presence. Though, he imagined, that if she tried, she would feel him on the other side of the world. Their connection was stronger than he’d expected. He’d felt her reaching for him this morning. Had marveled at the feel of her touching him that way, but he had severed the connection before it went too far. He had to protect his true identity,
