Chapter 4
CHAPTER 4
“ O kay, everyone!” Ella clapped her hands, drawing her third graders’ attention back from their excited chatter. “Today we’re going to do something special for our family heritage project.”
Fifteen faces looked up at her with varying degrees of interest. In the two weeks since school started, she’d learned that art projects were the quickest way to capture their imagination—especially on drowsy September mornings.
“Instead of just writing about our family histories,” she continued, moving between the desks to hand out art supplies, “we’re going to draw something that represents where we come from. It could be a family tradition, a special object passed down through generations, or even a favorite family recipe.”
Piper, a talkative girl who usually sat in the back, raised her hand. “Can we draw people too?”
“Absolutely.” Ella smiled encouragingly. She’d noticed Piper’s talented sketches in the margins of her notebooks. “Whatever makes you think of family and heritage.”
The room filled with the sounds of rustling paper and crayons being traded as the students got to work. Ella moved among them, offering encouragement and asking questions about their choices.
“That’s a wonderful building, Xander. Is it special to your family?”
The boy nodded enthusiastically. “It’s my grandpa’s restaurant! He started it when my dad was little. Everyone in town says we make the best pizza.”
“My dad says the garlic knots are magic,” Ivy chimed in from the next desk. “He gets them all the time.”
Ella laughed. “Local legend status! What are you drawing, Ivy?”
“The Mount Baker camping trip we do every summer. My mom started it with her parents when they first moved here, and now all our cousins come too.”
As Ella made her way around the room, she was touched by the stories emerging through their artwork. Local traditions, family recipes, summer adventures—each drawing offered a window into their lives in this small corner of Washington.
Wesley was sketching the Seattle skyline. “Dad commutes there for work now, but he says we’re never moving back. He likes the trees better.” Several other students nodded in agreement, their own parents having made similar choices.
She paused at Piper’s desk, where the girl was working intently on an intricate garden scene. “That’s beautiful, Piper. Can you tell me about it?”
Piper looked up shyly. “It’s my grandma’s garden. She’s won the county fair blue ribbon six years in a row.” Her finger traced the detailed flowers she’d drawn. “She says gardens tell stories about the people who grow them. These are her prize-winning dahlias, and over here are the roses she started growing when she first moved to town.”
Something about the careful attention to detail caught Ella’s eye. Piper had even included the small brass plaques marking each flower variety.
“Your grandmother must be very proud of her garden,” Ella said.
Piper nodded. “She lets me help her sometimes. She says every flower has its own personality, just like people.” She pointed to a corner of her drawing. “These are the wildflowers we let grow wherever they want. Grandma says sometimes the best things in a garden are the ones you don’t plan.”
“That’s a lovely way of thinking about it,” Ella smiled. “I noticed you’ve captured all the little details.”
“Grandma takes me to the county fair every year to see her flowers get judged.” Piper brightened. “She knows every gardener in town, and they all trade seeds and stories. She says that’s how you build a community - by sharing what you grow.”
“Your grandmother sounds very wise.” Ella straightened up, addressing the whole class again. “Actually, that’s a great point about community. Does anyone else have family traditions that connect them to our town?”
Hands shot up around the room. Vivian talked about her great-grandfather’s logging equipment from the early days of the town. Quentin shared how his mom had converted his great-aunt’s old recipes into the cookies she now sold at the local farmer’s market. Even quiet Lucas spoke up about the collection of pressed flowers his family had gathered from their garden through four generations in Harmony Falls.
Ella guided the discussion, enjoying how eager her students were to share their stories. As the conversation began to wind down, Wesley raised his hand.
“What about you, Ms. Kingsley? Do you have any family traditions?”
Ella’s hand unconsciously went to her pendant. “Well, I do have this necklace. It’s been passed down through my family - from my great-grandmother to my grandmother to my mother, and then to me.”
“What’s the story behind it?” Ivy leaned forward, interested.
“That’s the thing,” Ella admitted, looking down at the silver pendant. “I don’t really know much about it. Just that it’s a family heirloom.” She smiled ruefully. “Maybe I should do some research of my own, like you’re all doing with your family histories.”
“You should!” several students chimed in at once.
“My mom says the internet knows everything,” Quentin offered helpfully.
Ella laughed. “Well, maybe not everything, but you’re right - I should try to learn more about it.” She glanced at the clock. “For now, though, let’s get back to your wonderful projects. I can’t wait to see how they turn out.”
The room filled again with the sounds of crayons on paper and quiet conversation. As Ella walked between the desks, offering encouragement and listening to snippets of family stories, she found herself wondering about her own pendant’s history. Perhaps it was time to ask her mother some questions about their family tree.
Tom walked the quiet halls of Harmony Falls Elementary, checking camera angles and security sensors. He preferred doing these inspections during class hours—it gave him a better sense of traffic flow and potential blind spots. At least, that’s what he told himself. It had nothing to do with the voice drifting from Room 23, where Ella Kingsley was teaching her students about the solar system.
“Remember,” her voice carried clearly through the half-open door, “Mars is one of our closest neighbors, but it’s still really far away. If Earth were the size of a basketball, how big do you think Mars would be?”
“A golf ball!”
“Close! Actually, it would be more like a soft ball or a large orange. Good thinking though, Xander.”
Tom found himself smiling at her encouraging tone. He’d been avoiding the school since their awkward first meeting, scheduling his security work for after hours. But there was no denying the pull he felt toward her classroom, like a satellite caught in orbit.
“Getting poetic now?” he muttered to himself, shaking his head. He needed to focus on work, not the way Ella’s voice softened when she praised her students, or how her eyes lit up when?—
The bell rang, startling him from his thoughts. Classroom doors burst open as students flooded the halls, heading home for the day. Tom pressed himself against the wall, letting the tide of children pass.
“No pushing, please!” Ella’s voice rose above the chaos. “And remember your permission slips for the planetarium!”
She emerged from her classroom, arms full of solar system models, and nearly collided with him. Tom’s hands shot out automatically to steady her, and for a moment they were frozen—his hands cupping her elbows, her face tilted up to his, a paper mache Saturn wobbling precariously between them.
“Mr. Dalton,” she said, recovering first. “Checking up on us?”
“Regular security review.” He stepped back, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Making sure the new system is working properly.”
“And is it?” Her tone was professional, but he caught a hint of something else in her expression—amusement? Interest?
“So far.” He gestured to the models in her arms. “Need help with those?”
“They’re going to the science lab. But I’ve got it.” She shifted her grip, and Mercury threatened to make a break for it. “Mostly got it.”
Before she could protest, Tom plucked the wobbling planets from her arms. “Science lab’s on my route anyway.”
She gave him a look that suggested she didn’t quite believe him but fell into step beside him. “How’s the town’s security business? Lots of dire threats to neutralize?”
“You’d be surprised.” He kept his tone light. “Just last week I had to deal with a very aggressive garden gnome.”
She laughed, the sound catching him off guard with its warmth. “Do I want to know?”
“Mrs. Henderson swore it was moving on its own. Turned out to be the neighbor’s cat using it as a scratching post.”
She laughed and he liked the sound of it and felt himself wanting to smile.
They reached the science lab, and Tom set the planets carefully on a counter. When he turned back, Ella was watching him with those perceptive hazel eyes.
“Speaking of neighbors,” Tom said, adjusting a tilting Mars, “I heard the MacGregors invited you to dinner.”
“News travels fast,” she said dryly. “I’ve been too busy settling in.”
“They’re protective of their own.”
“Small town life,” she said with a small laugh. “Everyone knows everyone’s business.”
Tom nodded, continuing toward the science lab. The MacGregors took family seriously - he figured she’d end up at their dinner table sooner or later.
“You know,” she said, adjusting Jupiter’s position, “for someone who claims to be doing a routine security check, you seem to find a lot of reasons to help carry things.”
His ears felt warm but he managed to keep his voice steady. “Maybe I just like planets.”
“Is that so?” Her smile was teasing now. “What’s your favorite?”
“Saturn,” he answered without hesitation. “All those rings. Good security setup.”
Her laugh was even better the second time. She finished arranging the models on the storage shelf. “Well, thank you for ensuring the safe transport of our solar system.”
“Anytime.” The word slipped out before he could stop it.
He left the science lab, forcing himself not to look back. But he couldn’t help smiling as he headed down the hall, her warm laughter still echoing in his mind.