Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Kate stood at the back of the classroom, unobtrusively observing. She found her eyes kept being drawn back to Lilly, who sat in the second seat from the front, following her teacher's directions precisely.
The child was excellent. Not a troublemaker at all.
Although Kate had not expected her to be.
She seemed happy too. Not sad or morose or unwilling to be involved in whatever was going on in the classroom.
It wouldn't have shocked Kate had that been the case.
After all, the trauma that she had been through might have caused her not to talk because she was depressed.
But Lilly didn't seem depressed.
She carefully observed as the teacher went over the homework from the night before, calling on various children to answer questions.
When it was Lilly's turn, Lilly rose from her seat and went to the whiteboard with her paper, writing the answer on the board without asking permission, as though that had been the protocol.
Everyone seemed completely at ease with that, like it was normal and they were used to it.
"That is correct, Lilly. Thirty-two." Miss Jones looked over the classroom. "Did everybody get that one right?"
Heads nodded, and Miss Jones said, "Very good, Lilly. That one was difficult."
Lilly smiled, put the marker down, and went back to her seat.
There was still a little grin along her mouth as though she were proud that she had gotten such a difficult problem correct.
Miss Jones began explaining it for the kids who didn't get it, and Kate allowed her words to wash over her while she continued to watch Lilly.
The child took her seat and then paid attention to the teacher.
Losing her mother had to have been a very difficult thing for her to go through, but maybe there was something else involved. Some other reason why she wasn't talking. Could there be?
Or maybe she just needed some help to work through whatever it was that she was hanging onto.
Kate rolled those ideas around in her head as the day progressed.
It was the last class of the day, and the kids were soon getting ready to go.
Miss Jones had given them five minutes of free time to talk to their friends before the end of school, and she came back and stood beside Kate.
"What did you think?" she asked with a smile. "Anything strike you?"
"I love Tyler's sense of humor. He tries so hard to be good, but it's just tough for him to sit still."
"Yeah. There have been a couple of days where it's been a real struggle.
Once he actually wiggled himself onto the desk, and I had to remind him that he had to stay in his seat.
You should have seen the look of surprise on his face when he realized he was actually on his desk.
I don't think he even knew." Miss Jones laughed.
"My goodness. But it sounds to me like that's just a matter of too much energy, and not a discipline problem."
"No. Tyler is a good kid. And you can tell a lot by the way a child treats other children. He is very considerate and kind."
"That was the impression I got too," Kate said honestly.
Tyler had struck her as someone with a huge sense of humor.
He was probably going to grow up to be the class clown, although it was possible he would be the valedictorian too.
He was very intelligent. He just needed to get his limbs under control.
"What did you think about Lilly?" Miss Jones asked, lowering her voice a notch as she stood shoulder to shoulder with Kate, looking out over the classroom.
All the kids were getting their things together and chattering with each other. Lilly was a little off by herself, slowly putting her math textbook into her book bag. It was pink and, interestingly, had candy canes on it.
Did Lilly like candy canes? Or was it because her family had the shop and she had no choice about what kind of backpack she was going to have?
The question was interesting, and Kate filed it away to ask later, if she ever got a chance.
"I can't quite put my finger on what it is about her that draws me. She seems very smart."
"She's exceptionally intelligent, but... I just don't think she's working to her ability. She's at the lower end of the class, and I really feel like she should be much higher."
“She seems to be doing well in math."
"She's just average, maybe slightly below. But it's reading where she really is having problems. She really struggles, and she doesn't write anything at all."
"I thought that was how she communicated?"
"Numbers. She writes numbers really well. But not sentences. Words maybe. Her dad has taught her some hand gestures, and they seem to communicate that way some. But I don't know."
"She would definitely be a good candidate for counseling. Do you think her father would agree to it?"
"She doesn't have a mother."
"Divorce?" Kate asked, knowing that it might have been a little bit of a personal question, but it was something that she was going to need to know if she was going to counsel Lilly.
"She passed away."
"I see."
That made things even harder. "I think she was in the hospital some this summer too," Miss Jones's voice continued to be low and soft.
"I'll definitely want to get some information on her and see if her dad will allow her to spend some time with me."
"He should be here. He always comes to the classroom to pick her up. She doesn't ride the bus like the rest of the children."
"Is he overprotective?" That could be part of the problem. If she had never been allowed to do anything for herself, maybe speaking just followed in line with everything else.
"I don't think so. He's just a single dad doing his best." Miss Jones didn't elaborate, and she soon walked away, helping children who needed her, while Kate continued to stand in the back observing.
"All right, children. It's time to line up for the bus. Those of you whose parents are going to pick you up, don't leave. Remember you cannot leave until I give you permission." Miss Jones sounded like she'd said that a million times as the children moved to do what she asked.
Kate shifted as several parents came to the door—they were mothers. Several mothers came through the door, and their children ran over to them, still at the age where they loved seeing their parents in school.
She was still smiling over that when she glanced at Lilly, who was watching the door intently. Kate didn't have to see movement out of her peripheral vision to know that Lilly's father had arrived. Lilly's face lit up, and she grabbed her bag and speed-walked over to the door of the classroom.
He bent down and gathered his daughter into his arms, the movement natural, like that was the way he always greeted her. She hugged him like they'd been separated for years instead of a few hours.
Maybe that was it. Maybe she was afraid of being abandoned again; maybe she saw her mother as abandoning her and was afraid she would be abandoned again.
She looked a lot different now that her father was there—more relaxed, her shoulders not nearly as tight. Kate hadn't even noticed that she was sitting stressed until she had seen her relax with her dad's arrival.
Kate figured there was no time like the present to go over and introduce herself, although she had to admit she was a little intimidated.
She had seen him in the shop working, and while she hadn't been spying on him, she felt like the glimpse made her seem like she'd done something a little bit underhanded.
"Hello. I'm Kate Woolbert. I'll be the new counselor after the holiday break."
She held out her hand as the man stood. His eyes were kind, although maybe a little careworn. His face was tan, and there were several days' worth of beard growth. Just enough to make him look like a reformed bad boy.
Kate shoved the idea aside. She certainly wasn't going to think about the father of her potential student that way.
"I'm Jack Henderson," he said, grasping her hand in a strong, firm grip. But it wasn't so tight as to hurt. She'd shaken hands with her students' parents and felt like she needed to soak her hand in some kind of relaxing warm water afterwards. Jack wasn't like that.
"It's good to meet you, Mr. Henderson. I've been observing your daughter.
She seems like a very intelligent and interesting young lady.
" She smiled down at Lilly, who pressed herself against her father, although there was no fear in her eyes as she looked up.
It was like she didn't want to stop touching her dad because she was afraid he might go out of her sight, but she wasn't afraid of Kate.
"Call me Jack, please."
"All right," she said slowly. She typically did call teachers by their surname, but parents were a different case. She preferred that they use her title and last name, so the children didn't get too familiar. It was good to have a professional barrier between them.
"She's quite a young lady," he said, looking down at his daughter with pride.
"Lilly, would you like to come over here and put a sticker on the board? I believe we forgot to do that earlier," Miss Jones said, giving Kate a look that said "If you want to talk to her dad, I'll take her away for you for a few minutes."
Reluctantly, Lilly walked away from her dad, throwing a last look over her shoulder.
"She doesn't like to let you out of her sight," Kate observed, wondering what Mr. Henderson would say about that.
"Ever since her mom died, I'm all she has left. It makes sense to me that she'd want to stick pretty close."
"Do you have trouble getting her to go to school in the morning?"
"Not really." He didn't elaborate.
"Has she spoken at all?" Kate asked, wondering how she could get him to talk about his daughter, or if he even wanted to.
"No. Not a word that I've heard." He drew in a breath and blew it out. "Principal Stevens said that you might be interested in working with her. If you are, I'd definitely be open to it."
"I would love to. She seems like a bright young lady, but... she's been through a really tough time."
"She sure has. She's a lot different at home than she is here at school. If you need to observe her in her... natural habitat," he said with a grin, "you're certainly welcome to come to the candy shop. That's usually where we spend our time after school."
"I saw it when I drove through town the other day," she said, not elaborating on the fact that she had indeed seen it and him as well.
"The shop was in her mother's family. It was her mother's dream to pass it down to Lilly and have Lilly be a candy maker."
"How does Lilly feel about that?"
"I don't know; she doesn't really talk about it." He grinned, not making a joke of his daughter's muteness, but showing by his smile that he had accepted it and knew there wasn't a lot he could do to change it.
"Interesting. If you don't mind, I'd definitely like to take you up on that. I would love to see her with you, and if I'm being honest, I'd love to take a look at the candy shop. The display in the window is absolutely fantastic."
"Lilly helped me with it, but... I learned a lot from Lauren before she died. It's not nearly like what she could do, but not too bad for a man who thought he was going to be a farmer but turned into a candy maker by accident."
Interesting. It didn't sound like Lilly's dad necessarily wanted to be a candy maker. Was he only keeping the shop open for Lilly? Or because of the memory of his late wife?
"I don't officially start as school counselor until after the break, but... I could come by the shop anytime."
"Absolutely. Today is fine. This is our busy time of year, and I'll be there early in the morning and late at night. Stop by anytime."
"All right, I will," she said, and then watched as Lilly finished up quickly with Miss Jones and hurried back to her dad, again pressing herself against his side.
"Interesting.”
A child came up then and Jack and his daughter walked away. It was just as well. Kate had a lot to think about.