Her Kind of Man

Chapter 4

The breeze whipped Makayla’s face, sending shivers down her spine. Muffling her neck in the collar of her coat, she rocked aggressively from side to side. Her fingers felt like icicles and her hair thrashed around her face. Rubbing her hands together, she imagined her hands wrapped around a piping-hot mug of herbal tea. Any minute now, the bell would ring, signaling the end of recess, and Makayla would return to the warmth of her classroom.

Makayla glanced around the field at the children. Multicolored leaves whirled around them on the wind, but the kids played on, ignoring the stiff wind.

“Boys and girls, be careful,” she warned, watching two girls slip and slide on a pile of wet leaves.

Makayla felt a tug on her coat and looked down.

“Teacher, Terrance took my money.”

She stared down at the boy and smiled. He was the cutest little thing, his thin face bitten by the frigid wind.

“Then he told me to—to—” Embarrassed, the boy lowered his eyes. “He said a bad word to me, Teacher.”

“Are you sure?”

He nodded furiously.

Makayla’s eyes scanned the playground. If she had any doubts about Terrance’s innocence, they vanished when he scurried up the slide and dove behind one of the plastic pillars.

She stormed across the field to the troublesome first-grader. “Terrance, come down here now!”

“No! I don’t have to listen to you!” Terrance emerged from behind the slide, a defiant expression on his face.

Makayla could not allow the disrespect. She climbed the steps. “You’re coming with me to the office.”

Terrance stepped back. “No, I’m not!”

“Oh, yes, you are.”

“You always pick on me!” he whined, stomping his foot. “I didn’t do any—”

Makayla reached out and grabbed his arm. To her shock, Terrance threw himself against her, freed himself and took off running. He leaped off the play structure and landed in the sandbox with a thump. A second later, an earsplitting scream shattered the morning silence.

“Don’t tell me I’m overreacting! That bitch hurt my baby and she’s going to pay!”

Kenyon tried calming down his sister-in-law, but Veronika only became more irate. Her recent tirade brought a nurse into the room who told them, “Excuse me, but it is far too loud in here.” She went over to the wall-mounted TV and turned it down, too.

“Hey! What are you doing? I was watching that!” Terrance snatched the remote off the table and punched up the volume.

Kenyon looked contrite. “I apologize.” Ever since they’d taken Terrance to The Children’s Hospital, he’d been apologizing for Veronika’s behavior, and his nephew’s. “We’ll keep it down from now on.” He looked at his nephew sternly. “Terrance, apologize. That is no way to talk to the nurse.”

His eyes remained fixed on the screen.

“Did you hear me?”

Nothing.

Kenyon put a hand on his shoulder. “Apologize. Now.”

“Stop yelling at him!” Sitting on the edge of the bed, Veronika cradled Terrance’s head to her chest and rocked him back and forth. “Can’t you see that he’s been traumatized? His teacher attacked him, for goodness’ sake! How do you expect him to behave?”

Unmoved by Veronika’s performance, Kenyon took the remote control out of his nephew’s grasp and switched off the TV. “Terrance, if you don’t apologize to the nurse, I won’t take you and your friends to the arcade next weekend.”

Terrance fiddled with his ID bracelet. “Okay, I’m sorry.”

“That’s better.”

“Any word on the X-rays?” Veronika asked the nurse, cradling her son in her arms. “I don’t need X-rays to know my baby broke his arm, but my lawyer said it wouldn’t hurt to have some hard evidence.”

“Doctor Harvick should be here any minute with the results.”

“Thanks.” Kenyon smiled at the nurse as she turned to leave. “And sorry we’ve been such a pain.”

Veronika smoothed a hand over Terrance’s cheek. “Mommy doesn’t know what she’d do if anything ever happened to you. You’re all I have.” Hugging him to her chest, she closed her eyes. “I love you, baby. More than anything in this world. Don’t you ever forget that.”

It was moments like this Kenyon truly admired his sister-in-law. It had to be tough being a single parent but he knew no one was more important to Veronika than Terrance.

Checking the time, Veronika released her son and pulled out her cell phone from her jean pocket. “I’m going to go call my lawyer again.”

Sighing, Kenyon drew a deep breath. “Don’t you think you’re blowing things out of proportion? Terrance is fine. He doesn’t even have a scratch—”

“You’re not a doctor,” she pointed out, cutting him off. “He may have internal injuries for all you know. Why aren’t you more upset? That woman could have killed him!”

“We don’t know what happened.”

“Terrance said Ms. Stevens pushed him and I believe my son.”

“But his classmates said he jumped.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Are you saying my child is lying?”

“I care about him, too, Veronika.”

“You have a funny way of showing it. You weren’t at his hockey game last week, now were you?”

Kenyon swallowed a retort. Every time something went wrong, Veronika reached back into the past and brought up his mistakes. His sister-in-law was hard to please, rarely satisfied and always angry. If she had not gotten pregnant, his brother probably never would have married her.

“I already apologized for that. It was a scheduling conflict that couldn’t be changed. I had to work.” Terrance was listening in and he hated arguing in front of him. If Kenyon wanted to, he could put Veronika in her place. Felix’s insurance money had only gone so far. Once the funeral was paid for and a college tuition fund established for Terrance, there wasn’t much left. Veronika didn’t make much as a hairdresser and it would be months before her salon turned a profit. Kenyon had taken care of all of her financial responsibilities since Felix died. Mortgage, utilities and insurance were paid in full, on time, every month. Not because he had to, but because he wanted to make life as comfortable as possible for them. Because of his generosity, Veronika could afford to live in one of the best neighborhoods in Philadelphia.

Kenyon rubbed a hand over his head. “Let’s hold off on hiring a lawyer until we know what happened. Once we know the truth we can—”

Veronika dismissed his suggestion with a flip of her hand. “Terrance wouldn’t lie to me. There’s nothing to discuss. Ms. Stevens hurt him. Case closed. I’m going to sue the skirt off her and there’s nothing you can say to stop me.” She brushed a strand of dark blond hair out of her eyes. “No one messes with my baby and gets away with it!”

Kenyon had heard enough of his sister-in-law’s ranting for one day. He was just as upset as she was about what happened but he wasn’t going to lose his head. Kenyon knew little about Ms. Stevens, but she didn’t strike him as the kind of person who would intentionally harm a child. She was warm and nurturing and seemed to have a soft touch for kids. Then again, he’d learned a long time ago that looks could be deceiving. Kenyon turned to Terrance. “I’m going to the cafeteria. Do you want anything, li’l man?”

Absorbed in cartoons, Terrance shook his head.