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“Mr. Parsons, have they made a decision?” I asked. My stomach was rioting and I was grateful I didn’t eat lunch.
He shook his head, guilt flashed within his eyes. “We’re still discussing it. Everyone agreed to take a fifteen minute break before we vote.”
My feet stood rooted in place. I could read between the lines of what he wasn’t saying. Things were not going my way. “Is there anything else I can do?” The words whispered out of my mouth sounded incredibly far away.
“I’m trying, Ms. Winter,” he said, his gaze solemn. “And they are more understanding than we anticipated.”
“I know, and I appreciate it.” The warmth of Beckett’s body enclosed around me. His hands ran up and down my arms in a soothing motion. He was instrumental in every step of this fight, and I wasn’t sure how I would have made it without him. “Can you bring up my relationship with Beckett while you’re at it?” I might as well lay all my cards out on the table. I didn’t want to be reinstated for one thing and then fired again for another.
He gave us a funny look. “Sure. Listen, I need to make a quick call. I’ll be right back.” Mr. Parsons rushed down the hall away from us.
Beckett, who seemed to sense my emotions, turned me around to face him. His fingertips dug into my hips and I breathed in his familiar woodsy, spicy scent. He’d been staring out the set of windows on the opposite side of the room that overlooked the courtyard for the past ten minutes.
I let my forehead drop to his chest and slid my hands to rest around his back. “We did everything we could,” I whispered in a broken sigh. I had to believe we’d done everything imaginable to change the outcome of this vote or else I’d drive myself crazy.
“Everything will work out.” How did he sound so confident after what Mr. Parsons just said?
I was stuck in this weird limbo. While hope slowly bled from me, resignation took its place. Deep down, I knew I had options even if I didn’t get my job back. Yet my heart knew which one it truly desired. And I felt its loss so deeply, I feared it would never leave me.
A cacophony of voices burrowed its way into my subconscious. I raised my tear-streaked face to look at Beckett and took a step back at the massive grin stretched across his face.
“What did you do?” He looked far too smug not to have a hand in whatever was happening.
His hand trailed over my jaw. “You’ll see.”
I hastily wiped the tears from my cheeks and faced the hallway where the sound drifted from. Had the parents of my students come to support me? I craned my neck and gasped.
“Is that Joanna Morgan?” I took a step back. What was the news reporter from Channel 10 doing here?
“It is.” Beckett sounded far more serene than I was.
My hands instinctively went to my hips to smooth out the imagined wrinkles there. Beckett snagged my hands within his own, forcing me to stop my nervous habit.
“Take a deep breath, babe,” he murmured into my ear, staying close behind me.
“Hello, Wren, it’s nice to see you again,” Joanna smiled her perfect million-dollar smile. She patted at her hair and gestured behind her for her camerawoman to come closer.
“Hello, Joanna Morgan.” Oh geez, why did I say her whole name?
She laughed, a raspy feminine chuckle that suited her. “Do you know why I’m here?”
I shook my head, my attention looking past her at the hopeful faces of the parents I’d been working with since September. Many of them waved at me, and a few shouted words of encouragement. It didn’t surprise me that Virgina and Vance London were not present.
Tears pooled in my eyes then broke free, flowing in a rapid stream down my cheeks. “Thank you all—”
“Get out of our way. We should be in front,” a loud voice grumbled from the back of the group, sounding an awful lot like my student, Jen.
Like a sea parting with Zoey at the lead and Jen elbowing those that got too close, my seven little Gemstone Club students emerged from behind the parents.
“Girls,” I whispered. My heart wanted to explode with happiness.
Zoey ran up to me and hugged me, with the other six not far behind. I wrapped my arms around them the best I could. Laughter burst out of me.How in the world had I gotten so lucky?These beautiful children were a shining light in my life and each one had taken a piece of my heart. Even if today didn’t go my way, I had this moment, this memory, to carry me for a lifetime.
“Violet?” Without her parents here, I was surprised to see her.
She gave me a tired grin. “My grandparents brought me.” She pointed to the older couple who waved when I glanced at them. Then I did a double take. Were Marjorie and Glen standing next to them with Beckett’s mom, Diana? Then my gaze swept the crowd and I noticed the Wolfe family not far behind them.
Following my gaze, Zoey grinned and waved at them.