For the Children

Her other hope was that neither of her sons ever had reason to look like that.

CHAPTER THREE

LEAH LOOKED UP from her desk outside Valerie’s office when Valerie entered their suite. “Did you detain him?”

“Yes.” She didn’t stop to chat.

In her office, hanging up her robe, Valerie concentrated on detaching herself from the image of Ben White. She couldn’t do her job if she didn’t. Nor could she be a good mother outside the job….

“What’s the little smile for?” Leah asked, walking into Valerie’s office a couple of minutes later.

She told her J.A. about the boys’ basketball tryouts that afternoon. And how their enthusiasm had completely consumed them. They just had to make that team.

“Do you know who the coach is?”

“Yeah, he’s that crossing guard I told you about.”

“The one who looks far too sexy to be a crossing guard?”

“I never said that!”

“Not in words, maybe!” Leah grinned, dropping into the chair in front of Valerie’s desk.

“What I’ve said is that it’s hard to believe someone who moves with his confidence is content standing on a street corner with a stop sign.”

“Do you have any idea how many times you’ve said it, though?”

Was she really talking about the man that much? She made a mental note to stop.

“It’s just that something about him strikes me, you know?” she said now, thoughts of the smile he’d given her that morning starting to replace the memory of the look in Ben’s eyes.

“Yeah, I know,” Leah said, her grin growing wider.

“Not like that.” Valerie picked up a pen, drew some lines on the top of a small pad of sticky notes. “He represents everything I haven’t known in a man,” she continued slowly. She and Leah had never spoken about anything like this before. “He sees the incredible value in children. He gives his time to them.”

“Isn’t that what Hal and the other male judges and probation officers and C.P.S. workers and attorneys do every day?”

“Of course.” Valerie glanced up. She couldn’t explain what made the guard different. He just was.

“So you think the boys will make the team?”

“I pray that they do.” She’d been offering up little prayers for days. “Neither of them is particularly tall or talented at handling the ball, but Brian’s a great shooter.” She chuckled. “I can vouch for that. We spent more time on the driveway this weekend than we did in the house.

“Besides, it’s just a junior-high team. At that age they let everyone who tries out have a place on the team, don’t they?”

Leah didn’t know.

Valerie didn’t, either. She just hoped to God the boys were chosen. Basketball was going to be Brian’s lifeline.

“You had a call from someone named Susan Douglas.” Leah passed a note she’d been holding across the desk. “Said she’s a friend of yours and needs to speak with you today. She was hoping before your morning calendar.”

Susan Douglas. It was turning out to be a day for difficult situations. She reached for the note. “I’ll call now.”

Leah stood. “I’ve never heard you mention her before.”

“I told you my husband died two years ago, in a car accident….”

“Yeah.” Her eyes filled with compassion, Leah sat down again.