Millie's Second Chance (The Town of Pearl 4)

Dalton placed his hands on his hips and eyed the two boys. Immediately, they scrambled up off the mat and got back into line with the rest of the class. The other ten children were doing kickboxing drills on the bags with Dalton’s brother, Hank.

Dalton looked at the clock. It was nearly ten and class would be out soon. He had an hour before the next class started at eleven. That was a mixed martial arts class that was used as a training session for both firefighters like himself and Hank as well as deputies and law enforcement officers like their brother, Marco.

“Fall in!” he called and the children hurried to their positions.

“Attention!” Hank called the class to order and all the children lined up in order with their hands by their sides.

He looked at a few of the younger ones who were at their limit of concentration.

“Remember, when I say ‘attention’ you bring in your right foot to your left foot and stand tall with your hands by your sides.” He nodded his head as the few who made the errors fixed themselves.

“Very good, class. I expect there to be no other problems or unnecessary outbursts during Wednesday’s session,” Hank began to say then looked directly at Jacob and Thomas. Dalton held a firm expression as well, even though he wanted to chuckle at the sight of fear on Jacob’s and Thomas’s faces. They were so little and both Dalton and Hank were over six feet tall, ex-military, and highly trained.

“Yes, Sensei!” Thomas blurted out and the other children chuckled low but held it together. Maintaining their attention for the full hour at their young ages of five through eight was difficult at times.

“Be sure to practice your moves for the test Wednesday. You are all doing great.” Hank bowed his head, they did the same, and then he dismissed them.

* * * *

“Hey, what is that place over there?” Millie asked as she, Stacy, and Anna walked past Main Street.

“Oh, that’s Anthony and Jeremy Lewis’s brother’s place. It’s kind of like a mixed martial arts school, a combat training school for the law enforcement officers, firefighters, and even some military guys. Pretty cool stuff. They even offer classes to children,” Stacy told Millie, and Millie was surprised. She also felt a spark of enthusiasm.

“Really?”

“Hey, didn’t you do that martial arts thing for a while?” Anna asked.

“Sure did. I loved it until Stewart made me quit.”

“He made you quit? What for?” Stacy asked.

“He thought it wasn’t ladylike.”

“Asshole...” Anna sang the word as she took Millie’s hand and began bringing her across the street toward the dojo.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Millie asked as they crossed the street.

Anna looked over her shoulder at Stacy and winked. Stacy chuckled and Millie wondered what wasn’t being said amongst the friends.

As they approached the front window, they could see the class in session.

Millie smiled at the sight of such young children enjoying the training and discipline of the sport. Then she caught sight of a very large, tall man dressed in an all-black gi. One child

was sitting on top of another child.

“Oh my goodness, it looks like the Frost boys are at it again.” Stacy chuckled.

Millie smiled as the Sensei defused the problem and the children returned to class. She peeked to the right and saw another man leading the group. He was very tall as well and nearly identical to the first man. They had hard expressions.

“The first one in all black is Anthony and Jeremy Lewis’s brother, Dalton. The blond is their other brother, Hank,” Anna offered.

“Very sexy and mysterious men,” Stacy added.

“And feared, too. Not men to mess with from what the guys have talked about.”

“They look like they know what they’re doing. They seem to be doing great with the kids,” Millie stated, not taking her eyes off the two men as she watched them prepare to dismiss the kids.

“The parents think that Hank and Dalton are great. So do our men. Those two are disciplinary and strict. They both compete in mixed martial arts competitions, too,” Stacy added.