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“Here we go, Elizabeth,” Edward said as he parked in front of a very prestigious brick building. Elizabeth looked up and saw they were at school so she handed back her MP3 player. She straightened her uniform and helped him carry the boxes of cookies to her class.
“Good morning, Elizabeth!” her teacher said cheerfully. She was a fifty something year old woman who absolutely adored the children and didn’t give a rat’s ass who their parents were. All of the children were treated equally and got away with zip, which is why Edward liked this school.
“Good morning, Mrs. Goodfellow.” Elizabeth said shyly. “Daddy brought me to school today. We brought cookies!”
“I see that. You did a good job remembering. Do me a favor, sweetie, say goodbye to Daddy and put your bag away and sit in the circle for story time. Stephanie is about ready to start,” Mrs. Goodfellow said, sending Elizabeth off, but not before she looked at Stephanie and groaned. This was clearly Mary’s sister.
It was confirmed when Edward looked at Stephanie. The girl looked him up and down and actually licked her lips provocatively in front of the kids. She was a pretty girl, but had nothing on his Dana. She also had a bitchy look to her. He wasn’t sure if he felt that way because he knew she was trashing his wife or he really thought she did. He didn’t care either way.
“Mrs. Goodfellow, I need to have a word with you and the principal,” Edward said.
“Oh, is there something wrong, Mr. Pierce?” she asked. Damn if she didn’t look like his Grandmother.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said.
She nodded solemnly and picked up the receiver from the large phone on her desk. “This is Mrs. Goodfellow, can you send Mr. Paulson down here. Mr. Pierce needs to talk to us….yes thank you.” She hung up. “Five minutes.”
“Thank you,” Edward said.
Several little girls and boys walked up to him. “Hey, I know you! You’re on the poster in my sister’s room. You’re cute!” a little girl with pig tails said.
“Yeah, my sister has his poster, too. She says she’s in love with him! But she shouldn’t because he’s Elizabeth’s daddy and her mommy is super nice!” another little girl said.
“Is Dana coming by again?” a little girl with fiery red hair asked. “She’s fun. I like it when she’s the parent helper. The babies are so cute!”
“I’ll ask her,” he said, bending down so he could talk to them.
A little boy gently grabbed his sleeve and pulled. “What’s up little man?” he asked the adorable little boy with messy blonde hair.
“I’m going to marry Dana,” he said confidently.
“Oh, that would make me very sad, buddy. What will I do?” Edward said.
The little boy shrugged. “I’ll trade you my favorite game for her!”
“Hmm, what game?” he said, considering his choices.
“Boppy Bubbles!” the little boy replied with a firm nod.
“I don’t know. That’s a good game, but Dana cooks really well. I don’t know. What else do you have?” Edward asked.
The little boy’s face scrunched up as he thought about it. “You can take my sister! She’s really annoying, but pretty! I wouldn’t mind making the trade, honest!”
Edward chuckled. “I’ll have to think about it.”
“Really?” the little boy grinned hugely.
“Yup, but I have to warn you she’s very strict about video game and television time, only an hour a day,” Edward said in a soft warning tone.
The boy’s face dropped. “Forget it, you can keep her!” He stormed off.
Edward chuckled. Mrs. Goodfellow was trying her best to hide her laughter, but doing a poor job of it.
“My brother has her magazine under his bed. Why does he do that? Isn’t it going to get wrecked?” the girl with red hair asked.
“Er….” Edward was at a loss for words.
Mrs. Goodfellow let out a snort of laughter and quickly clamped her mouth shut. She couldn’t help at the moment even if she wanted to, and he suspected she very much wanted to steer the conversation another way.
“My brother has it in his bathroom. I think he really likes the articles, because it’s worn out and he’s in there for like forever.” the little girl with pig tails announced.
“My Daddy has the magazine in his sock drawer and in the bathroom!” a little boy announced.
Edward looked up at Mrs. Goodfellow for help, but she was past being able to help. What was he supposed to say to these kids when he himself had a copy of the magazine in the bathroom, hell he had the eight by tens pinned up around his desk in the office. Dana rolled her eyes every time she looked at them. She didn’t understand because she wasn’t a guy. He liked a little eye candy now and then and she was like a freaking candy factory for him, and apparently for many of the men in these children’s lives.
“My brother’s magazine is wrecked, the pages are stuck together,” one little boy complained.
His jaw dropped.
“Oh lord,” Mrs. Goodfellow mumbled.
“They just really like the magazine. It’s very interesting. There are a lot of good stories in it. But perhaps you shouldn’t touch them. Remember it’s not nice to touch someone’s stuff without permission,” Edward said, proud of himself that he was able to form a coherent sentence at the moment.
“He’s right, children. When we don’t ask what do we do?” Mrs. Goodfellow prompted the children.
“We ask for trouble,” they said in unison.
“Let’s go sit down,” Mrs. Goodfellow said, clasping her hands together. They turned on their heels quickly and ran to the reading circle.
“I’m sorry about that,” Edward said, feeling a little more than embarrassed that they’d been inadvertently talking about other men jerking off to his wife. It made his stomach turn when he thought about the lascivious thoughts other men had about his Dana.
“Oh, don’t be. Dana is a very beautiful woman and the article they wrote in that magazine was very nice. It’s good to see a woman struggle through hardships and come out on top,” Mrs. Goodfellow said adamantly.
“Mrs. Goodfellow?” Mr. Paulson said, popping his head into the room.
“Stephanie, can you watch the students? I’m stepping into the hall for a moment.”
She nodded and did a once over on Edward again. It made his skin crawl the way she looked at him in front of his daughter. He went into the hall. Mr. Paulson shut the door behind him. Thankfully no one else was in the hall. This was going to difficult enough to talk about without witnesses.