The Handsome Father (3/15)
That Monday morning, Christy's face was brightened by the huge smile that she wore even though she was weighed down by bags and juggling a coffee that she'd picked up on her way here. Saying good morning to the cleaner, she stepped into the classroom and jumped when she saw two of the other teachers sat on her desk. Even though she'd only been a teacher here for a month, she'd formed close relationships with most of the staff but it was a shock to see them sat in her office. "How can I help you?" She asked putting her bags down on the table, her hand balancing on her hip as she saw them swapping glances.
"We read the papers this morning, Chris." However, she hated that they called her that and no matter how many times she'd corrected them, they'd literally just ignored her. So she moved to sit down behind her desk as she took a swig from her cup.
"Was there anything interesting in it?" She asked causing the year three teacher, Brian, to glare at her as he stood up and slammed her cup down on the table. She guessed that the innocent naive approach was just winding them up rather than helping her case. She sighed. "Guys, I assume you've learnt that James Hamilton is engaged to be married." She held up her left hand that didn't bear a ring. "I'm not the unlucky woman."
"So why the hell are you wearing that massive..." Brian asked pointing at her face before standing back, his arms wrapping across his chest as he nodded his head. Christy reached out and picked up her coffee cup before standing up. They had a staff meeting this morning in the staff room and there was no way she was going to be late because these two wanted to gossip. "So are you going to tell us about your new boyfriend?"
"Whoever said it was a boyfriend, Brian? I'm not rushing into another relationship. I'm taking this one..." she thought back to how they'd spent the weekend and decided that slow wasn't really the word she could use to describe the relationship she'd developed with Logan. "I don't know how I'm taking this one. I just know I'm not expecting wedding bells like I was with James." Brian just took hold of Sally's arm and followed Christy out of her classroom.
"You realise that you're going to have to tell us about this Prince Charming because I've never seen you that happy," Sally pointed out as she stepped into the office and smiled at her husband, the year six teacher. She walked over to sit with him, her lips pressing a kiss to his cheek but Christy went to stand beside Brian at the coffee machine. She'd met Brian at her interview last year and they'd immediately clicked, swapped numbers and met up all the time for drinks or a bite to eat. James had been jealous at first but had soon worked out that if Brian was to love anyone, it would be him.
"Do you want me to refill your posh coffee with this stuff they claim is coffee?" He asked holding out the plastic pot to her and she shook her head. She only liked to drink one coffee a day so that she didn't have coffee smelling breath, she'd always hated that in her teachers, but she always needed her morning coffee. It was a habit she'd had since she was fourteen and it had gradually got worse through her years of university. He put the plastic pot back down and looked over at the door as the headmistress moved into the room.
"Good morning," Mrs Ross said as she reached over and took Brian's mug from him, added a touch of milk and moved over to where her seat was. Brian turned back to the machine to make himself another cup of coffee. It was known that she never made her own cup and stole the one that she believed was the freshest. "I need someone to volunteer their time to help with the nativity this year as the drama teacher has fallen down ill," the fact she was staring straight at Christy and Brian made them both smile. "That's good to hear Miss Mitchell and Mr Reid. I'll expect your script and plan proposal on my desk by the end of the day."
"No problem," Brian said in a sarcastic tone causing Christy to elbow him in the side but everyone else smiled at him. "That means we'll need time to prepare so I propose that me and Miss Mitchell can have the assembly hall this morning to combine our classes so that we can work on the proposal but not stop teaching."
"That's fine," Mrs Ross said before continuing down on her list saying that the year six teacher had to have her children for the first set of mock exams that would be happening the week after next, the nursery teacher needed to have the paintings for the Autumn display ready by the end of the week and that the school harvest would be happening so the teachers needed to tell their children to bring in foods. "Now that's everything for this week. You may leave and call your classes in." She said standing up. Christy moved to throw her cup into the bin. "Miss Mitchell, I'd like a word with you please in my office." Christy looked over at Brian, her eyes wide as she feared that she'd done something wrong but he just shrugged his shoulders.
Following Mrs Ross down to her office, Christy sat down in the chair that the headmistress indicated for her. She'd been in this office before plenty of times for her interview, first days and even just when the headmistress wanted to give her a pep rally on how good she was doing but today she sensed it was something much more serious than that. So she found herself just smiling nervously as she waited for Mrs Ross to start talking about whatever it was that she needed to say to her.
Christy admired Mrs Ross as a woman. She'd been a fantastic teacher in her time, her walls were decorated with photos and thank you cards sent by parents saying that Mrs Ross had made that all time difference into their child's life. Even now at sixty, she could remember the name of every pupil she ever taught and she'd tell you stories of what they'd done. She was the maternal kind but had that strict streak when it came to making sure the pupils didn't get out of line. She was respected by the whole school and she'd even won several awards for the work she did. It was a tough community they were in and most of the children were watched by social services but that never stopped Mrs Ross from believing that they shouldn't be treated the same as the children whose parents pay for them to go to private schools.
"Miss Mitchell, I've brought you here today to talk about Felicity Jeffries. She is one of your pupils, yes?" Christy nodded her head unsure where this was going. "It is her meeting with social services tonight and I was hoping that you were prepared?"
Christy found herself nodding. When Mrs Ross had first told her that she'd need to keep a close eye on Felicity for this meeting, she'd been panicked but thankfully Brian had given her most of the information she needed thanks to being her teacher the previous year. He also insisted that he'd sit in on the meeting with her because if this went wrong then her career wouldn't go down so well. She'd been eternally grateful and they'd organised everything they needed to show the social services to show that Felicity's development had grown in strength over the years and that her father indeed did show the ability to help her with homework, her social skills and from the stories she told them, he showed her a lot of love.
"I do think I'm prepared, Mrs Ross. Mr Reid kindly helped me with the preparations. I do believe that Felicity has grown over the years and that her father is a great attribute to her development..." Mrs Ross raised her hand and shook her head.
"Sweetie, it's not me you have to say all that to. I trust your instincts, Miss Mitchell and I think that you'll make a great teacher because everyone needs a few years to develop." She praised and Christy couldn't help but smile. James had made her believe that she'd never make it very fair in the career that she'd picked but listening to Mrs Ross praise her always gave her hope in what she was doing. Christy was nervous but the meeting tonight but she knew that for Felicity's sake, she'd do well.
"Thank you, Mrs Ross." She said standing up, her hand shaking the headmistress' before she turned and left. Stepping into the hall, she smiled at her class that immediately smiled when they saw her enter. "I hope you were good for Mr Reid," Christy said before smiling at Brian, her head nodding to indicate that she was okay. "Did he tell you why we were together?" And on went the lesson.
Sitting at the computer, Logan found his aggression started to rise at the fact the damned thing had frozen again. It was god knows how many years old but he refused to get rid of it because his father had been convinced that it was the computer alone that kept the business running. Louisa was continually telling him that it was all him that kept it going but he didn't listen to her. Leaning back on the chair, he found his gaze moving towards the picture of Flissy that he always kept on his desk. He sighed as he thought of the meeting that he had tonight with her teachers.
He did this every year and he understood why he had to do it. Back at the beginning, he'd been a complete mess after Raquel's death that Louisa would have probably been Flissy's primary caretaker. He hadn't even complained that it was always Louisa Flissy wanted. He had actually preferred that. He'd enjoyed wallowing in his own grief to even care about Flissy's own needs. However one morning she hadn't gone to school and of course, they'd sent someone round to check that she was okay and they'd found Logan in an alcohol induced coma. He'd been out cold for two days and because Louisa was on holiday with her girlfriends, no one had noticed that Flissy was taking care of herself.
Logan had come out of the coma, had a harsh wakening when Louisa had yelled at him for the fact that if he wasn't careful that social services would take her away from him. Louisa had moved in with him then and had taken care of both Flissy and Logan. Logan weaned himself off the alcohol and became the model father that he was today. No one he met would ever believe him when he insisted that he had been a fuck up because everyone believed that he was just perfect.
Thinking of people that thought he was perfect, his thoughts drifted to Christy. She'd literally spent the whole of the weekend with him until she'd decided that he needed to go pick up his daughter and spend some time with her. He'd wanted to ask her to stay but she'd told him that she had to go home and get some work done before she went into work today so he hadn't fought out his case. He knew that she'd meet his daughter one day because he believed that Flissy would really like her and that was all that really mattered.
Finally the computer started working so he started working but he heard the door open and he looked up to see both Louisa and Lucas standing there. He sighed. It was typical they'd want to come talk now that his machine was working. If he left it to talk, it would stop working again and that was a promise but he could tell from their faces that they really needed to talk to him. "What's wrong?" He asked concentrating on the numbers, his hands working as he looked up at them for a moment and indicated for them to take a seat.
"We just thought we'd come make sure that you're ready for this meeting this afternoon, bro." Lucas said handing Logan a coffee before sitting down. Logan was grateful for the drink and took a long swig before deciding that he didn't care if the machine stopped working, he could see that his siblings really were worried about the meeting tonight.
"Guys, I promise you that I haven't done anything to mess this up. I've not drank heavily in five years, my relationship with Flissy is stronger than ever and I make sure that she can do everything that will get her ahead in her education. The worst thing that will happen is that the school decides to keep her on the list for another year or so and that doesn't knock me anymore because it shows that they really care about Flissy's wellbeing and at the end of all this that's all that matters."
"Nicely rehearsed speech," Louisa pointed out and Logan finally noticed how tired his sister looked. He sighed as he leant back in his chair. Louisa had never really had much going on in her life since their parents had died. She'd become a sort of recluse and the only thing she had going for her was the days she got to spend with Flissy and they were pretty rare now thanks to how well Flissy and Logan got on.
"Louisa, you really need to go out there and grab hold of life again. You realise that you're starting to look as if you're giving up on everything." He reached out and showed the family photo to her that their father had always kept on the desk, another item he didn't have the heart to throw away, so that she would smile. "I promise you that even if my speech is rehearsed that I will make sure the social services realise tonight that I've changed. You both know that."
"What about the girl?" Lucas asked and Logan looked over at him, his eyes narrowing into a glare. Why did everyone have to think that there were external factors that could muck this up?
"Now come on, you guys are the ones that made me go out and pull in the first place. Now that I've met someone I really like, you guys are being totally weird with me. I don't understand what goes on in your mind at times. I really don't." He said wondering when he had stopped being the head of this family and the one that was continually picked at by his younger siblings.
"What if she walks out on you? How are you going to cope?" Lucas asked and Logan just stared speechless for a few moments. He'd known Christy two days and these guys had them pegged in a serious relationship with wedding bells and broken hearts. Logan started to chuckle. This conversation was getting too surreal and he decided that he wanted it to end. Standing up, he moved towards the door and pointed to it.
"Guys, I have work to do and you're just distracting me. I shall phone you tonight and tell you how everything goes, okay?" His two siblings just exchanged glances before standing up and moving towards the front door but Lucas stopped as he turned to look at Logan.
"Your girlfriend's friend's wedding was in the society pages of the paper, Logan. I think you've entered more than you think with her," he said as his parting shot and Logan just rolled his eyes thinking he already knew that Christy's friends had money from the fact that he'd fought with James Hamilton, the son of one of the wealthiest men on the planet. He decided not to mention this and just shrugged his shoulders as he shut the door.
"You'll probably fall for Mr Jeffries," Brian said casually that night as they organised the classroom so that it was neat enough to hold a meeting. She looked over at him, her hand resting on her hips. She didn't really think that was an appropriate comment but she was now kind of curious to know why Brian would think that. She'd never really specified her type to the man so the father must be something incredibly special.
"Now why is that?" She said running a damp cloth over the surface of the tables and Brian chuckled.
"The guy is a real looker, he's so damned handsome that if he was gay I'd jump his bones. Every female teacher in this place gets all flustered whenever he moves into the building. He was a good husband to his wife. He was really heartbroken when she died according to the rumours to why Felicity is on the list." Brian pointed out putting Felicity's workbooks down on the table as she finished wiping it clean.
"She didn't meet her mum, I suppose?" Christy said working out from the fact that whenever they were to do a task about female role models, Felicity always asked if it was okay to do her auntie. Christy had felt awful the first time she'd realise that Felicity was motherless and she'd picked such a task.
"No. It was complications at birth. I doubt Mrs Jeffries ever met her daughter but Mr Jeffries did make Felicity's middle name Raquel after her," he said and suddenly she stood up, her eyes wide as she looked at Brian. Felicity's middle name was Raquel after her mother and her surname Jeffries. Jeffries was a common surname so she'd never really thought about that but now that was more than a coincidence. Brian saw that Christy was staring at him in horror. "What's wrong, Chris?"
"Do you happen to know what the father's name is?" She asked trying to think if it had ever been mentioned to her, praying that it wasn't her Logan because when he walked into this classroom it was going to be totally awkward.
"Of course I do. He always insists on being called Logan rather than..." she cursed as she ran her hands through her hair, her heart racing before starting to pace the floor. Brian moved over and took her inot his arms, his facial expression one of worry as he'd never seen Christy like this before. She'd always been calm and composed over any task that was given to her. "What's wrong, baby girl?"
"Logan is the guy I met this weekend. The guy I'm taking..." it dawned on Brian and he stared at her too, his own heart breaking at how it was tearing her up. "I shouldn't be here for this meeting. I need to go talk to Mrs Ross about this." Brian, however, knew that that was a bad idea and just shook his head.
"No. First of all, it's just us and Mr Jeffries. I'm sure he'll make sure to act normal in front of social services, Chris but you can't tell Mrs Ross that you've slept with one of your pupil's fathers. Could you imagine what that would do to you?" He pointed out and she found herself wanting to break down in tears. This was literally just her all over. She would meet an amazing guy that would turn out to be on the social services list meaning that his daughter was in her class. She sighed and nodding knowing that Brian was right, as always.
Flissy ran across the playground and jumped into his arms as she saw him move into the school grounds. She wrapped her arms around him tight and started to tell him that her teacher had started the work on the nativity that morning and that she was indeed going to audition this year to be apart because it was the years three and four that had been chosen to do it this year. Logan smiled. Flissy had always enjoyed taking part in school productions but every year she'd missed out on the nativity so he knew that this was her year. "Well done, baby!" He said pressing a kiss to her cheek before putting her down on the ground and taking hold of her hand.
He smiled at Mrs Ross as she met him at the front door, "Mrs Ross, it's been too long since I saw your smiling face!" He said using his normal charms that he knew worked on all the female staff at the school. It slowly got annoying that they all seemed to have thoughts about him but he could also see that it helped his case.
"And yours too, Mr Jeffries." She said shaking his hand and leading him into the school. "As you know, the social services would like to talk to young Felicity first but I'll take you to meet her class teacher. This year she'll be assisted by Mr Reid because she's one of our NQT's and I think this would be throwing her in the deep end."
"That's understanding of you," he said allowing Mrs Ross to take hold of Felicity's hand as she led her into the head's office before coming back out and smiling at Logan, leading him down the corridor where he knew Flissy's classroom was. Moving inside, Mrs Ross reminded him of Flissy's teacher last year, Mr Reid and he did the customary shaking of his hand and saying that it was good to see him again.
"This is Felicity's year four teacher, Miss Mitchell." Logan found himself staring at Christy in shock as she held out her hand to him, her own smile a little forced as she shook his hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr Jeffries."