The Christmas Child by Linda Goodnight Page B

nervous and uncertain about this new adventure even though she and Kade had reassured him in every way they could think of. It was hard to know what worried a child with no voice to express his feelings. So far, he made no attempt to communicate in writing either, a fact that concerned both Sophie and the special-needs director.
    Wanting to be sure he was okay, she made her way to the pod of four children seated around a grouping of desks. “How are things going over here?”
    â€œGood. We have everything done except our grocery list.” Zoey typed something on her laptop.
    â€œHow about you, Davey? Everything okay?”
    He nodded, his gaze moving around the classroom with avid interest.
    â€œHe’s helping us, Miss B.,” Delaney said. “He’ll be real good at decorating. See?” She tugged a drawing from beneath Davey’s hand and pushed it toward Sophie. “He’sdrawing and coloring the cookies so we can have a plan of attack when we start working.”
    Sophie’s heart warmed at the obvious attempt to include Davey. “I knew this team was perfect for him.”
    She leaned down to hug the girls’ shoulders.
    â€œYou smell good, Miss B.”
    â€œWell, thank you, Zoey. So do you.”
    The dark-haired girl beamed. “Mom let me use her sweet pea spray.”
    â€œMom” Sophie knew was actually her stepmother, Cheyenne Bowman, who ran the local women’s shelter. Zoey, already a strong child thanks to her father, had bloomed with Cheyenne in her life.
    â€œMiss Bartholomew?” Delaney said. “There’s a man looking in our door.”
    Sophie’s heart clutched. Biff liked order and quiet. He’d been accepting of her plan for Davey, but he was always a little sketchy about her loosely structured activities.
    She schooled herself to turn slowly and remain composed as though her classroom was not the loudest in the building. Before her brain could sort out the man’s identity, Davey shot up, nearly knocking over his chair, and raced toward the door.
    Sophie’s heart clutched for a far different reason. Kade McKendrick’s brown eyes squinted through the glass. When he caught her eye, he pointed a finger at Davey and raised his eyebrows.
    By now, Hannah, the nosy Rosy of fifth grade, had spied the visitor and plowed through her classmates like a bowling ball to open the door.
    â€œThank you, Hannah.” Sophie parted the sea of nosy students.
    â€œWho is he? Davey’s dad?” Hannah shoved her glasses up with a wrinkle of her nose and peered intently at Kade.“Are you Davey’s dad? Why can’t he talk? Is he really in fifth grade? He looks too little to me.”
    Davey had Kade’s legs in a stranglehold. Kade looked at Sophie with a dazed expression. “You do this all day?”
    Sophie chuckled. Everyone asked that.
    Irrepressible Hannah hadn’t budged. “I’m Hannah. If you’re not Davey’s dad, who are you? Are you Miss B.’s boyfriend? My mom says she’s too pretty to be an old maid, but she never goes out with anyone. Wait till I tell her.”
    Face heating up faster than a cookie oven, Sophie said more emphatically, “Hannah, please. You may go back to your group now.”
    The serious tone did the trick. Not the least offended, Hannah returned to her group, but the frequent glances and loud whispers about Miss B. and her boyfriend kept coming.
    â€œSorry,” Sophie said, cold hands to hot cheeks. “Hannah is a gossip columnist in training.”
    â€œI shouldn’t have interrupted.” He pointed back down the hallway, his tan leather jacket pulling open to reveal a black pullover. He looked really good this morning, shaved, hair in an intentional muss, and he smelled even better. She’d yet to distinguish his cologne, but she’d know it anywhere. The musk and spice had tortured her, deliciously so, on Saturday and had stayed