Devil Moon (27 page)

Maddie returned from the kitchen holding the key out for him. "Here it is. Thank you so much for everything."

He took the key from her fingers, pocketed it and then grabbed both of her hands. "Thanks. So when's your next doctor's appointment?"

"Why?"

"Answer the question, woman."

"I'm supposed to have an ultrasound on Wednesday at four."

"I'll go with you."

"You don't have to do that."

"I want to be there."

"Oh."

"I know it hasn't penetrated that organized brain of yours, but I'm in this for the long haul. You're stuck with me. Like glue. Like super glue." Tugging her close, he gave her a quick kiss. "Get some rest. I'll see you."

He walked out the door whistling, "
Yes Sir, That's My Baby
."

* * *

After Phil left, exhaustion caught up with Maddie and she napped for three hours. The setting sun sent amber rays through the window as she stumbled into her kitchen. Her foggy head needed a definite dose of medicinal chocolate. She'd baked a devil's food cake to celebrate Halloween. At least that was this week's excuse. Fortified with a sliver of cake and a cup of tea, she pondered the coming week. She turned on a CD to fill the lonely house with a sense of company. Funny, when had she started to think of her house as lonely?

Plopping down on her sofa, she picked up a motherhood magazine and began turning pages when a scratching at her back door caught her attention. A tremor of fear pulsed through her body. After the ghosts and goblins of the previous evening, a multitude of bizarre possibilities crossed her mind as to the origin of the noise. The scratching continued, now accompanied by a whimper.

"Get a grip, Madeleine," she said, as she marched to the door.

Pushing the small window curtain away, she flipped on the light and peered through the glass.

A dark head about three feet high waited at the door. The head tipped back, revealing two yellow eyes and a flopping red tongue from a doggy mouth. Lucifer recognized her, barked a friendly canine greeting and scratched the door again.

She cautiously turned the knob and stuck her head out. "What are you doing here? Go home!"

Lucifer flopped down on his stomach, crossed his paws and whined up at her.

"Oh, good grief. I'm not a dog person."

He howled.

"This isn't a good time."

He bayed.

"Well for heaven's sake. All right, but this is only a visit. And you'll have to take a bath."

As she opened the door, he rose and entered the threshold as if he owned the place.

"Come on," she said as she trudged toward the bathroom. She plugged the tub and turned on the faucet. Lucifer's big body brushed against hers as he jumped into the rising water. She half-expected him to take off her hand when she gingerly ran a soapy washcloth across his black back and down his muscular haunches. But he stood stoically and occasionally the muscles between his eyes twitched as if he truly enjoyed being stroked.

Within the hour, a clean-smelling Lucifer lay snoozing before her fireplace. He'd even let her brush his teeth.

They spent a companionable evening together as Maddie made dinner and began to relax. Lucifer snarfed up his ham and cheese sandwich, sniffed his way around the house and slept again at her feet as she watched TV. He went out before bedtime, which she hoped signaled the end of his visit, but persistent door scratching dispelled that thought.

Too tired to argue, she opened the door and said, "Fine." The two retired to her bedroom.

Lying in her bed, she gazed at the dark creature asleep on the floor next to her. She searched for the normal terror to big dogs that had been a part of her psyche for most of her life. Amazingly, her stomach wasn't churning, her hands weren't clammy. She felt calm. The usually uptight, anal Miss Harris took a deep breath. A small part of her had been set free, released from a life-long fear. Maybe this was just the beginning.

The phone rang. She glanced at the clock. 10:30. Who could be calling so late?

"Hello?"

"Hello, cupcake. How are you? Any ghost sightings tonight?" Phil's voice poured over her like warm honey.

"Grammy probably used up her ectoplasm last night. But I've been entertaining a gentleman friend all evening."

His voice acquired an edgy tone. "Yeah, who?"

"You met him last night. Dark hair, piercing yellow eyes, three feet tall and four legged."

Phil chuckled. "I'll be damned. You sure you're safe with him?"

"I appear to be stuck with him." At that moment, Lucifer sighed and peeked at her through droopy lids.

Phil yawned into the phone. "This has been one helluva weekend for you, hasn't it? Kidnapped, rescued, annulled, adopted by a big dog and finding out a mug like me is the father of your baby."

She asked the question that had been running through her mind. "How did you know, Phil? How did you know I was the woman by the lake?"

"The moles. Those three little love dots you keep under wraps most of the time. I must have known it was you at some level, but when I tied the cape around your neck in the locker room, I suddenly had a hunch." His voice lowered. "That's a very erogenous zone on you, isn't it, sweetheart?"

"Oh…" Maddie flushed as her fingers went to her throat. Suddenly the memory of that summer evening came into full focus. She could feel his mouth on her throat as he held her on Grammy's quilt.

"Listen, babe, I'd love to have phone sex, but I don't think you're that kind of girl and I'd like to hold out for the real thing. I just called to check on you and say good night."

He was melting her down. "Good night, Coach. I don't think you're an insufferable lout anymore."

"Well, that's a load off my mind. I don't think you're such a pain in the ass. So, I guess we're making progress."

* * *

Phil and Maddie took their relationship one day at a time. During staff meetings, he winked at her when no one was looking. She tried to wrap up into her stern assistant principal persona and not respond to his inappropriate behavior, but she found herself grinning and winking back.

Their trip to the doctor in Bentonville wound more strings of attachment around them as they watched an image of their child floating in Maddie's womb.

She whispered in wonder. "I'm just sure it's a boy."

Phil clinched his jaw and squeezed her hand hard to keep his emotion in check.

A couple days later Maddie helped Phil pick out a new bicycle for Melissa's birthday. Maddie baked a cake (devil's food, of course) and took it to football practice where the team celebrated their water girl's twelfth birthday and presented her with the shiny red ten-speed bike. Maddie fought back those darn tears as she watched Phil's eyes sparkle when he hugged Melissa, then told her to take two laps for telling corny jokes.

Life's busy routine kept them apart. He had football practice and papers to grade. She had reports to do and meetings to attend. And pregnancy-induced fatigue engulfed her with irritating regularity. In the afternoons, she'd swivel her big chair toward the window and take a little nap, hoping she wouldn't fall onto the floor.

When Reba hadn't returned to school a week after Halloween, Maddie drove to the Finn homestead to check out the situation. The change in the place amazed her. Scraggly grass around the ramshackle house had been mowed and most of the junk in the yard hauled off. A gray-haired man with a country, friendly face stood painting the outside clapboard while a wide-hipped woman hung clothes on a line.

The screen door opened as Maddie turned off her engine. Reba waved, scampered down the steps and came to the car. Autumn wind swirled her hair.

The dogs gathered around Reba's legs, but she told them to go away and they trudged back to a spot under the house. Maddie eased her way out of the car, only mildly apprehensive about the dogs. She'd come a long way.

"Hello, Reba. We've missed you at school. How are you? How is your family?"

The sun shone on Reba's red hair. "We're doing okay. That's my grandpa and grandma—my mom's parents. Pa wouldn't let them come around much. ‘Don't want them messing with our lives,’ he said. But I called them right off when I got home and they've been taking care of everything."

"Where's the rest of your family?"

"The boys and Faith are at school. They've missed too much as it is and I can get a lot more done around here without them. Ma is in the house. She's awful wore out. The cops have been around and we've had to deal with them. Pa's still in the county hospital with a lot of busted bones. When he gets better, he'll probably go straight to jail. There won't be any trial. His lawyer is working out a plea bargain."

Maddie inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't relish re-telling the night of her abduction before a courtroom of people. Fending off questions from curious students was bad enough.

She pulled her jacket a little tighter against the wind. "I hope you'll be coming back to school soon."

"I'll be back next week. You can bet on it. I know I need to get an education. I don't want to be trapped in minimum wage jobs my whole life."

Maddie nodded in approval. "Nobody can ever take a good education away from you."

Reba reached down and picked up one of the cats circling her feet. "And Mr. Bailey called and said he still wants me to play that part in the musical. I've been practicing real hard." Her eyes glittered with excitement.

"You're going to be wonderful." Maddie's eyes misted realizing her best wishes for the girl might come true. She couldn't resist wrapping an arm around Reba and giving her a big hug. "I know you've had a rough time of it, but you have a special gift that's going to carry you far. I can feel it in my bones."

* * *

Maddie joined Phil at McDonald's before school one morning. She fretted over decaf coffee and yogurt as he plowed into a greasy special. "I'm afraid McCall is going to fire me when all the details of my private life come out. Pregnant after a one night stand. A quickie marriage and a faster annulment. I'll soon be a blooming example of unwed motherhood. I'm not setting a very good model for the students of Beaver Cove High School."

"Your personal life isn't anyone's business except yours." He wiped his mouth on a napkin. "As for your model for Beaver Cove students, these kids are lucky to have a class-act like you on their side. I see the way you encourage them to broaden their thinking. Face it, there are a lot of kids going on to college because the vice principal worked nights and weekends hunting down scholarships on their behalf. And you're all over that school promoting the Science Fair, the Foreign Language Club, finding members for the Debate Team. You name it, Miss Harris is sticking her pretty nose in it. McCall would be an idiot to fire you over appearances."

Maddie wasn't so sure. "I'm worried about Randy's job, too. He's being discreet about his relationship with Brent, but he's not keeping it a secret. The school board may give McCall a bad time."

Phil patted her hand. "I'll handle it. Don't worry. I'll play my ace in the hole."

"And what might that be?"

Phil winked. "Arkansas football-mania."

* * *

Phil took the bull by the horns. He entered McCall's office that morning and laid it all out on the table.

Sitting behind his paper-laden desk, McCall shook his gray wooly head as he pieced it together. "So let me get this straight. My prim assistant principal is four months gone with your baby, but she didn't know it was yours until recently. And she'd already married the gay drama teacher to keep her job, but he's now dumping her for his boyfriend."

Phil hooked his ankle on his thigh and leaned back in his chair. "Something like that."

McCall yanked open a desk drawer and pulled out a super-sized bottle of Tums
.
"And you want me to just overlook all this and let everybody keep their jobs."

"If you want to keep a winning football team, that's what I suggest."

After chewing a handful of antacids, McCall said, "I run a tight ship here. I run it my way—McCall's way. I've worked hard at earning my autonomy with the school board. Gossip about a promiscuous assistant principal is going to send them flying over here like a flock of pecking geese. It might be easier on Maddie and the school if she just tenders a quiet resignation."

The muscles in Phil's stomach clenched. If Maddie lost her job, it would be his fault. He'd been the one fully awake, stone cold sober that night. Christ, would he never stop screwing up!

Phil rose and leaned over McCall's desk. "Come on, Doug. This is Arkansas, the state that sent Bill Clinton to the governor's mansion and the White House. You can lay on your Southern charm and pull in some favors. Do this for me, and I swear I'll bust my butt to get you a state championship within three years."

McCall's eyes gleamed. A state championship. God, he'd love to wave that trophy in front of some stuck-up, big-headed administrators he knew. McCall sighed and wagged a beefy finger. "You'd better keep winning ball games, son. And you might think about marrying the girl yourself."