Acting The Part
Part 12
Paying no attention to the crowd of gawkers assembling on
the playground, William grinned and swung Melanie up into
his arms. "There's my princess," he said, loudly enough for
everyone around to hear.
"You mean me?" Melanie asked.
"Course I mean you." He gave her a squeeze. "Didja have fun in
school today?"
The child nodded. "We did vowel sounds today. As, Es, Is, Os, and
Us."
As always, she focused all of her attention on him, not once
looking around to see who might be witnessing the encounter
and reporting it the next day.
Buffy, on the other hand, very much wanted this vindication for her
daughter and hoped that every single one of the kids who'd been
picking on her were watching.
Smiling at William, she said, "How did you know where..."
"I followed you," he interjected, reaching for the drawing she
still had in her hand and looking it over.
His admission surprised her. "You're good. I didn't
notice you at all."
William shrugged. "I did a season and a half on 'Precinct Twelve'
I guess something stuck. This is very nice," he said to Melanie
as he inspected her art work. "What are you going to do with
it?"
"Mommy hangs stuff on the frigerator," she explained.
"Well, Mommy's very lucky to have so many of your pictures
to hang up. The only thing on my refrigerator is a reminder
from the vet that my dogs need to be wormed," he hinted
broadly.
She tilted her head slightly and wrinkled up her small
nose. "Ewww!"
Much as it had at the convention Q & A, their conversation
was drawing the attention of the people around them, people
fascinated at the rapport between the two.
"I'd love to have some of your pictures to put up," said
William, setting her back on her feet while keeping her
hand firmly in his.
After that, nothing would do except that he see her
classroom, and she dragged him willingly inside with her.
Buffy stayed by the door, watching as Melanie showed off
the evidence of her scholastic triumphs. Spelling tests with
large red 'A' s on them were stapled up on the "Look How
I'm Doing" board. A chart with the five food groups that she
had colored was displayed with others at the back of the
room.
"Why is the cheese purple?" William asked, bending over
to examine her work.
"I like purple."
"Of course."
Grabbing his hand, she towed him up front to introduce him
to the class mascot, a plump black and white hamster named
Oreo.
"I know it's none of my business," Miss Ashton said quietly,
standing next to Buffy and preventing anyone else from entering
the classroom, "but I'm beginning to think Melanie knew exactly what
she was talking about the other day."
With her arms folded across her chest, Buffy looked at the
teacher. "What do you mean?"
Miss Ashton smiled and nodded at William, who was now being
shown the contents of Melanie's desk. "He looks like pretty good
'Daddy' material to me."
Her cheeks tinted a light pink, Buffy watched her daughter peel
a gold foil star from a math test and stick it on William's shirt. "He
does, doesn't he?" she murmured softly.
*************************
After introducing him to her teacher, Melanie tugged William
outside again and pointed out the various landmarks of her
school, giving him a comprehensive tour of the swings and slides,
the cafeteria, and every single drinking fountain on the premises.
Gradually, some of the other children became braver, and the next
time Buffy looked around she saw him sitting on one of the swings
with Melanie in his lap and a group of kids gathered around them,
hanging on every word he said.
She slowly drifted closer, listening as he talked with the children,
patiently answering all their questions.
His affection for Melanie was plain for anyone to see, but what
surprised Buffy was the fact that she was sitting there...virtually
surrounded on all sides by a growing crowd, a situation she usually
avoided like the plague...calmly. She wasn't participating in the
conversation, but at least she wasn't hiding in the bathroom.
When the little group began breaking up, William vacated the
swing and carried Melanie back to where Buffy stood waiting.
"Thought maybe we could stop and get some ice cream," he
said.
"Before dinner?" the child asked incredulously. This was an un-
precedented event.
He shrugged and looked at Buffy, leaving it up to her.
She was in far too good a mood to give a lecture on proper
nutrition. "I think that's a great idea," she said, taking the hand
he held out to her.
Their fingers laced firmly together, he gave her hand a
squeeze as they walked towards the parking lot.
Without thinking twice, Buffy squeezed back.
********************
"Can you have dinner with us?" Melanie piped up from the back
seat of William's SUV. "Can he?" she immediately asked her mother.
They had returned to the parking area of the school and Buffy had
buckled Melanie into her booster seat. After being grabbed and
thoroughly kissed, she had driven her car home, followed by William,
and they had taken his car to the local Baskin and Robins.
Surprised at the initiative her daughter had just taken, Buffy auto-
matically nodded and said, "Sure. If you'd like to," she added as
he pulled into a parking space.
Turning the key and shutting off the engine, he turned to look
at her with a slow smile appearing on his face. "I would love to," he
said, his eyes telling her things he couldn't say in front of a six year
old.
Unable to keep a silly smile off of her own face, Buffy pushed open
the car door and climbed out. Melanie was already out of her seat
and was yanking at the inside door latch. "It's stuck shut," she
announced, looking out through the rear window.
William opened the door from the outside and held her hand
as she jumped down to the pavement. "It's not stuck," he said. "There's
a special lock that keeps little girls from opening it on the inside."
"How come?" Melanie asked, keeping tight hold of his hand.
William closed the door and smiled down at her. "So that it can't be
opened when the car is moving," he told her. "It's to keep you safe,
pixie. It's the first time I've ever used it," he said to Buffy.
As they crossed the parking lot, Melanie slipped her free hand
into her mother's. "We don't got one of those on our car, do we?"
she asked Buffy.
"No, baby. Maybe next time."
Melanie looked up at William. "Our door sticks shut a lot," she
said. "Sometimes Mommy has to kick it."
Holding the door open for them, he gave Buffy an inquiring look. "You're
having car problems?"
A little embarrassed, Buffy tried to shrug it off. "Nothing serious. It's
just an old car. You know how they are...there's all kinds of little things
that act up."
He said nothing for a moment, watching as Melanie examined the
various choices of ice cream available. "You know," he finally said,
"I have an excellent mechanic. Maybe he could take a look at it."
As much as she appreciated the offer, there was no way she could
afford to have the work needed to fully repair her car. She had been
letting the minor problems slide by, all the while hoping that nothing
major would crop up.
William noticed her hesitation and knew what was causing it. "It
won't cost anything," he added quietly. "He's a friend, he'll do it as
a favor."
He was an actor, and he knew how to deliver a line, but her ex-husband's
half baked stories had provided Buffy with on the job experience at recognizing
a snow job when she heard one, and she would be willing to wager that she
was hearing one right now. There wasn't a doubt in her mind that the
proposed repairs wouldn't cost HER one thin dime.
She didn't want to shoot him down by accusing him of duplicity,
especially when it was so obviously well meant. But, at the same
time, she wasn't about to have him owe money on her account, knowing
full well that he probably wouldn't allow her to pay him back.
Fortunately, Melanie saved her from having to turn him down by
announcing that she'd chosen one of the '31 Flavors' being offered
to her.
******************************
They sat at a small table in the far back of the shop.
Melanie worked diligently to keep the ice cream from dripping
down the sides of her cone.
William had opted for a dish, hoping that Buffy would do the
same. He knew that sitting there, watching her licking an
ice cream cone would result in an uncomfortable situation
for him.
Blithely unaware, she'd done the exact opposite of what he'd
wanted.
He kept his raging libido as calm as he could manage, until
his eyes zeroed in on a tiny smear of chocolate on the corner of
her mouth. The napkin holder at their table was empty, and he
sent Melanie back up to the counter to fetch some.
As soon as the little girl was out of ear shot, he leaned over
the table and pinned his gaze on Buffy's. "I want to lick that
chocolate off you with my tongue," he whispered. "It's killing
me."
His comment both aroused and unnerved her. Turning her head
for a moment to check on her daughter's progress, she decided
to go with the arousal.
"Go ahead," she whispered back.
William's eyes widened for a bare instant, and he wallowed in
the lust her words had caused in him. Cupping her chin, he
drew her closer until he could feel her warm breath on his
skin, then extended his tongue and lapped up the drop of ice
cream.
He lingered on her lips for a moment, nearly choking when
her tongue darted out and touched his.
Wondering who the uninhibited stranger occupying her body
was, Buffy pulled back seconds before Melanie walked up
with enough napkins to wipe every face within a three mile radius.
Shoving her chair back and jumping to her feet, she said, "Time
to go!" in a tone that sounded sickeningly chirpy to her ears.
******************************
Dinner that night was later than she normally served it.
Needing some time alone to re-group, Buffy turned down William's
offer to help. She located some leftover lasagna in the freezer
and reheated it, then tossed a simple salad of greens and tomato
wedges.
After putting the meal on the table, she went upstairs to
announce that it was ready.
Hearing quiet voices, she paused in the doorway to her
daughter's room, and her heart melted at what she saw.
William was sitting in the large rocking chair with Melanie in
his lap and a book open in his hands.
"Charlotte and Wilbur were alone," he read. "The families had
gone to look for Fern. Templeton was asleep. Wilbur lay
resting after the excitement and strain of the ceremony. His
medal still hung from his neck, by looking out of the corner of
his eye he could see it. 'Charlotte,' said Wilbur after a while,
'why are you so quiet?' 'I like to sit still,' she said. 'I've always
been rather quiet.' 'Yes, but you seem especially so today.
Do you feel all right?' 'A little tired perhaps.' "
Once again she compared William and Angel...and once again,
Angel came up short. He had never...not one time...sat in that
rocker with his daughter on his lap, reading to her.
It was another thing to add to the list she kept in her head of
things that Angel had never done; he had never changed
Melanie's diaper...or prepared a meal for her...or played a game
with her...or gave her a bath...or tucked her into bed at night. Small
wonder that the child had gone searching for a 'Daddy'.
She'd never really had one.
"Nothing can harm you now. These autumn days will shorten
and grow cold. The leaves will shake loose from the trees and
fall. Christmas will come, and the snows of winter. You will live
to enjoy the beauty of the frozen world, for you mean a great deal
to Zuckerman and he will not harm you, ever. Winters will pass,
the days will lengthen, the ice will melt in the pasture pond."
Buffy sat down on the side of Melanie's bed, just as engrossed
as she was.
"All these sights and smells and sounds will be yours to enjoy,
Wilbur. This lovely world, these precious days...."
The words he spoke were evocative. These WERE precious
days.
The first six years of Melanie's life seemed to have flown
by at the speed of light. Buffy could only imagine how fast the
next six would go.
Precious days...
For the first time, she found herself almost pitying Angel
for everything he had thrown away...all the precious days that
would never, ever come again.
TBC...
Feedback is appreciated.
Excerpt from 'Charlotte's Web' by
E.B. White.
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