"Look at you go!" Jack swims over to Luke and adjusts his blue goggles red water water wings that say 'lifeguard' on them with a white cross. "You're like a shark" 

""Nope, I'm a Megalodon!" Luke screams over the splashing water. "Watch me, Mr. Jack" And he jumps off the small  submerged ledge that runs the length of the pool and splashes his way towards a floating ball in the middle of the pool. Ringo paddles along with him, the shark fin of his lifejacket bobbing with his movements.

Cole is sitting in the water with me on the big flat, shallow area of the pool. He has a bucket that he is enjoying filling and dumping water on me.  Cole squeals in delight everytime he takes a full bucket and dumps it on my head. It feels good to see the boys happy. They seem to really love it here and have forgotten all about the cold.

And the boys are getting along so well. All three of them.

It's fun to see Jack with the interact with boys. Maybe it's because deep down he always wanted kids, and now, here they are and he is going to make every minute count.

The weird thing, neither Luke nor Cole have mentioned Ben or his family once. Good or Bad. I don't know what to think about that, but I hope that once the novelty of being in a new house in a new enviorment geared toward them, they will start to talk. Maybe one day, Ben will get the help he needs and he can be a healthy part of their lives.

But for now, they are happy and healthy and safe, and that's all I can ask for.

"I think it's almost time for lunch" I yell over to Jack and Luke as a bucket of water is dumped on my head.

"No! Ten more minutes, Mom." Luke screams "I'm about to race Mr. Jack!"

Jack is standing in the water and he looks at me and shrugs his shoulders. "We have one more race, The is the tie breaker. You should be the referee."

"I'll be the referee then we can have some lunch."  I stand up and look down at Cole. "Are you going to be my co-referee?"

"Yep" extending his hand to mine, I pull him up. Stepping out on the pool deck, we walk across from where
Jack and Luke are. "Ready! Set! Go!"

Luke swims splashing and not in a straight line, but in the right direction. Jack stays right behind him, touching off the bottom and pushing himself towards me. Jack looks up and meets my smile.

Luke touches the edge and Cole screams "Luke won!"

"Yay! Luke won!" I grab a towel and help Luke out of the pool. He's coughing from swollowing some water. "Great job! You too Jack!"

"Good job, Mr. Jack!" Luke turned around to congratulate Jack. My heart melts.

"Good job, Buddy!" Jack grabs the side of the pool and straightens his arms to pull himself up, like he is jumping or vaulting out of the pool.

That's pretty hot to watch his wet body to that!

I hand Jack a towel. Jack dries his hair and it stands straingh up,  he wraps the towel around his waist. Yep, He looks good in a towel too. I lean in and smooth his hair down and push some behind his ear as give him a quick kiss.

"You guys want peanut butter and jelly?"

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Luke and Cole scream and run inside dripping.

"They have a lot of energy." Jack comments as he stretches, hinting at a nap.

"You can take a nap if you want." I dry off and we head inside with the behind the boys.

Gabrielle, Ramone's wife, is inside and already has the boys dried off and sitting at the island with a glass of milk in front of them while she is busy making them sandwiches. "Hello, Miss Isa. I'll have sandwiches for you too."

I don't like how Gabrielle and Ramone address us with Miss. And Mister. But it is a formality used in the islands. I think I like things less formal.

Cole takes a sip of his milk. "This isn't milk!" He screams, unsure if he is still using his 'outside voice' or he is not happy with the milk.

"What wrong with the milk?" I look at the milk carton. It's whole milk. I'm guessing Ben gave them skim milk?

"Cole, that's the milk we have, it's my taste a little different, but its still very yummy and it will help you build strong bones." Cole sits the milk down and doesn't say another word about it. But, he doesn't drink it either. Strange.

Gabrielle sits a plate down in front of both of the boys. She used a star-shaped cookie cutter to cut their sandwiches into stars. "They are starfish" she explains to them.

"Momma, do Megalodon's eat starfish?" Luke screams.

"I believe they would if they came across them. Luke. Please use your inside voice" I answer. But of course I have no idea what Megaladons eat and if they would eat peanut butter and jelly starfish.

Luke eats an arm off the starfish. "I think they would eat them too if they could." He says much quieter.

Cole eats all his starfish too.

"And here are yours." Gabrielle sets down a plate with two starfish for me and Jack.

"Thank you, Gabrielle!" I take them both and walk over to Jack and hand him one. The boys are busy thinking up what else Megalodons would eat for lunch.

"I thought you were a better swimmer than that?" Jack pretends to he hurt when I poke him on his hard chest.

"We all have our off days. Besides, He's good!" Jack looks over towards Luke. "Hard to beat"

"Well, I think he adores you." Moving next to him so I can lean against him and watch the boys. "Did I tell you how wonderful you are today?"

"Nope, not yet." Jack's face looks a little smug. He's so attractive when's he's smug too.

"Thank you, again."

"Please stop thanking me." Jack puts his arms around me and lifts me up so my lips are on level with his. "I told you I would do anything for you." He kisses my lips and sets me down slowly and carefully.

"Momma, Can I have some more starfish?" Luke interrupts loudly.

"I will make some more." Gabrielle says. "You too Cole?" 

"Yes, Please." Cole is very polite and much quieter. "I will take another."

Gabrielle gets busy and making starfish.

"What are we going to do the rest of the day? They will be all fueled up and ready to go." Jack asks. "We could bring them for a walk down on the beach or something."

"That would be fun." I look up "I wish we knew someone with some kids their age that they could play with."

"Remember that school I showed you when I took you on a tour of the island?" What is he getting at?

I remember that day in the dangerous jeep. The school was very nice. I eyed him. "I remember."

"The Gifft School. They have a little pre-school." Jack looks over at the boys. "We can go check it out, if you like it, let's send them a few days a week."

"You mean, enroll them in pre-school?" I never thought about them going to school. I have always thought they would be with me. I guess I never thought that far ahead into the future, and now the future is here.

"Yes, they'll meet some other kids on the island and learn new things."  This would get them more settled. Help get them on a schedule. Jack does have good points as he continues. "You want to take another ride after we get cleaned up?"


#

When we arrive at the Gifft School, the preschool kids are out on their dedicated playground that is surrounded by a brick fence. It reminds me of the brick fence on the cover of the "Secret Garden" I read as a little girl. The bricks made an archway at the gate making it even more enchanting.  Next to the gate, is a bronze bell that acts as a door bell. It's very quaint.

Jack rings th bell. A tall brunette woman comes to the gate and lets us in.

"Good morning! You must be Jack and Isa." She unlatches the gate and lets us in. "And you must be Luke and Cole. I'm very pleased to meet you." She shakes our hands and when she got to Luke and Cole, she extended her hand but they wouldn't take it.

"I think they are a little nervous." I make an excuse, but I'm nervous too.

"I'd like to show you around." Mrs. Stackpole smiled. "Obviously, this is the playground. We have three teaching assistants that will be out supervising the children when they play." She points them out. They are watching or speaking with some of the kids. "We have about twenty-five children in the preschool program. We like to keep it small so we can give a lot of one on one attention."

Mrs. Stackpole heads indoors and we follow her. She points the restrooms are over there. We have a kitchen here where we make a nutritious lunch and snacks. First thing I notice is everything is spotless.

We follow into a big open room. "We have a pretend-play area in this section." We walk over and there are wooden versions of appliances. "There is a water table in the center, it can get a little messy. We hang their aprons over there on the wall. We change it out with a sand table every few weeks."

"We have dressup over there" Mrs. Stackpole pointed. And then, we she took us over into a sound-proof room. This is our music room. Luke's eyes lit up when he saw the instruments. "We have some of the high school kids, who are very talented musicians, come down and work with the younger kids. Help teach them the basics."

Luke steps out from behind me. "We get to use all these?"

"Yes, Luke. You will learn how to properly treat the instruments and play if you are interested in learning more about them."

"Oh. I am." I'm so glad something is finally interesting Luke. "Mr. Jack plays music."

"He does? What does he play?" Mrs. Stackpole doesn't know who Jack is? Weird? I thought everyone on the island knew who he was.

"Jack plays guitar." Luke says proudly. "Play a song!" Luke runs over to Jack and jumps up and down. "Please play a song for Mrs. Stackpole."

"I don't mind if you don't" Mrs. Stackpole smiles and shrugs her shoulders. Cole is still clinging to my leg.

"All right. Just a quick one." Jack pick up the biggest acoustic guitar that is there in the stand and quickly tunes it. "I am retired you know."

"Yay! Jack!" Luke looks up at Mrs. Stackpole. "This is going to be so good." She smiles.

Jack gets the guitar fully tuned. "This is an oldy but a goody"

None of his songs are appropiate for a preschool. They are primarily about women and drinking. I can't imagine what song he will sing.

Then he starts picking away and sings the first verse of "House at Pooh Corner." A perfect choice for a preschool.

"That was wonderful, Jack!" Mrs. Stackpole applauds. "Bravo!"

"See! I told you! I told you Mr. Jack can play the guitar." Luke is jumping up in down.

"I want to play guitar like Mr. Jack!" Luke screams.

"Luke! Inside voice." Opening my hands flat, I motion downwards signaling to lower the volume.

Cole laughs at his brother and we follow Mrs. Stackpole out of the room and into a library.  It is bright and full of short bookcases full of children's books. There are cubbies and nooks built in all over the room so the students can pick a book and spend so alone time to read. "This is a beautiful." I say looking around at all the framed posters of illustrated book covers. If I went to school here when I was the boy's age, I would have never left this room.

"The kids also make use of the art room in the main school as well as the gym when the weather isn't very nice. We also have a professional counselor on staff should your children need help with their transition to a new school."

I think back to the boys' odd behavior around milk. They still won't drink it. And they've been away from their father for two weeks, but they've never mentioned him or his parents. We might be making an appointment with the counselor sooner than Mrs. Stackpole expects.

"This is all very nice," I say, as Luke takes my hand. "What do you think? Would you like to go to school here?"

Luke looks up at me and then Jack. And then Mrs. Stackpole. "I want to go here!"

Cole, who has been hiding behind me the whole time we have been on the tour, suddenly piped up. "I want to go here too." He stays concealed, but I can tell from his voice, he is happy. He will go where his brother goes.

"I'll leave you here to talk while I call  over to the admissions office. They can answer any more querstions you may have." Mrs. Stackpole extends her hand again to shake. "It was very nice to meet you."

"I'll see you in class" Luke says to her as he takes her hand.

"I hope so." She laughs. "Goodbye, Cole. Nice meeting you."

"Bye!" Cole sticks his hand out and waves at Mrs. Stackpole as she leaves the library.

"This is beautiful.  What do you think, Jack.?"

"I want you to feel comfortable where you send these guys. I think they will be very well taken care of here."

"Me to. Maybe trial basis?"

"Trial basis it is."

"I can't believe I'm doing this. Giving the boys away when I just got them back."

"Sweetie, you aren't giving them away."  Jack consoles me. "You are giving them the beginning of a great future. You are giving them the opportunity to meet friends. Didn't you have friends when you went to school?"

This comment makes me think. Of course I had friends. And I even had classmates who later became friends—Suzanne has been a lifeline this year. Jack is right. The boys need friends too. They need other people in their life other than me. "Yes. You're right." I smile when I realize that my little boys are growing up, fast. "You are absolutely right."

A few minutes later, a very petite woman in her late fifties maybe? Came in to the library and escorted us to the office 

We all sat together at a big confrence table. Once we were finished filling out the  stacks enrollmenet paperwork for both boys, she clipped it carefully into the folders she made for each of the boys.

"Welcolme to The Gifft School. We look forward to seeing you both on Monday." She addressed the boys. Then she turned to Jack. "Mr. Kendall." I see her eyelashes flutter. "I am a huge fan."

"Oh, Well, thank you." Jack sounds like he is caught off guard.

"If it's not to much to ask, I know you have already signed a bunch of paperwork already. But, can you sign my..." she gets up and goes over to her desk and looks around and grabs a red inhaler and a sharpie and brings it over to him. "Can you sign this for me?"

"Your inhaler?" Jack questions her and he takes them out of her hands and scribbles his signature on the case and hands it back to her.

"Thank you so much!"

"Now you'll think of me when you are having an asthma attack." Jack jokes, but I somehow don't think he is. "Are we all set here?"

"Yes, other than the payment. Will you be paying in full or doing a payment plan."

"I don't do payments. I'll have my accountant get in touch with you this afternoon."

"Very well. Thank you again. Welcome to the Gifft School Family." She goes over to a file cabinet and takes out some school T-shirts and hands each of us one.

"Thank you." Luke says and puts his new shirt on immediately.

Our ride home, I held Jack's hand tight. "I know you don't want me to say thank you anymore. But, thank you." I reach across the wide console of the Expedition and give him a kiss on his cheek. "You really did a lot for these boys today."

"I think they will do well there." Jack pulls off the main road and we start climbing the long curvy driveway up to the house.

"I think you should record a children's album." I sit back in my seat waiting for him to say something and when he doesn't, I keep talking. "I love that Kenny Loggins song you sang today. That was so appropiate."

"Loggins wrote it, Loggins and Messina sang it"

"Sorry, Loggins and Messina.. It's was still a perfect song and the way you sang it was so sweet."

"Thanks" Jack takes my hand as the Expedition climbs the drive.

No noise is coming from the back seat. "Boys are asleep. You want to go on a quiet ride and let them nap?"

Jack turns the SUV around in the turn-a-round before the gate and we head back down the hill and enjoy the silence as we take a ride around the island enjoying the views.

We stop at