Chapter 11
Brad set the alarm for six o'clock on Monday. He had breakfast prepared and ready when Amy came downstairs. She was dressed in a shirt and jeans and had a few school supplies in a backpack.
Brad told her to drive her car to school and that he had an appointment with her teacher at ten o'clock. He made sure that she had money and walked out to the car with her.
"Brad don't you think something's wrong?"
Brad looked at her and checked how she was dressed and, seeing nothing wrong, shrugged his shoulders.
Amy laughed, "You're in your underwear. Are your trying to give the neighbors a thrill?"
Brad tried to cover himself and ran back into the house. He watched from the window as Amy pulled out of the driveway and down the street. He had never walked around her in his underwear before, but he was so nervous sending her off to her first day back at school that he completely shut everything out of his mind but making sure that she was prepared. About ten minutes after Amy was out of sight the phone rang.
Brad answered and Rita Askins came on the line, "Mr. Pittson, I would like to meet with you this morning and I also need to speak with Amy. I'm sorry it took so long to get back to you but each of our social workers has a caseload of about one hundred and seventy-five cases. I have been checking on you and everyone that I have spoken to speaks highly of you."
"Ms. Askins, I have a meeting with Amy's teacher at ten o'clock. Could you meet me there and maybe we can either meet at the school or we can come back here to my house."
Rita agreed to meet him at school and told him that she would also have to see about the arrangements that he had made for Amy at home. Brad hung up the phone and rushed to get ready.
Brad walked into the school and was directed to the faculty room. Amy's homeroom teacher was working on some papers and talking to another woman. He introduced himself and the woman introduced herself as Mrs. Albright, Amy's teacher, and Rita Askins introduced herself.
"Well, Mrs. Albright, I guess I'll start this off. As you know, I have just been appointed Amy's guardian and I would like to know just where she is in school. I would like her to go to college if that is what she wants."
Mrs. Albright looked down at the papers in her lap, "Mr. Pittson, I believe that you know of Amy's home life. I'm afraid that her home life has greatly affected her schoolwork. She is barely passing. She has an extremely high IQ, but she just never applied herself. I'm afraid she just gave up. I guess that she didn't care. She seems to have an aptitude for computers, but that is the only thing that I can see that she really takes an interest in."
Brad looked at the grade sheet that Mrs. Albright passed to him. He passed it over to Rita Askins. Rita looked at it and shook her head and passed it back to Mrs. Albright.
Brad paused before he spoke, "How about a tutor? I am willing to pay for a tutor. Do you know of any retired teachers that would be willing to tutor Amy, say, two hours a day for five days a week. I'll pay anything in reason."
"Mrs. Albright thought for a minute, "Yes I do know of someone. Kate Harmon just lost her husband and is looking for something to keep her busy. She was a dedicated teacher when before she retired. I'm sure that she would snap up the opportunity."
Brad asked what she would charge to tutor Amy two hours a day. When Mrs. Albright hesitated, he offered twenty-five dollars an hour if the person she had in mind would accept it. Mrs. Albright gasped and said that for twenty-five dollars an hour she was sure that she could find someone well qualified.
Rita Askins excused herself to go and find Amy and interview her. Brad continued to talk about Amy's schoolwork. He saw that she was really behind the other students and would probably not graduate if she didn't get some tutoring.
"How about college? Is there any chance that she could get into a college if we got her a tutor?" he asked.
"I'm afraid not without several makeup courses after she graduates. She only took the easiest courses and really doesn't have the background for college."
Rita Askins walked in as Brad stood up and said angrily, "I'm not going to accept that. I know that she is very smart and can succeed in college. Let's get that tutor and bring her up to where she should be."
Rita's pager went off and she stepped out of the room to call her office. She came back several minutes later and excused herself to cover the emergency. She told Brad that she would get in touch with Amy sometime within the week and review her home life.
"I am not worried about Amy staying with you. She seems very content with the arrangement and I must say that I am impressed with your commitment to hire a tutor for her. With our budget in Social Services we could never afford to do that. I feel that you are doing much more for her than Social Services ever could. I still will have to meet with her periodically and check on her progress."
It was seventy days before the hearing was held to have Brad appointed permanent guardian for Amy. The hearing went quickly and Rita Askins spoke in favor of his appointment as guardian. It never came up and Brad didn't offer the information that the judge was Vera's uncle, who Brad got along great with.
Brad hired the tutor and she tutored Amy two hours a day, five days a week. He made sure that she had plenty to keep her occupied. He insisted that she have a check up with a Gynecologist and was surprised when she told him that she had never been to one. She took Karate every Saturday morning and when he found out she couldn't dance; he enrolled her in a ballroom dancing school.
Amy seemed to thrive living with Brad and when he went to the parent-teacher meetings, each time he found that her schoolwork was vastly improved.
Amy really started to mature and he worried that she was too mature. She filled out and she turned men's heads whenever she walked anywhere. When she wore a bikini at the pool or beach, Brad had to keep his eyes off of her to avoid tenting his trunks.
He insisted that she go to her Junior Prom and she went with one of the many boys who had asked her. She was home before midnight and when he asked her if she had fun, she told him that the boy was immature.
Amy went to summer school to try and catch up to the other students and did not complain about having to go to summer school. Brad took her to the lodge for a month and Amy spent the time reading and walking the trails. The last week of summer vacation, they spent at Cape Cod enjoying the beaches.
She knuckled down and really studied. She was so engrossed her schoolwork that Brad was beginning to worry that she neglected having any social life at all. He prodded her into going out on dates and all four of the dates that she had in her senior year seemed to end badly. Amy just did not seem to feel that the boys in high school had the maturity that she wanted.
Carol and Amy were often out together and Amy seemed even more mature than Carol. Carol would tell her about what beer party she had gone to that week and what senior she had dated and Amy just listened politely.
Amy walked into the house, late in the school year, with a big grin on her face and handed him an envelope. She stood in front of his desk while he opened it. It was her third semester report card. He scanned the document and broke out into a big grin. Straight A's! He ran around the desk and hugged her with tears in his eyes. He felt so much pride that he was afraid his chest would burst.
He made her dress and told that they were going to Joseph's to celebrate. When she came downstairs she was wearing a tight black dress and high heels. He knew she was wearing stockings because she hated pantyhose. She said that she felt like she was in a vise form the waist down when she wore pantyhose. He looked at her and started thinking very unfatherly-like thoughts.
Amy walked to him and kissed him softly, "I take it that I look Ok and won't embarrass you tonight."
He pulled her to him, "How could you ever embarrass me. I am so proud of you. You have matured so much since you came to live with me. You are every man's dream. You're going to make some man very happy."
She kissed him again, getting lipstick on his mouth, "All I want is a man like you. You have spoiled me. I'll probably have to spend fifty years before I find a man like you."
Amy turned every head in the restaurant and clung to Brad's arm as they walked in. Joseph came over to them and complimented Amy and hugged her. They ate dinner leisurely and talked for hours after dessert. Brad caught himself several times just staring at her.
When they got home, he built a fire in the sunroom and Amy went up to change. He sat in the Papasan chair and reflected on the past several months. Amy had brought purpose into his life and he really loved her and wondered how his life would have been if she hadn't been trying to stay out of the rain that night at the restaurant.
He heard a movement behind him and Amy walked over to him and sat down in the chair with him. She snuggled up to him and he put his arm over her shoulder and hugged her gently. She snuggled into his chest.
"Thank you for all you've done for me. I often wonder what would have happened to me if you hadn't pulled me out of the rain and bought me dinner that night. I love you. I think that you know that and I know you love me too."
Brad pulled her closer and they sat together of a long time before
he noticed that she had fallen asleep in his arms.