The Blackstone Legacy by Rochelle Alers Read Free Book Online Page A

outside,” Trent countered before he stuck his tongue out at his twin.
    Reaching for a picture book, Kelly opened it to an illustration of a turtle. “Your mother is right. Animals need to live in what it is called their natural habitat. The turtle is the only reptile that has a shell.”
    Allison pointed to the picture. “His shell is his house.”
    Sean raised his hand. “Miss Kelly, my daddy said a turtle can put his head, tail and legs inside his house when other animals want to eat him.”
    â€œYour dad’s correct.” Kelly was certain Sean knew more about animals than most children his age because Ryan was a veterinarian. She handed Trent a green felt cutout of a turtle with a Velcro backing. “Please put this on today’s date under the heading of World Turtle Day. Can anyone tell what kind of weather we’re having today?”
    â€œSunny!” They all had called out in unison.
    Kelly picked up another cutout of a yellow oval shape with points circling it. “Heather, can you put up the sun?”
    She jumped up. “Yes, Miss Kelly.”
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    The morning hours passed quickly wherein Kelly showed the children how to hold paste scissors and cut animal shapes from a stencil. They puton smocks, painted their animals, placing them on a table to dry.
    Lunch was delivered from the dining hall at exactly at noon, and an hour later three boys and two girls lay on cots in the darkened room, lying quietly until they all fell asleep.
    The children were awakened at two-thirty and taken outside where they played an energetic game of tag and hide-and-seek. They stopped long enough for an afternoon snack of juice and nuts with raisins; they returned to the playground area, playing on the swings and teeter-totter. Their moods and interests changed quickly when they retrieved a jump rope from a large plastic bin.
    Allison’s mother came to pick her up, and Kelly enlisted her aid in helping to turn the rope as the children jumped while reciting the letters of the alphabet. None of them got past M before their feet got tangled in the rope’s length.
    Allison took the rope from Kelly. “Let me turn with Mommy while you jump, Miss Kelly.”
    Before Kelly could refuse all of the kids were chanting, “Jump, Miss Kelly. Jump, jump, jump!”
    She remembered her childhood days when she’d jumped Double Dutch with her girlfriends during the summer months. The life span for a pair of her sneakers was usually two weeks.
    Measuring the speed of the turning rope, Kelly jumped in. “A, B, C, D…” The children recited thealphabet as she jumped up and down as if she were ten instead of thirty. She heard Sean call Daddy and she faltered.
    Standing less than five feet away was Ryan, grinning from ear to ear. He, not Sheldon, had come to pick up Sean.
    â€œYou win, Miss Kelly!” Heather shouted. “You got to S. ”
    â€œMy name starts with S,” Sean crowed proudly, pumping his little fist in the air. He wrapped his arms around Ryan’s waist. “We had lots of fun today, Daddy.”
    Ryan smiled at Kelly. “I think Miss Kelly had lots of fun, too.”
    â€œShe did. We all did.”
    â€œYeah!” chorused five young voices.
    Allison hugged Kelly around her knees. “I will see you tomorrow, Miss Kelly.”
    She pulled one of the girl’s curly dark braids. “You bet I will.”
    Allison left with her mother and Kelly stared at Ryan staring back at her. Something intense flared through his entrancement, sending waves of heat throughout her body. His stormy gray eyes stoked a banked fire.
    Ryan reached for Sean’s hand, his gaze fixed on Kelly’s face. A hint of a smile softened his strong mouth, and he was not disappointed when she returned it with a mysterious one of her own.
    â€œDaddy?”
    â€œYes, Sean.”
    â€œDo I have to go home now?”
    Ryan tore his gaze away from Kelly to glance