Stepping out of the Royal Brookfield, Gabriel shook his head. Once again, Ronnie had panicked making a simple situation that much more complicated. One of his customers had to come to him about missing earrings and Ronnie's reaction had been to come get him before letting the customer explain the situation. When Gabriel had talked to the woman, she had told him she did not think they had been stolen. She had said she was tired the night before and she was fairly certain she had not taken the earrings off before going to bed. This morning she had not thought about them, but when her husband had asked her why she was not wearing them, she realized it. However, returning to the room she had discovered the maid had already been in and put fresh linens on the bed.
After getting the whole story, Gabriel had asked the woman who did the laundry for the hotel if she had seen the earrings. She had said no but with Gabriel's help, the wash room had been searched. The earrings had been discovered in the bin that the dirty linens and towels were deposited in by the maids.
Gabriel wished that all his calls would turn out to be so easy.
Stepping off the boardwalk, Gabriel registered movement moments before Billy threw his arms around him. As school should still be in session, Gabriel knew that something had happened at school. He didn't have time to ask any questions though as Billy was already speaking.
"I know I should not have left school but I could not stay. Kids were laughing and Christian is getting sent home from school but it was not his fault. He was standing up for me but now he is in trouble and Miss Walsh is going to be mad at him and probably me as well."
Gabriel had put his arms around Billy as he listened to the frantic explanation that only made partial sense. Looking toward the schoolhouse, Gabriel saw Miss Peterson standing outside the building looking in their direction. It was clear the teacher had rushed out after Billy as she did not have her coat on. Gabriel waved her back inside, even as he realized that Billy was not wearing his coat, hat, and gloves as well.
Picking the boy up, Gabriel headed across the street to his office, ignoring the curious onlookers who were watching him. Entering the office, Gabriel walked over to the stove and placed Billy down near it. He then knelt down in front of the boy.
"Are you mad at me?" Billy asked, his voice pleading. "Are you going to send me away?"
"No," Gabriel told the boy. It was obvious to him that something had Billy upset even if he didn't quite understand what. "Whatever is going on, I promise you I will not be mad and I am not sending you away. This is your home now, Billy, no matter what happens. Now, how about you explain to me better what is going on?"
Billy took a deep breath and let it out slowly before he started his explanation.
"We had been reading our essays today. We started before lunch and were finishing the up this afternoon. I was the last one to go. Walking to the front of the classroom took me by Randy's desk. Randy stuck his foot out and tripped me and said, 'apparently watching where you are going is the hardest thing you have done.' Kids started laughing."
Gabriel could feel his anger simmering at the thought of a kid being mean to another. He also felt sorry for Randy MacEntire. What did that kid experience at home that made him want to hurt others to feel better about himself?
"I got to my feet, and Randy grabbed my arm. He had his right hand in a fist. I heard Miss Peterson call Randy's name. I think she was coming toward us but Christian was closer. He got in between us and broke Randy's hold on me. The next thing I knew, they were both on the floor fighting. I backed away as Miss Peterson came in to break the two of them up saying they were both going to be sent home. I did not want Christian to get in trouble for me," Billy said, tears coming down his face. "It is all my fault. Miss Walsh is not going to be mad at you because I got Christian in trouble is she?"
The last question was almost a plea.
Gabriel reached out and pulled the boy close to him. "This is not your fault, Billy. You did not do anything wrong."
"Christian would not be in trouble if he was not looking out for me," Billy said, the words muffled against Gabriel's uniform.
"You still did not make Christian do what he did," Gabriel told the boy. "Miss Walsh is also reasonable. She is going to be disappointed in the fact that Christian got in trouble for fighting but given the circumstances, she is not going to be mad at Christian or you."
"Promise?" Billy asked, looking up at Gabriel.
"I promise," Gabriel told him. "Now, are you okay?" he asked the boy. "Did you get hurt when you fell?"
Billy looked down at the floor. "Not really," he said quietly with a shrug of his shoulders. "It will be fine."
"Billy, what hurts?" Gabriel asked, not about to let it go, despite Billy's efforts to brush it off. An effort that Gabriel had a feeling came from previous reactions to his injuries.
"My left wrist aches a little. But sometimes it does from the previous injury anyway. Miss Maggie says that might always be the case."
"Did it ache today before you were tripped?"
"No," Billy admitted.
Letting go of the boy, Gabriel crossed to the coat rack. Taking down the black coat he had been wearing over his serge when out on rounds, Gabriel returned to Billy. "We are going to have Maggie take a look at the wrist," he told the boy, as he slipped the coat onto the boy.
With the coat on, Gabriel picked the boy up and headed out of the office. Billy wrapped his arms around Gabriel's neck and rested his head on Gabriel's shoulder. Moments later, Gabriel was walking into the infirmary. Both Maggie and a blonde stopped their conversation and looked up. Gabriel recognized the blonde from Hope Valley though he had never been formally introduced to her.
"Is everything all right?" Maggie asked.
"Billy was tripped at school. He says his left wrist aches now," Gabriel replied.
Both women got to their feet. "Put him down on the cot," Maggie instructed before whispering wait to the other woman. Alone she approached Billy. "Billy, my companion is Dr. Carter from Hope Valley. Would it be okay if she examines you as well?"
Billy looked from Maggie to Faith. Faith smiled at the young boy though remained where she was. The boy looked up at Maggie. "Will you still be here?"
"I will be right at your side," Maggie assured him.
"All right," Billy consented.
"Billy, I am going to go over to the school and tell Miss Peterson you will not be back today and get your things, all right?"
Billy nodded, as Maggie helped him out of Gabriel's coat.
Knowing that Billy was safe with Maggie and Dr. Carter, Gabriel left the infirmary and headed toward the school. As he entered, Miss Peterson looked toward the door as one of the children was reading out loud.
"That is fine, Frank," Miss Peterson said. "Class, finish reading the chapter silently, please," she told the children as she walked toward Gabriel.
The children glanced briefly back at Gabriel before looking down at their books.
"I am sorry for what happened, Constable. Is Billy okay?" Miss Peterson asked quietly.
"Billy is upset. He is blaming himself for what happened."
"It wasn't," Miss Peterson countered.
"From what Billy told me, I agree," Gabriel told her. "Convincing him of that might take some doing though. He is at the infirmary right now. He said his left wrist ached and as it is the one Maggie treated because of an old injury, I wanted her to look at it."
"Oh, I hope he is okay," Miss Peterson said. "I feel responsible."
"The only one responsible is Randy MacEntire," Gabriel told her. "Regardless of what Maggie and Dr. Carter find, I am keeping Billy home the rest of the day."
"Of course," Miss Peterson replied. "I sent Randy home today with a note to his parents. Hopefully they get it. I plan on following up after school. I am giving him a three day suspension from school for today's action. I will also move his seat so there is no chance of a repeat of what happened. I truly am sorry, Constable."
"I know you can't stop everything, Miss Peterson. You are one person. Billy said Christian was sent home as well."
Miss Peterson nodded. "I had to do something. He was fighting in front of everyone. If I did not do something, I could lose control of this classroom entirely. Christian will be allowed back at school tomorrow and I explained what happened to Miss Walsh and Miss Bennett in a note. I have no doubt Christian will give them the note. Missing school this afternoon and a lecture from me in the morning is the only punishment he will receive. I know he was standing up for, Billy but I still cannot condone fighting in the classroom."
Gabriel nodded. "I understand."
"Let me get Billy's things from his desk, Constable. You can grab his coat."
As the teacher headed for Billy's desk, Gabriel retrieved the boy's coat from the hook he had hung it on this morning.
Out at New Hope Orphanage, Lillian and Grace were sitting at the dinning room table. The folder that Tess had given Grace the night before sat on the table between them. Grace had just finished telling her sister about the conversation she'd had with Tess the night before.
"I forgave her because I know if I don't then there is no hope of a good relationship between us, and I do want to get along with her, for Chuck's sake if nothing else."
Lillian reached out and placed a hand on her sister's hand. "You did the right thing," she told Grace. "It was why I chose not to have Hank tell the whole truth to that reporter. Some things are better left in the past for the sake of the future."
Grace nodded.
"What are you going to do with the report?" Lillian asked, nodded toward the folder.
"I read it," Grace admitted. "There was nothing overly shocking in it, given what we found out from the inspector. Apparently the money was reported missing to the Mounties. It was investigated but the private investigator said he found the case file had been sealed and the Union City Headquarters would not discuss it further unless he obtained a court order to have the file unsealed. I'm worried about what the case file has in it, Lillian. What if there is something in there that could jeopardize what we have there? The children's society could probably get a court order to unseal the file if they stated they thought the welfare of the children here might be in jeopardy."
Lillian nodded. Grace had a point. "Consider this though Grace. If you go poking around in this, you might uncover information that would never come to light otherwise."
"I know," Grace said. "However, I am tired of being blind sided by this issue in my past. I know I am innocent. Whatever is in that file about me, I would rather face it head on."
"So what did you want to do?"
"Do you think Gabriel would be willing to try looking into the sealed case file for me?"
Lillian never got a chance to answer as they heard the front door open.
"Who is it?" Lillian called out as she and Grace got to her feet.
"It is only me, Miss Lillian," Christian called back.
Lillian and Grace headed into the sitting room. "What are you doing home early, Christian?" Lillian asked. Noticing a bruise forming on the boy's cheek she had an idea of what that answer would be.
Christian held out a piece of paper. "Miss Peterson sent that note home with me. She sent me home because I was fighting with Randy MacEntire. He tripped Billy for no reason and then grabbed Billy's arm and looked like he was going to hit Billy. I decided I would rather have Randy hit me than Billy so I intervened."
"Christian, what have we told you about fighting?" Miss Grace asked.
"That it was not acceptable behavior," the boy replied. "I am sorry I disobeyed you and I will accept whatever punishment you deem fit. However, I am not sorry I stood up for, Billy. I would rather be in trouble than let Randy hit Billy. Billy is already scared about things enough. I did not want him to be too scared to come back to school. As it was, he ran out right after Miss Peterson broke up me and Randy. If Randy makes trouble for him again, I will stand up for Billy again, even if I have to disobey you again. I am sorry but that is just the way it is."
Lillian looked at Grace. She was not sure what to say. She wanted to praise the boy for standing up for Billy, but at the same time she did not want Christian to think that fighting was acceptable behavior. Lillian looked down at the piece of paper that Christian had given her. She supposed hearing the teacher's version of what happened was a good place to start.
"Miss Lillian and I need to discuss this, Christian. We'll talk about it later," Grace told the boy.
"In the meantime, go into the kitchen and ask Ms Eleanor how you can help her," Lillian said. She did not think that having the boy help their housekeeper until the others got home from school was unreasonable.
"Yes, Miss Lillian," Christian said, obediently heading for the kitchen.
As Christian left the room, Lillian went over to the settee and let herself sink into it.
"Are you all right?" Grace asked as she took a seat next to her sister.
"Yes," Lillian replied. "I just wish I knew what to do. Christian wanting to stand up for Billy is noble, but I do not want him thinking that fighting is an acceptable solution. Maybe Gabriel has a point with wanting to teach Billy self defense."
"Being able to stick up for yourself is essential," Grace said. Something in her voice made Lillian look over at her sister. "I got teased growing up as well. It is not fun. Luckily I had a champion like Christian is for Billy."
Lillian nodded, remembering what Grace's friend had told her when she had visited. "Fighting still is not an appropriate response."
"Of course not," Grace said. "We'll discipline Christian for fighting but we also need to let him know that standing up for people is not a bad thing. He just needs to learn a more appropriate way of doing so. What did his teacher write?" Grace asked,
Lillian looked down at the paper in her hand. Unfolding it, she and Grace read the short note from Miss Peterson. It was brief, just saying that Christian was being sent home for fighting in defense of a classmate and given the circumstances would be allowed to return to school the next day. She also asked that they emphasize with Christian that fighting in school was not acceptable behavior.
"Well, at least it is only for one afternoon," Grace said. "We'll talk to Christian tonight. Give him a chance to tell us what happened and discuss other ways he could have handled the situation. Teaching him other ways to resolve conflict is the only way to resolve the issue in the long term."
Lillian nodded. Her sister's suggestion made sense. "He needs to apologize to Miss Peterson for disrupting class as well."
"All right," Grace agreed.
"Grace, what do you think about maybe having Gabriel teach Christian and Vincent about self-defense? Gabriel was explaining to me about the differences between self-defense and fighting yesterday and it made sense. This is the second time Christian has been in trouble at school for fighting. We have had to break the boys apart here for fighting. Perhaps learning about self-defense might also teach them about another way for conflict resolution."
"I think it might be a good thing," Grace said. "I am sure Gabriel will make it clear to them that using what he teaches them to start fights is not appropriate. Knowing how to protect themselves could be a good thing."
Lillian nodded, intending to bring the topic up with Gabriel when she got a chance. Turning her head, she looked out the window. She wondered how Billy was feeling after all this? Did Gabriel know what had happened yet or was he out on rounds?
"Did you want to go into town and check on, Billy?" Grace asked her sister.
Lillian looked from the window to her sister. She was not even going to bother trying to deny she had been thinking of Billy. "Do you mind?"
Grace shook her head. "I will keep an ear out for Ellie waking up from her nap and make sure that Christian is making himself useful to Eleanor. Go ahead," she said, nodding to ward the door.
"Thank-you," Lillian said, getting to her feet. "I'll meet the others after school and walk them home. No need for you to make the walk into town on your day off."
"You will not get an argument from me," Grace said.
Lillian started to bundle up against the cold. As she did so, she remembered the conversation that Christian's arrival had interrupted. "Grace, I think Gabriel would be willing to look into the issue for you but just be certain you are willing to face whatever might get revealed. I will be by your side no matter where this goes."
Grace nodded her acknowledgment as Lillian stepped out the front door.