Always You (Oak Woods Book 1)

26

"You want me to come?" Connor asked, giving Annaleigh a surprised look. She nodded her agreement with Rebecca.

"You will be her stepdad and I need to add you to the contact information."

"Then I will follow you to the preschool." Connor gave her a smile and jumped into his car. Annaleigh settled in hers and drove to the preschool. She parked in the front and took a deep, calming breath. It had taken her a year to be comfortable with Rebecca's daycare in LA she hoped it would be different for Oak Woods.

"There are a lot of kids here, Mama. I will make so many new friends!" Rebecca bounced in her car seat, watching the families walking into the preschool.

"That is wonderful Poppet." Annaleigh got out of the car and grabbed Rebecca's bag, coming around to the other side, Connor had gotten Rebecca out of the car. Taking both their hands, they walked up to the door with Rebecca between them.

"Good morning Sheriff Barret, and you must be Annaleigh and Rebecca Crenshaw," a tall honey blond woman with warm gray eyes greeted them.

"You must be Mrs. Montoya." Annaleigh held out her hand.

"Please call me Mrs. Kari, it is wonderful to meet you and Rebecca. I know you will love it here at Oak Woods." Kari crouched, so she was eye level with Rebecca.

"Hi," Rebecca shyly replied, clutching Annaleigh's dress pants. Annaleigh had worn her favorite dark blue dress pants, a pink tank with a white sweater over top, along with navy blue flats. Rebecca wore a light blue short-sleeved dress with her favorite pink twinkle toe shoes. Connor stood in his uniform when Annaleigh had seen him that morning, she'd almost shoved him back into their bedroom and made love to him.

"Hi, Annaleigh!" Nikki called walking up with whom Annaleigh could only assume was her son Aiden.

"Hi Nikki, this is Rebecca," Annaleigh introduced her daughter.

"This is Aiden," Nikki brought her son from behind her, he had his father's light hair and Nikki's dark blue eyes. Rebecca stared at him and Annaleigh felt her relax against her leg.

"Perfect timing, Aiden is in the same class as Rebecca with Ms. Jodi." Kari beamed at the two children and held out a hand to each child. Aiden immediately rushed over to Kari and took her hand. Rebecca was more cautious and waited until Aiden held out his own hand to her. She took his hand and let him babble away about Ms. Jodi and how amazing she was. Annaleigh and Connor followed holding hands, Nikki was the first to gasp and Annaleigh froze thinking something was wrong. She relaxed when Nikki grabbed her hand and examined the engagement ring on her left hand.

"Connor!" Nikki cried out hugging both of them. Annaleigh blushed over how excited her friend was and Kari smiled when she saw what the commotion was all about.

"Annaleigh, why don't you and Connor say goodbye to Rebecca and we can discuss any concerns in my office?" Kari suggested. Annaleigh nodded and walked into the inviting classroom. The walls were a pale green with Dr. Seuss's characters all over. On one side there were cubbies where Jodi was showing Rebecca where she could put her bag. Jodi was a young woman in her early twenties with caramel skin, chocolate brown eyes, black hair tipped in neon blue and a rounded figure.

"That is my mama." Rebecca pointed to Annaleigh and then in a louder voice,

"And that is Connor, my new daddy!" Connor chuckled and wrapped an arm around Annaleigh's waist and kissed her cheek.

"I like hearing her say that," he murmured into her hair.

"Me too." She leaned into him and waited for Jodi to make her way over to them.

"Hi, I am Jodi."

"Annaleigh, and this is my fiancé Connor Barret," Annaleigh introduced him and Jodi raised a surprised eyebrow.

"Annaleigh and I were high school sweethearts," Connor shared and Jodi nodded.

"I just wanted to go over a few concerns I had," Annaleigh mentioned watching Rebecca run off to the play kitchen, Aiden hot on her heels. They were discussing their roles for playing house.

"Of course, I looked over her file and see she has a shellfish allergy, her EpiPen is being stored in Mrs. Kari's office," Jodi remarked. Annaleigh relaxed knowing she could trust this woman if she'd already looked at Rebecca's file.

"Then you understand she does have a biological father who has no custodial rights, or access to any of her information?" Annaleigh asked, again Jodi nodded and dropped her voice.

"He is on the no pick up list along with his parents. The only authorized person allowed to pick up Rebecca is you at the moment," Jodi replied.

"Yes, we are adding Connor today since we are engaged and I want to add Nora and Clint Barret as well, they are her grandparents," Annaleigh shared.

"You just have to let Mrs. Kari know and she will add them to Rebecca's emergency care form," Jodi explained and Annaleigh nodded.

"Bye Rebecca!" Annaleigh called out. She got a halfhearted wave from her daughter dressed in an apron, hands on her hips telling Aiden he was late home from work.

"I see she has settled in just fine, thank you, Jodi." Annaleigh gave her a heartfelt smile and Jodi nodded her understanding.

"Thank you again, Jodi." Connor shook her hand and he and Annaleigh walked out of the room and found Kari in her office. 

A/N: Please let me know how you like the story, any suggestions or feedback would be much appreciated. Don't forget to vote!