Forever With You (Bayou Dreams Book 5) Read Free Page A

tonight’s story, Mommy. I like hearing stories about you and Daddy.”
    Emotion thickened in her throat. “I’m happy you’re enjoying them,” she said. “I know your daddy wishes he could be here to tell you stories, too.”
    She kissed Kristi’s palm and then her forehead. Even though there was a night-light, Leslie left a crack in the door.
    She made her way across the hall to her bedroom, tears on the brink of falling down her cheeks. But she sucked it up, straightened her spine and demanded they remain at bay.
    It had taken a year before she’d stopped crying herself to sleep every night. Once she had, Leslie had made a vow to remain strong for her girls. She’d been on the verge of breaking down more times than she could count, but she was still standing.
    And she would continue to do so.

Chapter 2
    G abriel Franklin stood before the science lab’s Formica-topped table surrounded by nearly two-dozen wide-eyed fourth graders, who all stared intently at the stack of pennies, nickels and lemon-juice-soaked paper squares in the center.
    “So, how many of you think we’ve made a battery here?” Gabe asked as he held a length of copper wire just above the stack of coins. Half the students raised their hands.
    He eyed the doubters with an upturned brow. “That’s all? The rest of you think I’m wrong?”
    Anthony Radcliff’s freckled forehead scrunched in skepticism. “It’s just loose change and paper towels. How can that be a battery?”
    Gabe tsked. “Oh, ye of little faith.”
    The crease in Anthony’s forehead deepened. “Huh?”
    “Never mind,” Gabe said. “Gather around closer, kids.” He touched one edge of the wire to the penny on the bottom of the stack and the other to the nickel on top. “Now, check this out.”
    He connected the wire to an LED bulb and thanked the reliability of science when the bulb flickered and then shone with a soft glow.
    The students erupted in cheers and excited howls.
    “How’d you do that, Mr. Franklin?” Anika Reynolds asked in an awed whisper. “Is it magic?”
    “It’s science,” Gabe answered. “It’s exactly what we’ve been talking about for the past week, taking the negative charge of one metal and the positive charge of another, and connecting them with an acid. The penny is made of what?”
    “Copper,” the students replied in unison.
    “And the nickel?”
    “Silver!”
    “And that lemon juice is filled with acid,” Gabe said.
    “So, can I make my iPod work with pennies, nickels and lemon juice?” Cassidy Kirkland asked.
    “That would take a lot of pennies, nickels and lemon juice, but at least you get the idea.” Gabe clapped his hands. “Okay, back to your seats. It’s time to write up what we all just witnessed in proper scientific-method form.”
    He fully expected the grumbles and groans his statement elicited. He was only in his second semester of teaching at Gauthier Elementary and Middle School, but students were students no matter the school, and none of them enjoyed paperwork.
    Using the electronic Smart Board that had replaced the green chalkboards he’d grown up with, Gabe went through the scientific method, going over the initial question he’d posed, the research the students had conducted, the hypothesis they all had agreed upon and the multitude of tests they’d run in order to investigate it.
    He glanced over his shoulder and grinned at the sight of the twenty-two heads bowed over notebooks, their hands scribbling diligently. He required his students to take notes, even though the Smart Board allowed him to email whatever was written on it directly to their parents, which he also did at the end of every week.
    The bell signaling the end of third period rang just as the students were finishing up.
    “Remember your final topics for the science fair are due tomorrow,” Gabe called above the bustle of zipping backpacks and desk chairs scraping against the tiled floor. “And if you’re working with a partner,