The Love We Make 2: It's 1992 and the world is bewildered by recent headlines.
"His Royal Badness Prince is now MARRIED with a SON, and the boy is already 3 YEARS OLD! Was he really hiding the kid this whole time? Or is this sudden marriage hid...
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Thursday, October 1st
"Do you think my mommy and daddy forget I am here?" Ace was tired of waiting. He loved school but not this much. It was getting dark outside and he and the grown-up left to watch him just saw the streetlamp cut on. "Why are they taking this long to come get me?"
In a corner, his teacher was leaning on the floor-to-ceiling window, staring out as rain fell heavy from the sky. "Wish I could tell ya, kiddo," she said quietly, then in her softness, she began to hum a tune.
Ace was right behind her, sitting on the floor up against the wall with his backpack next to him. They were the only two left in the building after everyone else left forever ago. First, it was Ms. Sally waiting with him but then she called down Ms. Wizzo from the library because Ms. Sally said she was running late for a doctor's appointment. Ace was happy she was sick or whatever because Ms. Wizzo was his favorite. She was everyone's favorite! If he could, Ace would love to spend his entire day in the library. Whenever he stepped inside, his heart would start moving fast and he couldn't help but to jump and explore. Ms. Wizzo would always have to tell him to come sit down, stopping his run around the room.
But she never yelled at him. She never yelled at anyone. And she wore fun earrings like apples and pencils and birds. And her legs were always bright colors; her dresses as fun as her earrings. Today she had green and blue dinosaurs on her skirt! Green was Ace's favorite color. And her shoes looked like his daddy's. Her skin looked like his aunt Leslie's, brown like a chocolate bar. Tío used to call aunt Leslie his "chocolate Hershey Kiss", then he would give her a kiss and Ace would cover his eyes and laugh. But Tío said it was called love. Ace wondered if Daddy loved Mommy. They never kissed. He missed his mommy. She was always working. And thinking of aunt Leslie, he wondered when he could see her again. He missed her too. And he missed Raul and India. He wanted to go back to Disney World with them and see the pirates. Maybe his dad could take him tomorrow. He would ask when he got home.
"I'm bored," Ace said to himself. He and Ms. Wizzo already read the two books in his backpack and they played three games of Red Light, Green Light in the empty hallway. It was fun and all but he wanted to leave now. He was tired with a tiger growl in his belly.
"What are you singing?" he asked.
Ms. Wizzo cut off her humming for words. "Just singin', singin' in the rain."
Ace frowned in confusion and she caught it when she glanced back at him. Giggling, she turned back to the window and continued to sing.
"Dancin' in the rain, ya-ya-dee-ya-dee-da. Gene Kelly," she said. "It's a classic."
"Classic? What'sa classic?"
"Ooh!" She bounced on her toes. "Headlights!"
Through the school doors, Ace could see a car pull forward and he happily jumped up. He didn't remember ever seeing that red car but his daddy had so many, he didn't think anything of it. But then he saw Ms. Edna run out.
