IN LOVE WITH YOU

“Miss Collins.”

Rachel looked up from a report she was reading at the boy standing at her desk.

“Yes, Antonio,” she answered with a warm smile. Antonio had always been a shy boy, but now, as he looked at his teacher, he felt the courage in his heart to say to her in a steady voice, “I think you’re a nice person and I want to thank you for helping me so much with my work.”

He held out a box of chocolate to her as a ‘thank you’ gift.

It was Teacher’s Day!

“Aw,” she expressed, touched by the boy’s gesture.

“Thank you, Antonio.”

As a teacher with a love and passion for her work, she applied skills of patience and tolerance. It helped her students to gain confidence and self-belief to excel in their studies. In each child she saw the potential for success, and with a pleasant personality, her inspiring attributes made her a favourite teacher in high school.

As the day progressed, more students expressed their gratitude with nice little gifts and at the end of the school day, she felt truly touched by their thanks and affection. It’s amazing the positive impact she made from doing what she loved; smiling for the world, sharing the joy and happiness of those whose lives she touched. But deep within her was a pain, a pain hidden so no one ever saw the reflection of it in her eyes. She only thought of that betrayal that broke her heart in her quiet moments.

Yet, though, there was one beautiful thing that helped her to stay strong and filled her heart with love.

It was her little son!

She walked the short distance to his primary school and he ran to her as soon as he saw her, gleefully handing her a card, “Happy Teacher’s Day, mommy!”

“Aww, this is so beautiful,” she laughed and hugged him, “Thank you so much, baby.”

After reading him a bedtime story that night, she watched his sleeping angelic face and bemoaned, “How could he have left us and walked away?”

Many questions she had asked herself that past four years that she couldn’t find answers for. She had known her ex-husband for three years before they got married and never once had she seen any flaws in his character to cause her to have any doubts about his love for her.

It was a wicked deception and she hadn’t seen it coming.

“How could you profess to love someone then cheat and lie?”

The truth of his lifestyle had blindsided her and when she had refused to continue forgiving him for that, he had walked away and never looked back.

“How can I ever love again?”

On Saturday afternoon, she took Nathan to a basketball game, trying her best to fill in for the father’s absence. As a little boy, he loved sports, so her brother and nephews would step in from time to time to assist. But sometimes, she saw that longing look in his eyes when he saw other little boys with their fathers. He never cried nor looked unhappy, as though understanding, at such a young age, how much she was trying.

“I love you, Mommy,” he often told her with a hug that always touched her heart.

Life was now just she and her son, striving as a single mother to sustain their lives and home.

Men from different backgrounds showed interest in her, but she was still feeling the pain of betrayal to want anyone in her life.

“You have to go on living your life, my child,” her mother had advised her, “Your ex-husband has.”

“That’s easy for him, Mom,” she had said with a bitter tone, “It’s not for me.”

“You’re still young and your son would need a fa-