Page 53 of A Little Christmas Wish

“Bonnie!” Titus yelled as he stormed across the trampolines. “What do you think you are doing? You could have hurt yourself!”

Bonnie sighed and rolled her eyes at Betsy who held back her giggles.

Titus was . . . well, overbearing was a nice word for it. A total mother hen in a large, menacing package.

But he grew on you . . . kind of.

“I’m sure whatever you did is amazing!” Bonnie said. “You need a raise. Titus, give her some cash.”

Both of them gave Bonnie exasperated looks.

“I don’t need a raise,” Betsy told her. “This is my job.”

“I’m not giving her cash. You can’t keep giving away cash or you’ll go broke.”

Bonnie just shrugged with a smile as she stood and bounced again. “Sheesh. You guys need to chill. Do some bouncing.”

Betsy’s phone started ringing and alarm filled her as she saw it was Zippy’s school.

“I have to go take this. It’s Zippy’s school.”

Bonnie gave her a worried look and waved her off.

Betsy stepped off into the corridor and took the call.

“Hello? This is Betsy McClain.”

“Ms. McClain, this is Mrs. Pearson. I’m Principal Burns’ personal assistant. I’m afraid to tell you that there has been an altercation at school.”

“Is Zippy all right?”

“She’s fine. The small boy she punched in the nose isn’t so fine.”

What? What had happened?

And why did this woman sound so judgy?

“You’ll need to come down and see Principal Burns.”

“I’ll be right there.”

As she drove to the school, Betsy called Ink and left a message. She knew he had a meeting with some big clients this morning so he was probably still busy, but hopefully he’d get her message.

Pulling up to the school, she jumped out of her car and rushed inside. She glanced down at herself, aware that she waswearing one of the outfits from LittleLand. It was a dress that was cinched in at the waist and flowed out. There were small daisies all over the white material.

It was actually one of Millie’s creations and one of her favorites.

Oh well. It would be fine.

She walked into the waiting area for the principal’s office and saw a young boy holding his nose. A woman and man who were likely his parents sat on either side of him. They scowled as they saw her.

“You ought to be ashamed of your daughter’s behavior, hitting our Eliot,” the woman said.

“And what did your Eliot do to get punched?” she asked.

Eliot looked very guilty.

Betsy marched up to the desk where an older woman eyed her with suspicion. “Where is my daughter?”

---