Maizy the Bear Charmer(Diving Creek Ranch 16)(131)

Maizy took the first available seat, closest to the door and at the opposite end of the table from them. She wished she’d called at least one of the bears after all. If nothing else, at least they’d know something was up. She felt very alone as she settled into her seat. The rain fell in sheets outside the windows, blotting out the landscape.

“This is an informal meeting, Miss Owen, intended to share some rather disturbing information with you. It’s been brought to my attention that a member of your family has entered into a questionable marital union   with two other people over the weekend. Friends of yours. It’s also been brought to my attention that you are considering such a union  .”

Roberta? Her dad? Who would tell Mrs. Dumphrey? She knew neither of them approved but she couldn’t imagine either of them “telling” on her either.

She neither confirmed nor denied Mrs. Dumphrey’s accusation. “I fail to see how my brother’s decisions or my private life could be cause for this meeting.”

“Hardly private. Miss Owen, I’ve brought you here today to make you aware of policies and a troublesome development.”

Mrs. Dumphrey stood and slipped several photos from an envelope and brought them around to Maizy. She laid one out. Maizy’s heart stuttered when she saw the photograph. Rain spattered against the windows and the temperature in the room seemed to drop as Mrs. Dumphrey lined the pictures up in front of her.

The grainy date-stamped image was of her in that first kiss with Cody when she’d gone to see the bears at the Twisted Bull back in August. Spencer and Heath were clustered around them while Cody had kissed her. Maizy glanced up at Mrs. Dumphrey as she laid out another photo and then gasped when she saw it. It was a very compromising picture of her and Heath on the back porch after they’d gotten out of the pool. Heath was kissing her and her legs were draped over the armrests of the chair as he stroked her pussy.

Mrs. Dumphrey placed another photo on the table, holding it distastefully by the very edges. It was a shot of her in the pool with all three of the bears, the day they’d washed and waxed her car for her. Cody was positioned between her legs, eating her with obvious relish while Heath looked on raptly and Spencer tongued one of her nipples. Fury swirled to life inside of her as one of her most precious memories was laid bare and treated as something sordid. The date stamps on all the photos indicated that they’d occurred within just days of each other.

Her face went up in flames and Mrs. Dumphrey had the audacity to say, “Well, it’s good to know that you’re still capable of blushing.”

Maizy blinked to clear the red from her vision. It would do no good to try to defend herself against this woman’s accusations, and she wasn’t worth having to wear prison orange for. Maizy made eye contact with Mr. Ambrose and was confused by the abject sympathy she saw there. He said nothing.

“I was under the impression that you and Mr. Ketchum, the large dark-haired man with the arms covered in tattoos were a couple, Miss Owen. Engaged, in fact.” She laid a final date-stamped image of Maizy surrounded by the bears on Grace’s front porch, moments after they’d all proposed to her. She was kissing Cody while holding on to Heath and Spencer. It was obvious from the way they were clustered around her holding her that they were a ménage a quatre. Roberta. Betrayal and fury blazed inside her.

The grainy images all made her sweet memories seem so sordid and she saw that reflect in Mrs. Dumphrey’s eyes as she peered at her. “Miss Owen, exactly who are you engaged to?”

Maizy pointed at the compromising photos and said, “Whoever took these was violating private property laws and my personal privacy. What I do in the sanctity of my home, or any other, is none of your business or the school board’s, for that matter. May I take these?”

Mrs. Dumphrey nodded. “Two sets were included in the envelope, these are yours. And you’re absolutely right about the privacy issue, Miss Owen.” Mrs. Dumphrey’s lips pressed into a flat line as she stacked the photos and returned them to the envelope and handed it to Maizy. “But we have a larger, much more troubling issue.”

“Where did you obtain those photos, Mrs. Dumphrey?”

“They arrived in my mailbox at school today, along with an anonymous note. The note claims that if you do not put an immediate stop to this illicit relationship, this person will go to the news networks. The national news networks. This person promised to drag Divine through the media and you in particular, as the teacher and shaper of young minds. Miss Owen, I want you to know that although I wasn’t fully in favor of you being hired as our kindergarten teacher five years ago, I do believe that you have done a good job as a teacher here, and might have done a good job as elementary principal if you’d taken the position when it was offered. And while I agree with you that you’re entitled to privacy, this situation does place the Divine Independent School District in an untenable position.”