By the time my parents arrived, at a little after 5:15 a.m., I was cleaned up and sparkling like new. It was still dark out and none of the other students in the school would be awake for at least another two hours.
Miss Hellview and I sat in her office, both of us prim and proper.
She was in one of her many long dark dresses, her blonde hair once again pinned tightly behind her head, her haughty manner restored to its full haughtiness. In my crisp new school uniform, I was scrubbed brightly from head to toe, my silky brown hair shiny and smelling like expensive shampoo and conditioner.
“Daddy!” I jumped right up when he walked in, alone. I ran to him and hugged him hard, acting just like the excitable little 11-year-old daughter I was. “I'm always so glad to see you!”
My father hugged me back, then stood looking at me a long moment.
“Where's mom?” I asked. “I thought she was coming, too.”
“She's waiting out in the car,” he said. “She thought it'd be better if I handled this part of it alone.”
“Oh.”
That didn't sound good. My mother was obviously still too upset to deal with me. Or with my father and I, together. I realized it probably wouldn't be a particularly pleasant drive home. Actually, it would more likely be a nightmare.
“I can give you some privacy,” Miss Hellview suggested, diplomatically, standing as she said it. “It seems you need to discuss a family matter.”
My father turned his attention to her.
“That won't be necessary,” he told her. “You'll need to hear this, as well. I'm taking my daughter back home with me. It was my wife's idea that she attend here, branding her as a so-called troubled girl, but my wife and I have reached an…agreement about the future of our relationship that changes that.”
I exhaled slowly, feeling I'd been punched in the stomach. Divorce. Or at least separation. I'd known what to expect, of course, but it was still a shock to discover I was correct.
“Oh, God, Daddy,” I said, holding back tears. “I came here so you two wouldn't split up.”
“I know, sweetheart,” he said, gently. “And we'll explain everything to you on the way home. I think we've worked out something agreeable to all of us. So get your things and we'll head home.”
I nodded, not sure whether to be glad or sad.
“Okay,” I tried a smile. “I'll go pack.”
When I looked to Miss Hellview, I could see she wasn't very happy at this turn of events. Actually, she looked to me with a genuine sense of loss, shaking her head almost imperceptibly.
“Emily, I'm so truly sorry to see you leave us,” she said. “I feel we were just getting to know each other…”
I gave her a warm look.
“I'm going to miss you, too,” I admitted. “A lot. Even though you're a grown-up and I'm just a dumb kid, I thought we had a lot in common.”
Miss Hellview gave me a look.
“You're not a dumb kid,” she told me. “You're definitely special.” To my father, she said, “Your sweet little daughter has been a joy to have at my school, for even her brief time here. I'd hoped to continue her studies, her…education, personally, in what I like to consider the classical sense.”
“I've already learned a lot,” I told my father. “Miss Hellview said I'm a very fast learner.”
Which got me a knowing smile from her.
“She's definitely that,” my tall blonde former headmistress affirmed. “Truthfully, little Emily is the fastest learner I've ever had the pleasure to get my hands on. I'll miss her more than you'll ever know.”
I'll admit, that was nice to hear.
“Daddy?” I asked then, which got both my father and my ex-headmistress to turn to me. “Will you bring me back to visit Miss Hellview sometime, so you can see, too, how much fun she is to know?”
And I gave him a look, a look which-knowing me as he did-caused him to take a much longer look at the beautiful Miss Hellview, a blond goddess with the face of an actual angel, a self-assured, powerful angel who could grant many highly pleasurable wishes.
She studied him as well, coolly it seemed but with what I knew to be an understated passion, obviously liking what she was seeing. And, knowing and understanding what she did about him and me, she nodded her approval.
“I'd like that,” she said simply.
“Absolutely,” my father agreed. “A visit, it will be.”
And we all three gave each other a big smile.