Page 92 of Sins of Innocence

He's trying to make Neeve comfortable though and I'm more than willing to follow his lead in that. Honestly, without knowing what he's about to do, I'm just as happy to get out of the line of fire.

For now.

That doesn't mean I hesitate to make eye contact with every parent I pass as I walk toward two empty desks beside Lily and Ryan Kennedy. Some parents stare back belligerently. Others look ashamed. And one woman, probably the one who gasped, looks confused.

Kieran steps up to the whiteboard and writes the word BASTARD, in all caps. Under that he writes: both a noun and an adjective.

There's more than one gasp this time and some angry muttering, but Kieran appears oblivious to it all as he turns back to face the rest of us.

"Before we discuss consequences, some of you need a vocabulary lesson," he says ominously.

When a man like Kieran says the word consequences, you listen. Even if you don't know he's a shot caller in the mob. I learned that term today while shopping with my best friend and peppering her with questions about her role in the crime syndicate.

According to her, Kieran isn't just her boss, he's a captain in the mob.

"Now, see here!" Mr. Wrye stands up. "There's no call for that kind of language."

Kieran glares him back into his seat. "There are several meanings for the word. Only one of them is considered profanity. Perhaps you need this vocabulary lesson as badly as your students."

What follows is exactly what Kieran promised. A vocabulary lesson on the meaning of the word bastard. Kieran writes a one or two word definition for each of the meanings, starting with the adjectives, and asks the parents to use it correctly in a sentence.

"Mrs. Duffy's shoes are bastard Jimmy Choos," Ryan Kennedy says, his expression so innocent, butter wouldn't melt in his mouth.

Several childish and adult laughs are stifled after that one.

After Kieran writes the word illegitimate on the board, he says, "Can anyone tell me what illegitimate means?"

"It means someone's parents weren't married when they were born," one of the dads says with a look of disbelieving censure for his daughter.

Clearly, he didn't realize his little princess was calling my daughter a bastard at school.

But if any parent came into this room wondering what the meeting was about, there is no question now.

"Correct," Kieran says and then he looks around the room, letting his gaze settle on every single kid for a second. "It does not mean a child whose father died."

Neeve's posture straightens and I want to cry. My baby was dealing with rotten feelings of insecurity that her classmates had been only too willing to contribute to.

"My mother and biological father were not married when I was born," Kieran says, his eyes intent on my daughter. "That makes me a bastard. It does not make me less of a human being."

My shy, introverted, hates-to-be-the-center-of-attention daughter, leaps from her seat and runs forward to give Kieran a hug.

He drops to one knee so he can hug her back. They whisper to each other before she comes back to sit beside Lily.

Kieran stands, his expression forbidding. "We have one last definition of bastard. The profane one."

Mr. Wrye opens his mouth like he's going to object again, but then seems to think better of it and presses his lips together in a disapproving line.

Saying the words aloud as he writes them, Kieran puts vicious, despicable, disliked in the spot he'd left blank directly under the word BASTARD on the white board. Then he turns back to face the room.

"I might think someone calling my daughter names is a little bastard, but that doesn't mean I don't think his parents were married when he was born." He looks directly at Jamie O'Grady, the younger brother of one of the boys who attacked Sadie.

Jamie dips his head and Mrs. O'Grady blanches.

"I might think a teacher who doesn't bother to correct his student's understanding of a word being used to bully one of their classmates—"

"Much less follow school protocol regarding discipline in such a situation," I can't help adding, interrupting Kieran.

Who nods at me before looking directly at Mr. Wrye as he moves to stand close to him.