His Little Cowgirl

Bailey wouldn’t let that happen.

Chapter Three

Cody stood outside the barn and watched Bailey drive away, the old truck stirring up a cloud of dust as it sped down the rutted gravel drive. When he turned toward his RV, Jerry Cross was there. It had to happen sooner or later, that the father of the woman he’d gotten pregnant would want to take a piece out of his hide.

If someone ever hurt Meg that way, Cody would like to think he’d be there to do the same thing. It would help to start off on the right foot. “Hello, sir. I’m Cody Jacobs.” Father of your grandchild.

“Are you staying?” Jerry sat down in the lawn chair that Cody had unfolded and stuck under the awning of the RV.

“Planning on it.” Cody grabbed another chair out of the back of his truck and plopped it down next to Jerry’s.

“Think she’ll let you stay?”

“The way I see it, she doesn’t really have a choice.”

Jerry laughed at that, the sound low and rasping. Cody glanced sideways, noticing the tinge of gray in Jerry’s complexion. It couldn’t be easy for Bailey, having her dad this sick and handling things on her own. The condition of the farm pretty much said it all. The barn needed repairs, the fence was sagging and the feed room was running on empty.

“I like you, Cody, and I hope you’ll stick around. Let me give you some advice, though. Bailey isn’t a kid anymore. She isn’t going to be fooled. She’s strong and she’s independent. She takes care of this farm and she juggles the bills like a circus clown.” Jerry’s eyes misted over. “I worry that life is passing her by and she isn’t squeezing any joy out of it for herself.”

“I didn’t mean to do that to her.”

The older man shrugged shoulders that had once been broad. Cody couldn’t imagine being in his shoes, knowing that life wouldn’t last and that people he loved would be left behind.

“It wasn’t all you, son. I have more than a little to do with the weight on her shoulders.”

“Is there a way I can help?”

Jerry shook his head. “Nope. Others have offered. She’s determined to paddle this sinking ship to shore. She thinks she can plug the holes and make it sail again.”

“I’ve got money…”

Jerry’s gnarled hand went up. “Save your breath and save your money. She won’t take charity.”

“It isn’t charity. I’m the father of the little girl in that house.”

“Then I guess you’d really better tread lightly.”

Jerry stood, swaying lightly and balancing himself with the arm of the chair. Cody reached but withdrew his hand short of making contact. If it were him, would he want others reaching to hold him up, or would he want to be strong on his own? He thought that Jerry Cross wouldn’t want a hand unless it was asked for.

That made him a lot like his daughter.

“I’m going in to check on the young’un. Holler if you need anything,” Jerry said as he walked away.

The young’un. Cody sat in the chair and thought about the little girl. His daughter. For a long time he waited, thinking she might come out of the house. When she didn’t, he went to the barn.

Thirty minutes and two clean stalls later, a tiny voice called his name. Cody swiped his arm across his brow and peered over the top of the stall he had been cleaning. Meg stood on tiptoes peeking up at him. He hid a grin because she was still wearing her nightgown and yet she’d pulled on those pink cowboy boots she’d been wearing the previous day.

“I have kittens.” She chewed on gum and smiled.

“How many?”

“Four. Wanna see ’em?”

He wanted to see those kittens more than anything in the world. A myriad of emotions washed over him with that realization. He had never hugged his child. He hadn’t held her or comforted her. He hadn’t wiped away her tears when she cried. Five years he had missed out on loving this little girl with Bailey’s sweet face and his blue eyes.

“I do wanna see ’em.”

He opened the stall door and joined the little girl that barely reached his waist. Her hand came up, the gesture obvious. Cody’s heart leaped into his throat as his fingers closed around hers.

In that instant he knew he’d follow her anywhere. He’d give his life for her. And if anyone ever did to her what he’d done to her mother…

Regret twisted his stomach into knots. He couldn’t undo what he’d done to Bailey, but he could do something now. He could be a father. Or at least make his best attempt.

Doubt swirled with regret, making him wonder if he could. What if he couldn’t? What if he turned out to be his own father?

“The kittens are in there.” Meg pointed to a small corner of the barn where buckets and tools were stored. The area was dark and dusty, but a corner had been cleared out and straw put down for the new mother.

“How old are they?”

“One week. They don’t even have their eyes yet.”

Cody smiled and refrained from correcting her about the eyes. “I bet they love you.”

She shook her head. “Not yet, ’cause I can’t touch them or the momma kitten will hide them. She’s afraid they’ll get hurt.”

“Momma cats are like that.” He peeked into the corner and saw the mother cat and the four little ones.

“There’s a yellow tabby, a gray, one black cat and a calico. I like calico cats best.”

“I think I do, too.” Little fingers held tightly to his, and at the same time it felt like they were wrapping around his heart.

Meg led him from the area. “We can’t stay long or she’ll be mad.”

“We wouldn’t want to make the momma mad.”

“My mom is mad at you.”

Cody had never been fond of amusement-park rides. He could handle eight seconds on the back of a bull, but that up-and-down roller-coaster feeling was one he couldn’t hack. And this felt like a roller coaster.

“I’m sorry that she’s mad at me, Meg. Sometimes adults need time to work things out.”

He kneeled in front of his daughter. Her mouth worked her gum as she stared into his eyes. When she rested her hand on his cheek and nodded, his eyes burned and he had to blink away the film of moisture.

“I know you’re my daddy.” She nodded at that information. “My mom told me about your eyes when I was just a little kid.”

“Meg Cross, you’re about the sweetest girl in the world.” And he hoped he wouldn’t let her down.

As he was thinking of all the mistakes he could make, his daughter stepped close and wrapped her arms around his neck. Her head rested on his shoulder and he hugged her back.