Accidental Father

“Has…has he been in today?”

“Not thirty minutes ago.”

Good. Then he wouldn’t be walking in while she and Kylie were here. Sarah stirred cream into her coffee and watched Ruby bring her cup to her lips. There was no point in sugarcoating the announcement. She might just as well spit it out. “I slept with him, Aunt Ruby.”

Coffee sloshed over the rim as Ruby clattered her cup back into her saucer. After a moment, she took several napkins from the chrome dispenser and mopped up the spill. “Well, I’m no expert on such things, but if that’s what you call trouble—”

“It was three years ago,” Sarah continued quietly. “Right after that horrible mess with Vince. Jake is Kylie’s father.”

Periodically checking on Kylie, she told Ruby all of it—how she’d been crying, tired of people whispering behind their hands about her, hating their pitying looks. Then how Jake had found her like that, and he’d been just as low as she was.

“So, mutual commiserating became something else,” Sarah concluded. “Now…” She smiled tightly, but with love, as she watched Kylie triple-dip a mangled French fry in the puddle of ketchup on her plate. “Now I have a precious little daughter.”

“Does he know?”

“He suspects. And he deserves to know, but I’m afraid to tell him. You remember Betsy Chappell, don’t you?”

“Moved up to Helena a while back.”

Sarah nodded. “I saw her last week when I was there helping my aunt Vera after her back surgery. Betsy just lost a custody battle with her baby’s father. He was married, and when he went back to his wife, Betsy had some emotional problems. Unfortunately, the man’s a respected doctor with influential friends. Now he and his wife are raising Betsy’s son.”

Ruby’s sober gaze studied Kylie. “Afraid the sheriff’ll git himself a lawyer?”

Sarah nodded again. “He never knew his father, and he was raised by a single mother with a gypsy life-style. After she died, he spent some time in foster homes. Aunt Ruby, this man has wanted a real family all of his life. Yes, I’m afraid he’ll get a lawyer.”

“More dip-its, Mommy?”

Sarah rose to squirt more ketchup on Kylie’s plate, then returned to her seat. “I can’t lose her. Even joint custody would be a horror.” Tears stung her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. “He’s a stranger,” she murmured. “How can I tell him he has a daughter when I don’t know anything about him?”

Ruby chewed her lower lip for a time, then settled her gaze on Sarah’s. “First off, I don’t think you’ll lose her. But Lord knows I been wrong before. Once when I voted fer Cy Farrell, who turned out to be a low-down skunk, and once when I swore up and down I could raise watermelons.

“That said, I think he’s a decent sort. No fella without a conscience woulda stopped to make sure you were okay that night. Plus, he’s been here twice a day since he arrived, and I’ve watched him close. After the last fool we had wearin’ a badge in this town, I need t’ be sure this fella deserves my vote come November. If he keeps up the way he’s goin’, he’s got it.”

“So what do I do?” Sarah asked. “What would you do?”

“Think on it some, I reckon. Trust that the Lord knows what He’s doin’, bringin’ Jake Russell to this town. I’m fresh out of magic wands, Sarah. If I’d had any years ago, I’da zapped that cheatin’ husband of yers clear to Jupiter. Best I kin do fer you right now is offer you a piece of apple pie and freshen that cold coffee in front of you.”

“Thanks,” she said through a sigh. “But I—” Sarah stopped abruptly as the door opened, and Jake walked inside. To her shock and mortification, her skin began to tingle and warm, and a disconcerting airiness wafted through her stomach.

He was a light that dimmed every other man in the room—ruggedly handsome and well-built in a tan uniform that fit nearly as well as his jeans did. Removing his Stetson, he crossed to the lunch counter to speak to Jeannie Baker, the waitress who’d brought their order. Instantly, the girl’s posture was better, her smile brighter and her attention rapt.

“I thought you said the sheriff had already been here,” Sarah said nervously, irrationally bothered by Jeannie’s interest.

Ruby turned to peek toward the front of the café. “Could be he changed his mind about dessert.”

Oh, please, don’t let it be that, Sarah prayed, staring into her coffee cup.

“Nope,” Ruby continued. “He ain’t sittin’ down. Looks like he’s handin’ Jeannie one of them lunch vouchers. Must be holdin’ somebody over at the jail.”

Slowly, Sarah ventured a look. But Jake chose the same moment to scan the room, and Sarah felt her face flood with heat as their gazes met and locked.

At the front of the café, Jake frowned thoughtfully as Sarah jerked her gaze from his. He’d been racking his brain for two days trying to think of a way to reestablish some sort of friendship with her. He’d really screwed up, pressuring her the way he had.

Now, as he considered his next stop, he wondered if a partial solution to his problem might be in his shirt pocket. He’d planned to ask a salesclerk for help. But talking to Sarah about something that had nothing to do with Kylie might just ease some of her insecurities where he was concerned, and pave the way to some honest conversation.

He didn’t want to resort to demanding a paternity test.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes, Jeannie,” he told the waitress. Then he walked back to Sarah’s table with a smile for all three of them.

“Afternoon, ladies,” he said. He tried not to focus on Kylie, but it was difficult. His heart wanted to look.

“Sheriff,” Sarah murmured.

“My name is Jake, Sarah,” he said pointedly.

With a smile that lit her whole face, Kylie scrambled to her feet in the booster chair and teetered precariously. “Hi, Jake! Want a fench fwy?”

Adrenaline shot through him. Before Jake could lunge for Kylie, Sarah sprang from her chair and sat Kylie back down. He blew out a relieved breath as she scolded her daughter softly, then shook his head at Ruby.

“Kids,” Ruby chuckled, levering herself out of her seat. “As fer them fries, from the looks of ’em, you’d be happier with pie.”

Jake chuckled, too. “Thanks, but I’m still full of stuffed peppers.”

“Then I’ll git you some pie to take along. Yer too skinny. Wouldn’t take a good wind long to blow you clear to Livingston.” She started away at a brisk clip. “While I’m at it, I’ll git a washcloth for our little honey-girl.”

“That’s okay,” Sarah called, and Jake could hear a hint of alarm in her voice. “I’ll just take her to the ladies’ room. Aunt Ruby? I think the sheriff wants to talk to you.” But Ruby was too far away to hear.

“Actually,” Jake said, sliding into the booth across from her and setting his hat beside him. “It’s you I want to talk to, Sarah.”

Chapter 3

With her nerves bouncing around like jumping beans, it was difficult for Sarah to keep her features composed. The last time this man said he wanted to talk, she’d had a home she could escape to. Now she was trapped.

Lifting Kylie out of the booster seat, she grabbed a napkin and mopped the worst of the ketchup from her daughter’s hands and face. Then she sent Kylie running to Aunt Ruby so she could finish the job with a washcloth.

Sarah brought her gaze back to Jake. He looked disappointed that she’d sent their daughter away, but that’s the way it had to be. She wanted to know him a lot better before he spent more time with Kylie.

“You wanted to talk?” she reminded him. Scooping up Kylie’s toys, Sarah stuffed them into the tote bag, glad to have something to do with her hands.

“Yes,” he said, adding building blocks to her tote. “I need a favor.”

Sarah glanced up in surprise.

“I didn’t plan on asking you until I saw you sitting back here,” he added.

“What kind of favor?” she asked warily.

“I picked up a young runaway a few minutes ago—barely fifteen. Her idiot boyfriend dumped her outside of town. Jeannie’s putting together a lunch for her, but all the girl has are the clothes on her back, and they’re in bad shape. She needs something decent to wear.”