A Father's Promise

“Aunt Leigh!” Mark tugged her hand. “Don’t you want to help us finish the sand castle?”

Leigh pulled her gaze from the retreating waves and suppressed a yawn. “Sure I do.” She knelt beside him. “Wow, what a great job. How about a moat?”

Meggie ran to fill her green plastic bucket with water, and Mark began burrowing out a trench. Leigh dug her fingers through hot surface sand to the cool moistness beneath, watching Meggie fill her bucket, spill it, then patiently approach the next wave. Too many more sun-drenched, lazy days like this and she’d turn into a vegetable.

Well, that was the idea, wasn’t it? She’d come to St. Joseph’s Island for just that reason, and in the short time she’d been here, she’d already begun to heal. The encounter with Sarah had been distressing, but the memory of the upheaval receded, slipping away like the tide ruffling the sand, then smoothing it out.

Meggie ran back, water slopping from the pail and splashing her bare brown legs. She sent a convoy of sandpipers veering in another direction as she sloshed to a stop.

“Wait, wait,” Mark directed, his voice fussy. “I haven’t finished the moat yet. You and Aunt Leigh have to wait until I’m done.”

Meggie looked ready to argue, but Leigh was perfectly happy to lean back on her elbows and watch him work. Peace flooded over her, a peace she hadn’t experienced in months. Yes, a few more days like this…

A shadow fell across the sand castle. Leigh looked up, shading her eyes with her hand, but somehow she already knew whom she’d see. Eyes like bittersweet chocolate, dark hair cut short with a ruthless hand, a lean face and a determined jaw. Daniel Gregory.

“Mr. Gregory!” Mark grinned at him. “Look at my castle.”

“Our castle,” Meggie said. “Mine, too.”

“It’s great.” Daniel squatted next to Leigh. He patted a little extra sand into place on the castle wall with one strong hand and smiled at the children. “You did a fine job.”

“Does your little girl like to build sand castles?” Meggie, always ready to be friends with the world, leaned confidingly against his knee.

Daniel frowned, sending a glance toward Leigh that she couldn’t understand, and a flicker of uneasiness went through her.

“Sarah doesn’t like playing on the beach much.”

“She’d like it if she played with me,” Meggie said, confident in her ability. “Bring her to play with me.”

Daniel was beginning to look a bit overwhelmed by Meggie’s volubility. Maybe she’d better rescue him. She handed Meggie an empty pail.

“We need more water for the moat. Why don’t you go and get some.”

Meggie ran off, and Leigh smiled at him. “The rescue is on the house. She loves to talk.”

He met her smile with an intent look in those chocolate brown eyes. “I wish Sarah did.”

“I know,” she said softly. That was always a problem. Hearing parents hoped against hope that their children would learn to speak. Some even refused to sign, as if denying the situation would make it go away.

Daniel squared his body toward her. He was close enough that she could feel the heat that radiated from his olive skin. “I want to talk to you.”

Leigh shrugged, feeling ridiculously off balance. “We are talking, aren’t we?” All right, he was an attractive man. Very attractive. That was no reason for her breath to quicken or her pulse to suddenly beat a tattoo in her throat.

Brown eyes locked on hers, holding her gaze captive.

“It’s about something important. About my daughter. Sarah.”

His voice softened on the name, and something melted inside her. She’d always been a fool for that kind of gentleness in a strong, rugged man.

“Sarah’s a darling,” she said.

“Sarah needs help,” he countered.

Trouble, that’s all she could think. Whatever he wanted, it meant trouble. She glanced at Mark, but he’d moved away to dig up some fresh sand, and Meggie splashed through an inch or two of water, trying to scoop it up.

Leigh leaned back, as if an added inch of space between her and Gregory might give her an advantage.

“Look, I know you don’t know me.” He frowned. “I know this is sudden. But your brother-in-law can vouch for me, and I can get references…”

“What are you talking about?” She knew what was coming now, and the peace of the day unraveled in an instant.

“I want you to work for me, taking care of Sarah.”

He said it in a rush, as if he had to get the words out in a hurry. As if asking anyone for help were a blow to his pride.

“I’m not looking for a job,” she said quickly.

“But Mark said you were filling out résumés.”

She felt her cheeks warm. “I know. I mean, I’m not looking for that kind of a job.” Not ever again. “And anyway, you don’t know anything about me.”

He smiled, as if the hard part were over. As if convincing her to agree to what he wanted would be a piece of cake. “I know you’re Jamie Reynolds’s sister. I know they trust you with their kids. I know you’re a teacher of deaf children.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m the right person for Sarah.” She had to think. She wasn’t about to take on this challenge, and she certainly wasn’t about to tell him why she would never again be teaching.

His hand came down over hers suddenly. His palm, roughened by hard work, set her skin tingling.

“I also know you’re warm and generous with kids, and they like you instinctively. And I know Sarah talked more to you in five minutes than she’s talked to anyone else in the two months she’s been here.”

She took a breath, let it out, then drew her hand away as Meggie splashed back up with her pail. Two months? Where had Sarah been before she’d come to the island?

“Sarah’s mother…” she began, then stopped, not sure she should ask the question.

“She died in an accident.”

A protective barrier screened his eyes, warning her away.

“Sarah is living with me now. And I want the best for her.”

A hundred questions bubbled up in Leigh, but she couldn’t ask them. Not of him, not now. Not when he was obviously dealing with a great deal of pain. Not when she had no intention of doing what he wanted.

“I’m sorry. Of course you want the best for Sarah, but I’m really not looking for that kind of a job. I’ve been filling out résumés because I hope to find something in another field by the end of the summer.”

“You’re leaving teaching?”

The question was like a knife to her heart. “Yes.” She could only hope the monosyllable would discourage any questions. She glanced at Mark and Meggie, who were sitting back on their heels, listening wide-eyed.

He looked down at the sand castle for a moment, his hand absently patting at its towers. Then he looked back at her. “That wouldn’t be a problem. If everything goes the way I plan, Sarah will be attending a residential school in the fall. Right now is when I need someone. You could still go for interviews, if that’s what’s worrying you.”