Unexpected Daughter

How quickly things could change. At one time Cade had expected to spend the rest of his life, after medical school, right here in Cypress Landing, with Brijette. Then in an instant his plans had come apart. Brijette had been arrested while they were together and she’d been carrying a large package of prescription narcotics in her backpack. Enough to get her sent to that youth correctional facility a few hours away. Before she was sentenced, she’d told his mother she’d take money to stay away from him. He’d wondered what had happened to the girl he’d fallen in love with. But his mother had convinced him Brijette had just made a fool of him, acting as if she cared. So he’d left without another word to her. He hadn’t seen or spoken to her again, until now.

His gut twisted slightly at the thought. Had that been the right thing to do? He shook his head. Of course he’d done the right thing—no need to second-guess a decision he’d made that long ago. He pulled into his drive only to be hit with blaring lights from three sheriff’s vehicles. He recognized Matthew Wright, who was only a few years older than himself and had been with the sheriff’s department when Cade was here before.

Cade climbed out of his car and gripped Matt’s hand. “Hey, how are you? It’s been a long time.”

Matt nodded. “Yeah, it has.”

Cade stuffed his hands into his pockets and leaned against the truck door. “I think you were the investigator when I was last here.”

“I took over as sheriff a few years after you left.”

The ever so slight pause between “you” and “left” didn’t get lost on Cade. More than one person in this town likely thought he’d been as guilty as Brijette. He hadn’t been, which is why he’d gone home before things had gotten worse.

“You’re going to be the new doctor in town.” The sheriff seemed to be sizing him up.

“Only until my uncle recovers from his surgery, then I’ll go back to Dallas.”

“City boy, huh?”

Cade shrugged. “I guess. My mother likes Dallas and doesn’t want to leave. She’s getting older and I need to be nearby.”

Matt accepted the answer without a response. It was one that would make sense around here—a son doing his duty by seeing to his aging mother, the honorable thing to do. Cade didn’t know how honorable his intentions were when part of him resisted it so much. But he’d made promises to his father and, being an only child, he felt the need to keep them.

“Don’t think we’ll get much here.”

Cade swung his attention back to the sheriff. “No idea what happened to the horse?”

“Not yet. I wouldn’t even have noticed those tire tracks if Brijette hadn’t told me where to find them.”

Cade smiled against his will. He didn’t want the image of Brijette kneeling, studying the grass in his backyard to make him smile, but it did. It was what had drawn him to her when they were younger, the way she would get completely engrossed in something and forget everything else. These were not the memories he wanted to think of right now. Actually, he should eliminate them from his mind permanently.

“Her daughter’s the one who found the marks first.”

Sheriff Wright rubbed his chin. “That figures. The kid’s part bloodhound, same as her mother.”

“What was her father like?”

The man’s lips thinned. “I don’t know the girl’s father. Maybe you should ask Brijette. Or better yet, let things like that lie.”

What a quick freeze—the sheriff’s friendly attitude had shifted so abruptly. But a part of Cade couldn’t let the subject go. “I thought he must be from here and you’d know him.”

“Like I said, I don’t know the guy.” Sheriff Wright turned away from him. “We’ve done what we can for now. We’ll be going.”

Matt Wright waved to the other men and they climbed in their respective cars, leaving Cade standing in the damp grass. He walked to the door of the kitchen still feeling the tension that had hung in the air this evening. After flipping off the light, he made his way to bed, trying to decide if he was sorry he’d come to Cypress Landing or not.

THE WHOLE HOUSE seemed to shift as Dylan’s bedroom door slammed shut. The girl hadn’t said a word since Brijette had gotten in the car and driven them home. The child had been around Cade one evening and already Brijette’s life was changing—and not for the better. She took off her shoes and counted to ten before padding down the hall to stand in front of the closed door.

She tapped lightly. “Dylan, I’m coming in.”

A muffled no penetrated the wood, but Brijette ignored it. She was the adult around here.

“What’s going on? Why are you so mad?”

“You don’t even like Cade. Why did I have to sit in our car while you got to stay there and talk to him?”

That set her back and she had to struggle to get her thoughts together. She hadn’t expected her spending time alone with Cade would make Dylan angry. “He told you we had to discuss a patient, and we can’t do that in front of you.”

“I can keep a secret.”

Brijette’s muscles tightened. “I’m sure you can, but you’d better not keep secrets from me.”

“Why? You and Cade kept whatever you talked about in the car a secret.”

From nowhere, tears pricked behind Brijette’s eyes. She hadn’t planned to keep secrets from her daughter, but in reality she had. Protection, she reminded herself. I’m protecting her from the family who would never really accept her because she’s part of me. Focus. She had to focus to get this problem solved.

“Discussing patient care is not keeping a secret. And don’t go to his house bothering him when you’re supposed to be staying with Norma. He’s a busy person.”

“I’m not bothering Cade. He said so. And I only went in his backyard to fish. He’s the one who sat down and fished with me.”

Brijette sighed. “You fish behind Norma’s house where she can see you. That creek can be dangerous.”

“It’s shallow.”

Brijette fought the urge to stomp her foot. “Dylan, you heard me. It’s dangerous. Don’t do it.”

The girl hugged a pillow to her and faced the wall.

“I’m going to take a bath and go to bed. Do you need anything?” Dylan didn’t move or answer, and Brijette leaned over to kiss the top of her head. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

She pulled the door closed behind her and went to the bathroom that adjoined her bedroom. She could afford the small two-bedroom house, which was all that mattered, even though at times she longed for one of those huge tubs with the jets to wash away the aches and pains of a long day.

Dropping her clothes onto the floor, she stepped under the spray of the shower and leaned her head against the wall. Hopefully, this trouble with Dylan wasn’t a premonition of things to come. They’d had their spats during the years as parents and children do, but they were closer than most because they depended so much on each other. In a way, they’d grown up together. She had imagined that one day she’d find a man to marry, to help raise Dylan and be the father the child never knew, but life hadn’t worked out that way. They had to get through this summer. Doc Wheeler would come back from his surgery and Cade would be gone. All those things he’d said years ago, about living in a small town and helping people the way his uncle did, had been a lot of words that had meant nothing. Thank goodness for that, because the sooner he left, the sooner her life and Dylan’s could get back to normal.

AT SIX in the morning Cade nosed his vehicle into a spot on the edge of Main Street in front of the Main Street Coffee Shop. Cypress Landing didn’t seem to find a need for originality in names. What else would one name an eatery on the town’s main street? He’d been hungry the minute his feet hit the floor, and he remembered the diner opened early.

He found a stool at the breakfast counter, avoiding the tables, several already occupied by brooding gray-haired men. They either gathered up here or at the old store on the highway that led outside of town.

An older woman stopped across the counter from him. “You want the same breakfast as usual?”

He hadn’t been in Cypress Landing long, but he’d already been in the Main Street Coffee Shop enough that Alice Berteau, the waitress and owner, knew what he wanted. “That’ll be good.”

She poured him a cup of coffee and disappeared into the kitchen.

A man took a seat beside him and waved to a waitress, who smiled and motioned that she’d be right there.

“Mr. Mills, right? Jody Mills’s dad.”

The man gave him a confused look.