Читать книгу Unexpected Daughter - Suzanne Cox - Страница 11

THE QUESTION she’d dreaded most, and it was coming from the last person she’d ever expected to say those words. Brijette didn’t try to answer right away. Nothing good could come of this. But, if she could keep Cade from learning the truth, then he’d leave and her life would be normal again, maybe. But how normal would it be for Dylan? In just a minute she would deny her child her father. A man who could buy her things, take her places Brijette never could. But would he teach her to love and care for other people, to give back to the community that raised her? Probably not. He hadn’t wanted a child with her years ago and she couldn’t imagine that he or his stiff-and-proper mother would want one now.

“She’s not yours, that’s for sure.”

His features seemed to crinkle in the dim light.

“How old is she?”

His words were softer than she expected. She might have described them as sad if she hadn’t known better.

“She’s almost ten.”

His eyes slammed on her with a force she could feel and she dug her back into the seat.

“So she could be mine. Unless you jumped into bed with someone else as soon as you got rid of me.”

“I think you know where I spent the three months after you left.”

He had the decency to stop glaring at her after that. She opened her mouth to ask him why he was so concerned about a child he’d never wanted in the first place—a child he’d been more than happy to get rid of. But she froze with her lips barely parted. What if he’d never known she was pregnant? Doubt had entered her mind when Cade’s mother told her of his decision, but she’d tossed the suspicions aside. Mrs. Wheeler was his mother and a seventeen-year-old Brijette had no reason to think the woman would lie. He’d probably decided to pretend it never happened. That he’d never had a part in anything so ugly as paying her off to have an abortion—not him, not Cade Wheeler. If he wanted to feign ignorance, she’d be more than happy to go along. It served her purpose to ignore the whole incident.

She’d been presented with money for an abortion, then left to spend three months in a youth correction facility. Brijette wouldn’t allow Cade to show up now and start making waves in hers and Dylan’s lives. From the moment she’d had her daughter she’d been planning for the possibility of Wheeler interference, though she hadn’t expected it. Thank goodness she’d made the effort anyway, because she was about to put those plans into action.

“Dylan was born twelve months after you left here, and I have the birth certificate to prove it. Unless I’m a human oddity, that’s a couple months too late for her to be yours. I’ll show you the birth certificate if you’re that concerned.”

The steering wheel creaked under the pressure of his hands. “Left that place and jumped into bed with the first guy who came along, huh?”

Brijette thought she wouldn’t care what Cade said, how he saw her. She was wrong. It hurt to know he thought she had no morals. But then he’d believed her guilty of a lot things before now. He was staring at the front windshield and she was amazed that looking at him like this could still make her heart skip. Maybe it was just fear affecting her rather than the glint in his eyes or his slightly full lower lip that she recalled kissing indiscriminately. She’d kissed a few men since, but no one like him. Cade had been in a class by himself.

She didn’t respond and he continued. “Where’s her father? Does he visit, send money?”

She eyed the green light on the radio’s digital display and shook her head.

“Are you telling me he doesn’t know he has a child?”

Her breath caught deep in her lungs then came out in a gust. “I’m telling you he wasn’t interested in having a child. He took off and hasn’t had a thing to do with us since.” That statement was the most honest one of the evening. “I need to go now. I can’t leave Dylan sitting in the car by herself.” She fumbled with the door, but he caught her arm before she could get away.

“Bring that birth certificate to work tomorrow. I am that concerned.”

She stumbled from his truck to her vehicle, thoroughly confused. Cade continued to drill her with questions about Dylan’s father and the more he asked, the less she wanted to tell him. Maybe he regretted the decision he made then. If so, she didn’t care about his change of heart. But why didn’t he mention her pregnancy, their child, the abortion he thought he paid for? Her uncertainty multiplied and she rammed the heel of her hand against her forehead to stop her panicked speculation. With any luck his questions ended here. Now she needed to keep Cade and Dylan apart and hope no one else noticed the uncanny resemblance of the two.

THE CAR DOOR slammed, the engine hummed to life and the red taillights of the SUV disappeared. Gone again and good riddance.

Cade put his own vehicle in motion and tried to beat down the feeling in the pit of his stomach. He was not disappointed. At least, that’s what he kept telling himself. But for an instant, just a moment in time, he’d thought the cute little blonde could be his, his own daughter. Then that witch had ruined it, like she’d ruined everything between them. Sharing a child with her would have been pure hell. His child couldn’t be raised by a woman like Brijette, untrustworthy, a liar. A host of even worse descriptive words butted into his brain but he swept them aside. It didn’t matter, the kid didn’t belong to him. Brijette had gone to bed with a lowlife who got her pregnant and took off.

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.

“I’m Cade Wheeler, Dr. Wheeler’s nephew.” Mr. Mills had lost weight since Cade had last seen him, but he’d spent a lot of time with his son, who’d been one of his best friends during his first visit here. Maybe he and Jody could get together again, go fishing like when they were younger.

Recognition finally passed across the man’s face and he nodded. “I almost didn’t recognize you, you’ve grown some. Heard you were coming to help your uncle while he was laid up. That’s good of you.”

Cade wished people would quit telling him he was being nice to come and help his uncle. They made it sound as if he’d left a lot behind to come here, when in truth his uncle’s plea for help had filled a blank hole that had appeared in his life.

“What’s Jody doing? I’d like to see him.”

Mr. Mills’s jaw tightened and he wadded a paper napkin in his hand. “I thought Dr. Wheeler would have told you. Jody died close to a year ago. Got mixed in with the wrong people and started messing around with drugs. Ended up gettin’ shot.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know. Did they ever catch who did it?”

The man grasped the plastic container the waitress had brought for him and shook his head. “Ask that Brijette at the clinic. She can tell you more. She’s the one who found him. They took to being friends when she moved back here.” He paused as if he realized his voice had gotten louder. “I’ll be seeing you, son. You stay out of trouble, you hear?”

Cade could only watch as the man hurried from the diner.

“He’s changed since Jody died.”

A plate slid across the counter in front of him and Alice propped her arm on the counter. “They never did find who killed the boy and it’s made the man bitter. Wants to blame everyone.”

“Whose fault was it?”

She frowned. “It was Jody’s fault for gettin’ involved in all that. Can’t really blame no one else. Mr. Mills thinks the sheriff isn’t trying hard enough, but there’s only so much that can be done. I don’t know. Maybe I’d feel the same if it happened to my child.” She moved on as a customer at the other end of the counter asked for a coffee refill.

He couldn’t imagine why his uncle hadn’t told him Jody had been killed. Of course, his uncle hadn’t been too pleased that summer when his parents had shown up and carted him back to Dallas. At the time, Cade had just wanted to escape. He’d had very little contact with his uncle after that. Even at his father’s funeral, the man hadn’t mentioned Cypress Landing or the events of that summer. That was why he’d been surprised when his uncle had called and asked for his help. Now that Cade was back in Cypress Landing, his life seemed to be getting tangled in ways he hadn’t expected. All he wanted was a simple medical practice, a wonderful wife and two or three beautiful children. Was that asking too much? He forked a piece of omelet, letting the cheese ooze and wondering if those things would ever happen for him.

BRIJETTE TRIED TO control the jump in her chest, tried to tell herself it wasn’t her heart racing the minute she saw Cade stroll in the door. The same locks of hair slipped over one eyebrow, framing emerald eyes that could draw you in deeper and deeper. His shoulders strained beneath the fabric of his lab coat, making him appear much larger than she remembered. The young man had gone. This Cade seemed to fill the hallway. His blond good looks were what had attracted her to him in the beginning; his warm caring heart was what had made her stay. The chart she held dropped to the floor, scattering loose pieces of paper. That heart had transformed into an iceberg the minute their little sea of love started having a few waves. She’d been crazy in love with him and she hadn’t wanted to believe he’d left. Then his mother came. She took a deep breath and stretched to get the last paper, but her head made a thumping sound as it rammed into Cade’s. He’d crouched to help her get the papers and she hadn’t seen him. Why did he do that? She didn’t need his help, not now, not ever.

“Sorry.” She snapped the file shut, gritting the word between her teeth like a nasty piece of candy.

“Are you all right?”

“I’m fine.” She turned to leave, but her foot wobbled in her open-backed clogs. The chart went flying and her shoulder bumped the wall at the same time a hand grabbed her upper arm. Cade steadied her.

“Don’t move.”

He let go and gathered the chart while she stood there, unsure why she kept following his directions but unable to get her muscles in gear. When he had the chart together he caught her arm and pulled her into an empty room, shutting the door behind them.

“I’m sorry about last night.”

If she’d been holding the stupid chart she’d have dropped it again. “What do you mean, you’re sorry?”

“It’s not a riddle. I’m sorry. I said a lot of nasty things to you. We have a past, but it’s just that, past. If we’re going to be working together, we have to get along. Neither one of us may be comfortable with it, but this is the way things are going to be.”

Brijette couldn’t do much more than stare at him. This was how it was going to be? How could they possibly work together with all the resentment between them? What had old Dr. Wheeler been thinking?

Cade caught her hand and squeezed her fingers. “We can do it.” And there he was, the old Cade she’d fallen in love with. The you-and-me-against-the-world Cade, the even-if-the-world-kicks-our-butts Cade. But the world had come to kick their butts, and there hadn’t been a you and me.

“It’ll be fine.” She heard herself say the words but didn’t feel as though they came from her.

He dropped her hand, disappearing through the door, only to reappear seconds later. “Oh, and no swamp medicine.”

Blood rushed to her head and she opened her mouth to reply, but he cut her off, laughing. “Hey, I was joking, okay? We’ll do what works.” He paused, as if contemplating his next words carefully. “I’d still like to see that birth certificate.”

She nodded. Damn Cade Wheeler. She didn’t need this confusion in her life. She fiddled with the exam-room supplies on the small desk. She’d have to find a way to deal with him until he left. Suddenly there was a shout and a thud from the direction of the lobby. Then Cade’s voice seemed to rattle the window in the small room.

“Brijette, get in here now.”