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Magic In A Jelly Jar
Sally Tyler Hayes
Mills & Boon M&B
WHEN YOU WISH UPON A…TOOTH?Disillusioned with love, single dad Joe Morgan had no time for his instant and unwanted attraction to enchanting dentist Samantha Carter. But Joe needed Samantha's help. His son, Luke, had the crazy idea that Samantha was the magic tooth fairy. And Luke was saving teeth in a jelly jar so Samantha would grant his wish for a mother!With one tender, unexpected kiss, Joe broke through Samantha's fragile defenses. And spending time with Joe and Luke awoke dangerous yearnings. Samantha knew her own wish was for them to be a family. But that would never happen–unless she could open Joe's wary heart to the magic of love….
“Dad!” Luke tugged furiously on Joe’s jeans. “It’s her!”
“Who?” Joe was still staring at her and thinking that he hadn’t been so blown away by the sight of a woman in years. She had dainty feet, encased in fancy sandals in a sparkling silver color. Smooth, trim calves. Cute knees. A long, bulky white jacket—he could have done without that. Delicate hands—no rings, he noted. Pale, peach-colored lips, eyes as blue as the sky. An absolutely dazzling smile, directed at his son.
“The tooth fairy!” Luke said.
“Luke, there’s no such thing as—”
“Uh-ummm.” The woman cleared her throat loudly. She gave him a conspiratorial wink.
Being this close to a woman, having her smile at him baffled Joe. How could he consider allowing another woman into his life? One had been more than enough.
But when he looked at this woman, he felt uneasy. Here, he thought, was a woman who just might be able to change his mind….
Dear Reader,
When Patricia Kay was a child, she could be found hiding somewhere…reading. “Ever since I was old enough to realize someone wrote books and they didn’t just magically appear, I dreamed of writing,” she says. And this month Special Edition is proud to publish Patricia’s twenty-second novel, The Millionaire and the Mom, the next of the STOCKWELLS OF TEXAS series. She admits it isn’t always easy keeping her ideas and her writing fresh. What helps, she says, is “nonwriting” activities, such as singing in her church choir, swimming, taking long walks, going to the movies and traveling. “Staying well-rounded keeps me excited about writing,” she says.
We have plenty of other fresh stories to offer this month. After finding herself in the midst of an armed robbery with a gun to her back in Christie Ridgway’s From This Day Forward, Annie Smith vows to chase her dreams…. In the next of A RANCHING FAMILY series by Victoria Pade, Kate McDermot returns from Vegas unexpectedly married and with a Cowboy’s Baby in her belly! And Sally Tyler Hayes’s Magic in a Jelly Jar is what young Luke Morgan hopes for by saving his teeth in a jelly jar…because he thinks that his dentist is the tooth fairy and can grant him one wish: a mother! Also, don’t miss the surprising twists in Her Mysterious Houseguest by Jane Toombs, and an exciting forbidden love story with Barbara Benedict’s Solution: Marriage.
At Special Edition, fresh, innovative books are our passion. We hope you enjoy them all.
Best,
Karen Taylor Richman
Senior Editor
Magic in a Jelly Jar
Sally Tyler Hayes
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
To my son, John, a mathematically gifted and mercenary child who, when he started losing his baby teeth, began with great excitement to count and even do a bit of multiplication in order to figure out what his entire mouth was worth empty of teeth.
And to his first-grade class at St. Mary’s, where the loss of each tooth was dutifully charted and graphed as part of their lessons in math.
SALLY TYLER HAYES
lives in South Carolina with her husband, son and daughter. A former journalist for a South Carolina newspaper, she fondly remembers that her decision to write and explore the frontiers of romance came at about the same time she discovered, in junior high, that she’d never be able to join the crew of the Starship Enterprise.
Happy and proud to be a stay-home mom, she is thrilled to be living her lifelong dream of writing romances.
Dear Tooth Fairy,
My name is Luke, and I saw you last week. You came to my school to talk about teeth, and you were so pretty. I gotta big problem, and I know you’re the one who can help me. I tried everythin’ else and nothin’ worked. Santa didn’t help, even though I was real good. I wished on my birthday candles, but that didn’t work. I wished on the first star at night, but that didn’t work. But you can make everything all right. I saw you, and I know you can do real magic. I gotta plan, too. I’m gonna collect a hundred baby teeth, no matter what it takes! I figure that’ll be enough. And I’ll give ’em to you and make my wish, and you can bring my mother back….
Love,
Luke
Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Epilogue
Prologue
“Aw, c’mon, Jenny. It won’t hurt. Promise.”
The girl knew he was lying. After all, he was a boy, and at seven, Jenny knew all about boys. He’d say anything to get what he wanted. And once he did, he’d be off to charm some other girl. Jenny’s mother had told her older sister all about boys one night when she didn’t know Jenny was listening.
“Please. I neeeed it,” he whined pitifully.
She’d heard about that before, too. “I told you—no.”
“Give you a quarter.”
“I heard you offered Betsy fifty cents!”
“’Kay. Fifty cents.”
That made her stop and think. Fifty cents would buy her a soda after school. Or a candy bar. Curiosity made her ask, “But what d’you want with a dumb old tooth, anyway?”
“Shh,” Luke said. “It’s a secret.”
Jenny tried her perfect-princess smile on him. “You can tell me. I’m your best friend.”
“But you’re a girl,” he said, as if it was the ultimate insult.
“I’m still your friend.” Her bottom lip started to tremble.
“’Kay, you’re my friend. Now, do we have a deal?”
“Quarters first,” she insisted, because she’d done business with boys before.
Luke fished them out of his pocket and handed them over.
“Promise it won’t hurt?”
“’Course not. Mine didn’t hurt a bit.” He showed her a gap-toothed grin. “B’sides, it’s already loose, right?”
Jenny nodded, just starting to get scared. She’d never lost a tooth before, and she knew she was being a sucker to give this one to Luke for fifty cents. After all, the tooth fairy would probably give her at least two dollars. Some of the kids in the class who’d already lost a tooth had gotten three dollars.
But Luke was up to something, and he always had the best ideas. He must want this tooth for something really important, especially to give up fifty cents.
“Open up,” Luke said, coming toward her with one of the laces from his shoe dangling from his hand.
Next thing she knew, Luke had nearly his whole hand in her mouth trying to tie that lace around her tooth. Jenny tried to yell, but that didn’t work. She was gagging, instead. She tried to tell Luke she’d changed her mind, but he kept struggling with the shoelace and her loose tooth.
Finally she got so mad she bit him.
Luke screamed and jerked his hand out of her mouth.
Jenny looked down and saw her tooth stuck in the side of Luke’s thumb, and then she screamed, too.
Chapter One
“He what?”
Leaning against the open door of his pickup, his cell phone cradled against his ear and noise from the construction site making it nearly impossible to hear, Joe Morgan was sure there had to be some mistake. Even though Luke was only in first grade, Joe had already gotten some strange phone calls from school. This, however, was the strangest.
“What was he doing with his hand in a girl’s mouth?”
“Trying to pull the tooth, I believe,” said Miss Reynolds, Luke’s twenty-something, ever-so-proper, first-grade teacher. “Maybe Luke will explain that to you. He certainly wouldn’t say anything more to me.”
Joe could just imagine the story Luke would tell about this particular antic. Luke was always up to something, always scheming and planning, always into some sort of trouble.
“He broke the girl’s tooth?”
“Apparently the tooth was already loose. When he tried to get it out of Jenny’s mouth, it hurt. So she bit him. When he pulled his hand out of her mouth, the tooth came with it. It was stuck in the side of his thumb.”
“Wonderful.” Joe could just imagine what this girl’s parents must think of him and his son.
“Neither one of them is hurt. Not really. They both just want the tooth. Luke claims he bought it from Jenny for fifty cents.”
“While it was still in her mouth?” Joe frowned. Other kids were content to play doctor. His son had to be original.
“Honestly, Mr. Morgan, that’s all I’ve managed to get out of them. The children know they’re in trouble and are refusing to talk. We also can’t find the tooth, something that’s causing them considerable anxiety.”
Joe sighed.
Ever since Luke had lost his first tooth—no, even before that—he’d been fascinated with the whole idea of losing teeth. He was definitely up to something. Joe had no idea what. Raising two little kids on his own, now that his wife was gone, was proving to be almost more than he could handle. But he never thought he’d get tripped up so thoroughly over something like teeth.
“I’m afraid you’re going to have to come in again, Mr. Morgan. We need to talk about what’s going on with Luke.”
Joe groaned, but he was at the school at three-twenty, right on schedule. He parked his pickup amidst enough minivans and SUVs to stock a car lot, then dusted off his jeans as best he could, sending sawdust flying. His shirt was coated with dust, as well, his cowboy boots caked with dried mud, but there was nothing he could do about that. He worked hard for a living, and by this time of day, it showed.
The school Luke attended was old and steeped in tradition. For more than one hundred years, St. Mark’s Academy had educated the well-to-do children of the well-to-do St. Mark’s parish, and the family of Joe’s former wife had been founding members of the church and the school. His mother-in-law had put the kids’ names on the preenrollment list the day they were born, and she’d probably pulled some strings to get them admitted.
Joe felt as if he’d had no choice but to send Luke and Dani there, even if tuition was killing him and he never quite felt at ease inside this building or with the parents of the other students.
Keeping his eyes down, a tight smile on his face, he made his way across the broad sidewalk, where children were waiting to be picked up from school. In their school plaids and white shirts, the girls were neat and tidy, their hair done in sleek ponytails or intricate braids that Joe would never master. The boys, in dark slacks, white shirts and outrageously expensive sneakers, were louder and rougher as they huddled together laughing and talking about their day. His son was probably in Sister Mary Margaret’s office. Sister was the principal, and Joe had never met a woman so good at invoking guilt and remorse in his weary soul.
He went to Luke’s classroom, with its four neat rows of tiny desks and chairs, every inch of the walls covered with kids’ drawings and posters and signs. Order reigned here, where chaos was king at his home. No wonder Luke didn’t fit in, Joe thought.
“Mr. Morgan?”
Luke’s teacher, who might have been twenty-five years old, was waiting for him. He felt ancient beside her, though he was only thirty-one. Miss Reynolds, as he’d always called her, because that was what Luke called her and Joe didn’t even know her first name, wore a long flowery dress with lace at the collar and the sleeves. Her hair was smoothed back into a neat knot at the back of her head. She always gave him a smile that made him feel like a bowl of cream that had been placed in front of a happy hungry cat. She was husband-hunting, just as he’d feared the first time he came in for one of these little conferences. But Joe wasn’t interested in being anyone’s husband again.
Luke, he thought, you’re going to pay for this.
“Ma’am,” he said, trying to hide all that he was feeling. If he hadn’t left Texas nearly a decade ago, he would have tipped his hat, in that respectful way he’d been taught to greet a lady. Instead, he settled for nodding his head and lowering his eyes.
“Mr. Morgan.” She pointed to one of the kiddie chairs. “Please sit.”
Joe sank into it and tried not to grimace as his knees rose in front of him. He just loved these chairs.
“I sent Luke to the after-school program so we can have our little talk in private,” she said. “Mr. Morgan, I don’t mean to pry, but I was wondering if there was anything going on at home that I should know about.”
Joe groaned. The teacher smiled sweetly, as if she hadn’t asked him to bare his soul to her.
“Sometimes parents aren’t aware of it,” she said, “but problems at home almost always show up in a child’s behavior at school. And if there is a problem, it’s best to tell us so we can be prepared and try to offer some extra help and understanding.”
Everyone at his house could use some extra help and understanding, Joe thought. But still, he hated what it would take to get it for them.
“I know that you and Luke’s mother are divorced,” she began, “and that you have full custody.”
