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Now what? The kid stood in front of him, hazel eyes filling up with tears. He should do something, call someone, or take her home. Where was home? Did she have other family? He didn’t know anything about Gloria Baker.
He looked at Madeline, hoping she had something to say, even a little advice. The only thing she had for him looked to be a good case of loathing. Nice. He’d add her name to the list. It was a long list.
“I’m sorry.” He handed the papers back to Jade. “But kid, I’m pretty sure I’m not your dad.”
Madeline Patton had pulled the girl into her soft embrace while giving him a look that clearly told him to do something about this situation. What was he supposed to do? Did she expect him to open his door to a teenage girl, welcome her in, buy her a pony?
He had known Gloria Baker briefly years ago. He’d never laid eyes on Jade. He wasn’t anyone’s dad. He was about the furthest thing from a dad that anyone could get.
This wasn’t what he wanted. The kid standing in front of him probably wasn’t too thrilled, either.
“We’ll have to do something about this.” He realized he didn’t have a clue. What did a guy do about something like this, about a kid standing on his front porch claiming to be his?
First he had to take control. He pointed into the living room. “Go on in while I talk to Ms. Patton.”
Jade hurried past him, probably relieved to get inside where it was warm. Madeline Patton stared over his shoulder, watching the girl hurry inside, the dog following behind her. He didn’t know Madeline Patton, other than in passing, but he imagined that momentarily she’d have a few choice things to say to him.
Madeline watched Jade walk into the living room and then she turned her attention back to Jackson Cooper. He remained in the doorway, faded jeans and a button-up shirt, his hair going in all directions. Her heart seemed to be following the same path, but mostly was begging for a quick exit from this situation.
Although she didn’t really know Jackson Cooper, she thought she knew him. He was the type of man that believed every woman in the world loved him. Well, maybe this would teach him a lesson.
The thought no more than tumbled through her mind and her conscience took a dig at her. This situation shouldn’t be about a lesson learned. A child deserved more than this.
And Jackson Cooper wasn’t the worst person in the world. He’d come to her rescue last week when a bag of groceries had broken, spilling canned goods across the parking lot of the store. He’d been fishing and was suntanned and smelled of the outdoors and clean soap and was on his way home, but he’d stopped to gather up her spilled groceries, holding them in his T-shirt as he carried them to her car.
Jade had disappeared into the living room. Time for Madeline to make her exit.
“If you have this under control, I should go.” She glanced at her watch. “I have to be at work in an hour.”
The wind blew, going straight through her. She pulled her sweater close and stomped her booted feet. Jackson nodded, distracted. Even distracted he could make a woman take a second look.
His suntanned face was angular but strong. Fine lines crinkled at the corners of his eyes, eyes that were nearly the same color as Jade’s; a little more gray than green. His mouth, the mouth that often turned in an easy, gotcha smile, was now held in a serious line.
“I really need to go.” Madeline didn’t know what else to say, or how to remove herself from this situation, this moment.
“Could you stay, just until I figure this out?” Jackson’s words stopped her as she started to turn away. “Please.”
Softer, a little more pleading.
Reluctant, Madeline looked at the cowboy leaning against the door as if he needed it to hold him up. She’d heard the ambulance going down the road the other day when he got hurt. They had prayed for him at her Thursday Bible study.
A smile almost sneaked up on her because his grandmother prayed for him, too. The woman who had sold her little house to Madeline never failed to mention Jackson when prayer requests were made on Sunday mornings at the Dawson Community Church. Sometimes she even included fun little details about his social life. Once or twice Madeline had heard a gasp from various members of the church.
He cleared his throat. She looked up, met his humor-filled gaze and managed a smile.
“I think it would be better if you called your family, Jackson.” There, she’d been strong. She could walk away. He had people to help him.
“Right, that sounds like a great idea.” He no longer smiled. “If I wanted them all over here in my business, that would be the perfect thing to do.”
“They’re probably going to find out about her anyway, since she stopped at the Mad Cow and asked for directions. Unfortunately she was one house off.”
Madeline couldn’t figure out how anyone could confuse her little house on two acres with this house on hundreds of acres. She felt tiny on the long front porch of the vast, white farmhouse that Jackson Cooper had remodeled. His grandparents had built this house after their marriage. But his grandfather had grown up in the little house Madeline bought from his grandmother.
The Coopers had a long history in Dawson, Oklahoma.
Her legacy was teaching at School District Ten, and building a home for herself in Dawson. And this time she planned on staying. She wouldn’t run.
“Give us thirty minutes, Madeline.” Jackson’s voice didn’t plead, but he sounded pretty unsure. It was that tone that took her by surprise, unsettled her.
She wondered how it felt to be him and have control stripped away by a thirteen-year-old girl. It was for that girl that she even considered staying.
She hadn’t been much older than Jade when she’d found herself in a new home and a new life. She would always remember how her sister had dragged her from bed, leading her through the dark, to safety.
“I’ll come in for a moment, but I don’t know how that will help.”
“Me neither, but I don’t think you should leave her here alone.”
“She isn’t my—” Madeline lowered her voice “—problem. I don’t know her. She says she’s your daughter.”
“Right, I get that, but let’s assume she isn’t and play this safe.”
Okay, maybe he wasn’t as reckless as she had always imagined.
“So, are you a decent cook?” he asked as he led her into his expansive living room with polished hardwood floors and massive leather furniture. The dog and Jade were sitting on the couch, huddled together.
“I don’t have time to cook.” Madeline tried hard not to stare, but the house invited staring. It had the sparseness of a bachelor’s home but surprising warmth.
“Just asking, sorry.” He smiled at Jade then at her. “So, what are we going to do?”
“Do?” Better yet, “we”? He didn’t need to include her in this problem.
“Yeah, do. I mean, we should probably call someone. Family services?”
“That’s a decision you’ll have to make.”
“Right.” He pointed for her to sit down.
Madeline sank into the luxurious softness of one of the two brown leather sofas. The one opposite had a blanket and pillow indicating he’d been sleeping there.
No Christmas tree. No decorations.
Jackson stood in the center of the living room. The light that filtered through the curtains caught bits and pieces of his expression as he stared at the young girl sitting on his sofa. They stared at each other and then both glanced away.
Madeline didn’t know how to help. She could deal with children in a classroom. This seemed to be more of a family situation. And she had no experience with those.
“Maybe you should sit down?” She didn’t know what else to say. It wasn’t her home. Jackson stood in the center of the room, hands in his pockets. When she made the suggestion, he nodded once. Jade, sitting next to her, gave a disgusted snort.
Madeline sighed. She glanced around the big room, because the silence was uncomfortable and she wanted to head for the door. She glanced at her watch and then looked around the room again. A big stone fireplace took up the wall at the end of the room. The fire that crackled came from gas logs, not wood. A television hung over the fireplace. The walls were textured and painted a warm, natural color. If it hadn’t been for the nervous energy of Jackson Cooper standing there staring at her, and then at the girl claiming to be his daughter, Madeline might have enjoyed being in this room.
Jackson moved a chair from the nearby rolltop desk and straddled it backward. He draped his arms over the back rest and sat there, staring at Jade. His legs were stretched out in front of him. His feet were bare.
Madeline picked up the throw pillow leaning against the arm of the couch and held it in her lap. Next to her, Jade fiddled with her ragged little backpack.
Madeline did not belong in this little drama. She had to come up with something to move the action along so she could escape.
“Why did your aunt leave you here?” Jackson asked, zeroing in on the girl with a question Madeline had asked and not gotten an answer for.
Madeline shifted to look at the girl, who suddenly looked younger than her thirteen years. Jade shrugged and studied the backpack in her arms.
“Well?” Jackson might not have kids, but he had a dozen siblings and some were quite a bit younger. His parents had adopted a half dozen or so children to go along with the six biological Coopers. And then there had been Jeremy.
Next to her, Jade looked up, glaring at the man in front of them. She chewed on her bottom lip, not answering Jackson’s question. This wasn’t going to get them anywhere.
“Jade, we need to know what is going on. We might need to call the proper authorities.” Madeline smiled to herself. The word authorities always did the trick. The girl’s eyes widened and her mouth opened.
“My aunt can’t take care of me. She doesn’t have the money or a house for us.”
Jackson rubbed the back of his neck and when he looked at Madeline, she didn’t know what to say or do. She taught English at the local school. She wasn’t a counselor. She no longer had siblings. The other foster children in the home where she’d spent a few years until she turned eighteen hadn’t counted.
“Maybe we should have coffee.” Madeline glanced at the man sitting across from her.
Jackson smiled that smile of his, the one he probably thought conquered every female heart. With good reason. There probably wasn’t a single woman under seventy living in and around Dawson who didn’t sigh when Jackson crossed her path. But she wasn’t one of the women chasing after him. And she certainly wasn’t the type he chased.
“You know, some coffee would be good. Do you have time?”
“I can make coffee, but then I have to go. School is out but it’s a teacher work day.” She glanced at her watch again, and not at Jackson. “You should call your parents.”
Because this had nothing to do with her.
But years ago she’d been a kid like Jade, lost and alone, looking for someone to keep her safe. As much as she wanted to run from this situation, she couldn’t leave Jade alone.
Chapter Two
The schoolteacher looked at her watch again and then she sighed. He nearly sighed in unison because he didn’t know what to do with the kid sitting across from him. Madeline Patton taught school. She had to know more than him.
Jackson pushed himself up from the chair, groaning a little at the spasm in his back. He held the back of the chair and hoped it didn’t roll away, because if it did, he’d be face-first on the floor in front of God and everyone.
Madeline stood, too. She faced him, looking him over as he stood trying to get his balance. His lower back clenched and he managed a smile to cover up the grimace.
“Are you okay?” Madeline faced him, her brown eyes narrowing as she watched him, her gaze settling on his white-knuckled grip on the back of the office chair.
“I’m good…” He was great. “I think I’ll make that pot of coffee and try to sort this out.”
Some kid had knocked on his door, claiming to be his. He had broken ribs and a messed-up back. He was wonderful. Every day should start this way. He managed a smile because it wasn’t Madeline Patton’s fault.
“Maybe she should go with you?” he offered, a little bit hopeful that he was right about her being worried.
“No, she shouldn’t.” Another little glance at her watch.
“I’m in the room.” The girl slumped on the couch and Bud had curled up next to her. The dog raised its head and growled at him. Yeah, well, his hackles were raised, too.
Jackson shook his head and turned his attention back to Ms. Patton. “What do I do with her?”
“I’d start with feeding her.”
He sat down, hard. The chair rolled a little. “Right, feed her. I think there’s more to it than that.”
“I know there is.” She hefted her huge purse to her shoulder.
Concern flickered through those brown eyes. He hadn’t meant to play her. He was long past games. In the words of his niece, games were so last year.
Yeah, he was going through a mid-life crisis, but Madeline didn’t need to know that. She didn’t need to know that he envied Wyatt Johnson for settling down with someone he’d wake up with every morning. Man, he was even jealous of Andie and Ryder Johnson’s twin girls.
Jackson had two rocking chairs on the front porch, and at night he sat alone and watched the cattle graze in the field. He was as sick of being alone as a man could get. But most of the women his age, if they were still single, were listening to their biological clocks. They were ready for rings and babies.
Which brought him back to the problem at hand: Jade Baker.
“I’ll get the coffee started, then you need to make a plan,” Madeline offered.
“Thanks, that would be great.” He smiled at her and she didn’t even flinch. He was losing his touch or she was immune. Either way, he was a little baffled.
“Where’s the kitchen?”
He pointed to the wide doorway that led to the dining room and from there to the kitchen and family room. Madeline nodded and away she went, that long skirt of hers swishing around her legs.
“Why don’t you just give me a hundred bucks or something and I’ll head on down the road.” The kid, Jade, shot the comment at him.
Jackson turned the chair to face her. She was hugging his dog. She looked younger than thirteen, maybe because she looked sad and kind of lost. Wow, that took him back to Mia when she’d landed on their doorstep twenty years ago. Travis, nearly twenty-five years ago. Jesse when he’d been about twelve. Jesse had been an angry kid. Now he was a doctor.
Jade Baker, aka his kid. She’d asked for a hundred bucks to leave. Surely the little thing wasn’t working him for money? Could it be she’d been dropped off by someone who knew she resembled their family? He rubbed his thumb across his chin and studied her. She just stared at him, with eyes that looked like his and Reece’s. Eyes that looked like Heather’s and Dylan’s.
He could smell toast in the toaster. Jade glanced toward the door that led to the dining room and the kitchen. The dog perked up, too. The girl had pulled her blond hair into a ponytail. Her jeans were threadbare and her T-shirt was stained. He didn’t know a thing about her life or what she’d been through.
He hadn’t really known Gloria. She’d been about his age and she’d liked hanging out at rodeos. Someone had told him she lived in the back of a van with her older sister. He hadn’t believed it. He should have. The next time he’d gone through the Texas town where he’d met her, she wasn’t there.
Fourteen years ago. He barely remembered her. But seeing Jade, the memories resurfaced. He hadn’t loved Gloria. He let out a sigh. A kid should at least have that knowledge, that her parents loved each other.
He stood up, holding his breath to get through the pain.
“Sorry, kid, I’m not giving you money. We’ll figure this out, but money isn’t going to be part of the deal.”
“Why not? You obviously don’t want me here. With some money I can hit the road and find a place to live.”
He admired her pluck. She had stood, and his stupid dog, Bud, stood next to her. “You’re not even fourteen yet. You can’t live by yourself or even take off on your own. And one hundred dollars? That wouldn’t get you to Tulsa.”
“I could get emancipated.”
“Honey, at your age you can’t spell that word and you can’t even get a job. We’ll try for plan B, okay? Let’s go see what Ms. Patton is cooking up in there.” He eased forward a couple of steps. Jade glared at him and started to walk away. He reached for her arm and stopped her.
