mother, Emma, and my cousin Carter are engaged.”
“Glad to hear that,” Dan said, slipping his hands in the back pockets of his jeans. “Carter’s had it pretty rough the past few years. What with losing his wife and then his little boy.”
Hailey tried not to read too much into his knowledge of her family. Carter was her cousin, but he was also a part of the Hartley Creek community. Dan’s mother and father would have kept Dan abreast of what was going on.
“Carter’s happy now.”
Dan nodded, then blew out a sigh. “What did that little guy mean when he said all Natasha does is cry?”
“Today wasn’t a good day for Natasha.” That was all she felt comfortable telling him.
“She’ll have her good and bad days, I guess,” Dan replied. The look he gave Hailey seemed to contain both challenge and hope.
She swallowed, unable to look away, wondering if he ever thought of their last time together and the fight they had. Had he done the same thing as she had done in the months that followed? Relive that conversation over and over? Say things differently?
After Austin died, Dan had pulled back. She had understood that and had given him room to grieve. Then, when he finally asked to get together again it was to tell her that he wanted to move away from Hartley Creek. When she asked him why he said only that he needed space.
As she’d faced him down, Hailey had relived the pain she felt when she’d watched her father silently pack his suitcase, then walk past her and out of the house. She had been eight years old then and vividly remembered her helplessness.
Added to the past memory was the reality that four months before Austin’s accident, when Hailey had just graduated from high school, her mother, Denise, decided her youngest daughter was old enough to fend for herself. Her sisters, Naomi and Shannon, were out of the house already, so Denise packed up and moved away from Hartley Creek, leaving Hailey behind.
Then Dan wanted to leave her too?
It was all too much. This time she would be in charge, Hailey had thought. This time she wasn’t going to be left behind. So she’d broken up with him.
Part of her had hoped, even yearned, that he would plead with her not to break up. That he would change his mind and want to stay in Hartley Creek with her.
But nothing.
The first six months he was gone, she nurtured the faint hope he would return. When she heard about his marriage to Lydia she knew their relationship had ended.
Though the sting of that betrayal had stayed with her a long time, the memory of the love she had held for him lingered.
And now, looking into his eyes, that old memory grew stronger and she was reluctantly drawn into his gaze.
She couldn’t do this. Not here. Not now.
Relief flooded her when she saw Megan striding down the hall.
“Here’s Miss Tolsma,” she said, reaching blindly for the handle of the classroom door. “I’ll sit with Natasha, until you’re finished.”
Then she turned and retreated into the room, closing the door firmly on Dan and on the past.
She’d found out the hard way the only way to stay in control of your own life was to stay in control of your plans.
No way was Dan disrupting them.
Chapter Two
Natasha sat in the little chair in the corner, still clutching her knapsack, her chin resting on the top of it, her brown hair hiding her face.
At least she wasn’t crying anymore.
Hailey sat down beside her, perched awkwardly on a chair made for six-year-old bottoms. She folded her hands on her lap, saying nothing, simply being there for the little girl.
As if finally sensing her presence, Natasha looked up. Her red-rimmed eyes and tear-stained cheeks plucked at Hailey’s heartstrings.
Natasha dragged her coat sleeve across her face, drying her eyes. “Is my daddy come yet?”
“He’s talking to Miss Tolsma for a few minutes. As soon as they’re done he’ll come to get you.”
“I want to be with my daddy. I don’t want to be in this school.” Natasha looked down at her knapsack, fiddling with a tiny stuffed rabbit hanging from the zipper pull.
“I’m sure your daddy wants to be with you too.” Hailey laid her hand on Natasha’s tiny shoulder.
Natasha shook her head. Hailey heard her draw in a trembling breath and her shoulders shook with silent sorrow, as if she had no hope her cries would be acknowledged.
Hailey’s heart broke for the little girl adrift without her mother and living in an unfamiliar place.
“You know your daddy loves you very much,” Hailey said, giving the little girl’s hand a squeeze. “He wants to take very good care of you and he wants you to learn. That’s why he put you in school.”
Natasha’s silent cries only increased. Hailey couldn’t stand watching her. She pulled the little girl onto her lap. Natasha made a token protest, then wilted against Hailey, her arms twined around her neck.
Hailey wrapped her arms around the tiny, slender body, rocking slowly back and forth and making shushing noises. Natasha burrowed her head in Hailey’s neck.
“I don’t want to be sad,” she murmured, sniffing.
“I know you miss your mom and this place is different. It’s okay to be sad about that.”
Natasha drew in a shuddering breath. “Daddy said I shouldn’t talk about my mommy,” she said. “Because it makes me cry.”
Hailey felt torn. She didn’t want to go against Dan’s parenting, but she also wanted to look out for Natasha.
“You can talk about your mommy to me, if you want,” Hailey said. “You can tell me anything you want about her.”
Natasha considered this, then lay against Hailey again. “I really like you,” she whispered.
“I like you too,” Hailey replied, stroking Natasha’s damp hair away from her face. She clung to the little girl. Dan’s little girl.
What if Austin’s accident hadn’t happened? What if Dan had stayed in Hartley Creek? Would the little girl in her arms be her and Dan’s?
The light touch of a hand on her shoulder made her jump. Hailey yanked herself back from her meandering thoughts, then just about fell off the chair when she turned and saw Dan pull his hand back from her.
A frown pulled his eyebrows together as he looked down at her.
“She was so upset … she was crying … I didn’t know what to do.” Hailey stumbled through
