didn’t send them, or if they never caught up with me. I moved around a lot on my assignments overseas. Some-times…well, mail didn’t always catch up with me. I didn’t learn about the plane crash until months after it happened. I swear to you, I never knew about Kelsey.”
He could see she wasn’t sure whether to believe him or not. He didn’t blame her. He’d had months lying in that hospital bed not so long ago regretting the choices he’d made. Especially the fact that he’d let her go—and the unforgivable way he’d gone about it.
“I’m sorry, Amy.”
“So am I.” A sheen of tears hovered in her eyes. “Now get out of here, Jake.”
The words fell like a blow. She followed them up with a knockout punch of calm deliberation. “My duty was to let you know. I did my part. Goodbye, Jake.”
He deserved her anger and more. He shook his head, knowing he was going to have to hurt her even further.
“That isn’t how it’s going to work,” he said mildly.
“Oh, yes. Yes, it is, Jake Collins. Kelsey is my daughter. I’ve raised her, cared for her and loved her since she was born. I don’t need you and neither does she. Now get out of here.”
She immediately pressed 9-1-1 on the phone she held in her hand. Her eyes held his accusingly.
“This is Amy Thomas. I’d like to report an attempted break-in at my parents’ house. Someone—” she held his gaze steadily “—cut the screen trying to get inside the back door.”
Her pain ate at him. He deserved her anger, but she had it wrong. He wasn’t about to walk away now that he knew he had a daughter.
He was a father!
The unbelievable miracle would take some getting used to.
“The police are sending a car,” Amy told him. “You can leave now.”
“They’ll want to talk to me.”
“Maybe they will, but I don’t,” she said with quiet dignity.
The quiver of her lower lip was the giveaway. She was holding back tears.
“I’m not going to justify walking away nine years ago.”
“Good. Don’t.”
“I couldn’t if I tried,” Jake said softly. “But I want you to believe one thing. If I had known about Kelsey I would have done everything in my power to take care of both of you.”
Amy gave a ladylike snort. “I didn’t need anyone to take care of me, Jake. I managed just fine on my own.”
“Of course you did. You were always stronger than you thought you were.” He glimpsed the reflection of flashing lights in the living-room windows. “The police are here. I’ll speak to them, but this conversation isn’t over.”
“Yes, it is.”
He walked past her through the house, heading for the front door. Officer Derek Jackstone was just mounting the porch steps.
“Officer,” he greeted Jackstone.
“Hello, Mr. Collins. I didn’t expect to see you here. We had a report of a prowler?”
Jake explained the little he’d seen, then nodded toward Amy who watched the exchange in silence. “I’ll be at the Perrywrinkle if you need me for any reason.”
“Thank you.” Officer Jackstone stepped past him and Jake headed down the steps without looking back. “Ms. Thomas,” he heard Jackstone greet Amy.
“Derek, you may wear a uniform now, but I’m still the same Amy who sat next to you in biology,” she told him.
Yes, she probably was, Jake thought. She was still the same Amy he’d fallen in love with nine years ago. And she was more out of reach now than she had been then. He sighed and wondered if it was too soon to take another pill for his back.
ONCE DEREK LEFT, Amy paced the house nervously, trying not to think about Jake or the past or anything else. The attempted break-in didn’t disturb her as much as their conversation.
She didn’t want to feel sorry for Jake. She didn’t even want to believe him.
But she did.
Amy turned off the lights, double checked the doors and windows, and headed upstairs. Her parents must have fallen asleep early because even the flashing lights of the police car hadn’t brought them downstairs to investigate.
Ronnie had never sent her letters to Jake. All this time she had thought he didn’t care and Jake hadn’t known the truth. Not that it changed anything. Jake was Kelsey’s biological father, but he had no place in their lives. Amy had only wanted to show him what he’d given up.
Yet he hadn’t given her up if he never knew of her existence.
Amy shook aside that thought. Walking away without any explanation was proof enough that he wasn’t the sort of stable influence she wanted in Kelsey’s life. One day they were lovers in every sense of the word, then next he’d left on a mission for the navy. When he’d returned, he’d announced he was being sent overseas—indefinitely. And he’d thanked her—thanked her!—for the past few months and left.
The hollow feeling returned along with the memory. She’d been so desperately in love with him she would have followed him anywhere.
And in a way she had. She eyed her reflection as she finished brushing her teeth. After all this time she could finally admit to herself that the only reason she’d taken the translator’s job was that she’d known they’d send her overseas on military contracts. Overseas, where Jake was.
But it hadn’t mattered. She’d never seen Jake again.
“Spilled milk,” she told her reflection. She and Kelsey didn’t need Jake. They didn’t need anyone.
She turned off the lights and slipped between the sheets of the big double bed, staring at the ceiling and listening to every creak the old house made. Had the house always made this much noise? It wasn’t as if there was a lot of wind or anything tonight.
Finally she had to admit that she wasn’t going to sleep anytime soon. While Derek Jackstone had assured her that the prowler had probably been some kid looking for easy money, Amy realized the incident had unnerved her more than she’d thought.
Even with Derek’s promise that he would drive past the house frequently tonight, she was uneasy, jumping at every sound.
Though Jake’s presence had distracted her right after the attempted break-in, she now began to wonder. Derek’s explanation of some kid made no sense. Any local teens would know she was staying here with her parents. Why would they risk breaking into an occupied house when the living-room light had clearly been on? That made no sense.
What would have happened if Jake hadn’t come by in time to scare the intruder away? Amy shuddered.
Resigned to a sleepless night, she got
