Daniel's Daddy

“Don’t get too close,” Jess warned. “He might want your nose for breakfast.”

Giggling loudly, Daniel covered his nose with both hands. “He won’t get my nose. I’ll keep it covered.”

Back in the bedroom, Hannah’s hands shook as she fastened the buttons on her dress. It was a pink shirtwaist with elbow-length sleeves. Nothing special. But Hannah didn’t own anything special, and as for him telling her to throw on jeans, she’d almost laughed. She didn’t own a pair of jeans! Those things were for chic young girls who wanted to show off their sexy bodies. Did he really think she could wear them?

“I was wondering,” his voice came to her from the living room, “if you knew some church or charity that I could give my father’s things to. I stayed up last night packing them. Now all I need to do is load them into the truck.”

“Uh…yes,” she called loudly back to him. “I do know a place. The church I attend would welcome anything you have to give. I’ll show you where it is after we eat.”

She pushed her feet into a pair of white flats, then quickly knotted her hair at the back of her head and secured it with bobby pins. She looked dowdy. But that was nothing new. She’d always been less than pretty and felt it would be foolish of her to ever think she could be. She wasn’t like her mother, who’d been young-looking and glamorous right up until the day she’d had the car accident.

Jess, who’d been watching the cockatoo with Daniel, turned when he heard Hannah’s footsteps.

She smiled tentatively at him. “I’m ready,” she said, hoping he’d put her breathlessness down to hurrying.

She had looked far better in the robe with her hair flying around her shoulders, but Jess could hardly tell her something like that. Especially when Daniel was staring at her as though she were a gift from heaven.

“Good, I hope you’re as hungry as we are,” he said.

“I’m gonna eat pancakes,” Daniel said to Hannah as the three of them traveled the short distance to the café.

She smiled at the boy, finding his dimpled grin as charming as his daddy’s. “Oh, that sounds good,” she told him. “Are you going to eat yours with blueberries or without?”

Daniel made a face and stuck out his tongue. “Yuk! Not blueberries.”

Jess glanced over at Hannah, who was sitting as close as she could possibly get to the passenger door. “I think my cooking has ruined Daniel on blueberry pancakes. They didn’t turn out too good.”

“They were lumpy and burnt,” Daniel reminded him.

Hannah laughed and the warm, tinkling sound washed over Jess and lifted his heavy spirits.

“You don’t remember that!” Jess joshed his son.

“Yes, I do,” Daniel insisted.

Jess chuckled. “Okay, so you do. Just don’t go telling Hannah anything else about my cooking. Okay?”

Daniel giggled and Hannah glanced over at father and son. If Jess did the cooking, maybe there wasn’t a woman in their lives, Hannah pondered.

Quit your wondering, Hannah quickly scolded herself. It was none of her business whether Jess had a wife or Daniel had a mother. She was merely an old acquaintance, someone who’d just happened to live across the street from Jess while they were growing up. Just because she was having breakfast with the man didn’t mean she was anything special to him.

But it did mean something special to Hannah. It had been so long since anyone, other than the women in her church group, had shown her friendship or invited her places.

Looking out the window beside her, she thought back to how many times as a young teenager, she’d imagined herself riding down the street with Jess Malone. The tough, devilishly handsome bad boy that every girl wanted—even the good girls.

Now, here Hannah was, fifteen years later, doing just what she’d once imagined. But why? And where were all those other willing girls? Why was she here in this truck with him and Daniel, instead?

The café was very full, but Jess managed to find an empty booth in the back. After they ordered, the waitress brought coffee, ice water and orange juice to the table. Jess pulled a drinking straw out of one of the glasses of water and stuck it in a glass of juice before handing it to Daniel.

“Do you like living here, Hannah?” Jess asked as he reached for his coffee.

Hannah, who was stirring cream into her coffee, glanced up at him. “Do I like it?” she repeated blankly, not sure what his question was about. “I suppose—I’ve never lived anywhere else.”

“Did you ever think about leaving?”

As her eyes glided over his handsome face, she decided she’d better not take in too much caffeine until their food arrived. She was as shaky as a leaf in a windstorm and looking at him only made it worse. “Not really. It wasn’t possible to leave while mother was alive and needed me.”

“But she doesn’t figure into the picture anymore.”

Shaking her head, she curled her hands around the coffee cup. “No. Mother no longer needs me to care for her. But I like my job here and the woman I work for.” Briefly, her eyes met his. “Why do you ask?”

Jess shrugged. Why was he asking? Just because he’d had that one wild notion about her and Daniel didn’t mean she’d ever consider such an idea. Or would she?

“Just curious. I live in Douglas, Arizona, now.”

“I heard someone say a long time ago that you lived in El Paso,” she said.

“I did. But I was transferred a few years ago.”

She didn’t ask him anything, but Jess could see that she wanted to.

“I work for the U.S. Border Patrol,” he said, volunteering the information.

“My daddy wears a gun and badge,” Daniel told her proudly. “But he won’t let me touch the gun ‘cause guns are too dangerous.”

That jolted Hannah. The last thing she’d expected Jess Malone to be was a lawman. Although Hannah should have known he wasn’t the type to sit behind a desk. No doubt a gun and uniform looked perfect on him. And the adventure of it all surely suited him. He seemed like a man who would always need excitement in his life.

“I didn’t know,” Hannah said to Jess. “Do you like it?”

He nodded, then frowned. “I’d like it if I didn’t have to worry about—” He stopped, then glanced at Daniel. Since the boy seemed to have his attention on another table where a couple of young children were breakfasting with their parents, Jess went on. “Leaving Daniel alone.”

Something clutched Hannah’s heart. “You…mean…like if you had a bad accident?”

Jess grimaced. “I guess that’s a nice way of putting it.”

“Your job is that dangerous?” she asked, not liking to think that he could possibly get hurt or even killed in the line of duty.

Shrugging, Jess lifted the coffee cup to his lips. “Sometimes. But I’m trained to handle myself, and I doubt my job puts me in any more danger than your average truck driver. Still, there are no guarantees in life and if something should happen to me—well, Daniel would be alone.”

Hannah let out a long breath. He was implying that Daniel didn’t have a mother! Could that be true?

Jess sipped his coffee, then lowered the cup to its saucer before he continued. He didn’t know why he was getting into all of this with Hannah. She was little more than a stranger. Yet something about her gentle face and shy smile encouraged him to confide in her.

“But I’ve got a more immediate problem,” he went on when she didn’t say anything. “Daniel’s baby-sitter is leaving in a week and a half. She’s an older lady and she’s decided to spend her retirement with her sister in Tucson. I can’t blame her for that. But I don’t know what I’m going to do without her. She’s helped me with Daniel from the time I first brought him home from the hospital.”

Confused and more curious now than ever, Hannah couldn’t stop herself from blurting out, “But what about Daniel’s mother? Does she have a job, too?”

The question brought a cynical snort from Jess. “I wouldn’t know. I haven’t seen her in nearly four years.”

Hannah gasped before she could stop it. “You haven’t? But why?”

He’d often told himself he was over Michelle’s desertion. But he hated to admit to anyone, much less another woman, that he and Daniel hadn’t been worth a backward glance to Michelle.

“She moved on.”

Hannah couldn’t have been more shocked. Even if a woman couldn’t get along with her husband, did that justify her leaving her newborn son? Hannah couldn’t imagine such a thing.

“Oh. I—I’m sorry.” Embarrassed by the whole thing, she took a quick, nervous gulp of coffee.

Jess shrugged. “There’s no need for you to be sorry, Hannah. We were never married. Michelle didn’t want that. She didn’t want to be tied down in any way.”

Hannah wanted to ask him why he’d involved himself with that sort of self-centered woman, but she stopped herself. She didn’t want to sound preachy. Besides, in Hannah’s eyes, he’d more than made up for the mistake by being a caring father to Daniel.

“Some people just can’t handle responsibility,” she said softly. “They don’t set out to intentionally hurt others. But they do.”

Jess was surprised by her words and her open-mindedness about the whole thing. But then, a lot about Hannah had surprised him.

Before anything else could be said, the waitress arrived with their breakfast. As they ate, Daniel became very talkative and Hannah took pains to answer his many questions. He was a bright, inquisitive boy for his age, and from his conversation, she could tell that Jess had obviously spent a great deal of time with him. That and just the fact that Jess had taken on the job of a single father surprised Hannah greatly. Remembering the teenage Jess Malone, she would have never figured him to be so responsible; he’d grown up. Oh, had he ever.

After the meal was over and the three of them were walking across the parking lot to Jess’s pickup, he said, “I feel like I’ve just come out from under a microscope. I think everyone in that place was looking when we walked out of there. You’d think I was a creature from Mars, or something.”

Hannah felt herself blushing. “I don’t think they were—uh, looking at you, Jess.”

He opened the pickup door. As Daniel climbed in, he glanced at Hannah. “What makes you say that?”

“Because I know they were looking at me.”

“You? You’re not a stranger around here. Probably everyone in that café knew you.”

Hannah felt the familiar hurt and embarrassment rise in her. “They did know me. That’s…uh…why they were looking. They’ve never seen me out with a man. I guess they were wondering what I was doing with you.” Or more likely, what Jess was doing inviting a woman like her out to breakfast, she silently added.

How utterly cruel, Jess thought. “It’s none of their damn business,” he said with a grimace.

She smiled wanly. “No. But I’ve had years to get used to being labeled the weird old maid.”

Hannah Dunbar was far from old and there wasn’t anything weird about her that he could see. Certainly reserved and shy, but not weird.

Deciding the best thing to do was treat the situation lightly, Jess gave her an impish wink. “Maybe they’ll think we spent the night together. That’ll cut your reputation to shreds.”

Of course he was teasing. Still, just the thought of being that intimate with Jess was enough to shake her. “I really think it would be your reputation that would suffer,” she tried to joke.

Not wanting her to feel any more awkward than she already did, Jess merely smiled and took her elbow to help her up into the seat. Her arm was small and soft and made him feel oddly protective. This woman was too vulnerable, he thought. And far too kind for her own good.

“Thank you for breakfast,” Hannah said when he pulled into her driveway. “It was very nice of you and Daniel to invite me.”

“Can I go in with Hannah?” Daniel quickly asked his father. “Can I go see the bird again?”

“May I go in,” Jess corrected him, then shook his head. “No. You may not go in. You’ve already talked Hannah’s leg off this morning.”

“Nonsense,” Hannah said as Daniel looked beseechingly up at her. “I won’t be doing anything but a little housecleaning. Let Daniel stay with me while you take your father’s things to the church.”

“You didn’t show me where it was,” Jess reminded her. “And I forgot to ask.”

“Oh. It’s the Catholic church on the south end of town. You probably remember it.”

Not from attending services, he thought, but rather from circling the old building on his motorcycle. Maybe things would have turned out differently for him if he’d been inside with Hannah, rather than outside giving Judy Mae Johnson a fast ride. Maybe he wouldn’t be a single father now. Or maybe Hannah wouldn’t be so virginal. That thought brought a curve to his lips and a dimple in his cheek.

“Yeah, I remember. What do I do with the things, once I get there?”

Hannah frowned as she tried to figure out what was putting such a devilish look on his face. They’d been talking about church, for Pete’s sake! But this was Jess Malone, she quickly reminded herself. The same guy who’d been accused of seducing his high-school English teacher.

Realizing she had yet to answer his question, Hannah said, “Just set them inside the front door. It’s never locked. Father Lopez or one of the other parishioners will find them.”

“What about me, Daddy?” Daniel said, tugging on Jess’s shirtsleeve. “Do I get to stay at Hannah’s?”

“Of course you can,” Hannah told the boy before Jess had a chance to protest. “Come on and we’ll feed Albert.”

“You’re sure about this?” Jess asked her while unbuckling Daniel’s seat belt. “I wouldn’t want either of us to be imposing on you.”

Hannah held her arms up to Daniel. The boy scrambled across the seat and straight to Hannah. She helped him down to the ground, then held on to his hand while glancing over to Jess.

“I’m happy for Daniel to visit. And don’t worry. I might not be a mother, but I do know how to take care of children.”

Jess wasn’t worried about that. He was more concerned about Daniel’s hanging his sights on having Hannah for a mother.

“I’m not worried,” he assured her, then started the truck and backed onto the street.

As he pulled away from the curb, he watched Hannah and Daniel walking hand in hand onto the porch. By the time they reached the door, Hannah was laughing and Daniel was grinning. So much for not worrying, Jess groaned to himself.

Chapter Three

For the next hour, Daniel talked nonstop. But Hannah was used to a child’s chatter. Indeed, she was far more comfortable communicating with children than adults—children appreciated her companionship. They didn’t expect her to look a certain way and they didn’t judge her because she wasn’t exactly like their mothers or sisters or aunts.

“I have a tricycle at home,” Daniel said as he followed Hannah around the huge old kitchen. “Daddy says it won’t be long ‘til I can have a bicycle.”

“Then you’ll be riding on two wheels instead of three,” Hannah said as she wiped the front of the refrigerator with a damp sponge.

“Why are you doing that?”

“To make it clean,” Hannah explained.

Daniel shook his head. “You’re just like my daddy. He makes me wash my hands even when you can’t see dirt.”

Hannah smiled to herself. “And do you always do what your daddy tells you to do?”

Daniel’s chin bobbed up and down. “Yes. ‘Cause I’m a good boy.”

Hannah squatted on her heels to wash the lower part of the appliance. “I’m sure that you are,” she agreed.

“Your hair looks like an apple.”

She’d been called carrot top before, but never an apple. “That’s because it’s red. Do you know what yours looks like?”

She glanced from her work to see Daniel’s hands plop on the top of his head.

“No. What does it look like?” he asked, his little face all grins.

“A piece of chocolate.”

He giggled loudly over that, then marched over to the kitchen table and sat down. At that moment, Hannah felt a terrible pang of regret. A child had never been in this house. Not much of anybody had been in this house. She hadn’t really wanted it that way. For a while after her mother’s accident, she thought, even hoped, that some man, a nice, kind man who would appreciate her, would come into her life, give her love and children. It had never happened. Now, after all these years, she knew it never would.

“Are you still hungry?” she asked him, while telling herself she was wrong in feeling a little bit sorry for herself.

“Nope. My daddy will be back soon and then I’ll have to leave.”

“Then maybe we should go outside and find Oscar before you have to go,” Hannah suggested.

Daniel eagerly agreed and followed Hannah out a door leading to the backyard. They found the gray tabby curled up on a ledge of brick surrounding a flower bed. While Daniel made friends with the cat, Hannah sat on the wooden steps and enjoyed the warmth of the bright sunshine.

Nearly a half hour later, Daniel was still playing with Oscar when Hannah heard a vehicle stop in the driveway. By the time she’d herded Daniel and the cat around to the front, Jess had already climbed from the truck and was walking to the porch. When he spotted the three of them, he stopped and gave them all a grin.

“Hey, what’s that blob of gray fur you’re carrying there?” he asked his son.

Daniel raced to his father. “He’s my new friend. His name is Oscar,” Daniel told him.

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