Precious Blessings

How good this move was going to be, he corrected, once she found a few better friends. Forget Phoenix’s heat and sun. What mattered was keeping his daughter growing up the right way.

“Hayden, what are you doing? Go back and get your book bag.”

“But Daddy—”

“Do it.”

She heaved a dramatic sigh and trudged back to the cruiser. He kept one eye on Jan, who was frowning into the store window. The girl was obviously watching the store lady in her sensible shoes. Jan could take some lessons in sensible attire.

“Hayden, what are you doing?”

“Nothing, Daddy.”

“Are you trying to take something out of your book bag?”

“Just looking for my lip gloss.”

“Forget it. Close the door. Come on.” First things first. He’d deal with this situation, then the makeup.

Hayden slung the strap over her shoulder and marched right past him. She and Jan fell into stride side by side, sharing a look he couldn’t name.

He followed them to the door. The trouble was that Hayden was choosing the same sort of friends she’d had back in Arizona. Well, he’d fix that right now. Sure of the outcome, he motioned for the girls to go in ahead of him, not at all surprised when the alarm clanged like an air-raid siren. Both girls jumped, and he watched Jan’s chin shoot up in sheer rebellion.

Guilty, he figured. He watched his daughter’s head hang and thought, good. Maybe she’d see the kind of girl Jan was.

To his direct left he spotted the pair of local law enforcement boys standing at the checkout counter along with that woman. All three had turned at the sound of the alarm, which fell silent again.

So, they’d been filling a report? It looked like Jan had just landed herself in some trouble. He was sorry for that, but maybe there was a silver thread in this. At least it would be a lesson for his little girl. “Hand the officers your bag, Jan.”

“That’s like so totally not fair. What are you, like a crooked cop?”

“Zip it.” And just where had Jan gotten that attitude? His gaze arrowed to his daughter, who was gazing innocently at the ceiling. Her sweetheart face was flushed bright red. He couldn’t imagine how any amount of embarrassment could show through so much makeup.

“Do, it Jan. Hey, ma’am—” He motioned to that woman stalking toward him. “Here’s your culprit. Satisfied?”

“Hardly.”

As she snapped closer on those shapely heels, he saw her for the first time in full light. Snow still melted in the liquid sunshine of her long, sleek hair, which framed her intelligent, oval face. He was helpless to look away from her.

She wasn’t pretty. No, that was too plain a word. She wasn’t beautiful, that was too ordinary. He didn’t want to like this woman, but he did appreciate the natural look of lush lashes over her big, violet-blue eyes.

Her perfect nose had an elegant slope and her high delicate cheekbones were classic, not that he ought to be noticing. She had a soft mouth with tiny smile lines in the corners, as if she laughed often. Her chin, dainty and finely cut, complemented her face to perfection.

No, she wasn’t beautiful, she was more than that. Striking, that’s what she was. Classic. She was a real impressive lady, and she dressed the part in a tailored jacket, blouse and skirt. Lovely.

Not that he was noticing. Merely an observation.

He had a hard time being civil to a woman who had wrongly accused his little girl. Or to the teenager who had actually done the stealing.

“I’m going home. Later, Hayden,” Jan said, then marched right back the way she came.

Not his problem, he thought as the door swung shut behind her. He’d delivered the true culprit. It was up to the local boys to deal with Jan. He shot a hard look at that woman, who was glaring up at him as if he were personally responsible.

“I’m taking my daughter home.” He laid one hand on Hayden’s shoulder to steer her back through the detectors.

“Excuse me, Mr. Munroe?”

“You’re testing my patience, lady.” He turned on his heel. Behind her the two officers looked less than certain. What was their problem? “Look, I’ve been on shift since six o’clock last night. It’s now 3:56 p.m.”

“I’m aware of the time, Mr. Munroe.”

“There was a semi jackknifed on the interstate just out of the city limits, and I spent most of the night and half the day seeing to the clean-up and the investigation. I’m dead on my feet.” He looked past the unhappy woman to the uniforms standing beside her. “I’d appreciate it if you boys would wait to give me a call if you need a statement.”

Sheer exhaustion had him steering his Hayden back toward the door.

“Uh, Mr. Munroe?” That woman—that extraordinarily annoying woman—called after him. “Wait—”

He kept going. Maybe by tomorrow he would have cooled down enough to offer that woman the apology he probably owed her for his snarky mood. Even if she had wrongly accused his daughter.

A deafening claxon squealed right in his ear. He saw the guilty look sneak across his little girl’s face and still his denial remained. Not his Hayden. Maybe Jan had put the stolen items in Hayden’s bag. Maybe they had accidentally fallen off the shelf and into her bag.

He was desperate and he knew it, but it simply couldn’t be true. His daughter? His Hayden had said she didn’t do it. She’d lied, too. Anger began to huff up with each strangled breath.

“Daddy, I can explain. I didn’t know.” She looked at him desperately with a helpless gesture and those wide innocent eyes.

He wanted to believe her. Except his common sense had kicked in and, fueled with the rage, he was trembling with temper. Careful, controlled, he gritted his teeth to hold back the overwhelming urge to shout, a natural reaction to a teenager’s misbehavior. “Take what you stole out of your bag and give it back.”

“But, Daddy, I—”

“You heard me. Do it.”

Hayden gave a put-upon sigh but bowed her head and started digging through her things. It took all his effort and a quick prayer for self-control to stand there and not explode like a lit keg of ten-year-old dynamite.

One look at that woman had him praying for an extra dose of control. Overwhelming irritation jabbed deep into his chest. Probably from lack of sleep, sure, but the bookstore lady agitated him. To make matters worse she held out her slender hand, palm up, to receive a very expensive-looking cut-crystal figurine.

“Thank you,” she said in that prim voice of hers. “Now I want the other one.”

“There’s only one.” Hayden attempted the wide-eyed look again.

Katherine shook her head, her gaze locking on the teenage girl’s. “The lamb figurine has a security strip, too. What do you think is going to happen when you turn around and head back out the door?”

“Oh. Okay.”

The big man’s jaw dropped as his daughter’s innocent expression faded. She dug out a second figurine.

It was a sad thing to see a man lose belief in his child’s innocence, Katherine thought. The big hulk of a state trooper puffed up like a weightlifter getting ready to set an Olympic record. His hands fisted and his hard, masculine mouth drew downward in a heartbreaking frown. The tarnished glint of shock in his handsome brown eyes ought to have made a sensible teenager feel shame and vow never to disappoint her dad like that again.

But not this girl. She tossed her hair as she handed back the figurine. “Have it. I didn’t want it anyway.”

“Well, you took it,” Katherine said with care. “And giving these things back doesn’t change the fact that you stole them in the first place.”

“Miss McKaslin,” one of the local officers shouldered in. “We can handle it from here.”

“You’re pressing charges?” Jack Munroe raised his fists to his forehead as if his skull was about to blow.

Poor man. She felt sorry for him, but it didn’t change the facts. “You know the consequences of shoplifting. Does your daughter?”

“Does it need to come to that?” His hands dropped away, revealing stark sadness etched into the planes of his face. He radiated responsibility. “Believe me, I’ll set her straight. There’s no need to take this any further. Please.”

She didn’t know what to do with his obvious sincerity. He seemed invincible iron, and his gaze meeting hers shone with hard honesty. She could sense his hurt like cold in a winter wind. He was a good man, she could see it.

It was the girl she had to consider, who glared through her thick, spiky mascara-coated lashes with a ha-ha attitude.

Katherine quietly placed the crystal lamb in her blazer pocket along with the shepherd and considered her options. She didn’t doubt that Jack Munroe had been up all night working, just as he’d said. Dark exhaustion bruised the skin beneath his eyes, and she wagered that this mighty mountain of a man never did anything that was short of upright and honest his entire life. Pressing charges would hurt him more than the girl.

“She returned the items.” He managed to unclench his jaw enough to speak.

“Only when she was caught. If you hadn’t brought her back here, she never would have returned the figurines. She’s not truly sorry, and that’s my concern. This could happen again in another store.”

“Lady, I’m gonna ask you.” He swiped a hand over his eyes, a gesture of holding back his temper or one of fatigue, or both. “Please. Let me handle this.”

“Then what do you suggest?”

“I don’t know.” He swung around to glare hard at his daughter, who shrank at his look and finally hung her head in shame.

Maybe not such a tough girl—yet. Katherine folded her arms over her chest, already caring about the girl’s welfare. She was a softy, as her brother was always accusing. And it was true. She wasn’t worried about the figurines. What worried her was this girl with one foot on a path that could only lead to more trouble. “I’ll require restitution.”

“How much?” Jack reached for his wallet but stopped as Katherine shook her head.

“No, I’m not talking about money. I want volunteer work.”

Jack’s head pounded worse as Hayden let out a bellow.

“No way. Daddy, I’m not working for free in this…this store. Dad, you can use my allowance money—”

“It’s volunteer work,” Miss McKaslin interrupted evenly. “The local churches have a united charity, and they always need reliable help. There are a lot of teenagers from the youth groups involved at the free supper kitchen and the shelters. Maybe she could put in, what, sixteen hours of work? That’s roughly the value of the figurines. And she’ll make some good friends there, I’m sure.”

Youth-group kids? That caught his attention. A very reasonable solution. But what cinched it was the belligerent cock of his daughter’s jaw.

“I won’t do it, Daddy. I’m not gonna waste my time with a bunch of losers and homeless people.”

By the Grace of God, he thought. He’d sheltered her too much, he could see that painfully and—maybe, just maybe—spoiled her a little. But how could he have not?

She had no idea about the world he worked in every day. The one where bad things happened to good people, where sometimes the world’s harshness could break a spirit, and compassion and doing the right thing held immeasurable value.

It was time for his girl to grow up a little. “We’ll take your suggestion, Miss McKaslin.”

“Call me Katherine, please. I’ll have one of the coordinators call you.” She smiled, and tension drained out of her slender shoulders, squared so stubbornly under her tailored blazer.

Even though he didn’t like her, he had to admit she had class. And the smile she extended to Hayden wasn’t triumphant, but compassionate, and that impressed him, too. So he couldn’t like the woman for accusing his girl, even if she had been right, but he appreciated what she’d done. And handing him the opportunity of forcing his daughter to get involved with a youth group was just what he’d needed.

Being new to town and settling into a house and a job had taken a lot of his energy. Other priorities had been shoved aside. But no more. Resigned, he accepted the pen and notepad Katherine had taken from her pocket and handed to him.

As he jotted down his home number, he couldn’t help noticing the subtle hint of her perfume, something light and tasteful. He couldn’t say why his hand shook a little as he returned the pen and notepad.

Probably because he was working on twenty hours without sleep. That was it. “Thank you.”

Katherine wasn’t sure what to say to a father who had a big challenge on his hands. But despite her attitude, she was certain that his daughter was a good kid down deep. “Good luck.”

“You say that like you think I’m going to need it,” he said.

“I’m sure things will be smooth sailing for you from here. Hayden, you’re going to like Marin. She’s a cool youth pastor.”

“I don’t think so.” The girl rolled her eyes and gave her shank of blue hair a toss behind her shoulder and headed back through the detectors. “C’mon, Daddy, let’s get out of here.”

For an instant, Jack Munroe looked like he feared his daughter would set off the alarm again. His wide, linebacker’s shoulders looked as rigid as granite, as if he carried a heavy burden on them. Once they were through the sensors without an alarm, a visible wave of relief passed over his handsome features.

Yep, he was going to need more than good luck. She would put him on her prayer list tonight.

She turned to thank the town officers, who were already on their way out.

Kelly looked up from the book she was reading at the register. “Are you okay? You don’t look okay.”

“I’m fine. Now that it’s quieted back down, I don’t think we’re going to see a lot of business with this storm. Did you want to go home? The roads are only going to get worse.”

“But then you’ll be here alone.”

“I’m going to close down early. Don’t you worry about me. Just drive safely, okay?”

“Thanks, Katherine.” Kelly gathered up her college textbooks and headed toward the back.

Alone. Katherine wrapped her arms around her middle. She was getting real used to being alone. Lights flashed on and glared in the front window—the headlights of the state trooper’s cruiser. He was talking to the daughter. She could barely make them out through the thickly falling snow.

Maybe it was the ghosts of old memories rising up, or seeing those girls, teenage girls, and remembering what was best not thought about, but she hurt.

All it took was one wrong move, even well-intentioned, and look how far-reaching the consequences. This was her life, she thought. She turned her back on father and daughter and went back to restocking.

Turned her back on memories that, felt anew, would keep her up most of the night.

Chapter Three

“Thanks, Pastor. You have a good afternoon, now.” Jack hung up the phone in the quiet of his home office. The empty house echoed around him as he turned in his chair and stared out the window.

A cold winter’s landscape met his gaze through the picture window that faced the rugged range of the Montana Rockies, spanning the entire length of the horizon. The ice-capped peaks jutting against a white-gray sky were breathtaking and a change from Phoenix’s low camelbacks, which he’d seen all of his life. This Montana landscape wasn’t too hard on the eyes, but snow covered everything from the distant mountaintops to the shrubs outside the window. Miles and miles of snow.

Too much snow. Worse, a thick cloud layer was building across the entire dome of the sky. Just his luck that another six to eight inches were forecast to start falling by sundown. And if it did, then he could kiss his night goodbye.

He better put calling Mrs. Garcia on his to-do list. The sixty-something housekeeper stayed over in the guest room on the nights he worked in order to keep an eye on Hayden. He scribbled Mrs. Garcia on line ten, right below the reminder to call the lady from the Christian bookstore.

Miss Katherine McKaslin. He didn’t know what to think of her. He owed her. He didn’t like her, but he’d behaved badly last night. Yep, that’s the way it went. He always wound up coming across like a jerk whenever he was around a single woman. Which worked out just fine, he guessed, since he’d never been more than undecided when it came to the idea of marrying again.

This little shoplifting incident might have a serious silver lining—and that was the youth pastor he’d just spoken to. A friend of Miss McKaslin’s.

Why couldn’t he get her out of his mind? She was tall, slim, proper and lovely, definitely lovely. He didn’t want to like her. Besides, remembering how angry he’d been over her accusing Hayden—and then her being right about Hayden—was something he was never going to get past.

Not that he wanted to get past it.

Still, it wasn’t like he could forget the sympathetic look she’d given Hayden. Sympathetic, when Katherine had the right to be angry, or worse.

You owe her, man. And you know it.

His little girl could have found herself in juvenile detention if Katherine McKaslin had been unforgiving. But instead, the uptight, high-and-mighty shop lady had been nothing of the sort. Her kindness had handed him the best break he’d had in a while. The pastor he’d spoken to on the phone sounded like just the sort of help his little girl needed.

And that brand of decency was hard come by in this world.

By the time the first airy flakes of snow began to fall, he knew what he had to do.

In the quiet of the bookstore, Katherine leaned against the doorjamb to her brother’s office and tried to make sense of the male brain. “The dangerous winter storm warning isn’t just speculation. It’s fact. Have you looked out the window?”

“It’s a few flakes. Big deal.”

“It’s a perfect time to close the store, before the blizzard hits. Right?”

“What do we do about the customers who stop by later, depending on us to be open for them? I can’t be here. I’ve got a meeting at the church.” Decked out in his best suit, white shirt and tie, Spence gave his computer keyboard a few more taps. The printer in the corner started spitting and clattering. “We can’t disappoint our customers. It’s not good for business.”

“Fine, I’ll send everyone home and I’ll stay.”

“Alone? Like you did last night? You know I don’t approve of that. It’s not a safe world.”

“True, but I’m a capable adult who can take care of herself.” Really, she knew her brother cared, but there was only one harder-headed man on this earth, and that was their father, of course. Both of them could test a girl’s patience without the slightest effort. “Go to your meeting.”

“I can’t go if you’re going to be here alone.”

“Then we close now.” Katherine watched her big brother wrestle with that. “I’m going to go out onto the floor. Do you need anything before I go?”

“No. This spreadsheet you did for me is great.” Spence straightened his paisley tie as he rose from his leather chair. “I think they’ll be pleased.”

“Good.” She figured that was as close to an okay on closing the store early as she would get. “Drive carefully out there.”

She left her brother stewing over his financial worries and the lost revenue of closing early—as if anyone would be out shopping with the current weather warnings. Poor Spence. He took his responsibilities so seriously. Too seriously.

“Hey, kiddo.” She cornered the fiction aisle, where her younger sister was shelving books. “You need help with that cart?”

“Sure. You know what the Bible says, two can accomplish more than twice as much as one.” Ava straightened from her work with a wink. “You don’t look busy.”

“You know me, I never work.”

“I know. It’s terrible. You know what everyone says? That lazy Katherine. Next they’ll be commenting on that wild outfit.” Ava laughed, a light, easy trill.

“Aren’t you funny?” Okay, so she wasn’t a fashion plate. Katherine glanced at the black cable turtleneck sweater and her favorite pair of black wool trousers. Sensible, as always. “There’s a minus-ten-degree wind chill outside.”

“Hey, I know.” Ava chose a volume from the cart and turned to study the shelves. Her outfit of choice today was a smart safari jacket, a lace-edged purple Henley and a pair of jeans tucked into suede boots. She looked like she’d walked off a fashion magazine. “I heard you had a little incident last night.”

“The shoplifting? Yeah, but we got the figurines back.”

“I wasn’t talking about that. I heard a rumor that you caught a certain state trooper’s attention.”

“It’s ridiculous. Who did you hear that from?”

“Nobody. Well, Aubrey and me, we felt compelled to review the security tape. Then Aubrey bumped into Dean getting coffee this morning, you know, one of the responding officers last night?”

“Yeah, yeah.” It was a small city. Sometimes hardly more than a small town. “You and that sister of yours—”

“She’s your sister, too—”

“—have the wrong idea.”

“Which is?”

“Trust me. That man can’t stand me.” That had come across pretty clearly last night. “I don’t believe you got that from the tape. He was horrible. He—”

“Yeah, so you didn’t really notice him at all, huh?”

“Not at all.” Katherine grabbed a half dozen books from the cart and moved down the aisle. “I know what you’re doing. You’re trying to distract me from the fact that you left the crystals case unlocked.”

“My bad.” Ava didn’t look a bit remorseful, and she wasn’t doing a whole lot of shelving either. “So, back to the state trooper. Was his name Jack? Do I have that right?”

Yeah, she had the name right. But she was hard-pressed to explain why it felt like the lining of her rib cage contracted painfully whenever she thought of him. “It isn’t like that. He’s married, I’m sure. And why aren’t you shelving?”

“I’ll get to it.” Ava sidled close. “I happened to notice he wasn’t wearing a wedding ring.”

“And this is important because…?”

“I don’t want you to give up hope.”

Why did that make her ache inside, all the way down to her soul?

Because she had lost hope. Hope of ever finding the right man.

“He’s out there, I know it.” Ava slid a book into place. “I pray for you finding him every night.”

Her soul ached a little more. “I’m afraid you’re wasting your prayers. A lot of men just wouldn’t understand….”

There was the past left unsaid between them.

Ava’s hand found Katherine’s and gently squeezed. “You only need the right man to understand. To see what a great woman you are.” Her gaze shot over Katherine’s shoulder for a brief moment. “I bet he’s on his way to you right now. Maybe, so you won’t miss him, the Good Lord will send a sign. You know, like a handsome man bringing white roses.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Just telling you I think my prayers are going to be answered. I’m lucky that way, you know.” Ava snatched another book from the cart. “I pray, it happens. Right?”

“Almost always. You have a serious gift with prayer. But you have to accept that some things aren’t meant to be. I have.” And talking about it was painful. She slipped a historical romance into place on the middle shelf and straightened the books around it. She liked tidy shelves. Keeping the shelves tidy was something she made a difference at.

Repairing the damage done to her life almost fifteen years ago was something that could never be done. Not even God could change what was past.

The bell over the door chimed. A customer, she wondered, or Spence back from the meeting that was probably cancelled?

“You’d better go see who that is,” Ava commented as she laboriously struggled to slip a paperback book onto the shelf, obviously too busy to check on the possible customer.

What was up with her? Katherine glanced around the aisle and the book she held slid from her fingers. As the book hit the floor, the thud sounded just like her heart stuttering in shock. There was Jack Munroe, broad-shouldered and substantial, with a vase of white rosebuds cradled in his big, capable-looking hands.