Cox, Suzanne - Unexpected Daughter Read online

  “I’m sorry, Brijette. I really thought she’d go home with you.”

  Blotting her face with the paper towel, she glanced at him. “It’s okay. At least she’s speaking to me. Thank you for asking me over and giving us a chance to talk.”

  His hand covered hers and she straightened. “Eventually we’ll be sharing custody of Dylan and it’s important that we work together, don’t you think?”

  She nodded, but didn’t really want to consider custody issues yet.

  “And thank you for not telling Dylan the part about my mother paying you to not have her. That could make for a bad situation between them.”

  “You heard that?”

  He nodded.

  “I think we’ve all got enough problems as is.”

  “True, but you still could have ruined their relationship, possibly forever.”

  She stared at his hand on top of hers. “I’ve ruined enough relationships lately to last me a lifetime.”

  His hand tightened on hers. “They’re not all ruined, Brij, just changing, evolving.”

  When she finally met his eyes she wasn’t sure what she saw there—fear, regret, sadness? She certainly felt those things. Suddenly, he moved his hand and shifted in his chair as though uncomfortable. The visit was over.

  “I’d better go.” She got to her feet and he followed her to the door, saying nothing.

  At the bottom of the steps he shouted after her, “She’ll be ready for more soon.”

  Brijette glanced back at him, then kept moving toward her car. She prayed he was right and wondered if she and Cade would ever be able to get back what they’d shared before her lie had done its damage.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  THE NEXT WEEK Brijette had dinner at Cade’s house twice. The second visit she came over to help fix the meal, and they all laughed together. She tried not to be too elated or read too much into it, but the icy wall between her and Dylan seemed to be slowly melting. By her third visit she hit pay dirt.

  They were cleaning up the kitchen and Cade had gone into the other room to answer the phone when it happened.

  “I packed a bag today. I think I’ll come home and sleep in my room tonight, if that’s okay.”

  The plate Brijette held in her hand slipped and she set it on the counter before she dropped it.

  “That’s great. I mean, of course it’s okay.” She wanted to say more, to scream and jump up and down, but the ground on which they were treading remained unsteady. They had to face this calmly, although she wasn’t the least bit calm.

  Later, back at the home they’d shared for the past three years, Dylan hurried to her room, then stuck her head out the door.

  “Hey, you cleaned up my room.”

  Brijette stopped in the open doorway. “I only cleaned what was out here. I didn’t go in the closet, or your drawers, so those are like they always were.”

  Dylan nodded, then completely changed course. “Do you have any chocolate ice cream?”

  “Of course.”

  “Good. Can we have some and watch this new movie Dad bought for me? I haven’t watched it yet.”

  For reasons she couldn’t explain, hearing Dylan call Cade “Dad” stole her breath every time. She’d done it a few times at his house. She’d have thought it would upset her, but it didn’t. The feeling was different and, at the moment, completely unexplainable.

  “That sounds like fun.” Brijette started toward the kitchen and Dylan followed her.

  Her daughter watched as she scooped ice cream into the first bowl.

  “Do you think Cade will ever forgive you for lying to him?”

  The spoon clattered against the bowl. Boy, Dylan knew how to start off with the hard questions.

  “I can’t answer that, honey. I hope he will, but I’ll understand if he can’t completely forgive me. This has been very hard for him, too.”

  She kept filling the bowls and neither of them spoke until she was finished. As she pressed the top onto the ice-cream container, she looked at Dylan. “Do you think you’ll ever forgive me for lying to you about your father?”

  “And about the drug thing, don’t forget about that.”

  “Right. The drug thing, too.”

  Her daughter was quiet. “It hurt my heart.”

  Brijette’s throat knotted and the backs of her eyes burned. She stared out the window, unable to face her own child.

  “I know, but I didn’t mean for it to. I was hoping to protect you from that. But it hurts my heart, too, that this had to happen to us.”

  “To me and you? Or to you and Cade?”

  Finally she turned to Dylan, who was so serious but not upset, as she’d been that first night. “Mostly it hurts my heart for me and you, but I hate that I did this to the three of us.”

  “Dad says it’ll be all right.”

  “Do you believe him?”

  Dylan nodded, then stuck her spoon in her ice cream and picked up the bowl. “I’m not so mad anymore, but I still don’t like it.”

  Brijette nodded. “I can understand that. But I hope you’ll give me a chance to prove to you that I’m not going to hide anything from you ever again.”

  “Do you think maybe I could go back to Willow Point with you one day soon? Rick was going to show me and Ellen an old haunted cabin near the store.”

  “Sure, I’d love for you to come with me. I know Ellen is A.G.’s granddaughter, but who’s Rick?”

  “The boy who helped me load the boat the last time I was there with you.”

  Brijette picked up her own bowl and followed Dylan to the living room, where she slid the movie into the player, then began to eat her ice cream as Dylan launched into a tale of ghosts and goblins found at Willow Point.

  And so they began. She’d dreaded having to redefine her relationship with her daughter when she was this young. But here they were feeling each other out, almost like strangers. It wasn’t what she would have wished for, but it was probably more than she deserved. She smiled at something Dylan said and thought to herself how wrong she’d been to believe that lying was the greatest form of protection.

  BRIJETTE’S CLOTHES were soaked with sweat by the time she, Alicia and Dylan had loaded the last boxes onto the boat. It was hard to believe the sun had not even begun to pink the sky yet. The store would be sweltering and she didn’t relish another day of drowning in her own perspiration. At least she had Dylan with her today. Thank goodness she and Cade had agreed to send Dylan to see Emalea Cooper, the town’s psychologist, because Dylan seemed to be recovering from the shock of learning Cade was her father. She was still wary of Brijette, which was heartbreaking, but she knew that winning her daughter’s trust would take time.

  “Mom, are you ready?”

  Dylan and Alicia stood waiting for her on the boat. She untied the line and jumped on deck.

  They’d just left the river behind when Brijette noticed a boat heading toward them from the tree-lined canal to her left. She hoped the other boat would change direction or slow down, otherwise they’d ram into them. Alicia grabbed her shoulder as the boat neared. At the last moment, it veered sharply to one side, grazing the side of Doc’s boat.

  “Sit down and hold on,” she shouted at Dylan, who had been kneeling in the seat, watching the boat wheel around behind them.

  “Mom!” Dylan yelled back. “They were wearing ski masks. Did you see?”

  Brijette didn’t answer but glanced at Alicia, who nodded. She’d noticed the masks, too. Brijette had been trying to convince herself that she’d imagined it, but they couldn’t have dreamed the same thing.

  The throttle vibrated under her grip as she pushed hard to get more acceleration from the boat. Behind them, the other boat closed in, its engines roaring above the hum of their own. Doc’s boat wasn’t designed for speed, but they’d never needed to make a getaway before now.

  When the boat pulled alongside them, Brijette had to swallow her heart to speak.

  “Dylan, get on the floor!”

&
nbsp; The girl had barely landed on her stomach when one of the men fired a shot across the bow and motioned for Brijette to stop. She yanked on the throttle until the engine sputtered and the boat rocked in the water. Two of the men grabbed the railing on Doc’s boat and sprang onboard.

  Without a word, one of them grabbed Alicia and tossed her over the side. For a minute she didn’t come up and Brijette prayed she hadn’t hit her head. Then, she bobbed to the surface and began treading water.

  The other man caught Brijette’s shirtfront and pressed a cold metal pistol against her forehead. Dylan screamed, and at the edge of her field of vision Brijette could see her daughter fighting against the man who’d thrown Alicia out.

  “Take what you want, just let us go.”

  In front of her, black eyes sparked with laughter. “Don’t worry, my boss is letting you off easy. But if you don’t quit helping the sheriff you won’t be this lucky next time. You or your daughter.”

  She felt the boat rail press against her legs, then he pushed and she tumbled backward into the water, fear gripping her as she realized that Dylan was now alone on the boat with the two monsters.

  Her head above water, she gasped for air and clawed the side of the boat. Above her, she heard a thud and Dylan cried out in pain, then the girl flew through the air, landing with a splash in the lukewarm, murky water. Brijette swam toward her as fast as she could. Alicia also swam to her from the other direction. Brijette prayed they wouldn’t be hit by one of the boats but she also wondered what they would do. She and Alicia weren’t wearing life vests and the canal that led to A.G.’s was surrounded by brush and reeds they couldn’t possibly walk through. The boat engines roared and a smaller man who’d never left the attackers’ boat stared at them, while the guy who’d threatened Brijette spun Doc’s boat around and headed toward the river. Suddenly, the smaller man opened a compartment at his feet and threw a life vest toward them. He reached for another, but his boat’s driver saw him and left the wheel, knocking him to the deck.

  The driver didn’t return to retrieve the vest floating in the water and Brijette had seen all she’d needed to see. When the smaller man had thrown them the vest, the sleeve of his T-shirt had ridden up his arm, revealing a scar that appeared to have recently had stitches removed. It was a long and crooked cut, one she wasn’t likely to forget—especially since she’d only recently treated it for an infection. T.J. Broussard had helped two men steal Doc’s boat. Regina had been right. He was in trouble. Big trouble.

  Alicia swam over to her with the life jacket. She grabbed it with one hand and caught hold of Dylan’s life vest with the other. Pulling her daughter to her, she wiped Dylan’s wet hair away from her teary face.

  “Are you hurt, Dylan?”

  “My arm hurts bad.” She sniffled, rubbing her eyes and holding her other arm above the water. Nausea welled in Brijette’s stomach at the sight of the child’s misshapen arm.

  “What’s wrong with it, Mom?”

  “Hold it next to you and keep it really still, Dylan. I think it’s broken. Try not to move it around.”

  Through Dylan’s grimace of pain, she managed to look hopeful. “Will I get a cast?”

  Brijette studied her daughter. “I imagine so.”

  “If I do, can I get people to sign it?”

  Brijette nodded. At least the idea of the cast was distracting her for a minute.

  “Do we swim for the river?” Alicia asked.

  “No, we should head for A.G.’s store.”

  Alicia groaned. “That’s a long way.”

  “It’s farther but there’s not much current. I think it’s the safer option.”

  Dylan was already some distance ahead of them, floating on her back, her vest keeping her well above water. She balanced her injured arm across her chest and kicked with her feet, periodically glancing around to be sure she didn’t run aground.

  For nearly ten minutes they paddled in silence with Brijette keeping watch on the edges of the waterway, though she didn’t know what she’d do if she saw a snake or alligator slip into the water.

  “I hear a boat.”

  Brijette strained to hear what Alicia did, and then she, too, could hear it. An engine humming in the distance.

  “Let’s pray they’re friendly.”

  A boat appeared in the distance and Dylan spun around to watch its approach. “It’s Mr. A.G.”

  The old man stopped next to Dylan and grabbed her life vest, hoisting her into his boat. “Watch my arm,” she said. “It’s broke.”

  He flipped a rope ladder over the side and Brijette and Alicia climbed aboard. “Where’s ya boat?” he asked, scratching his chin.

  “Some men with guns took it.” Dylan proceeded to give A.G. the details of the story, complete with a few sound effects.

  When she finished, he arched a brow at Brijette. “Didn’t cause the child no trauma, I’d say.”

  “We need to get to the sheriff and report this. It may not seem serious to hear her tell it, but it was.”

  A.G. nodded. “When you didn’t show, I started worryin’, then this fella came by and said he thought he heard a gunshot. I knew nobody hunts near this canal, so I came to check on you.”

  “It’s a good thing you did.” Alicia sighed, sitting on one of the seats. “Can we please go now, before another criminal comes along and takes this boat?”

  A.G. switched on the engine and steered toward the river. Brijette racked her brain for a clue to what she’d stumbled across while tracking that would get her into this much trouble. This hadn’t been a random attack. They’d been waiting for her. The man had threatened her; his “boss” had threatened her. They thought she knew more than she did. But how could she protect herself when she couldn’t see the missing piece they believed she had?

  “YOU’RE SURE you know the guy.”

  “I’m one-hundred-percent positive, Jackson. I just worked on his wound a week ago.”

  “Did they say what they wanted?”

  “They took the boat. I guess they wanted it and maybe whatever drugs might be onboard.”

  He studied her briefly. “Were there drugs on the boat?”

  “A few, for emergencies.”

  “And prescription pads?”

  She pulled at the hem of her wet scrub top. “Well, yeah, I occasionally write prescriptions for the folks in Willow Point who have a way to get to town.”

  “What else happened that I need to know?”

  “He said if I didn’t quit helping the sheriff with his cases, next time would be worse for me…and for Dylan.”

  Jackson let his hands drop to his sides. “What have you not told me?”

  She rubbed the heel of her hand against her forehead. “That’s the problem, I can’t think of anything I’ve come across that would incriminate one person in particular.”

  “Somebody thinks you’ve found something.”

  She sighed. “I wish I had. I’d tell you, and this whole mess would end.”

  Jackson stuck his notepad in his pocket and rolled his pen between his fingers. “You let me know if you think of anything else.” He stared at her for an instant longer, then walked away.

  She let out a slow breath and collapsed against the wall. He thought she was lying, thought she knew more. Admittedly, she had an idea, was tying a few things together, but none of it made sense to her yet, so it certainly wouldn’t make sense to Jackson. The sensation in her gut was like the one she often got when she was tracking—as though she was right on the verge of seeing something important. Maybe the reason she couldn’t see it was that she knew she wouldn’t like what she found.

  The air-conditioning in the hospital waiting area made her wet clothes feel icy against her skin. She glanced at the room where one of the ER doctors was taking care of Dylan. The sound of the electronic doors opening at the end of the hall caused her to look up, and she was filled with dread.

  She hadn’t stopped to call Cade to tell him what had happened. At the dock, A.G. had
notified the sheriff and Jackson had met them at the emergency room. There’d been no time to talk to Cade. She wiped her hands across her wet scrubs. Truthfully, she could have tried harder, but she hadn’t been in a hurry to face him. He’d be angry that she’d taken Dylan. He hadn’t been certain it was a good idea, even though the child had accompanied her to Willow Point on many previous occasions. His mother had naturally thought it was the worst thing on earth. Now they’d think they were right and they’d deem her a terrible mother. She felt bad enough already. But Cade’s expression told her she’d be spared nothing.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  “ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?” Cade knew he held Brijette’s arm a bit tighter than he should. He nearly pulled her close, but he remembered at the last minute that this was the woman who’d for years failed to let him know he had a daughter. Worse, she’d now taken his girl off and gotten her injured, then not bothered to let him know.

  “I’m fine, but Dylan’s arm is broken.”

  “Where is she?”

  “They’re working on it right now.”

  “You should have called me.”

  “I was going to call you but Jackson met us here and I had to give him a report. He just left.”

  “You should have phoned me from the dock. Thankfully, Emma had to speak with the clerk in the emergency room about a patient. The clerk mentioned to her that you had to bring Dylan here or I probably still wouldn’t know.”

  “That’s not true. I was about to get in touch with you.”

  He didn’t really believe her, but the tears were starting to fill her eyes and he hadn’t come here to make her cry.

  “I told you she shouldn’t go with you. But you wouldn’t listen.”

  “She’s been with me countless times before and we were fine. Why would I have thought this time would be different?”

  “Because we were already having these problems with the prescription drugs.”

  “I had no reason to think that anyone would come after us.”

  He dropped her arm. “That’s the problem, isn’t it? You don’t think.”