Cox, Suzanne - Unexpected Daughter Read online

  Dylan came bouncing through the door and onto the porch. “Hey, Mr. Jackson, you wanna sign my cast?” She offered the injured extremity and the permanent marker she always seemed to have ready.

  “Sure.” Jackson squeezed his name in among the others and passed the marker back to Dylan. He opened the door and looked back at Brijette. “If you remember more, I hope you’ll let me know immediately.” He disappeared into the store without waiting for her response.

  “What’s wrong, Mom?”

  She pulled Dylan’s ponytail and smiled. “Nothing, we’re only talking.”

  “About what happened on the boat?”

  “Yes, but don’t worry. We’re not in danger.”

  “That man said if you didn’t stop helping the sheriff, we’d be in a lot of danger.”

  “I hate that you had to hear that. But what do you think I should do?”

  Dylan scratched a spot on her T-shirt and frowned. “You don’t listen to a dumb crook. You should keep helping the sheriff so he can catch the bad people and get them out of Cypress Landing so everybody will be okay. I’m not scared of him.”

  Brijette threw her arm around the girl’s shoulder as they walked down the steps. “Good, because there’s nothing to be afraid of. The sheriff and his deputies will help protect us.”

  CADE STUCK THE LAST chart for the day into the basket on Emma’s desk. Everyone else had gone home. The thought of leaving Cypress Landing had taken a back seat in his mind since he’d learned Dylan was his, but lately the idea of going back to a city clinic made him depressed.

  He liked the pace here, but he’d promised his father he’d stay in Dallas with his mother, and he’d already made a mess of her life with what happened at his previous job. He really should go back to Dallas and try to make things better for her. He’d never done much else his dad wanted. He probably owed it to him. But at what price?

  Voices filtered into his thoughts and he went to the hall, peering toward the kitchen from where the sound emanated. He wasn’t the only one here. Brijette and Andy seemed to be having a heated discussion. A muscle deep in his gut twitched. He shouldn’t have cared that Andy and Brijette were staying late and arguing, but the idea of the two of them together sent hot sparks along his nerves. Women practically fell at Andy’s feet. In an ugly film that played in his mind he suddenly pictured them in each other’s arms, and he tore down the hall.

  “You’re crazy, Brijette.”

  Andy’s voice tapered off as Cade burst into the room.

  Brijette took a half step back. “Are you all right?”

  He tried to imagine how he must look, barging in like a wild bull. What had he been thinking?

  “I—I thought everyone had gone. I heard voices and was afraid we might have had a break-in.”

  Brijette nodded but Andy’s mouth quirked and Cade knew he hadn’t fooled his friend.

  “I’m glad you’re here.” Andy tipped his soda can in Brijette’s direction. “This woman has gone completely insane.”

  “I haven’t. You don’t understand, Andy, because you’re not from here. You don’t realize what it means for patients to really need you.”

  Andy snorted. “Cade may buy that line you keep trying to sell about how we can’t understand these people’s needs, or care about them because we’re not from here, but let me tell you, you don’t have to grow up dirt poor in a small town to care about people.”

  Brijette didn’t have a response for that and Cade wished he’d said it himself. The truth was, he had started to believe it when Brijette kept saying over and over how different they were because of their backgrounds. Andy was right. They weren’t that different. Andy had left behind a lot to come here, but it was what he’d wanted, what made him happy.

  “Are you going to tell her she can’t do it?”

  Cade glanced at Andy, who was staring at him. “Can’t do what?”

  “I haven’t mentioned it to him yet.” Brijette wrung her hands together.

  “You’re going to love this, Cade. She’s gotten her boat back from the sheriff and plans to load it Thursday and take off to that clinic of hers.”

  “No!” He hadn’t intended to shout, but when he did Brijette’s eyes widened and she took another step away, distancing herself from him.

  “It’s too dangerous for you—or have you forgotten what happened before? If you’re not concerned for yourself, think of Alicia and Dylan. You do have a daughter to raise.”

  “I don’t think those men would take such a risk again. And Alicia won’t be going with me. I’ll go alone. As for Dylan, why do you think I’m doing this? I want my daughter to learn that doing what’s good for others is important.”

  Cade stuck his hands in the pockets of his lab jacket. “I think it would be a lot better for her if you were around two years from now instead of six feet under.”

  “That’s funny, I would’ve imagined you’d find that prospect rather attractive. Then you and your mother could have Dylan to yourselves.” Brijette’s voice was cold and bitter. He wouldn’t have thought she had any words left that could hurt him again, but apparently she did.

  “I’ve never said I wanted to take Dylan away from you.” The anger had left his voice without his meaning for it to. He figured he sounded the way he felt, tired and a little lost.

  “But you do want her.”

  Andy made a move to slip past Cade and out the door, but Cade caught his arm.

  “Come on, man, this conversation is beginning to get personal. The two of you can take it from here.”

  Cade held on. “You’ll have to run this place on Thursday by yourself unless Arthur can come in to help.”

  “What?” Brijette squawked across the room, but he ignored her, speaking to Andy instead.

  “I’m going with her to the clinic. I won’t let her go alone.”

  He waited for Andy to argue but his friend only smiled.

  “Now that’s a better idea.”

  “Wait a minute. We can’t leave Andy here by himself. He’ll be swamped.” Brijette turned to Andy.

  He shrugged. “I’m not scared of having to work hard. I’m going home so the two of you can finish this battle alone.”

  Cade let Andy pass him but Brijette didn’t move. They stared at each other until the outside door slammed behind Andy.

  “Why are you doing this, Cade?”

  “To protect my daughter’s mother’s stupid neck.”

  “The people there might not even let you see them as a physician. They don’t know you.”

  “I’ve treated a patient out there before.”

  “That was one person.”

  “Fine, I’ll be your assistant and try to make sure nothing happens to you on the trip.” He paused for a moment but couldn’t stop the next words from rushing past his lips. “I can’t believe you think I would want something to happen to you.”

  She kept her gaze on the floor. “It would make your life easier.”

  “I’m not sure how losing the mother of my daughter would make my life easier. Besides, I’ve had it pretty easy for most of my life. I don’t mind a bit of difficulty. It makes you more appreciative of the good times.”

  “I thought all you ever wanted were the ‘good times.’”

  He crossed the room to stand in front of her, maybe closer than he should have. “A lot of the things you think about me aren’t true.”

  She still wouldn’t meet his eyes and he tilted her chin, forcing her to look at him. “I still care about you.”

  He didn’t know what he expected from her, maybe a cynical retort. But slowly tears began to trickle down her face.

  “I don’t know why you would,” she whispered.

  “Neither do I. I’m not saying I can forgive the lies. I really don’t know what I’m saying.”

  With a shove, she pushed past him, the plastic soles of her shoes slapping the hardwood floor as she hurried away. He didn’t follow her. Why should he? He had no idea what to do next, except show u
p Thursday to load the boat.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  THE WAVES from the moving boat rippled across to the edges of the reeds and bounced around the base of the huge cypress tree that filtered the last rays of summer sun. Brijette rested in the seat of the boat and tried not to sigh. That would be like saying she actually enjoyed this, and she didn’t want to enjoy these trips with Cade.

  This made the fourth time they’d been to Willow Point together, and she knew after four weeks without incident she should insist he stay at the clinic in town. But she hadn’t yet. He’d fit in so easily the first day that it had been a shock. Fortunately, Cade hadn’t pointed out how wrong she’d been. Brijette had believed the river people would see him as a stranger and, thus, untrustworthy. But they’d lined up to get a peek at the new doctor. She’d brought a “divider screen” and fashioned a second exam table so they could both see patients, without any help from a nurse. He’d fumbled a bit in the beginning with having to administer the shots and dress the wounds on his own, but by the second visit he had everything down pat…and she’d fallen in love with him again.

  It was a useless feeling considering the gap she’d so successfully created between them. He’d never forgive her, never trust her again. He’d get weekend custody of Dylan and likely drive to get her every other weekend or have Brijette put her on a plane to Dallas, but he’d go back to his other life soon. Better that she stop this now. The longer he kept visiting the clinic, the more the patients became attached to him and the more she became attached. The wind blew her hair in her face and she slipped off her ponytail holder, smoothing the loose strands together again and refastening the band tightly.

  At the wheel of the boat Cade smiled at her.

  She stood, holding on to the rail.

  “You can stop coming with me, you know,” she shouted above the hum of the engine. “I think whatever danger there was is past. I’m sure I’ll be safe from now on.”

  He still hadn’t met her eyes, his attention focused on the waterway ahead of them. She tried again.

  “I know they need one of us at the Cypress Landing clinic. Doc isn’t able to help Andy much with the load. Andy isn’t one to complain, but I’m sure he’s got to be feeling overwhelmed.”

  Brijette tightened her grip on the rail as the boat rocked, the engine slowing to a low idle before going silent. When he’d completely stopped the boat, he looked at her.

  “What are you trying to say, Brijette?”

  “That you don’t have to come and help me anymore.”

  “Am I doing a bad job? Do you think the people there don’t like me?”

  “No, that’s not it at all. They’ve taken to you very well and I haven’t seen them take to many people, even Alicia. Of course you do a fantastic job. You’re an amazing doctor.”

  One side of his mouth tilted upward. “Amazing, huh? I know people in Dallas who wouldn’t agree with you.”

  She hadn’t forgotten what Andy had said that day about Cade and the lawsuit in Dallas, but she’d decided to let it go. It would be like trying to find something wrong with him after he’d found out she’d lied. It hadn’t seemed right to bring it up before now.

  “Andy mentioned a lawsuit one day, but he didn’t say what happened.”

  Cade sat and gazed off toward the trees.

  “An older woman came in one day and said she’d been having trouble sleeping after her husband had died several months before. He was the head of a big oil company that his family had founded years ago—” He glanced at her and lifted an eyebrow. “Old money, the kind our clinic catered to. My nurse took her history and I questioned her further. Her regular physician had moved and she’d decided to use us. She said she hadn’t been prescribed a medication before now to help her sleep. Based on what she told me, I wrote her a prescription for a sleeping aid, a mild dosage. But before she went to her pharmacist, she changed the dosage I had ordered to the maximum amount for that medication. Not only that but she had gotten pills from another doctor. She swallowed most of them that night and died. The woman had a history of depression and attempted suicide. She hadn’t given us an accurate medical history, but the family insisted I should’ve called the other doctor.”

  “That’s not standard, especially if the guy had moved. I mean, you would have gotten her records later, but if you wanted to help her that day you only had her word to go on.”

  “I wanted to go to court. I felt I had followed procedure, but the clinic didn’t want the negative publicity and the family was very well known. They could have destroyed the clinic simply by telling lies to their friends. I happened to be the most expendable.”

  She covered his hand with hers. “I’m sorry that happened. Is that why Andy said your mother’s friends gave her the cold shoulder?”

  He nodded. “As soon as they heard what had happened, we became social pariahs. I didn’t really care since I never went to the country club or hung around with those people. But it really killed my mother. She wants me to go back there and prove myself to be a good doctor. She thinks everything will return to normal if I do. But I doubt that will happen soon.”

  Brijette slid her palm along the stainless-steel rail while her other hand still rested on Cade’s.

  “Hauling yourself out to this clinic isn’t going to fix that. It’s hot and miserable and you could be back in town with air-conditioning right now. There’s no sense in your coming with me until you leave for Dallas. Why don’t you quit and go help Andy?”

  He turned to her, flipping over his hand to hold hers. “I can’t.”

  “What do you mean, you can’t? Of course you can. Next week, don’t come to the dock before daylight.”

  With his free hand he brushed his damp hair away from his brow. “I don’t want that. Working out here with you in the backroom of the old store has been the best thing that ever happened to me. For the first time since I finished medical school I feel as if I’m doing what I had envisioned when I originally decided to become a doctor.”

  She frowned. “What, helping the have-nots? Is that what you dreamed of when you were a young rich kid roaring around in your sports car?”

  “That’s not how it was and you know it. You think I’m the one with a problem, but you have a prejudice toward me and anyone who comes from a well-off family. That’s no different than the prejudice you accuse me of. You keep saying because I—and even Andy—was born to money, we think those who don’t have it are lesser human beings than we are. I don’t think that. There are plenty of people I’ve met these last few weeks who are much better than me.”

  “They are good people. I just never expected you to recognize that.”

  His fingers tightened on hers and he closed the distance between them. “Why not? I recognized it in you.”

  That’s when she let go, of herself and everything she’d been holding back from him. She kissed him—on the mouth, not safely on the cheek or forehead. He kissed her back, pulling her toward him until she had to put her knee on his seat to keep from falling. His hands slipped under her scrub top and moved up her back. He held her closer, then bent to lay her down on the seat across from them. The boat rocked and they fell the last few inches onto the cushion. He lifted himself to shove her top upward, his mouth pressing against the thin fabric stretched across her breast. She cried out and he immediately captured her mouth again. She didn’t want it to end, ever, but she knew it had to.

  “We can’t do this,” she whispered against his mouth.

  “Sure we can, we already have a child together.”

  “No, it’ll only confuse us. You don’t need to stay here because of me or because of Dylan but because you believe it’s where you belong.”

  He pulled back and sat in the seat behind the wheel, staring at her, his chest heaving.

  “You can’t come here with me again.”

  The muscles of his jaw tightened and his lips thinned. He turned, taking hold of the key, then faced her once more.

  “I do
n’t think you heard me, but I’ll make it really clear. I won’t kiss you and I won’t try to get close to you, but I will come to this clinic again for as long as I’m in Cypress Landing, because I do know it’s where I belong.”

  He started the engine, jamming the throttle lever until the bow of the boat reared from the water. He didn’t speak to her again, which was good. Brijette didn’t want him to say another word or she’d likely drag him down to the bottom of the boat. He amazed her every day and she wanted that to keep happening, maybe for the rest of her life. She didn’t know what it would take to earn Cade’s trust, but she decided making that happen had become the most important thing in her life next to Dylan.

  THE SUN HAD NEARLY SET when Brijette parked her Tahoe near Robert’s barn. Her first stop had been at Norma’s where she’d been informed that Dylan had seen Robert in town and he’d invited her to come riding when the heat of the sun eased. Straight ahead, she could see Dylan grooming the horse, Robert beside her.

  “Hey, you two.”

  Dylan dropped the brush in a plastic carrier and motioned for her to join them. “Isn’t this horse beautiful? Mr. Robert bought her and he says I can come ride her whenever I want, like she was my own.”

  “That’s very nice of him, but you’ll still have to be sure to get permission first.” She smiled at Robert. “I don’t want her worrying you to death.”

  “That won’t happen.” He patted the horse. “Go ahead and put her in the stall, Dylan. You know, the one that opens onto the little paddock.”

  Dylan nodded and led the horse into the barn.

  “I haven’t seen you since you had that trouble on the river. They ever catch who did it?”

  She shook her head. “Just the one guy who I recognized from the clinic.”

  Robert picked up the plastic container full of brushes and combs for the horses. “That’s a shame. Maybe they’ll still catch them.”

  Dylan returned and Brijette put her hand on the girl’s shoulder. “We’d better get going now.”