A Father's Gift
Table of Contents
Cover Page
Excerpt
Dear Reader
Title Page
Dedication
Books by Andrea Edwards
About the Author
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Epilogue
Copyright
“Is anything wrong?”
Jack questioned Cassie.
“Should there be?” she answered coldly.
Jack knew that when a woman answered your question with another question it meant you were standing knee-deep in a manure pile.
“I was just wondering if you made it back safe and sound.”
“I’m fine, Mr. Merrill. Is there anything else?”
“No, not at all.” He backed off toward the shop’s door. “Just glad to see that things are going well for you.”
Obviously Cassie was having second thoughts about having made love with him. And this wasn’t the place to go into that subject.
His aunt was right. Men and women weren’t meant to be friends. And he and Cassie apparently weren’t meant to be lovers, either.
Dear Reader,
Brides, babies and families…that’s just what Special Edition has in store for you this August! All this and more from some of your favorite authors.
Our THAT’S MY BABY! title for this month is Of Texas Ladies, Cowboys.. .and Babies, by popular Silhouette Romance author Jodi O’Donnell. In her first book for Special Edition, Jodi tells of a still young and graceful grandmother-to-be who unexpectedly finds herself in the family way! Fans of Jodi’s latest Romance novel, Daddy Was a Cowboy, won’t want to miss this spin-off title!
This month, GREAT EXPECTATIONS, the wonderful new series of family and homecoming by Andrea Edwards, continues with A Father’s Gift. And summer just wouldn’t be right without a wedding, so we present A Bride for John, the second book of Trisha Alexander’s newest series, THREE BRIDES AND A BABY. Beginning this month is a new minisenes from veteran author Pat Warren, REUNION. Three siblings must find each other as they search for true love. It all begins with one sister’s story in A Home for Hannah.
Also joining the Special Edition family this month is reader favorite and Silhouette Romance author Stella Bagwell. Her first title for Special Edition is Found: One Runaway Bride. And returning to Special Edition this August is Carolyn Seabaugh with Just a Family Man, as the lives of one woman and her son are forever changed when an irresistible man walks into their café in the wild West.
This truly is a month packed with summer fun and romance! I hope you enjoy each and every story to come!
Sincerely,
Tara Gavin, Senior Editor
Please address questions and book requests to:
Silhouette Reader Service
U S: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269
Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3
A Father's Gift
Andrea Edwards
To Dad for his gifts of acceptance, understanding and
mostly for his unconditional, always evident love.
Thank you.
Books by Andrea Edwards
Silhouette Special Edition
Rose in Bloom #363
Say It With Flowers #428
Ghost of a Chance #490
Violets Are Blue #550
Places in the Heart #591
Make Room for Daddy #618
Home Court Advantage #706
Sweet Knight Times #740
Father Unknown #770
Man of the Family #809
The Magic of Christmas #856
Just Hold On Tight! #883
*A Ring and a Promise #932
*A Rose and a Wedding Vow #944
*A Secret and a Bridal Pledge #956
Kisses and Kids #981
†On Mother’s Day #1029
†A Father’s Gift #1046
Silhouette Intimate Moments
Above Suspicion #291
Silhouette Desire
Starting Over #645
*This Time, Forever
†Great Expectations
ANDREA EDWARDS
is the pseudonym of Anne and Ed Kolaczyk, a husbandand-wife writing team who have been telling their stories for more than fifteen years. Anne is a former elementary school teacher, while Ed is a refugee from corporate America. After many years in the Chicago area, they now live in a small town in northern Indiana where they are avid students of local history, family legends and ethnic myths. Recently they have both been bitten by the gardening bug, but only time will tell how serious the affliction is. Their four children are grown; the youngest attends college, while the eldest is a college professor. Remaining at home with Anne and Ed are two dogs, four cats and one bird—not the same ones that first walked through their stories but carrying on the same tradition of chaotic rule of the household nonetheless.
Prologue
July, twenty years ago
Cassie climbed down through the weeds. She was getting closer to the lake, but still couldn’t see Juliet. Cassie had never seen the pair of swans apart from each other in the two weeks she’d been coming to this stupid camp. Yet there was Romeo, all by himself, down the lake a ways.
A funny feeling took hold of Cassie’s stomach, twisting it like when their social worker got all chummy. Something was wrong.
She turned around and trudged back to the playing field where all the other nine-year-olds were. Nobody’d noticed that she’d left the group, not that she’d care if they did—Juliet was more important. The other kids were still horsing around while the counselor was writing stuff on his clipboard.
“Jeff!” Cassie shouted. “Hey, Jeff.”
The tall, thin counselor turned toward her, smiling. But then he was always smiling. It was enough to make a person barf. “Cassie. Hey, I got you down as captain today.”
Cassie hesitated. If there was one thing she really liked, it was being in charge of things, but Juliet was in trouble. Cassie knew it, sure as—
Actually she wasn’t sure of too much these days. Mainly just that Daddy had lied to her, big-time. Now he and Mommy were dead, and Cassie was figuring everything he’d said had probably been a lie. So she wasn’t wasting her time caring about anybody anymore.
Except Juliet, of course. Juliet was different. She was special.
“I have a stomachache,” Cassie told Jeff.
He frowned at her, then began erasing something from his clipboard. “Okay.” Probably forever wiping out her name as captain. She would be lucky to be put in charge of table cleanup after this. “Go see the nurse.”
Cassie left the playing field, acting like she was going to head up to the nurse’s tent. She didn’t care what yucky job Jeff gave her. She had to find Juliet and make her okay. That was all that mattered. When Cassie got into the woods, she took the fork that led to the lakeshore path.
His Little Warrior Princess. That’s what Daddy had called her after she’d fought with some kids who were making fun of Fiona. He’d said she was always fighting for what was right. But that was before. Lately there hadn’t seemed to be much right to fight for, but she fought anyway.
As luck would have it—although Cassie wasn’t sure whether it was the good or bad kind—she spied Fiona walking down the path. She was almost glad to see her sister, even dopey as she was. Fiona wo
uld help her look.
“Fiona. Hey, Fiona.” Cassie put on a burst of speed and joined her sister. “Juliet’s missing.”
“Missing?”
Cassie gritted her teeth as Fiona threw her hands up to her mouth. All the people that got born in the world and she had to be stuck with Little Miss Perfect for an older sister. Fiona didn’t act like she was ten years old.
“Maybe she and Romeo are on the other side of the lake,” Fiona said, her voice all shaky.
“Romeo’s over here. And you know he never leaves her.” Straight A’s and her sister was still as dumb as a stump. “Come on.” Cassie grabbed Fiona’s hand. “We gotta go look for her.”
Fiona didn’t move. Not an inch. “We should tell Mrs. Warner,” she said. “She’ll know what to do.”
Cassie could hardly keep from gagging. “Don’t be so dumb,” she snapped. “Grown-ups don’t care about birds or kids or anything small.”
She could see her sister’s face kind of fade back and she knew that she had her. Fiona didn’t like to argue with anybody, not even with the boys. And boys were always wrong.
“Miss Kerns likes kids,” Fiona said. “She’d help us find Juliet.”
Oh, right. Sweet-as-sugar Miss Kerns who was afraid of bugs and snakes and frogs and anything else that crawled around camp. Cassie could only roll her eyes. “I’m going to look,” she said. “You do what you want.”
Cassie just walked away. All Fiona worried about was getting in trouble. Well, trouble was Cassie’s middle name. Even the Scotts, their current foster parents, knew that. They thought Samantha was the cutest thing around and of course, Fiona was so perfect, what adult wouldn’t like her? But Cassie was always doing something wrong, always getting into a fight with somebody even when she tried to be good. The Scotts would never adopt them, no matter what they were saying, and it would be all because of her.
Suddenly she felt a burning in her eyes and she started to run. It wasn’t like she was going to cry. She was just sick and tired of everybody. Everybody except the swans.
Heavy footsteps sounded behind her and Cassie quickly rubbed at her eyes.
“Aren’t we supposed to be playing kickball?” Fiona asked.
“I said I had a stomachache. Jeff told me to go see the nurse.”
For once, Fiona didn’t argue with her. She just followed along as they crossed the little sandy beach. Cassie slowed a bit so Fiona could keep up with her.
“Where are you guys going?” a voice behind them called.
Oh, no. That was all she needed—a six-year-old tagalong. Cassie stopped and turned to their littlest sister. “Go back to camp.”
Seeing the stubborn look on Samantha’s face, Cassie didn’t stay to argue. She’d let Fiona deal with Sam. Neither of them ever listened to her anyway. She started into the weeds at the far end of the beach, when she suddenly saw movement in the water near her.
Juliet!
“There she is!” Cassie shouted as she rushed toward the water’s edge. “There’s Juliet.”
The poor thing was in among some fallen branches at the edge of the water, half flapping her wings. Cassie began to wade out toward her.
“Cassie, you can’t go in the water!” Fiona cried. “There’s no lifeguard around.”
Cassie clenched her fists and settled for a quick glare at Fiona before wading in farther. But not too much farther. The closer she got, the more frantic Juliet became. She flapped her huge wings but still couldn’t rise out of the water.
“She’s trapped!” Cassie yelled. Her stomach twisted into a knot of fear as Juliet fell back, exhausted. The swan’s head hung down and her wings drooped. Romeo swam closer, making worried sounds as Cassie bent to peer under the branches into the water. What she saw filled her with rage and drove the fear out of her body.
“Her foot’s caught in one of those plastic ring things from pop cans!” Cassie shouted.
“We need to tell Mrs. Warner.”
“She won’t do anything.” Cassie splashed back to shore. “You know how she went on and on that first day about swans being mean. She won’t let anybody near them. She’ll just call somebody and Juliet will die before they get here.”
“She might not.”
“Come on!” Cassie yanked on Fiona’s hand. “We can help her. We just need something to cut the plastic.”
But Fiona had taken root again. Probably scared somebody would catch them and she wouldn’t be Little Miss Perfect anymore.
Cassie jerked harder and Fiona came forward. “You stay here,” Cassie told Samantha. “Keep Juliet company.”
“Me?” Samantha cried. “What am I supposed to do?”
“I don’t know, Sam,” Fiona said. “Sing to her. Read her a story. Show her what’s in your knapsack. Just stay out of the water.”
Then, before Fiona had a chance to take root again, Cassie hurried her up the path. They crossed onto the little beach. So far, no one was in sight. Once they cleared the beach, though, they could hear the kids at the playing field—and see Miss Kerns and Mrs. Warner at the arts-and-crafts tent. Cassie pulled Fiona to a stop.
“I could ask Miss Kerns for a scissors,” Fiona said.
Cassie clenched her teeth. How could anyone who knew the names of all the presidents be so dumb? “No,” she snapped. “She’ll just ask you what you want them for. I’ll go talk to Mrs. Warner. When they’re looking the other way, you take one.”
“Why can’t I talk to them?” Fiona whined. “And you get the scissors.”
“Because you’re not cool,” Cassie replied.
You could stick her sister in a barrel of ice and she still wouldn’t be cool. In school, Fiona would confess to things she didn’t do just so there wouldn’t be any trouble.
Cassie waited as Fiona bit at her lip. The older girl didn’t move. “Fiona,” Cassie finally hissed.
“All right. All right, already.”
Fiona slunk off, skulking from tree to tree. She looked like some kindergarten kid playing secret agent. Cassie shook her head before taking a deep breath and walking slowly toward the counselors.
“Hi, Mrs. Warner,” she said as she got near. “Hi, Miss Kerns.”
Cassie clenched her fists as both women turned toward her. Fiona was crawling on the ground toward the tables. A blind person could see that she was up to no good.
“You know, Mrs. Warner.” Cassie stretched her lips into a smile until it almost hurt. “I was thinking. Could we have an all-star kickball team? The good kids never get a chance to play on the same team.”
“It wouldn’t be fair if they did,” Mrs. Warner answered.
“Oh, I know.” Cassie put on her most understanding tone, wiping off the smile and looking real serious. “But if we had an all-star team, we could play teams from other camps.”
“Hmm.” The camp director tilted her head and smiled. “That’s not a bad idea, Cassie.”
Fiona was now back to dashing from tree to tree, walking funny with her arm stiff down her side. Cassie hoped she’d stolen a scissors and not a paintbrush or something else stupid.
“But I don’t think we can do anything about it this year,” Mrs. Warner said.
“Huh?” Cassie replied.
“The camping season is half over,” Mrs. Warner said.
“Oh, right.”
“But it’s something to look into for next year.” Mrs. Warner came over and patted her on the shoulder. “Thank you for the suggestion, Cassie.”
“You’re welcome,” Cassie said, trying to keep from watching her sister play hide-and-seek among the trees. “I’m glad you like it.”
Fiona was now making wild signs with her arms. Oh, man. Cassie knew that if anybody looked at Fiona she would break into tears and confess to three years of sins. Cassie had to get her out of here.
“Well.” Cassie jerked herself out from under Mrs. Warner’s hand. “I gotta go. Jeff told me to come right back.”
“Then you’d better go.”
“Yes, ma’a
m,” Cassie responded and ran down the path. Once out of the counselors’ sight, she doubled back and found Fiona behind a clump of bushes near the dining tent.
“Let’s go.” Fiona was breathing real hard when Cassie caught up with her.
Groaning, Fiona hurried along. “What if they call the police?”
“Why would they do that?” Cassie asked, taking the scissors from her sister’s hands. “They got so many scissors, they’ll never know one is missing.” She ran toward the river.
“Samantha!” Cassie heard Fiona shout from behind her. “I told you to stay out of the water.”
Cassie looked down and saw Sam in the water. That same old twisty stomach took her breath away. Was she the only one of them with any sense? She raced ahead as Sam got to her feet and walked out of the water, holding a book over her head. She’d been kneeling—not standing—in water over her waist! Cassie felt her fear go, leaving her plenty annoyed. Why couldn’t any of them look out for themselves?
“I had to show her the pictures,” Samantha said as she came splashing out of the water. “You always show me the pictures when you read to me.”
Cassie just gave Sam a look and plunged into the water. Juliet’s wings were drooping away from her body. That was a bad sign. It meant that she was about done for.
But she quickly came to life when Cassie got close to the branches where she was caught. Juliet panicked, flapping her wings and lunging about. Cassie had heard enough warnings about those powerful wings and jumped back, even though the branches were protecting her.
She circled around behind Juliet but no matter which way she went, Juliet was able to turn that way—all the while, screeching and flapping those huge wings. Cassie could feel herself growing frustrated. She knew that she had to stay calm. But how could a person stay calm if the stupid bird was going to kill herself?