Daddy Lessons. Carolyne Aarsen

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ

      He bent over and lifted Natasha away from Hailey and the little girl tucked herself into his arms. He stroked her hair just as Hailey had, tucking Natasha’s head under his chin as he held her close.

      Just as Hailey had.

      “It’s okay, honey,” he murmured to his daughter. “We’re making this better for you.”

      Hailey glanced over to Megan standing by the front doorway to the class, one arm crossed over her chest, her other hand tucked under her chin while she watched Dan and his little girl.

      Hailey beat a retreat to her friend’s side.

      “Did you figure something out?” Hailey asked.

      Megan ran her forefinger across her chin, as if drawing out her thoughts. Then she turned to Hailey. “We’ve decided that Natasha would do better with a tutor who could work with her in her home.”

      Hailey looked back to Dan, now perched on the edge of the small table, still holding his daughter.

      “Good idea, but where will you find a tutor in Hartley Creek?” she asked, watching as Dan rocked slowly back and forth, comforting his daughter.

      As a father has compassion on his children …

      The Bible verse that had comforted her so often in the dark days following Austin’s accident slipped into her mind.

      Dan was a good father, so unlike her own.

      Megan turned away from Dan to Hailey, lowering her voice. “I’m thinking this might be a good job for you.”

      Hailey’s attention jerked away from Dan to her friend. “What, what?”

      “Shush. Use your church voice,” Megan whispered, holding her finger to her lips. “You and I both know that this little girl needs more help than any of the children in the classroom. When I saw you holding her on your lap, I knew you were exactly the right person for this job.”

      “I don’t think so.” She couldn’t see Dan on a regular basis. That would put too heavy a strain on her emotions.

      “But think of Natasha,” Megan urged. “That little girl is overwrought. She recently lost her mother. She needs some kind of direction and she has obviously formed an attachment to you.”

      Hailey pressed her lips together as her sympathy for Natasha swayed her reasoning.

      Megan sensed her wavering and put her hand on Hailey’s shoulder. “I think you’re exactly the right person for the job,” she said.

      Hailey shrugged, her reluctance battling with her sympathy for Natasha. “You can think all you want, but I’m sure Dan won’t go for your plan.”

      “We’ll see,” was all Megan would say.

      They walked over to where Dan sat, still holding Natasha. The little girl lay quietly in his arms.

      Dan looked up when they came close, a raw hope in his eyes.

      “I have a temporary solution to your problem.” Megan gave Dan a bright smile. “I’ve talked to Hailey about your situation and she is willing to tutor your daughter.”

      Dan’s gaze flicked over Hailey and then returned to Megan. “I don’t think that’s an option,” was his blunt response.

      “I feel it’s a reasonable solution,” Megan replied, brushing aside his objections. “Hailey and Natasha obviously have some kind of bond.”

      Dan’s only reply was to lift Natasha, stand up and settle her on his hip. Then he glanced over at Hailey. For a moment, as their eyes met, she caught a flicker of older emotions, a hearkening back to another time. Her heart faltered in response.

      “This won’t work,” he said, then turned and walked away.

      Hailey watched him leave, the definite tone in his voice cutting her to the core. Though Hailey had known Dan wouldn’t agree, she didn’t think he would be so adamant about it.

      She wondered why she cared. Her response to him showed her she wasn’t over Dan Morrow at all. And if she wasn’t over Dan, she certainly shouldn’t be teaching his daughter.

      “Natasha, don’t play with that, honey.” Dan took the cardboard-and-cellophane box holding the baby doll away from his daughter.

      It was Saturday afternoon and he and his mother had spent most of the day doing damage control, keeping his daughter from running up and down the aisles, fingering the china displays and playing with the toys in the store. Patricia, the store’s only employee, manned the register.

      “But it’s pretty and I don’t have a doll like that.” Natasha stuck out her lip in a classic pout as she dropped onto the wooden floor, her green fairy dress puddling around her in a mass of glittery chiffon and satin.

      Dan carefully closed the box and put it back up on the shelf with the rest of the toys. “Come with me to the front,” he said, taking his daughter’s hand. “Patricia said she has a game for you to play.”

      She jerked her hand away just as his cell phone rang out. Without bothering to check the caller, he pulled it from his pocket and answered it.

      “We’ve been trying to call you for the past two days,” a voice accused him.

      At the sound of the woman’s voice Dan’s heart sank. Lydia’s mother. Carla Anderson.

      “I want the doll,” Natasha called out, pulling away from Dan as he tried to control her and use his phone. Thankfully the store had hit a lull and Dan didn’t have to deal with any customers right now.

      “Is that Natasha?” Carla asked, her voice raising an octave. “What is wrong with her?”

      “She’s fine.” The only thing wrong with her was she wasn’t getting what she wanted. “And what can I do for you, Carla?” he asked, forcing himself to smile. He’d read somewhere that if you smile even if you don’t feel like it, your voice sounds more pleasant. And he needed that pleasant tone right now. Every conversation with his mother-in-law since Lydia’s death had been a battle over who would take care of Natasha. He had custody, but Lydia’s parents brought it up at every turn.

      In the weeks after Lydia’s death Dan deliberately kept everyone out of his daughter’s life just so he could cement his relationship with Natasha. He wanted to give her stability, create a connection. He’d had such little time with his daughter when Lydia was alive. However, in Dan’s opinion that had meant keeping everyone, even his own parents, at arm’s length for those first critical weeks after Lydia’s death.

      Now he lived in Hartley Creek and Carla and Alfred were still in Vancouver, and they’d been pushing harder and harder with each phone call.

      “I want to talk to Natasha,” Carla was saying. “I haven’t talked to her for a couple of days.”

      Dan looked down at his sniffling daughter, then at the checkout counter. His mother was bagging some items for Miranda Klauer. The store was quiet, so he had time to supervise the phone call.

      “Okay. СКАЧАТЬ