Brenda Minton - The Cowboy's Holiday Blessing

Jade had disappeared into the living room. Time for Madeline to make her exit.

“If you have this under control, I should go.” She glanced at her watch. “I have to be at work in an hour.”

The wind blew, going straight through her. She pulled her sweater close and stomped her booted feet. Jackson nodded, distracted. Even distracted he could make a woman take a second look.

His suntanned face was angular but strong. Fine lines crinkled at the corners of his eyes, eyes that were nearly the same color as Jade’s; a little more gray than green. His mouth, the mouth that often turned in an easy, gotcha smile, was now held in a serious line.

“I really need to go.” Madeline didn’t know what else to say, or how to remove herself from this situation, this moment.

“Could you stay, just until I figure this out?” Jackson’s words stopped her as she started to turn away. “Please.”

Softer, a little more pleading.

Reluctant, Madeline looked at the cowboy leaning against the door as if he needed it to hold him up. She’d heard the ambulance going down the road the other day when he got hurt. They had prayed for him at her Thursday Bible study.

A smile almost sneaked up on her because his grandmother prayed for him, too. The woman who had sold her little house to Madeline never failed to mention Jackson when prayer requests were made on Sunday mornings at the Dawson Community Church. Sometimes she even included fun little details about his social life. Once or twice Madeline had heard a gasp from various members of the church.

He cleared his throat. She looked up, met his humor-filled gaze and managed a smile.

“I think it would be better if you called your family, Jackson.” There, she’d been strong. She could walk away. He had people to help him.

“Right, that sounds like a great idea.” He no longer smiled. “If I wanted them all over here in my business, that would be the perfect thing to do.”

“They’re probably going to find out about her anyway, since she stopped at the Mad Cow and asked for directions. Unfortunately she was one house off.”

Madeline couldn’t figure out how anyone could confuse her little house on two acres with this house on hundreds of acres. She felt tiny on the long front porch of the vast, white farmhouse that Jackson Cooper had remodeled. His grandparents had built this house after their marriage. But his grandfather had grown up in the little house Madeline bought from his grandmother.

The Coopers had a long history in Dawson, Oklahoma.

Her legacy was teaching at School District Ten, and building a home for herself in Dawson. And this time she planned on staying. She wouldn’t run.

“Give us thirty minutes, Madeline.” Jackson’s voice didn’t plead, but he sounded pretty unsure. It was that tone that took her by surprise, unsettled her.

She wondered how it felt to be him and have control stripped away by a thirteen-year-old girl. It was for that girl that she even considered staying.

She hadn’t been much older than Jade when she’d found herself in a new home and a new life. She would always remember how her sister had dragged her from bed, leading her through the dark, to safety.

“I’ll come in for a moment, but I don’t know how that will help.”

“Me neither, but I don’t think you should leave her here alone.”

“She isn’t my—” Madeline lowered her voice “—problem. I don’t know her. She says she’s your daughter.”

“Right, I get that, but let’s assume she isn’t and play this safe.”

Okay, maybe he wasn’t as reckless as she had always imagined.

“So, are you a decent cook?” he asked as he led her into his expansive living room with polished hardwood floors and massive leather furniture. The dog and Jade were sitting on the couch, huddled together.

“I don’t have time to cook.” Madeline tried hard not to stare, but the house invited staring. It had the sparseness of a bachelor’s home but surprising warmth.

“Just asking, sorry.” He smiled at Jade then at her. “So, what are we going to do?”

“Do?” Better yet, “we”? He didn’t need to include her in this problem.

“Yeah, do. I mean, we should probably call someone. Family services?”

“That’s a decision you’ll have to make.”

“Right.” He pointed for her to sit down.

Madeline sank into the luxurious softness of one of the two brown leather sofas. The one opposite had a blanket and pillow indicating he’d been sleeping there.

No Christmas tree. No decorations.

Jackson stood in the center of the living room. The light that filtered through the curtains caught bits and pieces of his expression as he stared at the young girl sitting on his sofa. They stared at each other and then both glanced away.

Madeline didn’t know how to help. She could deal with children in a classroom. This seemed to be more of a family situation. And she had no experience with those.

“Maybe you should sit down?” She didn’t know what else to say. It wasn’t her home. Jackson stood in the center of the room, hands in his pockets. When she made the suggestion, he nodded once. Jade, sitting next to her, gave a disgusted snort.

Madeline sighed. She glanced around the big room, because the silence was uncomfortable and she wanted to head for the door. She glanced at her watch and then looked around the room again. A big stone fireplace took up the wall at the end of the room. The fire that crackled came from gas logs, not wood. A television hung over the fireplace. The walls were textured and painted a warm, natural color. If it hadn’t been for the nervous energy of Jackson Cooper standing there staring at her, and then at the girl claiming to be his daughter, Madeline might have enjoyed being in this room.

Jackson moved a chair from the nearby rolltop desk and straddled it backward. He draped his arms over the back rest and sat there, staring at Jade. His legs were stretched out in front of him. His feet were bare.

Madeline picked up the throw pillow leaning against the arm of the couch and held it in her lap. Next to her, Jade fiddled with her ragged little backpack.

Madeline did not belong in this little drama. She had to come up with something to move the action along so she could escape.

“Why did your aunt leave you here?” Jackson asked, zeroing in on the girl with a question Madeline had asked and not gotten an answer for.

Madeline shifted to look at the girl, who suddenly looked younger than her thirteen years. Jade shrugged and studied the backpack in her arms.

“Well?” Jackson might not have kids, but he had a dozen siblings and some were quite a bit younger. His parents had adopted a half dozen or so children to go along with the six biological Coopers. And then there had been Jeremy.

Next to her, Jade looked up, glaring at the man in front of them. She chewed on her bottom lip, not answering Jackson’s question. This wasn’t going to get them anywhere.

“Jade, we need to know what is going on. We might need to call the proper authorities.” Madeline smiled to herself. The word authorities always did the trick. The girl’s eyes widened and her mouth opened.

“My aunt can’t take care of me. She doesn’t have the money or a house for us.”

Jackson rubbed the back of his neck and when he looked at Madeline, she didn’t know what to say or do. She taught English at the local school. She wasn’t a counselor. She no longer had siblings. The other foster children in the home where she’d spent a few years until she turned eighteen hadn’t counted.

“Maybe we should have coffee.” Madeline glanced at the man sitting across from her.

Jackson smiled that smile of his, the one he probably thought conquered every female heart. With good reason. There probably wasn’t a single woman under seventy living in and around Dawson who didn’t sigh when Jackson crossed her path. But she wasn’t one of the women chasing after him. And she certainly wasn’t the type he chased.