Marta Perry - A Father's Promise

She rubbed her arms, cold in spite of the heat of the day. Daniel stood perfectly still behind her, and she didn’t want to see his expression.

“Then it all blew up in my face. The mother found out I’d met with her husband. She accused me of interfering, of improper conduct—” She stopped, flushing at the memory of the horrendous scenes. “She threatened to sue me and the school.”

“So they fired you.”

She nodded. “It was the only way out for them. The publicity alone could have damaged the school. She finally agreed to drop the suit if they got rid of me. So they did.”

“What does that have to do with Sarah?”

For a moment she froze, sure she hadn’t heard him correctly. Then she swung toward him.

“Don’t you understand? The lawsuit, the adults—that’s not important. What’s important is the child! I failed Tommy. My bad judgment, my stupid pride, thinking I had all the answers…and Tommy was the one who suffered for it.”

“What happened to him?”

Leigh had to swallow her tears at the memory. “He retreated into himself. He stopped trying. And it was because I failed him.”

She forced herself to look at Daniel. His strong face was a mask, giving away nothing. Then he turned. Walked away.

She took a ragged breath, trying to hold the guilt at bay. She’d finally convinced him she wasn’t a fit person to care for his child. He wouldn’t be bothering her about that anymore.

She heard his footsteps cross the hall, then he was coming back. He thrust something into her hands…a photograph in a heart-shaped frame.

“Look at that.” His fingers were strong on hers. “That’s Sarah a few days before she and her mother left.”

She looked. Daniel, holding a chubby baby with dark hair. Love shone from a face that was more open than she’d seen since she met him.

“You don’t have a monopoly on failure, Leigh.” His voice gentled. “Believe me, I know all about it.”

He obviously felt the breakdown of his marriage was his fault. She didn’t know how to respond to that, but he didn’t seem to expect her to.

“The only question for me is whether you’ll be good for Sarah. And I know the answer to that.”

She blinked back treacherous tears. Daniel, knowing her past and still wanting her to stay, didn’t remove the main obstacle, not for her.

If she stayed, if she spent the summer with Sarah, it would hurt so much to leave. But maybe, in a way, it would atone for failing Tommy. How could she stay? How could she not?

“I’ll sweeten the pot.” Daniel’s lips curved in that undermining smile. “If you stay, I’ll let you teach me signing.”

“You’ll…”

He put his hands on hers, sending warmth along her skin. “Show me. Show me how to sign, Will you stay?”

Stubborn. Determined to get his own way. Too quick to find her own weak spots. She could foresee one battle after another over his plans for Sarah. She should run as fast as she could in the other direction.

She showed him.

“Will you stay?” he asked, signing. “Will you teach me?”

That just might be the most dangerous thing of all, she thought. She signed the words. “I’ll stay.”

Daniel let out a breath. He’d done it. He’d convinced Leigh to take care of Sarah for the summer. No matter what else happened, he’d begun to fulfill his promise to his daughter. She was going to get the best money could buy.

As for Leigh’s past troubles…He found he didn’t care what she’d done, as long as she was good for Sarah. He could go back to work with a clear conscience.

“That’s settled, then. I’ll see you in the morning.” He turned toward the door, to be stopped by a hand on his arm.

“Settled?” He glanced at Leigh, saw her eyebrows arch at the question. “It’s far from settled.”

Was she backing out on him already? He swung toward her, and at his movement she snatched her hand away, as if she’d just touched sun-baked sand.

“If this is about the money, I’ll pay whatever the going rate is. You tell me.”

She looked offended. “It’s not about money.”

“What, then? You said…”

“I said I’d work with Sarah for the summer.” Her green-as-glass eyes frowned at him. “If I’m going to do that, and do it right, there’s a great deal more I need from you.”

The clock was ticking. If he didn’t get back to work soon, it would be time for Joe to leave. Daniel would have to quit work then to be with Sarah, whether he was finished or not.

“Is that really necessary now? I’ve got about two hours of work to finish today.”

That deceptively soft mouth set in a firm line. “I’m not a baby-sitter, Daniel. If I’m going to work with Sarah, I have to see her medical records, information from her last school, anything that will help me understand her.”

He shrugged, impatient. “I’ll round up the stuff and give it to you tomorrow, okay?”

Daniel had taken a couple of steps toward the door, when he realized she was shaking her head again. A reluctant respect for her tenacity swept through him.

“What?”

“We have to sit down together and talk about this.” Her tone sharpened. “Sometime soon. When you’re not in such a hurry. We need to develop a learning plan for her together.”

He resisted the urge to tell Leigh to handle it herself. She wouldn’t; he knew that much about her already. “All right.” He ran a hand through his hair, exasperated. “When do you want to get together? I need the daylight hours for working.”

“What about tonight?”

Tonight he’d be dog-tired from working all day. But it looked as if that didn’t matter.

“All right, tonight. It’ll have to be here, though. Joe leaves at six, so I have to be with Sarah.”

“Fine. I’ll come over around eight, if that’s not an imposition.”

He had a feeling there might be just a little sarcasm in those words. “Look, I do want to meet with you.” He gripped her arm to add reassurance to the words. “I just…”

Whatever he’d been about to say trailed off as her skin warmed beneath his fingers. A betraying flush rose in her cheeks. His eyes met hers…met and held.

He wanted to run his hand down her arm. Quickly, before he could give in to the urge, he stepped back. He couldn’t do this.

Leigh cupped her hand over the place where his fingers had been. Her green eyes darkened with confusion.

He cleared his throat. “Tonight. I’ll have all Sarah’s records ready.”

“Fine.” She seemed to be having the same difficulty with her voice that he was with his. “I’ll be here at eight.”

She spun and hurried out of the room before he could say another word.

Daniel went slowly down the steps in her wake. He couldn’t stand there thinking about the warmth of a woman’s skin or speculating about the softness of her mouth. He had to get back to work.

But he wondered—he surely did wonder—just what he was letting himself in for. Leigh was…he shook his head. Someone like Leigh was out of his experience. When Ashley left, he’d convinced himself he was better off alone. Looked like he needed to remind himself of that a few more times.

Leigh pulled the car into Daniel’s driveway that night and glanced at her watch. Eight o’clock. She was right on time. She took a deep breath. Too bad she wasn’t ready to face Daniel Gregory again.

Those moments alone with Daniel in Sarah’s room today—how had they happened? One minute she’d felt nothing beyond a certain mild irritation with him. The next minute he’d touched her, and irritation had been totally washed away by the pull between them, a pull so powerful it frightened her.