Precious Blessings (Love Inspired)

by Jillian Hart

  She left father and daughter to settle their problems and hurried through the storm to greet the officers climbing out of their cruiser. With every step she took her emotions cooled and she felt the bite of the frigid wind.

  And regret.

  Chapter Two

  This was the last thing he needed right now. Jack swept the white stuff off his hat brim as he watched that bookstore lady disappear into the thick curtain of snow. It had been a long time since he’d disliked a woman so much so fast. He couldn’t say why he had such a strong reaction to her—other than the fact that she’d accused his only child of a crime. Not that she was right about it.

  No way, he thought, shaking his head, knocking more snow from his brim. Not his Hayden. Her friend, maybe. Now Jan, he’d believe hands down, was a shoplifter. She was the problem, a problem he was going to take care of right now.

  “Daddy, how can you even think that? I didn’t steal whatever she was talking about. She just wanted to blame us. I don’t know why.”

  Why was it that whenever he looked at his daughter, he looked past the teenager he hardly recognized to the little sweet thing she’d used to be, five years old with her arm around her favorite doll, running to greet him at the door when he came home from work?

  You have to face the facts, man. She’s not five anymore. The more Jack looked, the more he recognized Heidi in that look. In fact, it troubled him deeply that with every passing day, his daughter was acting out the grief of her mother’s death. While time had dulled his sharp grief, it hadn’t seemed to do the same for Hayden.

  He had to get control of this situation, put his foot down about the kind of friends Hayden had, and maybe get her involved in church activities. He’d been meaning to join a church, but ever since they’d moved to Bozeman six weeks ago, he’d had his hands full juggling crisis after crisis.

  Maybe it was time to let a few things fall and take his daughter to church because he had every intention of keeping her on the straight and narrow. She obviously needed it if this was the type of trouble her new friend was into.

  “That store lady is just mean, Daddy.”

  “Get back in the car.”

  “But Daddy, you don’t believe her, do you?” Big innocent eyes stared up at him.

  His heart melted. Again, he still saw his sweet little girl. The trouble was, he also saw a strange teenager staring up at him with his Hayden’s eyes, while wearing clown makeup and rock-video-star clothes.

  A momentary flash of rage turned his vision red, blurring everything. Her doe-eyed expression, the rapid blinking that told him she was lying. Man, was he mad. Yep, Hayden was covering for her friend. And he was going to come down on them both like a ton of bricks.

  No more makeup. No more unsuitable clothing. He did not approve of this. Red hazed his vision again. Is this how she went to school? Had she been like this all day? How long would it take to change back into the nice-looking, decent girl he was used to seeing? She had to wash the blue out of her hair. Her appearance had to be a temporary thing so that she could wash the makeup off her face, climb back into the clothes she was supposed to be wearing and he’d never know the difference. If he hadn’t stopped by to check on her earlier, he might not have caught this version of his daughter.

  Fury wasn’t the word. He set the rules and he expected them to be followed. No arguments. No exceptions. No excuses. “Get in the car.”

  “Good, ’cuz Jan has to be home by four-thirty.” She dropped into the front passenger seat and shared a smug look with her friend in the back seat.

  Okay, what was up? Whatever it was, his instincts told him he wasn’t going to like it. As he folded his lengthy frame behind the wheel, he already knew what he had to do. He had to get this straightened out fast.

  “Did you see her shoes?” Jan asked Hayden. “I think those shoes went out of fashion in 1942.”

  Hayden giggled. “And did you see her skirt? She could be a nun in that skirt.”

  Okay, he was seeing red again. “Enough. Show some respect. Now I want you to apologize to the store lady and give back whatever it was that you stole from her.” He caught Jan’s gaze in the mirror as he negotiated through the parking lot. “Got it? Or you’ll be in more trouble than you know what to do with. I’ll make sure of it.”

  “It’d be hard to do, since I didn’t steal.”

  “It’s true, Daddy. She didn’t take anything.”

  Lord, I’m gonna need a little help here. He parked next to the townie’s patrol car in front of a lit storefront. Welcome to the Corner Christian Bookstore was written in tasteful black script across the double glass doors. The troubled feeling in his gut went from a squall to a full-out hurricane.

  “Daddy, you can’t stop here. You said we were going to take Jan home.”

  “That’s not what I said.”

  “You don’t want Jan to get into trouble with her mom.”

  Where had his sweet little girl gone? He stared in shock at the stranger in his passenger seat, and saw the same look his wife gave when she was annoyed. Whatever was going on, he planned to nip it in the bud.

  He killed the engine. “You girls are going to do the right thing.”

  “What right thing?” Hayden acted as if she didn’t have the slightest clue what he was talking about.

  He couldn’t believe she’d do something so wrong as to shoplift. It was out of the question. She knew better. He’d raised her better than that. Even though he could plainly see her unsuitable clothes and makeup, he had to cling to that truth. He couldn’t take it if he lost Hayden the way he’d lost his wife.

  He studied Jan in the rearview mirror. Yep, there was a flash of anxiety stark on her face. So, it was just like he figured. She was the problem. Relief coursed through him. “You girls bring your book bags and come with me. We’ll get this straightened out with the bookstore lady.”

  “But I’ll be late gettin’ home,” Jan piped up.

  He wasn’t fooled; he could sense the fear amping up a notch. “Don’t you worry. I’ll talk to your mom if she has a problem. This won’t take more than a few minutes. Now march.”

  He figured being late home was about to be the least of Jan’s problems.

  The late-February storm hit him like the dead of winter. He hadn’t acclimated yet to this much colder climate. It hadn’t helped that he’d been out in this weather all night. As a new member to the state’s ranks, he’d pulled swing shift and would be doing that for the next year at least, before he could hope to move to a day shift. He was exhausted, but he didn’t mind working nights or in this bitter cold, not when he considered how good this move was for his daughter.

  How good this move was going to be, he corrected, once she found a few better friends. Forget Phoenix’s heat and sun. What mattered was keeping his daughter growing up the right way.

  “Hayden, what are you doing? Go back and get your book bag.”

  “But Daddy—”

  “Do it.”

  She heaved a dramatic sigh and trudged back to the cruiser. He kept one eye on Jan, who was frowning into the store window. The girl was obviously watching the store lady in her sensible shoes. Jan could take some lessons in sensible attire.

  “Hayden, what are you doing?”

  “Nothing, Daddy.”

  “Are you trying to take something out of your book bag?”

  “Just looking for my lip gloss.”

  “Forget it. Close the door. Come on.” First things first. He’d deal with this situation, then the makeup.

  Hayden slung the strap over her shoulder and marched right past him. She and Jan fell into stride side by side, sharing a look he couldn’t name.

  He followed them to the door. The trouble was that Hayden was choosing the same sort of friends she’d had back in Arizona. Well, he’d fix that right now. Sure of the outcome, he motioned for the girls to go in ahead of him, not at all surprised when the alarm clanged like an air-raid siren. Both girls jumped, and he watched Jan’s chin shoot u
p in sheer rebellion.

  Guilty, he figured. He watched his daughter’s head hang and thought, good. Maybe she’d see the kind of girl Jan was.

  To his direct left he spotted the pair of local law enforcement boys standing at the checkout counter along with that woman. All three had turned at the sound of the alarm, which fell silent again.

  So, they’d been filling a report? It looked like Jan had just landed herself in some trouble. He was sorry for that, but maybe there was a silver thread in this. At least it would be a lesson for his little girl. “Hand the officers your bag, Jan.”

  “That’s like so totally not fair. What are you, like a crooked cop?”

  “Zip it.” And just where had Jan gotten that attitude? His gaze arrowed to his daughter, who was gazing innocently at the ceiling. Her sweetheart face was flushed bright red. He couldn’t imagine how any amount of embarrassment could show through so much makeup.

  “Do, it Jan. Hey, ma’am—” He motioned to that woman stalking toward him. “Here’s your culprit. Satisfied?”

  “Hardly.”

  As she snapped closer on those shapely heels, he saw her for the first time in full light. Snow still melted in the liquid sunshine of her long, sleek hair, which framed her intelligent, oval face. He was helpless to look away from her.

  She wasn’t pretty. No, that was too plain a word. She wasn’t beautiful, that was too ordinary. He didn’t want to like this woman, but he did appreciate the natural look of lush lashes over her big, violet-blue eyes.

  Her perfect nose had an elegant slope and her high delicate cheekbones were classic, not that he ought to be noticing. She had a soft mouth with tiny smile lines in the corners, as if she laughed often. Her chin, dainty and finely cut, complemented her face to perfection.

  No, she wasn’t beautiful, she was more than that. Striking, that’s what she was. Classic. She was a real impressive lady, and she dressed the part in a tailored jacket, blouse and skirt. Lovely.

  Not that he was noticing. Merely an observation.

  He had a hard time being civil to a woman who had wrongly accused his little girl. Or to the teenager who had actually done the stealing.

  “I’m going home. Later, Hayden,” Jan said, then marched right back the way she came.

  Not his problem, he thought as the door swung shut behind her. He’d delivered the true culprit. It was up to the local boys to deal with Jan. He shot a hard look at that woman, who was glaring up at him as if he were personally responsible.

  “I’m taking my daughter home.” He laid one hand on Hayden’s shoulder to steer her back through the detectors.

  “Excuse me, Mr. Munroe?”

  “You’re testing my patience, lady.” He turned on his heel. Behind her the two officers looked less than certain. What was their problem? “Look, I’ve been on shift since six o’clock last night. It’s now 3:56 p.m.”

  “I’m aware of the time, Mr. Munroe.”

  “There was a semi jackknifed on the interstate just out of the city limits, and I spent most of the night and half the day seeing to the clean-up and the investigation. I’m dead on my feet.” He looked past the unhappy woman to the uniforms standing beside her. “I’d appreciate it if you boys would wait to give me a call if you need a statement.”

  Sheer exhaustion had him steering his Hayden back toward the door.

  “Uh, Mr. Munroe?” That woman—that extraordinarily annoying woman—called after him. “Wait—”

  He kept going. Maybe by tomorrow he would have cooled down enough to offer that woman the apology he probably owed her for his snarky mood. Even if she had wrongly accused his daughter.

  A deafening claxon squealed right in his ear. He saw the guilty look sneak across his little girl’s face and still his denial remained. Not his Hayden. Maybe Jan had put the stolen items in Hayden’s bag. Maybe they had accidentally fallen off the shelf and into her bag.

  He was desperate and he knew it, but it simply couldn’t be true. His daughter? His Hayden had said she didn’t do it. She’d lied, too. Anger began to huff up with each strangled breath.

  “Daddy, I can explain. I didn’t know.” She looked at him desperately with a helpless gesture and those wide innocent eyes.

  He wanted to believe her. Except his common sense had kicked in and, fueled with the rage, he was trembling with temper. Careful, controlled, he gritted his teeth to hold back the overwhelming urge to shout, a natural reaction to a teenager’s misbehavior. “Take what you stole out of your bag and give it back.”

  “But, Daddy, I—”

  “You heard me. Do it.”

  Hayden gave a put-upon sigh but bowed her head and started digging through her things. It took all his effort and a quick prayer for self-control to stand there and not explode like a lit keg of ten-year-old dynamite.

  One look at that woman had him praying for an extra dose of control. Overwhelming irritation jabbed deep into his chest. Probably from lack of sleep, sure, but the bookstore lady agitated him. To make matters worse she held out her slender hand, palm up, to receive a very expensive-looking cut-crystal figurine.

  “Thank you,” she said in that prim voice of hers. “Now I want the other one.”

  “There’s only one.” Hayden attempted the wide-eyed look again.

  Katherine shook her head, her gaze locking on the teenage girl’s. “The lamb figurine has a security strip, too. What do you think is going to happen when you turn around and head back out the door?”

  “Oh. Okay.”

  The big man’s jaw dropped as his daughter’s innocent expression faded. She dug out a second figurine.

  It was a sad thing to see a man lose belief in his child’s innocence, Katherine thought. The big hulk of a state trooper puffed up like a weightlifter getting ready to set an Olympic record. His hands fisted and his hard, masculine mouth drew downward in a heartbreaking frown. The tarnished glint of shock in his handsome brown eyes ought to have made a sensible teenager feel shame and vow never to disappoint her dad like that again.

  But not this girl. She tossed her hair as she handed back the figurine. “Have it. I didn’t want it anyway.”

  “Well, you took it,” Katherine said with care. “And giving these things back doesn’t change the fact that you stole them in the first place.”

  “Miss McKaslin,” one of the local officers shouldered in. “We can handle it from here.”

  “You’re pressing charges?” Jack Munroe raised his fists to his forehead as if his skull was about to blow.

  Poor man. She felt sorry for him, but it didn’t change the facts. “You know the consequences of shoplifting. Does your daughter?”

  “Does it need to come to that?” His hands dropped away, revealing stark sadness etched into the planes of his face. He radiated responsibility. “Believe me, I’ll set her straight. There’s no need to take this any further. Please.”

  She didn’t know what to do with his obvious sincerity. He seemed invincible iron, and his gaze meeting hers shone with hard honesty. She could sense his hurt like cold in a winter wind. He was a good man, she could see it.

  It was the girl she had to consider, who glared through her thick, spiky mascara-coated lashes with a ha-ha attitude.

  Katherine quietly placed the crystal lamb in her blazer pocket along with the shepherd and considered her options. She didn’t doubt that Jack Munroe had been up all night working, just as he’d said. Dark exhaustion bruised the skin beneath his eyes, and she wagered that this mighty mountain of a man never did anything that was short of upright and honest his entire life. Pressing charges would hurt him more than the girl.

  “She returned the items.” He managed to unclench his jaw enough to speak.

  “Only when she was caught. If you hadn’t brought her back here, she never would have returned the figurines. She’s not truly sorry, and that’s my concern. This could happen again in another store.”

  “Lady, I’m gonna ask you.” He swiped a hand over his eyes, a gesture of ho
lding back his temper or one of fatigue, or both. “Please. Let me handle this.”

  “Then what do you suggest?”

  “I don’t know.” He swung around to glare hard at his daughter, who shrank at his look and finally hung her head in shame.

  Maybe not such a tough girl—yet. Katherine folded her arms over her chest, already caring about the girl’s welfare. She was a softy, as her brother was always accusing. And it was true. She wasn’t worried about the figurines. What worried her was this girl with one foot on a path that could only lead to more trouble. “I’ll require restitution.”

  “How much?” Jack reached for his wallet but stopped as Katherine shook her head.

  “No, I’m not talking about money. I want volunteer work.”

  Jack’s head pounded worse as Hayden let out a bellow.

  “No way. Daddy, I’m not working for free in this…this store. Dad, you can use my allowance money—”

  “It’s volunteer work,” Miss McKaslin interrupted evenly. “The local churches have a united charity, and they always need reliable help. There are a lot of teenagers from the youth groups involved at the free supper kitchen and the shelters. Maybe she could put in, what, sixteen hours of work? That’s roughly the value of the figurines. And she’ll make some good friends there, I’m sure.”

  Youth-group kids? That caught his attention. A very reasonable solution. But what cinched it was the belligerent cock of his daughter’s jaw.

  “I won’t do it, Daddy. I’m not gonna waste my time with a bunch of losers and homeless people.”

  By the Grace of God, he thought. He’d sheltered her too much, he could see that painfully and—maybe, just maybe—spoiled her a little. But how could he have not?

  She had no idea about the world he worked in every day. The one where bad things happened to good people, where sometimes the world’s harshness could break a spirit, and compassion and doing the right thing held immeasurable value.

  It was time for his girl to grow up a little. “We’ll take your suggestion, Miss McKaslin.”