Little Cowgirl Needs a Mum / Once Upon a Proposal: Little Cowgirl Needs a Mum. Allison Leigh

didn’t like to wait for anything.

      “But all the other girls have their moms to help them pick out their material. And grandpa’s fixing spaghetti and he said we need to bring Jenny and some bread home. Please, Daddy.”

      He turned to Jenny. “Looks as if we’re outnumbered. Would you like to come to dinner at the Rafferty house?”

      It wasn’t a good idea. She looked at Gracie and began to lose her resolve. The little girl would be disappointed if she didn’t go. “Sure, I’d love to.”

      CHAPTER EIGHT

      AN hour later Jenny was seated beside Evan in his truck and on the way to the Rafferty home. How had she got herself into this? Okay, she was a coward. She wanted to be away from any more calls from Todd. No more abuse from her evil stepbrother.

      Those days were over.

      Thanks to her mother she now had to deal with him again. No doubt Marsha thought Todd had turned over a new leaf, but Jenny doubted he could do anything good, ever.

      Time served or not, Todd Newsome was a convicted felon. The last thing she wanted him to do was cause any trouble for her or her friends. She only hoped she’d convinced Todd that she didn’t want any more to do with him. Good luck with that. He hadn’t cared about her wishes, ever. She couldn’t have been happier when he was sent away.

      “Jenny,” Gracie called.

      She turned to the girl in the back seat. “What, sweetie?”

      “All the other girls think I’m lucky because I get to take you to my house.”

      She was touched. “Well, you need help with the project, too. And remember, you have to sew new blocks together.”

      Gracie nodded. “Daddy, can I have one of your shirts? The one Mommy liked.”

      Evan frowned. Meg had liked one of his shirts? She’d never said anything to him. “Sure. You’ll have to remind me which one that is.”

      He stole a sideways glance at Jenny, seeing her curious look.

      “It’s the one you wore when we all went to church on Easter that last time,” his daughter said. “I want to use something that Mommy liked.”

      “Okay, we’ll find it then,” he said hearing the sadness in his child’s voice.

      He glanced at Jenny. “Once an altar boy, but I’m not much on church these days.”

      “Grandpa Sean is Catholic and Mommy and me are Lutherans,” the tiny voice came from the back. “What are you, Jenny?”

      She smiled. “Oh, I’d say I’m a mixture of a little Catholic with some Presbyterian thrown in. All religions work if you pray.”

      “At my church they say you have to repent if you do bad things. What does repent mean?”

      Gracie was too young to hear those kinds of words. “It means to make up for what you did wrong,” Evan said. “If you were bad, you should say you’re sorry, and then take your punishment.”

      “Oh. What if that person was really, really mean to me? Do I still have to say I’m sorry?”

      Evan stepped in. “If you said something bad to that person, you should.”

      “But Aaron Jacobs is mean to everybody. He made Sara Hartley cry.”

      Evan didn’t like to hear of someone bullying his child. “Did you tell the teacher?”

      He glanced in the rearview mirror and saw her nod.

      “But he won’t stop being mean to us girls.”

      “Then I need to have a talk with his parents.”

      “You will?”

      He drove under the ranch archway. “Of course, Gracie. You should have told me sooner.”

      He pulled up in front of the house. He climbed out and opened the back door as his daughter unfastened her seat-belt and climbed down. Evan squatted down to her level. “Gracie, you can always come to me if you have trouble with anything. I’ll always be there for you.”

      She glanced away.

      “What’s wrong?”

      “Mommy always said not to bother you if you’re busy ‘cause you have a lot on your mind.”

      He worked to keep his anger under control. “Remember this, Gracie Anne Rafferty. I’m never too busy for you.”

      A bright smile appeared on her face. “Okay, Daddy.”

      “Now, go take the bread to Grandpa.”

      His daughter took the long sticks of sourdough and headed up the steps. Sadness washed over him. Had he been that distant from his own family? Or had Meg deliberately kept him from having a relationship with his daughter? He knew they hadn’t had the best marriage, but why had she prevented him from being Gracie’s father? If she had, he’d let her.

      “Evan, are you okay?” Jenny asked.

      “No. My own daughter is afraid to come to me.”

      “A lot of children go to their mother first.”

      “Did you?” Suddenly, he remembered Jenny saying her mother was too busy for her. “Or did you have to fight your own battles? How did you handle bullies?”

      She shrugged. “I guess I did a lot of my own fighting.”

      “What about your dad?”

      She glanced away. “He was never in my life.”

      His gut tightened as she tried to seem nonchalant, but he knew it mattered to her. “Well, I’m not going to let Aaron the bully get any more out of control. He has no right picking on little girls.” His fists clenched. “I plan to have a talk with this kid.”

      “Whoa, Rafferty. As a teacher myself, I can tell you it isn’t wise to go running off half-cocked. Talk to Gracie’s teacher first. Better yet, to Lily Perry. She’ll look into the situation, then, if that doesn’t help, set up a meeting with the boy’s parents.”