Natural Born Daddy by Sherryl Woods Page B

her front porch as she drove up the lane to her house after church. She fought the impulse to race from the car and fling herself into his arms. Dani’s reaction, however, was another thing entirely. For the first time Kelly could recall, her daughter didn’t look overjoyed to see Jordan waiting on their doorstep.
    â€œUh-oh,” Dani muttered, scooting down in the front seat.
    Kelly glanced at her daughter and saw the worried frown puckering her brow. “What’s wrong?”
    â€œI forgot something.”
    Kelly glanced from Dani to Jordan and back again. “Something about Jordan?”
    â€œUh-huh.”
    A vague stirring of alarm spread through her. “What did you forget?”
    â€œHe called before.”
    â€œJordan called?” She had to battle with herself to keep her voice from climbing. There was no point in letting her daughter know how much that small,seemingly inconsequential piece of information meant to her. “When?”
    â€œWhen you were in the shower,” Dani admitted in a tiny voice. “He said he had to go see his father and he’d be here later.”
    â€œDid you tell him we were going to church?”
    Dani shook her head. “I’m sorry, Mommy. He made me promise to tell you, but I just forgot. Don’t be mad at me.”
    Kelly reached over and rubbed her daughter’s cheek with her knuckles. How could she not forgive her? Dani didn’t have a mean-spirited bone in her body. And she was obviously contrite. There was, however, a lesson to be learned here.
    â€œI’m not mad,” she reassured her. “But Jordan is another matter. You made a promise to him and you didn’t keep it. How do you propose to handle it?”
    Blue eyes, filled with dismay, gazed up at her. “I have to ‘pologize, huh?”
    â€œI’d say so.”
    â€œIs he going to be really, really mad?”
    â€œOh, I think Jordan is a fair man. He’ll listen to what you have to say. Go on, now. Run and tell him what happened.”
    With obvious reluctance, Dani unhooked her seat belt and slipped out of the car. Kelly hid a grin as she watched her daughter crossing the yard, her gaze fixed on Jordan. No criminal heading for the hanging tree had ever walked at a more halting pace. She paused at the bottom of the steps. From the car, Kelly could hear her hesitant greeting.
    Jordan’s rocker stilled as he listened to the stammered apology. Kelly slowly left the car and went to join them. As she approached, she didn’t darerisk a glance into his eyes for fear they’d both start chuckling.
    â€œI see,” he said quietly when Dani concluded her explanation for breaking her promise. “Will it ever happen again?”
    Dani shook her head emphatically. “Never. I really, really promise. Cross my heart. Next time I’ll even write it down, if you’ll show me how to spell your name.”
    Jordan held out his hand. “Then that’s good enough for me. Apology accepted. And I’ll teach you to spell my name later on this afternoon.”
    Relief spreading across her face, Dani bolted up the stairs and flung herself into Jordan’s arms. After a startled look at Kelly, he picked the child up and hugged her. A wistful expression passed across his face as Dani’s arms wound tightly around his neck.
    In that instant, watching the two of them with a lump in her throat, something inside Kelly shifted. Suddenly she began to envision possibilities that she’d been staunchly denying for weeks now. If Jordan could accept Dani as his own, if he could love her child as she did, then perhaps his feelings for her didn’t really matter. If she could guarantee Dani’s happiness by giving her a father, then perhaps she could live with no more than Jordan’s affection for herself.
    â€œSo, where have you two been?” Jordan inquired after Dani disentangled herself and received permission to go