A Little Dare - Brenda Jackson [11]
He studied her features, and when she didn’t say anything for the longest time he said. “I have a lot more to lose than you, but I’m willing to risk it. I don’t want to spend too much longer with my son not knowing who I am. At least this way he’ll know that I’m his father, and it will be up to me to do everything possible to make sure that he wants to accept me in his life.”
He inhaled deeply. “So will you at least think about what I’ve proposed?”
Shelly met his gaze. “Yes, Dare, I’ll need time,” she said quietly.
“Overnight. That’s all the time I can give you, Shelly.”
“But, I need more time.”
Dare stood. “I can’t give you any more time than that. I’ve lost ten years already and can’t afford to lose any more. And just so you’ll know, I’ve made plans to meet with Jared for lunch tomorrow. I’ll ask him to act as my attorney so that I’ll know my rights as AJ’s father.”
Shelly shook her head sadly. “There’s no need for you to do that, Dare. I don’t intend to keep you and AJ apart. As I said, you’re the reason I returned.”
Dare nodded. “Will you meet me for breakfast at Kate’s Diner in the morning so we can decide what we’re going to do?”
Shelly felt she needed more time but knew there was no way Dare would give it to her. “All right. I’ll meet you in the morning.”
Three
D are reached across his desk and hit the buzzer.
“Yes, sheriff?”
“McKade, please bring in John Doe.”
Shelly frowned when she glanced over at Dare. “John Doe?”
Dare shrugged. “That’s the usual name for any unidentified person we get in here, and since he refused to give us his name, we had no choice.”
She nodded. “Oh.”
Before Dare could say anything else, McKade walked in with AJ. The boy frowned when he saw his mother. “I wondered if you were ever going to come, Mom.”
Shelly smiled wryly. “Of course I was going to come. Had you given them your name they would have called me sooner. You have a lot of explaining to do as to why you weren’t in school today. It’s a good thing Sheriff Westmoreland stopped you before you could cause harm to anyone.”
AJ turned and glared at Dare. “Yeah, but I still don’t like cops.”
Dare crossed his arms on his chest. “And I don’t like boys with bad attitudes. To be frank, it doesn’t matter whether or not you like cops, but you’d sure better learn to respect them and what they stand for.” This might be his son, Dare thought, but he intended to teach him a lesson in respect, starting now.
AJ turned to his mother. “I’m ready to go.”
Shelly nodded. “All right.”
“Not yet,” Dare said, not liking the tone AJ had used with Shelly, or how easily she had given in to him. “What you did today was a serious matter, and as part of your punishment, I expect you to come back every day this week after school to do certain chores I’ll have lined up for you.”
“And if I don’t show up?”
“AJ!”
Dare held up his hand, cutting off anything Shelly was about to say. This was between him and his son. “And if you don’t show up, I’ll know where to find you and when I do it will only make things a lot worse for you. Trust me.”
Dare’s gaze shifted to Shelly. This was not the way he wanted to start things off with his son, but he’d been left with little choice. AJ had to respect him as the sheriff as well as accept him as his father. From the look on Shelly’s face he knew she understood that as well.
“Sheriff Westmoreland is right,” she said firmly, giving Dare her support. “And you will show up after school to do whatever he has for you to do. Is that understood?