Chapter One

Renee

Well, that was it, another relationship down the tubes. Why had I always fallen for the assholes of this world? Sometimes I wished I'd stayed married to Charlie Swan. Life might have been dull and boring, but I'd have had a roof over my head, food, a car that didn't keep breaking down and a stable home for Isabella.

It was my little girl I felt sorry for, I'd tried so hard to provide for her, I worked my tail off at menial jobs to give her a home but things just never worked out. For the first couple of years things had been OK, I had the money Charlie gave me in the divorce, a fairly new car, and I'd stayed at my mom's so she could babysit while I finished college.

Then she had a heart attack, lingered for a couple of months and finally died, leaving me a few thousand dollars but with no home. The bastard who owned her house tried to double the rent and made a play for me and so started our road trip from hell.

Charlie tried to put pressure on me to go back to him, but that was never going to work out so I decided the best thing would be a clean break. I had the money my mom had left me so I could finish college and get a better job with more pay. I moved without telling Charlie where I had gone, changed our last names to Hitchcock, I'd always liked those black and white horror movies of his, and kept moving from shabby motel to boarding house until I got my degree. Luckily I dated a small-time criminal, he'd done time for forgery, and he was able to supply me with false documentation before he got killed in a bar fight.

I got a job as a substitute teacher at a small town school in Idaho and rented a place which worked out well for a few months but then I met Eddie Worth and we got married. He was a mechanic or so he said and for the first few months we were happy or at least I was. Then I found out he was bringing his buddies home while I was out at work drinking and smoking pot while he was supposed to be watching Isabella. My job ended, my marriage went to hell, we divorced, and I moved on.

It seemed to follow a pattern, I would find a job, mainly in diners or bars because teaching had been just too difficult with a small kid who got sick and needed her mommy which Isabella did on a regular basis. She was a sickly kid, but then we spent a lot of time in cheap motels eating junk food.

Then I'd meet a guy who looked great at first glance. He would be good to me and Isabella for a while, but then I'd find out he was on probation, on drugs or, in one classic case, a kiddie toucher, although luckily I discovered that before he could touch my little girl. Then I'd move on.

Until that is I got tied up with Ron Hutton. He seemed the answer to a maiden's prayer. He was sweet, thoughtful, and caring and we had a wonderful time right up until I got home from my shift at the diner to find my car and savings gone and Isabella alone and crying in the dark rental apartment.

There were others, although I was a little more wary, but still I got caught out, why was it all single guys over forty were either liars, drunks, druggies, abusive or a combination of some or all of the above? Poor Isabella lived through her mom getting high when one guy thought it would be fun to spike my drinks or getting screamed at because she didn't make enough money.

The worst of all though was a guy called Skip, I came close to losing custody of my little girl because of that bastard. I had thought he was great, but then didn't I always? He helped around the house, he took us out weekends, and once a week he sat with Bella so I could go out, but of course, she was a selfish little madam like most four year olds and made me feel guilty before I left. It was the same every time, tears and tantrums before Skip got in from work and then suddenly Bella was an angelic little princess wooed by the DVD and cookies he brought for them to share while I was out.

One evening when I got back, I saw the paramedics coming out the door with Bella wrapped up in a blanket on a trolly followed by Skip who was chatting to a cop.

I ran up to see what the hell was going on, not even bothering to turn my engine off.

The police officer saw my distress and put an arm out to stop me.

"It's OK ma'am, your daughter's fine. She just had a little accident."

"An accident? She should be in bed."

I looked at my watch to double check, yes, it was eleven thirty and Bella was always in bed by eight.

I called out to Skip who looked white with distress,

"What happened?"

"She fell down the stairs, I didn't hear her asking for a drink and she tripped, she was still half asleep I guess."

Skip and I followed the ambulance to the E.R and sat waiting as she went through to the X-ray.

"Hey Skip! Not that little girl of yours again? What's she done now?"

Skip hushed the man up, but I wanted to know how these two knew each other and what he meant by "what's she done now?."

Eventually the truth came out, Skip had been trying to help Bella, the most accident prone girl in the world, to ride her bike, climb a tree, all the kinds of things kids do and he hadn't wanted to worry me so, for example, when she fell out of the tree and fractured her arm they had made up the story that she'd tripped on a curb.

When I questioned the nurses they told me that Bella was a frequent visitor. I knew she'd been a few times from school after falling over or cutting herself with a craft knife, I had never met such a clumsy girl in my whole life!

When I was called through to see her the doctor asked if he could talk to me alone, which seemed a little odd but what could I say?

Skip promised to be waiting for me when I came back out and turned to speak to the guy who'd spoken to him before. The doctor ushered me into his consulting room and I looked around for Bella, but she was nowhere to be seen.

"What's going on doctor? Where's my daughter?"

"We're going to admit your daughter for observation Mrs Hitchcock. We're concerned about the number of bruises and visits to the E.R your daughter has made."

"Excuse me? Are you insinuating something, Doctor?"

"Has your daughter ever complained of being bullied or being scared of anyone?"

"Scared of anyone? I'm not sure what you are getting at."

"How about your husband? Whenever she's been here, it's either from kindergarten or with him."

"Firstly Skip is not my husband and secondly, if you are insinuating that he hits her then you are wrong. Is that what she says?"

"No, your daughter doesn't say anything even when questioned."

"Well, she knows it's wrong to talk to strangers...even if they hide behind a uniform Doctor. I know the kind of person who does that, I was involved with a cop. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to see my daughter."

The doctor could see he wasn't going to get anywhere with me and bowed his head showing me through to the examination room where Bella lay looking white-faced on a trolley, her lower right arm encased in plaster. Seeing me she smiled hesitantly and then looked at the doctor fearfully.

"I'd like to speak to Bella in private."

He hesitated, but I just glared at him so finally, he moved reluctantly to the door and left, shutting it softly behind him.

I crossed to her bedside and smiled at her,

"You OK sweetie?"

She nodded looking at me hollow-eyed and I wondered just for a moment if there really was something wrong.

"What happened?"

"I wanted a glass of water and Skip didn't hear me so I came downstairs and slipped. There's a loose tread on the stairs and Skip warned me to be careful the other day."

I was taken aback, it sounded so rehearsed, no wonder the doctor was suspicious.

"Did you really fall?"

She nodded lifting her good arm to her eyes to rub them,

"I'm tired mommy, can I go home now?"

She was in the hospital for three days as it turned out, and the police kept us for more than three hours that first night going over her "accidents" at home and kindergarten but eventually gave up when I insisted they either charge us with something or go away. They hadn't got anything because there was nothing to get, Bella was a clumsy child that's all there was too it.

Of course, when she came home, I could see things had changed and sure enough a week later I got a 'Dear Jane' letter from Skip who told me he didn't like being accused of hurting a child although I had never accused him of hurting Bella.

Once he was gone, she told me that he did hit her and that because she wouldn't go to bed that night when he told her he chased her up the stairs and she tripped and fell. I felt terrible, a little girl like that shouldn't be scared or hurt by the adults she trusted and vowed to be more careful in future.

Isabella was my daughter and I loved her. She was my reason for living, without her I think I might have drowned in misery.

She was a quiet child who watched everything but said very little. All she wanted was to be loved and I did love her so much. Would she have been better off living with her dad? Of course, if you looked at it one way, she would have a stable home, nice things around her, friends she could grow up with and Charlie. But she wouldn't have her mom and every girl needs a mom when she's growing up. At least that's the way I saw it.

I didn't bother looking for anyone for a long time after that and Bella seemed a lot happier, she loved having mommy to herself, but I found myself wanting more than work, a couple of hour's housework, or reading, and then an evening of T.V on my own. I even contemplated contacting Charlie again, but I knew after all this time the first thing he would do would be to take me to court to get custody of his daughter and that I couldn't face.

Then suddenly everything changed for the better, I met Cooper Manners and we fell in love. Cooper was ex-military who was taking his time traveling back to his parents' ranch to start work there with his dad. On the way he had worked at various jobs just to get some experience.

I met him building cabinets at the bar where I was waiting tables and fell for him in an instant. He was tall and muscular with long dusty blond hair and the most beautiful southern drawl.

At first, we just talked on my break and then it progressed to his walking me to my car and then he asked me out to dinner at which point I admitted that I had a child and couldn't leave her the evenings I didn't work.

Now this was crunch time, men either ran a mile or smiled and said OK, how about I pay for a babysitter?

Cooper, however, just nodded.

"Fair enough, when's your next day off?"

I was rather taken aback by this.

"Saturday, I worked all last weekend, but I have to take Isabella to buy some clothes"

"OK. Would you mind then if I joined you? We could have lunch together, all three of us."

I was taken aback and a little nervous, after all I'd only known him myself for a few weeks, but I decided it would be nice to get a lift since my own car was in the shop, an old one I'd had to buy to replace the one stolen by my ex-boyfriend and that broke down on a regular basis.

Isabella was scared at first when I told her, she hadn't forgotten the way Skip treated her so I promised I would never leave her alone with him.

"We'll all go out together and have fun. He's a very nice person sweetie, but you take your time. He knows you're shy and he'll leave you to make friends with him when you're ready."

Cooper arranged to pick us up on Saturday morning and we never looked back. Isabella took her time getting to know him before she was comfortable in his presence, but he understood and never pressured her. Instead, he would wait for her to approach him and be very gentle and sweet with her. It was almost a month of outings and visits before she finally took his hand as we walked in the park but things went quickly from there. She adored him and he was so good with her.

He had been due to leave town weeks ago to join his family but instead, he stayed on doing odd jobs and spending all his spare time getting to know Isabella and me better.

At first I was also very wary, with my history with men I had to be, but it soon became apparent that he neither drank to excess nor did drugs and he was always very proper around my daughter. The three of us spent as much time together as we could and I found myself falling in love with my Texan rancher's son.

He told me about the ranch and his family, mom, Martha, dad Stuart and two brothers Dustin and Luke, both younger than him. I told him a little about my past, mainly that I tended to screw up on a regular basis, but he just laughed at that and told me that maybe my luck had finally changed.

I gave him the short version of my marriage, I was young and impetuous, fell in love with a small town cop and got pregnant.

"It just didn't work out, although Charlie was a good man. I guess at the time I didn't want to settle down with a good man. He doesn't have much to do with us, my fault mainly. I write occasionally and send photos, but I thought it was better if Isabella didn't get too close to him so I moved around a lot, not good I know, but by the time I realized that too much water had flowed under the bridge. I know it wasn't fair on him, but I guess he probably has a new wife and family by now, he's not going to want reminders of his big mistake. Besides, Isabella is too young to understand everything that happened. What I meant was that at six and a bit I had never really talked about her daddy with her. I guess she assumed that like all the other men in my life he had been a loser who dumped me and abandoned her and I hadn't disabused her, it was just easier that way."

Cooper disagreed, he thought it was only fair that Isabella's father should have a chance to know her and suggested that once we were married I should get in contact with Charlie. Married? Now where did that come from? I was dumbfounded by the suggestion.

"Sorry, I guess I shoulda' taken it slower but I reckon you and I are a great match and Izzy sure seems to like me. I think she's a great kid and I'd be proud to help you bring her up. So, what do you think, Renee?"

More for the sake of getting my breath back than anything else I asked Cooper to give me a couple of days to think about it.

"I mean, I do love you Coop but I've had so many bad experiences I just don't want to jump into anything and we hardly know each other."

"You're right, so, how about I take you and the little one to meet my family, see my roots? That'll help you decide if I'm the kinda guy you wanna get tied up with."

I agreed, sure that I would love Cooper's family and hoping that they would love me and my little girl as much as he did.