Free Precious Blessings (Love Inspired) by Jillian Hart Page B

even shelved them yet, but they are just adorable. I brought a copy home for Madison.”
    Ava and Aubrey were waiting at the dining-room table, plates piled high, tea poured and steaming. “Hurry up,” they said in unison. “We’re starving.”
    Katherine took her seat and bowed her head for the blessing, grateful for her sisters. She was glad not to be alone with visions of her past or thoughts of Jack Munroe.
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    Home. It ought to be a man’s castle, a place where he could leave his troubles at the door. Home hadn’t been that for Jack in a long while. For so long, peace was only a memory gone dim with time. Tonight, there would be no peace, he knew. One look at his daughter’s face told him that. As she burst through the garage door and tore through the kitchen toward the stairs and her room, he knew that she thought she had the upper hand.
    Maybe the truth was that she did and had for a longtime. He was only seeing it now. In his attempts to make her happy, to keep her calm, to appease his guilt, he’d been reacting to her behavior instead of directing it.
    â€œSit down, young lady.” He let the door bang closed for effect. “At the table.”
    â€œI’m going to my room. I’m upset.”
    â€œNot as upset as you’ve made me.” When she kept going he raised his voice. “You have one extra week of volunteer work. I’ll be happy to make it more.”
    She hesitated. He saw her weighing her options. Then she gave a strand of blond hair a flip behind her shoulder and took the stairs.
    â€œDid I mention that volunteer work will be in Katherine McKaslin’s book store?”
    That got her attention. She whirled around, horrified. “Daddy, no! I hate that lady.”
    â€œKatherine McKaslin is the reason you aren’t facing shoplifting charges.”
    â€œShe can afford it. Jan says that her family has all kinds of money—” She stopped, eyes widening from anger to horror as she realized what had slipped out.
    â€œYou are still seeing Jan even though I forbade you to.”
    â€œWe go to the same school. We have like tons of classes together. I can’t avoid her. It’d be rude. ”
    â€œYou have no problem being rude to Miss McKaslin. You disobeyed me, Hayden. Again.”
    â€œSorry, Dad. It’s like the only time.” She turned on the Bambi eyes, the innocent sweet look that he’d bought every time. Because he’d wanted to. Becausehe could not believe that his little girl was anything but good and innocent and sweet. But the years following Heidi’s death had been troubled ones at best. There had been problems at work, and problems at home. Grief, his and Hayden’s. Anger, his and Hayden’s. He’d had long workdays and endless overtime.
    Maybe, after what he’d learned about Heidi, he’d needed to believe there was innocence somewhere. So he’d never even noticed the small things until they were too big to ignore. Until now.
    â€œThe week of volunteer work is for the lie.” He kept talking over his daughter’s blowup. The trick was to be louder and stay that way. Eventually, what he was saying would sink in. “I’m taking you out of public school and enrolling you in another one. I’m sure Pastor Marin has a good suggestion for a private Christian school in the area. Uniforms will probably be mandatory, so that should solve your problem with inappropriate choices when it comes to your school wardrobe.”
    Since she was grounded until eternity anyway, he figured he had things pretty well under control. And wasn’t that the key? “Now up to your room. I want you to think about what you’ve done. And how you’re going to apologize to Miss McKaslin.”
    He waited, watching as his little girl gnashed her teeth and clenched her fists. “I’d be more than happy to make it another week.”
    Hayden kept whatever she