The Cowboy's Holiday Blessing

“Nothing. And I’m sorry.” Jade already had her door open. “I bet he’s still sleeping.”

“No, he isn’t. I saw him walk out of the barn.”

“Oh, okay.” Jade slammed the door of the Buick and ran toward the big barn.

Madeline waited. And she worried. What happened to a girl when she thought she’d found a fairy-tale parent who would make everything right, and then found herself let down? Heartache? Madeline remembered a father, but he hadn’t been her real father. She blocked the memory because too many other memories chased after it. Yesterday she’d gotten a card from her mother. Her mother always managed to find her. Madeline couldn’t run far enough or fast enough to outrun Marjorie. She would never escape the past.