Song of the Meadowlark (Intertwined Book 1) by Sherri Wilson Johnson

a wild woman. I mean…” She reached out to touch Rex in apology.
    He jerked away. “So that’s how you see it? Well, at least I know what you think of me.”
    “Rex, let’s drop it. I didn’t mean it to sound the way it did.”
    “Tell me what you think.” Rex demanded. “Tell me!”
    Cora sat in silence for a few moments, collecting her thoughts. She straightened her shoulders and pulled her towel closer to her chest. “I think you’re a great guy, very charming, nice when you want to be.” She smiled. “But I also think you aren’t living as you should. You never spend time with Susie, and you’re off at bars every chance you get. You don’t even come home until morning. Staying out all night with a woman isn’t exactly my idea of a good example.” Cora crinkled her brow, waiting.
    “You know very little about me.” Rex bolted from the chair and stared down at her. The silence was deafening. Even the cows were silent. “Raising Susie is now your responsibility. My parents knew I couldn’t do it alone. That’s why they hired you. You set the example for her and leave my life for me to worry about. Is that understood?” Rex glared at her, then walked away, not giving her a chance to respond.
    “Rex!” Cora was open-mouthed. Did he really think she was now solely responsible for the raising of his daughter? Precious as Susie may be, Cora couldn’t do what Rex demanded of her. The child needed her father. She’d already lost her mother.

Chapter 7
     
    That night, after Cora bathed Susie and got her to bed, she went downstairs to the family room where R.L. and Pearl usually sat before bedtime. The lights were dim, and the television’s glow flickered across the room. R.L. flipped through a crossword puzzle book while Pearl cross-stitched. Pearl’s popcorn and R.L.’s coffee made it feel like home.
    Cora hesitated before she interrupted, but then plunged right in. “Excuse me. Have you guys got a minute?”
    “Sure. Come on in and have a seat. What is it?” Pearl said.
    Studying their attentive faces, Cora fidgeted. “I don’t know how to tell you this….”
    “Oh, please don’t tell us you’re leaving,” R.L. said.
    “No. I don’t want to, but…it’s Rex. I don’t think I can work for him. Earlier today, we had a confrontation. I may have overstepped my boundaries. I let him know how I feel about his personal life. I told him of my concerns about the type of father he is. He told me I shouldn’t worry about how he lives his life, because I am now solely responsible for raising Susie. He said I should be the one to worry about being a good influence. I agree to a certain extent, but his influence matters most. It really bothers me that he stays out all night and never spends any time with Susie.”
    Pearl shook her head, and R.L.’s neck stiffened. “We understand. Honey, we told you he’d be difficult. The reason we asked you to come here was that we knew Rex wasn’t doing his job as a parent, and we couldn’t raise Susie properly because of our age.”
    Cora squeezed her hands together. “But I think this is doing both Rex and Susie an injustice. It’s enabling him to stay uninvolved in her life. Susie already won’t know her mother. Now she isn’t getting to spend time with the only parent she has. Rex is being relieved of his fatherly duties. It isn’t fair to Susie.” She pounded her fists on her knees. “One day she’ll be grown, and she won’t have any respect or feelings for her father.” Tears puddled in Cora’s eyes.
    “You really care for her, don’t you?” R.L. asked.
    Cora walked to the mantel, taking in the family pictures. “Yes, I do. I care about Rex also. I want him to love his daughter. I want him to get over Patricia. I want him to find love for himself again one day.”
    “We wish he’d find love. He has to find someone better than Veronica,” Pearl said.
    Cora nodded. “Before he can find love though, he’s got to get his life