Jayden Read online

  Jayden

  Heroes at Heart

  Maryann Jordan

  Contents

  Acknowledgments

  Author Information

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Jayden (Heroes at Heart) Copyright 2019

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except where permitted by law.

  If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, then you are reading an illegal pirated copy. If you would be concerned about working for no pay, then please respect the author’s work! Make sure that you are only reading a copy that has been officially released by the author.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Cover Design by: Becky McGraw

  ISBN ebook: 978-1-947214-33-0

  ISBN print: 978-1-947214-34-7

  Created with Vellum

  Acknowledgments

  First and foremost, I have to thank my husband, Michael. Always believing in me and wanting me to pursue my dreams, this book would not be possible without his support. To my daughters, MaryBeth and Nicole, I taught you to follow your dreams and now it is time for me to take my own advice.

  My best friend, Tammie, who for over twenty years has been with me through thick and thin. You’ve filled the role of confidant, supporter, and sister.

  My other best friend, Myckel Anne, who keeps me on track, keeps me grounded, and most of all – keeps my secrets. Thank you for not only being my proofreader and my Marketing PA, but friend. I do not know what I would do without you in my life.

  My beta readers kept me sane, cheered me on, found all my silly errors, and often helped me understand my characters through their eyes. A huge thank you to Denise, Sandi, Barbara, Jennifer, Danielle, Tracey, Lynn, and Jamila for being my beta girls who love alphas!

  Shannon Brandee Eversoll as my editor and Myckel Anne Phillips as my proofreader gave their time and talents to making all my books as well written as it can be.

  My street team, Jordan Jewels, you all are amazing! You volunteer your time to promote my books and I cannot thank you enough! I hope you will stay with me, because I have lots more stories inside, just waiting to be written!

  My PA Barbara keeps me going when I feel overwhelmed and I am so grateful for not only her assistance, but her friendship.

  Chas…thank you for all you do!

  Most importantly, thank you readers. You allow me into your home for a few hours as you disappear into my characters and you support me as I follow my indie author dreams.

  Author Information

  USA Today Bestselling and Award Winning Author

  I am an avid reader of romance novels, often joking that I cut my teeth on the historical romances. I have been reading and reviewing for years. In 2013, I finally gave into the characters in my head, screaming for their story to be told. From these musings, my first novel, Emma’s Home, The Fairfield Series was born.

  I was a high school counselor having worked in education for thirty years. I live in Virginia, having also lived in four states and two foreign countries. I have been married to a wonderfully patient man for thirty-seven years. When writing, my dog or one of my four cats can generally be found in the same room if not on my lap.

  Please take the time to leave a review of this book.

  Feel free to contact me, especially if you enjoyed my book. I love to hear from readers!

  Facebook

  Email

  Website

  As an adolescent counselor for over twenty-five years, I had the opportunity to work with many young people. One young man, upset over a poor choice he had made, came to me. As I listened to his story and his confession, I told him that the true measure of a man was not in the mistakes he made, but in how he handled those mistakes. I remember the look on his face when I told him I was sure he was going to be a good man.

  So this book is dedicated to all the students over the years who allowed me to be a part of their lives.

  1

  “The wolf, seeing her come in, said to her, hiding himself under the bed clothes. ‘Put the cake and the little pot of butter upon the stool, and come get into bed with me.’”

  Jayden sat on the bed, his twin, Jaxon, next to him. He glanced over, seeing Jaxon’s wide eyes and knew that if he stared into a mirror, his face would look the same and not just because they were identical.

  Zander, their oldest foster brother, was reading another bedtime story. Every night, the boys would all gather into one of the bedrooms and listen as Zander read to them, usually from his large abridged version of fairytales. Sometimes he switched it up and read abridged classics. Other nights, they chose smaller picture books to be enjoyed.

  But tonight, Zander’s expressive voice wove a tale of woods and wolves, dark nights and scary threats, and a little girl who should have stayed on the path.

  Jayden felt a shiver but was uncertain if it came from him or Jaxon. He slid his arm around his twin, both to provide and receive comfort. His gaze moved about the room, seeing the others equally entranced. Rafe and Cael sat on the bottom bunk, their eyes pinned to Zander. They were older than Jayden by one year, and he was not surprised to see that they appeared less frightened than he.

  Asher, the youngest, had been sitting at the end of the bed but turned suddenly and crawled back closer to Jayden. Asher was small for his age, and he tucked his thin legs up under the covers. Jayden moved to place his free arm around Asher’s shoulders.

  The room was simply furnished, bunk beds along one wall and a single in the opposite corner. A dresser with three deep drawers stored the underclothing of the three occupants. A closet held their clothes and shoes. A wooden chair and small table with a lamp sat next to the single bed. Simple and comfortable. But tonight, the light from the lamp cast eerie shadows about the room, and Jayden took a deep breath trying to still his racing heart.

  The sound of footsteps out in the hall came closer, but instead of fear, the familiar sound sent an ease throughout him. Looking up, he smiled as Miss Ethel walked into the room. Her light blue shirtdress, buttoned in the front, was cinched at her narrow waist with a thin belt. Her legs were encased in stockings, and he liked how her rubber-soled shoes did not create loud clicks on the wooden floors. Her grey hair was pulled back in a bun, and her blue eyes peered about the room from behind her wire-rimmed glasses.

  Just having her there made all the difference. The room seemed a little brighter. A little warmer. Jayden knew that the scaries of the world seemed to stop at her door. He had heard the school social worker tell his teacher that Miss Ethel was the best foster parent
in the area. He did not know about that…he only knew she made him happy.

  With her presence in the room, Zander halted the story, looking up at her expectantly.

  “Please, continue,” she said, settling onto the wooden chair next to the bed, crossing her ankles. She leaned over and patted Jayden’s leg, a comforting smile on her face as though she knew the story frightened him.

  “Grandmother, what big teeth you have got!”

  “All the better to eat you up with.”

  “And, saying these words, the wicked wolf fell upon Little Red Riding Hood, and ate her all up.”

  Zander finished the story and closed the book with a satisfied expression on his face. Jayden blinked, horrified, hating this version. He much preferred the picture book that ended differently. His mind was firmly stuck on the idea of the little girl now gobbled up, and he swallowed hard, his heart still pounding. He barely heard as the others began to grumble.

  “It doesn’t make any sense,” Cael complained, throwing himself back against the pillows. “Why would she get in bed with the wolf?”

  “Because he was dressed like the grandmother,” Zander explained, a scowl on his face.

  “That’s dumb,” Rafe agreed with Cael. “She would know what her grandmother looked like, and the wolf couldn’t make himself look like a person.”

  Jayden looked over at Miss Ethel and wondered if a wolf would be able to replace her and he not notice. As he stared at her, trying to imagine a long nose and furry face, he startled when he saw her watching him intently.

  “Are you wondering if you would be able to tell me from a wolf?” she asked with a wide smile.

  Blushing, he ducked his head and nodded. “Yes. If I came home and you had a long, fuzzy snout, I’d definitely notice.”

  She laughed, her eyes twinkling. “Keep in mind, boys, that the original fairytales were to teach lessons. They were not necessarily stories to entertain, nor were they considered children’s stories. But instead, they were used to teach us how we should act or to warn us against dangers.”

  Jaxon piped up, “But we already know not to talk to wolves. I don’t know why they need a story about that, because I can’t imagine anyone talking to a wolf.”

  Miss Ethel looked around at the boys and asked, “If not a warning about wolves, what do you think the author was really warning you about?”

  “Bad people,” Asher said, his voice barely above a whisper.

  Jayden’s gaze shot over to Asher and watched as the other boys’ did, too. They all had a protective streak when it came to Asher. Jayden thought that it might have been because he was the youngest and the smallest.

  Miss Ethel nodded and said, “You’re right. The warning is very much about talking to strangers. At the time this story was written by Charles Perrault several hundred years ago, it was a warning for young women to be very wary of strange men. That was a time when a well-bred young woman should never walk alone in the company of a man without a chaperone, and certainly never trust a man they did not know, even if he was charming, sweet, and said all the right things.”

  “What’s a chaper…uh…what was that word?” Rafe asked.

  “Chaperone,” she replied. “It was usually an adult woman who would accompany a young woman so that she would not be alone with a boy.”

  Zander barked out a laugh, saying, “Girls are dumb.”

  She peered over her glasses at him, her voice low. “Zander.”

  Jayden knew with that one word she meant business, and hearing Zander mumble, “Sorry,” he knew that the others did, too.

  Peering at Zander over her glasses, she said, “We don’t use descriptive words that are not nice. But I am curious as to why you think girls are dumb.”

  He watched as Zander shrugged, struggling to come up with a reason. He also thought girls could be silly at times but wisely kept his mouth shut.

  “I don’t know,” Zander admitted. “It’s just that in all the stories, they end up needing to get rescued. I mean, she talked to a wolf!”

  Rafe nodded enthusiastically, throwing his support with Zander, saying, “Yeah, Miss Ethel. That was dumb.”

  Jayden swung his gaze back over to Miss Ethel to see what her response would be. Her lips curved into a gentle smile, and she sat with her hands clasped in her lap. He felt his body relax at her smile and loved how she spent time with them each night.

  “Boys, you have to remember that these were tales made up to teach. They’re not a true story of a little girl who actually talked to a wolf. But it illustrates how we can become involved with someone who isn’t a good person, and yet we either convince ourselves that they are good, or we simply refuse to believe what is right in front of our eyes. And whether she’s a little girl, or a boy like you, we can all learn these lessons.”

  “I like the one where the woodsman comes in at the end and kills the wolf the best,” Jayden admitted, the picture book version held tightly in his hand.

  She directed her blue eyes toward him and smiled. “Why do you like that version the best, Jayden?” she asked.

  He scrunched his face, pondering her question, and then replied, “Because it ends happy. The woodsman came, cut open the mean old wolf, and saved Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother.”

  “That was in the Grimm brothers’ story,” Zander piped up proudly.

  She nodded and confirmed, “Yes, that’s true. Some versions have it be a woodsman and others a huntsman.” Looking back at Jayden, she encouraged, “Tell me about the woodsman.”

  Uncertain what she meant, Jayden tilted his head to the side. “Uh…the book that has the woodsman in it doesn’t really tell us anything about him.”

  She prodded, “Then use your imagination.”

  “Um, well, he chopped wood.” As she nodded encouragingly, he continued, “I guess that’s what he did for a living. He had an ax, and he went around and chopped wood. Since they lived in a forest, that was a pretty easy thing for him to do.”

  “So,” she said, “the woodsman was an ordinary man, just going about his daily work. He wasn’t searching for anyone to save. He wasn’t a prince, or a knight, or even trying to be a hero. So, what made him special?”

  Warming to the task, he let his imagination fly and continued, “He was just working in the woods and heard a scream. Or maybe he just heard the wolf growl. But something must’ve made him realize that things weren’t right, and he could have just left. He could have gone back home, but he didn’t. He went to go find out what was happening and saw the wolf at the grandmother’s house.”

  Jaxon, sitting up straighter, twisted around and nodded. “Yeah, he would’ve known that a wolf at the grandmother’s house couldn’t have been right. He must’ve known something bad was happening.”

  Cael, not to be left out, jumped in, adding, “He would’ve known something was wrong because the wolf’s belly would’ve been huge with the grandmother and Little Red Riding Hood in there!”

  “Hey,” Jayden complained. “This is my story!” Receiving another nod from Miss Ethel, he continued, “He could’ve been scared and just walked away, but he didn’t. He decided to do whatever he could to set them free, even if that meant doing something as icky as cutting open a wolf!”

  Miss Ethel clapped her hands and threw her head back, laughing. “Oh, my, you all are such good storytellers.” She lowered her chin and peered at Jayden once again. “And you are exactly right, my dear. We can learn something from all of the stories. The version with the woodsman definitely teaches us that we can step in and help others that cannot help themselves.”

  Jayden thought about his brothers. Zander, the oldest, never seemed afraid of anything and always jumped to the defense of the rest of them. Rafe, already big for his age, did not seem to have any problem with the kids at school teasing him. And they both quickly pounced on anyone who made fun of Cael’s red hair. And all three of them had chased after some boys that were teasing Asher and calling him a runt.

  Before he ha
d time to ponder that further, Miss Ethel clapped her hand and stood, announcing, “Okay, boys. Time for bed.”

  He, Jaxon, and Asher climbed off the bed and walked across the hall to their room. Exactly like the older boys’ room, it had bunk beds and a separate twin bed. Jaxon claimed the top bunk, Asher moved to the single bed, and Jayden crawled into the bottom bunk, loving the feel of being surrounded.

  He heard the sounds of Miss Ethel saying goodnight to the older boys in their room before she appeared in their doorway.

  She bent over Asher’s bed, tucking him in tightly. He could hear her whisper to Asher but did not know what she said. Not that it mattered, because she whispered sweet things to all of them. Turning, she walked over to the bunk bed and smiled up at Jaxon.

  “Is my little pirate tucked into his pirate ship for the night?”

  Jayden could not keep the grin off his face as he heard his brother giggle. The moment Jaxon had seen the beds, he had turned to Jayden and asked, “Can I have the top bunk? I’d feel like a pirate sailing on a ship!”

  Jayden had not minded, so he easily gave the top bunk to his brother. For him, he found the bottom bunk to be plenty of room and comforting…almost like being in a cave in the deep, dark woods.

  Once more, he heard Miss Ethel whispering, knowing she had something special to say to Jaxon. After just a moment, she shifted and sat down on the edge of his bed.