“I was going to dry my hair, so we’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“Sounds good.”
In the meantime, Jake opened his laptop, checked his email, and seeing nothing urgent, sent a message to Maria:Lost my phone. Will have a new one sent, but in the meantime you can reach me at the ranch phone if anything’s important.
It took less than five minutes for an answering email:There’s nothing so important that I’d have to disturb you and that sexy cowboy. Giddyap and ride ’em.
He scowled.Remind me to demote you when I get back.
Her answer came swiftly:You love me. You wouldn’t dare.
Grinning to himself, he shut his laptop. When he heard thetapon his door, he jumped to answer it and found Stacey wearing a yellow dress, with a flowered headband. Kiss panted by her side and gave him a doggie smile.
“Don’t you look pretty. Like a fresh flower. Come on inside.”
They all sat around the table, and Jake gave Stacey a glass of orange juice. “How are you feeling, honey? Okay?”
Stacey nodded, and Kiss rested her muzzle in Stacey’s lap with a contented sigh. Her eyes closed as Stacey petted her head and ears.
“Do you want to talk about what happened today?”
She shook her head, and his heart sank.
Terry brushed Stacey’s curls off her face. “Stacey, honey, do you want to show your daddy what you drew when I was in the shower?”
Stacey bit her lip and nodded. Jake knew part of her therapy was drawing and writing stories of her feelings. She’d started in a dark place, where all she could draw was a stick figure crying or hiding under a blanket, but recently the pictures had become brighter, sunnier, depicting her and Kiss in the park, the two of them surrounded by hearts and flowers.
Terry unfolded the paper and gave it to him. It showed him and Stacey with a brown dog. They were sitting by the lake in the grass with dots of flowers all around them. The most important thing to Jake were the words. She’d writtenStacey and Daddyinside a heart.
“I love you too, baby. More than anything.”
She gazed up at him, and her eyes filled with tears.
“I’m sorry, baby. I’m sorry I scared you.”
Her gaze dropped to the floor, and she lifted one thin shoulder.
“No, this is important. I fell in because I saw some pretty deer and wanted to take a picture to show you. So I wasn’t thinking and put myself in a dangerous place I shouldn’t have. I didn’t think it was so deep, but it was, and the current swept me downstream. Then I saw this big tree branch in the water and grabbed hold of it and waited. Luckily, Shea and the cowboys found me.”
“You were very lucky they found you. We saw deer today too. Two babies and the mommy. Remember, Stacey?”
She nodded.
“I love you so much, and I’m so sorry you got scared. It was wrong of Daddy, and I promise not to ever put myself in danger again.” He held out his arms. “Can I get another hug?”
Her little body shaking in his arms almost destroyed Jake. He’d helped bring this life into the world, promised to care for it, and would die before he’d let someone hurt her. But he had. Something had shocked her into silence, and not knowing what happened was driving him mad. The fact that he’d scared her so badly today made him physically ill.
“Sometimes parents make boo-boos, and we need to make sure we learn from them. I won’t ever put myself in a position to hurt or scare you again. I promise I’ll always be there for you.”
“Papa said don’t tell.” Her whisper hit him like a punch to his stomach. He was Daddy, and Brian had been Papa.
His gaze darted to Terry, who shook her head, as dumbfounded and shocked as him.
“Not to tell what, honey? You don’t have to say now if you don’t want to.”
“Scared.” Her arms around him tightened, and she shivered. Jake vibrated with an anger he couldn’t release. So help him, if Brian had done something to her, he’d fly to fucking Hong Kong and beat the crap out of him.
“How about we talk about it tomorrow? And only if you want to. Tonight we have a party. Lots of yummy food. Sound like fun?”
