“Daddy?” Harley whimpers, her face crumpling when she lets out another wail and reaches for him.
Carson pulls her off my lap and into his arms.
Closing his eyes, he cradles the back of her head while she wraps her little legs around his waist and all-out bawls.
“It’s okay, caramel. I gotcha.” Kissing the side of her head, he looks practically sick with relief.
I sniff, battling this overwhelming flood of emotion just as Grady comes bursting around a tree… and Zander and Zoey appear moments later.
“Kenny!” Grady drops to his knees with relief while his little girl grins at him.
“Hi, Daddy.”
She doesn’t seem to be fazed at all. In spite of her shivers, she happily skips over to her father, jumping into his arms and snuggling close.
“I’m cold.”
“I bet you are.” He unzips his jacket, cocooning her inside, and she giggles, thinking this is a big adventure.
Incredible. I shake my head, marveling at her as I share a quick smile with Grady.
“I know.” He grins back at me, his eyes glassing for just a moment before he blinks and pulls himself together.
“Harley was stuck in this hole.” I point at it, quickly explaining what I found. “And Kendall didn’t leave her side.” I smile at the little girl’s back. “That was really brave, Kenny.” She’s too busy snuggling into her father’s warmth to notice my compliment, so I turn back to Carson. “Is she hurt?”
“I don’t think so.” Carson’s still holding her tight, like he never wants to let her go.
“Let’s get back to the house and warm these two up.” Zander holds out his hand for me and I take it, letting him pull me to my feet.
As soon as I’m upright, he wraps his arm around my waist and tugs me close.
“My hero,” he whispers against my ear.
I laugh and shake my head.
“Uh… ya-huh!” Zoey raises her eyebrows at me. “You just pulled that kid out of a hole. That’s a total hero move, Mom. You’re like… Wonder Woman.”
A skeptical giggle pops out of me and I shake my head, holding Zander’s hand as we follow Grady and Carson back to the house. They’re walking at a fast clip, no doubt still worried for their girls.
Harley’s not crying so loud anymore, but she’s still whimpering, and we need to check for injuries. She fell into a hole. Hypothermia isn’t the only thing we need to worry about, although it’s probably the main concern.
I hope they’re just cold.
Please, just let it be a case of the shivery shakes, and we can warm them up with some hot cocoa and snuggly blankets.
“You know, I think it’s all of your working out at the gym,” Zoey keeps going. “A year ago, there’s no way you could have done that. You’re so strong now.”
My daughter gives me an impressed smile, and I glance up at Zander.
His wink is sexy and sweet. I grin back up at him until reminders of Davis dawn on me.
Shit.
“Hey. It’s okay. You’re gonna find a new gym.” He reads my mind before planting a kiss on my forehead.
“What do you mean?” Zoey asks, and I’m forced to explain what happened with Davis.
“So yeah, now I don’t want to go to that gym anymore.”
