Page 40 of Firefly Embers

The plan was to head over to the ranch for a little bit. One of the heifers had just given birth to her first calf, and it was getting the VIP treatment and staying in one of the barns due to it being small and mama not taking to nursing well.

While it would have made logistical sense for me to just head over to the ranch and watch Charlie over at the big house all day, Stella had brought her by early because inventory was arriving, and I knew that we would be in the way of daily ranch operations if we got over there at the ass crack of dawn.

Especially since Charlie had endless energy that wasn’t bound within the constraints of what most people deemed an acceptable wake-up time.

I looked down at my watch, checking the time, and then darted my eyes over to the baby monitor on the coffee table.

Charlie had gone down for an early morning nap, and I could see her squirming around in the portable crib in my room, waking up.

After she’d been kidnapped right under our noses at her first birthday party, it had taken all of us a long time to get comfortable with her being out of our sight, even if just to take a nap. She’d been taken from her crib while we were busy setting up her party, and I don’t think any of us will ever get over the fear and anxiety that moment created.

Stella’s screams when she realized Charlie’s crib was empty would haunt me for the rest of my life. Much in the same way Wade’s screams of terror from his flashback would.

“Wayyyy!” Charlie screamed from my room, demanding I come get her out of the prison conditions she was so clearly trapped in. Silently rolling my eyes, I set my laptop on the sofa and padded back to my room.

Opening the door, I was greeted with the happiest smile and excited giggles. There was nothing better than the unfiltered joy of a child. Their world was so small compared to an adult’s, and even the tiniest of things could make them the happiest humans on the planet.

“Hiya, cupcake,” I cooed, extricating her from baby jail and placing her on the ground.

At almost two, the girl was growing like a weed and refused to be carried by anyone other than Max, or Mass Da, as she liked to call him.

As a wedding present to Max, Stella had consulted with an attorney and had adoption papers drawn up, asking him to officially be Charlie’s dad.

Her biological father had been killed during a drug dispute, which was ultimately what had Stella running to Firefly Cove and into Max’s arms and all of our hearts.

Without so much as acknowledging my existence, Charlie ran to the living room as fast as her chubby little legs would take her. I sighed in mock annoyance as I dutifully followed.

It was Charlie’s world, and the rest of us were just living in it.

“Way!” she hollered from the kitchen, pushing a dining room chair across the floor and over to the counter to reach something on top of it. I clocked the plate of chocolate chip cookies before she could grab hold of one and snatched her off the chair, spinning her around.

“I don’t think so, little lady,” I chided playfully. She squirmed in my grasp and let out a long string of giggles as I feathered my fingers gently over her ribs.

“Down! Down!” she hollered through each fit of giggles. I smacked a loud and wet kiss on her cheek as I set her gently on the ground.

She brushed off her dress as if I’d messed up her pristine outfit and stood with her tiny hands on her hips and a deep furrow in her brow. I knew that look well, and it was the spitting image of the broody cowboy she so affectionately called “dad.”

Rolling my lips inward to fight a chuckle, I reached my hand out in offering. She placed her tiny hand in mine, and I gave it three quick squeezes to which she returned, even if they were like tiny little squishes against my palm.

“Where goin’?” she asked as we walked into the living room and I picked her up, depositing her on the sofa.

Snagging her boots from where she’d haphazardly taken them off next to the door, I fitted them on her feet and helped her stand.

“We’ve got a date with some cowboys, horses, and a cute baby cow,” I told her. Her smile could have lit up the room at the idea of getting to see a baby cow, and I chuckled as she scrambled happily toward the door, grabbing her tiny cowboy hat along the way.

It had been so long since we’d had little ones in the house, and it was nice to have some extra energy to siphon from when life seemed all too heavy.

Charlie was the balm to anyone’s weary soul, especially mine. Secretly, I hoped that should an emotionally closed-off cowboy she called an uncle make an appearance, she could turn on that cuteness charm and act as my wingman.

Instead of loading Charlie up and driving all the way around to the ranch, I figured it was a nice enough day that we could take a little walk through the woods.

True to her wild cowgirl nature, Charlie was untamable as we made our way down the well-worn path between my house and the Daniels’ property.

She hopped from one spot to the next, marveling at how many different kinds of bugs she could see, how high the trees were, asking about all the chirping and cooing sounds, and so much more. Her curiosity about the world around her was a fire I hoped she’d never lose.

As we crested the clearing of the woods and the big red barn came into view, Charlie took off at a dead sprint.

There was no way I could catch up with her, even if I weren’t pushing thirty and feeling every bit of it. That girl was faster than the wind and knew exactly where she was going to get what she wanted.