The Cowboy's Reunited Family

“I know.” Lindsey cleared her throat. “I know I said things. I was mad. I’m still mad. But I love you, Mom.”

“Oh, Lindsey, thank you.” She hugged her daughter again, holding her tight.

“Time for us to go.” Nurse Palmer put a hand on Jana’s back. Jana turned and suddenly the room filled with staff that hadn’t been there seconds ago.

“Okay. I need to tell Blake’s family.” Jana swallowed hard. Through the surgery they would have each other.

She tried not to think about being alone. She’d done this to herself. Tears clouded her vision as she glanced back at Lindsey and then at Blake.

Be strong. Be strong.

“Jana, we’ll get through this.” Blake spoke as she reached for the door. She wished she could say something, but her throat tightened and tears clouded her vision. She nodded and walked out.

We. The word stuck in her mind as she headed down the hall. She knew he meant that he and Lindsey would get through the surgery. But she needed to be a part of that we. She needed it, at least for today. For the next week. For the next year. She needed to be included in his life, in the strength that was Blake Cooper.

And once Lindsey had recovered, then Jana could be strong on her own again.

Chapter Four

Nine days after the surgery, Blake and Lindsey went home, to Dawson. The car pulled up the driveway to his house with Jana driving and Lindsey in the backseat. His family had said their goodbyes at the hospital, knowing the three of them needed to do this together, without an audience. They were going home, but they weren’t a family. He didn’t entertain any ideas that they would ever be a family again. But it meant something, to have Lindsey coming back to this house. Home again.

It meant something that Jana had brought her back, even if it had only been to get their daughter the medical help she needed. The reasons didn’t matter to Blake, just that his daughter was back.

On the other hand, Blake wondered if Jana regretted that Lindsey’s health had brought her back to a town and a way of life that she had never wanted.

The car stopped. Blake glanced back at his daughter. She looked a little dazed, a little lost. “We’re home.”

“Yes.” Her one-word response came out in a whisper.

“Are you worried?” His hand paused on the door handle.

“No, not really. It’s just strange to be here and to think that this is where I’ll get to stay, that I won’t have to move.”

“You won’t have to move.” Blake looked from Lindsey to Jana. His ex-wife blanched a little at his tone. “Let’s get out and see if things are still in one piece. Leaving Jackson and Travis in charge is never a good idea.”

Blake pushed the door open and stepped slowly out of the sedan he’d talked Jana into driving. His car. His home. She hadn’t liked the idea of giving up her rental car and using his car. Why should that bother her?

Jana and Lindsey would be living in his house, and he was moving into the apartment over the garage at Cooper Creek. That apartment would feel good after living in a hotel next to the hospital for the past week. He also planned on driving his truck now that he was home. A man could only be taxied around so much before it got under his skin.

His gaze caught and held Jana’s as she stood looking at the house before opening the door for their daughter. He’d been gone a little over a week. She’d been gone over ten years. Nevertheless, they’d managed to forge something that felt like friendship. Or maybe it was just a truce. Everything he did at this point was for Lindsey’s sake.

Jana opened the door so their daughter could get out of the car. He watched, waiting for her reaction.

It was a big moment, her first day back in the house she’d lived in as a toddler. He kept an eye on her face as he circled the car to help her. She glanced at him, then at the log-sided ranch house. Her eyes watered a little and she wavered. He reached for her hand. Jana stepped back, giving them space.

Blake spoke first. “You’re home.”

Lindsey nodded. She looked from him to her mother. “I don’t remember it.”

“You were a baby,” he said.

“I was almost three.”

He laughed. “Right, you should have had a car and maybe a place of your own by then.”

“You know what I mean.” She walked next to him, leaning close to his side. “I mean, I should remember. I remembered you. I wanted to remember this house.”

He didn’t know what else to say. He glanced back at Jana. She was pulling suitcases out of the trunk of the car and he guessed fighting tears. He saw her hand swipe at her cheek and he wondered, was she crying over the past or because she was stuck here?

He chided himself for being unfair. At some point he knew they’d work out a relationship that suited their new lives, as divorced parents sharing a child.

They reached the front porch. “Can you make it?”

Lindsey nodded but her grip on his arm tightened. He worried about her, probably more than he should. The doctors had declared the transplant a success. She already looked healthier, stronger than when he first saw her in the hospital.

Before they could climb the steps a loud bark split the air. Blake’s border collie, Sam, came running around the corner of the house. The dog ran straight at them. Blake shielded Lindsey’s body, but she was trying to get past him, making it hard to keep her safe from the dog that definitely wanted to jump on her.

Instead, Sam slid to a stop and sat down, his tongue lolling out of his open mouth. His black-and-white fur was coated in burrs. He’d obviously been in the field chasing something.

“Is this our dog?” Lindsey reached past him to pet the dog.

“Yes, this is Sam.”

“Did you have him when I was little?”

“No, we had another dog. He was old.” Blake couldn’t help thinking about that dog, Bobby, and how he’d followed Lindsey everywhere. Jana had always been worried about germs and dirt. But Lindsey had loved him. Bobby, a blue heeler, had loved her, and if she walked a little too far away from the house he’d herd her back to them.

She’d had a dog, a cat and a pony, and she would have had cousins to play with.

As anger pushed its way in, he took a deep breath. Lindsey was petting Sam, and Jana was dragging suitcases up to the front porch that ran the length of the house.

“Let me help you.” He gave the dog a warning glance before stepping away. Jana relinquished one of the suitcases.

“You’re not supposed to carry anything heavy,” she warned as she dragged the largest suitcase to the front door.

Blake took the handle from her. “Open the door, Jana. I think I can manage to drag a suitcase in the house.”

She shook her head but she opened the door. She wouldn’t look at him, but her hand brushed at her cheeks again. He followed her inside. It felt good to be home. The floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room let in the early-afternoon light. The house smelled clean. It looked as if he’d just been here. But he knew that the only ones who’d been here were his brothers, feeding animals and checking on the place while Blake stayed in Tulsa with Lindsey. And Jana.

He’d been released from the hospital a few short days after the surgery. Lindsey had been kept longer, to make sure there were no signs of rejection.

Jana had walked away from him. He leaned the suitcases against the wall and followed. She was standing in the dining room looking out the window, appearing to really enjoy the view of the Oklahoma fields.

“Jana?”

She shook her head but she couldn’t face him. Her hand came up again, swiping at her cheek. She sniffled. He let out a long sigh, because he wasn’t sure if he was ready to pretend the past ten years hadn’t happened.

There had been times in the past couple of weeks that it had felt right, having Jana and Lindsey back in his life. Talking, sharing moments, and he’d thought that maybe they could go back to the way things were.