The Cowboy's Reunited Family

And give him a second chance to know his daughter.

Blake relaxed in the hospital bed next to Lindsey’s. She glanced at him, shaking her head and then laughing. He shot her a look, trying to quell her mirth. Or make her laugh harder.

“What’s so funny?” he finally asked.

She snickered again and the sound filled his heart. It had been empty a long time, he realized. In the years since Jana left with Lindsey, he’d survived but he hadn’t lived. He’d worked. He’d somehow made it to family functions. It hadn’t been easy, watching his brother Lucky’s family growing, watching his other siblings marry and start families.

Just in the past few months he’d finally realized he had to do something with his time. That’s when he’d met Teddy. He couldn’t wait for Lindsey to meet the little boy that he’d started mentoring through their church program, which matched kids with adults.

He smiled at his daughter again and she laughed once more.

“You look great in that hospital gown,” she teased. “And the cap on your head is perfect.”

“They could make these things a little more decent.” He made a face at her. “Or give me a pair of scrubs.”

“Then you’d run around the hospital and act like a doctor. You’d try to do surgery or something.”

“I think running will be out of the question for the next few weeks.” The idea of slowing down didn’t bother him a bit, not with Lindsey here.

It struck him again that they were having conversations, the kind he’d seen Jackson have with his daughter, Jade, and Lucky with Sabrina. The last time he’d seen his daughter they’d been limited to conversations about cookies, puppies and going potty. Her laugh then had been babyish. Now she had a preteen giggle, and he was pretty sure she thought the young, male orderly was cute.

He would have to learn this business of being a dad to a teenager, to a girl who looked at boys. He’d have to restrain himself from hurting those boys.

“Where’d your mom go?” he asked after a few minutes of silence.

“Down to the cafeteria. She didn’t want to eat in front of us.”

Jana had disappeared while he’d been out of the room for more tests. It was easier to breathe with her gone. It gave him time to reconnect with his daughter, to learn who she was.

“Did you like living in all of those different countries?” he asked.

“Not all of them. Holland was my favorite. We stayed with a friend of mom’s. A lady who was a flight attendant.”

“Did you learn other languages?”

She nodded. “I speak German and Spanish.”

“Do you have pictures, of yourself, I mean.”

“On my computer. Mom can show you.”

The door opened. Lindsey stopped talking. Her smile was hesitant. Blake glanced toward the door, expecting Jana. Instead it was his sister, Mia. She took in the situation. He held back a grin as she surveyed the room, his daughter and then him.

Mia bypassed him for Lindsey, her smile growing. “My goodness, you’ve gotten big. I’m your aunt, Mia.”

“Nan showed me pictures.” Lindsey offered her own smile. “You were a cop.”

“DEA agent,” Mia corrected. And then she smiled again. “Kind of the same. Are you ready to get this surgery over so you can come home?”

Lindsey nodded, but Blake noticed the look of hesitation. She didn’t know what to expect from the group of people that had suddenly become her family. He had told her about the house she’d lived in years ago, about the land, the horses. She had few memories, obviously. The main one being him holding her on the horse.

“It’s kind of scary to have this big family, huh?” Mia offered when Lindsey didn’t answer. “Don’t worry, it will get easier. I know from experience. I was eight years old when I became a Cooper.”

“Seriously?” Lindsey perked up, intrigued by Mia’s story. Mia had a way of doing that. Blake watched his sister lean in to share with his daughter.

“Yeah, for real. It was hard to get used to all of those Coopers. Sometimes I forgot to talk to people and tell them how I felt. So promise me you won’t do that.”

“I’ll try to remember.”

“Good girl. I’m always around to talk to. And your dad is always going to be there.”

Yeah, that was the sister he knew and loved. Sometimes she withdrew when she had a problem, but she knew how to connect when she really needed to. She focused her attention on him, smiling big as she looked him over.

“What?”

She laughed a little. “Blue teddy bear gowns are definitely your style.”

Lindsey laughed in response to his sister’s comment. He glanced past Mia at his daughter. “Don’t follow her example.”

“Oh, you love me.” Mia moved to stand next to his bed. “Do you know when they’ll do the surgery?”

“They’re waiting for results from one last test.”

“Gotcha.” She patted his arm, her new maternal side showing. She was a stepmother now to her husband, Slade’s, little boy, Caleb. “Is there anything I can do before I leave?”

“Could you get that computer over on the table? Lindsey has pictures to show me.”

“Got it.” Mia grabbed the laptop and Lindsey fired it up. He watched as his daughter and sister looked over the pictures. Mia commented on a few of the photographs and then she picked up the computer and brought it to him.

“Thanks.”

She smiled and shrugged it off. “Don’t mention it.”

Blake hit the slide show option and watched as his daughter’s life flashed across the computer screen. All ages, all locations. But she always looked happy. She hadn’t known what she was missing. The missing had been done by him. Mia glanced at Lindsey, then back at him. “She’s asleep.”

“She needs to rest.”

“She’s beautiful, Blake. And we aren’t going to let her go again.”

“Don’t.”

“Don’t what? Be a good aunt? Care about you?”

“Don’t be the family law enforcement officer.”

Mia leaned close to his ear. “I’m being the person in this family with the common sense to know that Jana Parker Cooper can’t be trusted. She came back for a reason. And when she gets what she wants, she’ll leave. Someone has to be aware of that.”

Blake lowered his voice. “Mia, I purposely never pursued charges because I don’t want her to run.”