gotten a hundred percent more complicated.
“I’ll be back,” he said, moderating his tone. He wasn’t sure why he said it. Maybe it was because of their stricken expressions, or because he knew that he owed that child something more than DNA, whether he liked it or not.
Then he pushed out onto the sidewalk and pulled the door solidly shut behind him.
Harper hadn’t handled that very well, had she? Or maybe it was just Gabe who hadn’t taken the news very gracefully. It wasn’t like she’d had a lot of time to plan it out. If she’d waited and told him another time—maybe when he was back in Fort Collins—there would always be the question of why she hadn’t told him now. This was the right thing...wasn’t it? How much gentler could she have been?
Regardless, Gabe had run for the hills, and she wasn’t surprised. At least she shouldn’t be.
Harper finished dismantling the mannequins that had been slashed—she couldn’t look at those demolished dresses any longer. They were expensive gowns, and while insurance would compensate her for her loss, it wasn’t only about the money. The vandalism was violent, frightening and such a willful destruction of something beautiful. She took some photos for insurance purposes and then folded what was left of the gowns into storage boxes. Maybe she could make use of some of the fabric for something else and they wouldn’t be a complete waste.
Harper kept looking up whenever she heard a noise, expecting to see Gabe come back in, but he didn’t return. Zoey finished drawing her pictures, and when Harper was convinced she wouldn’t get anything more done with her daughter underfoot, she locked up the shop and drove Zoey home.
Harper didn’t live far from the shop. Her house was a little two-bedroom bungalow two streets over from where she’d grown up. It was the perfect-size home for a woman on her own, so bringing Zoey into the mix had required some reshuffling—of everything. What used to be her home office was now Zoey’s bedroom. It was just as well, Harper decided. Now that she had a child to care for, she’d leave work at work. There was no more room for it in her evenings with Zoey.
“Will we get the crowns back?” Zoey asked, kicking off her shoes. Harper caught the girl’s jacket before it hit the ground and hung it on the peg behind her.
“Probably not,” Harper said. “But the insurance company will give us money to order more.”
“I miss the crowns.”
So did Harper. This robbery felt personal. It was an invasion, and it had left her more shaken than she liked to admit.
“Are you hungry?” Harper asked.
“Yep. Can I have a snack?” Zoey asked hopefully. “I want cheese.”
“I’ll make supper,” Harper replied with a rueful shake of her head. “And after supper, you’re going to visit Grandma Jane for a little while. She’s going to make cookies with you.”
“Cookies?”
“You know Grandma Jane’s cookies.” She smiled.
“Mommy made good cookies...”
There it was—the sadness that always seemed so close to the surface, and Harper sank down onto her haunches and opened up her arms. “Come here, sweetie.”
Zoey crawled into Harper’s arms and she held the girl close, breathing in the scent of her. This child had lost so much, and Harper couldn’t make it okay. All she could do was hug her through it.
“I miss your mom, too,” Harper said softly. “Her cookies were great, weren’t they?”
Zoey nodded mutely against Harper’s shoulder.
“And we’ll see her again, Zoey,” Harper murmured. “One day, when we’re in Heaven. That wasn’t a forever goodbye, sweetie. That was a...so long for now.”
That’s when Harper would have to hand Zoey back to Andrea and tell her that she’d done her very best to raise Zoey right and to keep Andrea’s memory alive. It was a mammoth job, and she was only now starting to appreciate how hard it would be.
Harper’s legs began to cramp, and she laughed softly. “I’m going to fall over, Zoey.”
Zoey giggled and wriggled free as Harper caught herself with one hand, and Zoey wandered off to the living room. Thankfully, Harper wasn’t completely alone in this. She had the grandparents—Andrea’s parents and her own—who were a wealth of advice, babysitting and prayer. Plus there was her sister, friends and community... Harper would take all the help she could get.
Supper that night consisted of chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes and some boiled carrots on the side. Boiled carrots were one of the few vegetables that Zoey would eat without too much complaint. One of the things Harper had learned over the last six months was that Zoey was capable of living entirely off snack food if allowed, and it was up to Harper to insist upon meals three times a day. Cheese sticks, applesauce cups and fish-shaped crackers did not make for balanced nutrition. Most days. Some days, she chose her battles.
And speaking of battles, today she’d chosen a doozy telling Gabe about his daughter. Thinking about it now, she should have talked to Andrea’s parents, Mike and Jane Murphy, first. They’d certainly have a few opinions about what she’d just done, and she honestly wasn’t sure if she’d have their support in this.
“Lord, what was I thinking?” she breathed.
Harper rubbed her hands over her face. She wouldn’t rest tonight—not while she was wondering how Gabe had taken all of this. She had three options: talk to the Murphys and see how they reacted, talk to Gabe and see what he was feeling, or...wait.
Waiting wasn’t actually an option—who was she kidding? Since Zoey was scheduled to hang out with her grandparents this evening, she might as well make use of the time to herself and get things sorted out with Gabe. The Murphys would have questions—lots of them—and she’d rather have a few answers lined up.
So that evening, after dropping Zoey off with the Murphys, Harper drove to the police station and parked. The station glowed from the inside, and Harper eyed the brick building uncertainly. If Gabe was working, she wasn’t going to be a welcome sight.
“Whatever,” she muttered aloud.
Harper got out of her vehicle and headed up the walk to the front door. So he wouldn’t be thrilled to see her... She shouldn’t have to chase the man down, either! He’d just been told that he was a father, not that he was dying. Any man should be honored to be Zoey’s dad. She was a smart, sweet little girl with a heart of gold, and acknowledging her wasn’t a punishment. So let him be uncomfortable—she was in Zoey’s court right now, and she was doing this for her daughter.
Harper trotted up the front steps and pulled open the glass door. A welcome wave of warmth hit her as she stepped inside the precinct. She rubbed her hands together and paused at the empty reception desk. She glanced at her watch—it was almost seven o’clock, and the receptionist would have already gone home. So she headed over to the bull pen and peered inside.
Bryce Camden was sitting at his desk,
