The Deputy's Unexpected Family

by Patricia Johns

  “I knew her—as kids. Teenagers. I dated her best friend,” Gabe said.

  “Yeah?” Bryce nodded. “That might be useful. Why not offer to help out in the cleanup? Just...be here for a bit.”

  Back in the day, Gabe would have jumped at the chance. He’d had a thing for Harper Kemp, but she’d been steps above him. She was smart, cute, had a plan for her future... And he’d been a messed-up teenager whose grandmother ran him down on a nightly basis. He’d asked her out once, and she’d turned him down flat. He hadn’t tried again.

  Looking at Harper now with those sad green eyes and her arms crossed protectively over her chest, all those old feelings from years ago came flooding back. Harper never acted like she needed him—or any guy—but she still sparked that protective instinct inside of him. He wanted to offer something, and with this uniform—at least for the next two weeks—he could.

  “I could go plainclothes and keep an eye out,” Gabe said. “We want to catch these guys, not just scare them off.”

  “My thoughts exactly,” Bryce confirmed. “If we can be ready for their next hit, we might be able to take these guys in. Let me check in with the chief, and I’ll confirm if we’ve got a plan.”

  Bryce pulled out his cell phone and walked a few feet away to make his call. Gabe shoved the form into his back pocket. He was here to do his time and then head back to Fort Collins. Period. It was humiliating enough to be back under these circumstances. However, catching a robbery gang might make his stay here less agonizing. He’d go back to Fort Collins as a success, instead of chastised.

  “What’s going on?” Harper asked, coming up beside Gabe.

  “We’re thinking that this looks similar to a few cases in Fort Collins,” Gabe replied.

  “That’s good, right?” Harper brightened.

  “Well...” He shrugged. “Not really. They have an MO of returning to the scene and hitting it again a little while later, after they’ve scoped the place out and have a better idea of what they’re aiming at.”

  Harper paled. “I have a security system. It didn’t do much good.”

  “Like I said, they’re pros,” Gabe said, and when he saw the nervousness flicker across her features, he realized that she needed reassurance, not more reason to be afraid.

  “So what should I do?” Harper asked.

  At that moment, Bryce headed across the store in their direction and gave Gabe a decisive nod. When he reached them, he said, “It’s a go.”

  “What’s a ‘go’?” Harper asked, her attention swinging between them.

  “We need a police presence around here for a little while to protect you, but it can’t be too obvious, ma’am,” Bryce replied. “Officer Banks will be here today, and he’ll keep an eye out for your safety and for any...unusual activity in the area.”

  Harper froze for a moment, then shot Gabe a quizzical look, one eyebrow raised.

  “It’s for your safety,” Gabe said with a small smile. “Besides, this is now about the chief’s orders.”

  She’d probably prefer a different officer, maybe even Bryce—safely married and constantly gushing about his toddler daughter. Gabe had already heard more about that baby than he knew about any other kid at the moment, and he’d only been back in town for a day.

  “We thought that since you know each other already, it might make things less awkward. Officer Banks has offered to help clean the place up once the paperwork is done.” Bryce’s lips turned up in a small, ironic smile.

  “You did?” Harper’s expression softened.

  “Yeah.”

  “That’s really kind.” Harper sighed. “It would definitely help. Dad’s health hasn’t been great lately, and I’ve been dreading telling him about this. But if I can tell him that we’ve got a plainclothes officer at the store—”

  “We’re just about done gathering evidence,” Bryce broke in. “So we’ll be out of your hair in a few minutes. Officer Banks can take it from there.”

  Bryce headed toward the front door, and Gabe glanced down at Harper. She was rigid, her spine ramrod straight and her lips pressed together in a thin line. Harper looked slowly up at him. “How much danger are we in, Gabe? Be honest.”

  Her green eyes locked on to him, and he felt a surge of longing. It had been more than ten years since he’d had an unrequited crush on this woman, and one look from her still made him wish he could be some sort of superhero for her.

  “Significantly less if I’m around.” He shot her a grin. “I’m trained to deal with this stuff. Trust me on that.”

  Harper sighed. Did she recognize the difference between a messed-up teen and a fully trained police officer? He was particularly adept in hand-to-hand combat, and he was the best shot in Fort Collins. She was safe in his hands, and he was no longer that kid she couldn’t take seriously. He was every inch a man now.

  “Let me keep an eye on the place, and you can focus on the stuff you need to take care of,” Gabe said, adding, “like Andrea’s little girl.”

  She nodded, then said softly, “Her name is Zoey.”

  “Zoey,” he repeated. It seemed to matter to her that he recognize Andrea’s daughter a little more directly. But he’d never been very good with kids, and it wasn’t going to start now. She could take care of her business, and he’d take care of her. Intimidating bad guys and protecting the vulnerable—that part he was good at. Kids and family were his weaknesses, and yet he was back in Fort Collins where he had his own family history to face.

  He could endure anything for two weeks.

  Chapter Two

  The next morning, Harper unlocked the front door for Blessings Bridal and let Zoey go in first. She paused and looked along the street. It was the same familiar road—sun dappled with intermittent trees spreading long branches over the asphalt. All was quiet, as it normally was this time of day, the only sound that of a chattering squirrel. A police cruiser eased slowly down the street. The officer—a woman—gave her a quick wave.

  Harper had slept terribly the night before. Her father was worried now—which was to be expected even after she’d assured him that she had it all under control. And now Harper was faced with the paperwork from the insurance company.

  “Let me help you, sweetheart,” her father had said. “I’m retired, not dead!”

  But Harper didn’t want his help; she needed to take care of the robbery paperwork on her own. If she was going to be opening a second store in Comfort Creek—a maternity shop—she’d better prove to more than just herself that she could handle the stress and the demands. There had been more than one well-meaning person who had questioned if she could raise a young child while running this shop... So while it was all well and good to say she had nothing to prove to anyone, she did.

  Running Blessings Bridal was satisfying in its own right, but she wanted more—a store with her own name on the bottom line, not her father’s. Besides, this store was all that her father had to will to Harper and Heidi, and since it would be the bulk of their inheritance, that was going to be complicated. Eventually, at least. The second shop, Blessings Maternity, was going to be Harper’s first personal foray into the business world, and she wanted it so badly that she could taste it.

  “It’s all messed up!” Zoey said, looking around the store. Harper pulled the door shut and locked it after them. She and Gabe had boarded over the broken window yesterday, and the glass and mess was mostly cleaned up. The display case still sat vacant.

  “I know, sweetie. Someone broke in. I told you about that, right? So now we have to clean it up.” Harper put the boxed wedding dress on the counter. She’d brought it home with her last night—not taking any chances on a family heirloom—but the sewing machine and all the tools she’d need for the fitting were here in the shop.

  Zoey went to the display case and sighed. “The crowns are gone.”

  Zoey loved the tiaras, an
d when the shop was closed, Harper would let her try them on in front of the full-length mirror. It had started when Andrea would visit after hours, and Zoey would sit on her mother’s lap and stare at her reflection with a crystal tiara on her little head.

  “I know. The insurance company will give us money so we can get more. You can help me choose them.”

  “Today?” Zoey asked hopefully.

  “Not today. We’re going to do a fitting for Aunt Heidi’s wedding dress,” Harper said. “And you get to help.”

  Since the store was temporarily closed, Harper had pulled Zoey out of preschool for a few days. Preschool had been a constant for Zoey from before her mother passed away, but a few days of girl time would be good for them, too, Harper decided. Besides, it was broad daylight, and she highly doubted that anyone would come back to rob the place at this time of day.

  “It’s our wedding dress, right?” Zoey was still working out how all of this worked.

  “Yes, it’s our dress. My grandmother wore that dress when she got married a very long time ago. And now Aunt Heidi is going to wear it for her wedding. And maybe you’ll even wear it for yours.”

  If there was enough of it left. If Heidi didn’t demand so many alterations that there was nothing salvageable for another bride...

  “Grandma Jane...” Zoey said softly.

  “No, Great-Grandma Kemp.” Harper sighed. Six months wasn’t really long enough for Zoey to embrace all the extra family, let alone fully understand what ancestors were. She was four. She knew about the family she saw on a regular basis, which included Andrea’s mom, Grandma Jane, and Harper’s mom, Grandma Georgia. Having two grandmas was as much as Zoey seemed able to wrap her mind around right now. And having a new mother...

  Harper opened the box on the counter and looked down at the familiar material. It was a gown from 1950—A-line taffeta covered in lace with sheer lace sleeves and décolletage. The dress had fit their grandmother at ankle length, but Grandma Kemp had been a petite woman, and Heidi was significantly taller, so Harper was guessing it would fit her sister at a tea length—perfect for today’s fashion.

  There was a tap at the front door, and Harper looked up to see Heidi through the unbroken window. She wore a leather jacket and a pair of jeans, a floppy leather bag tossed over one shoulder. A pair of sunglasses was perched on top of her short-cropped auburn hair.

  “Auntie Heidi!” Zoey announced, and Harper crossed the store and unlocked the door. As Heidi came inside, she glanced around. She’d dropped by yesterday and seen the state of things—as had a quarter of the town—so it wasn’t a shock.

  “So where’s Gabe?” Heidi asked.

  “I don’t know. He’s not going to be here every second,” Harper replied. “The police are doing a lot of drive-bys, though.”

  “Hmm.” Heidi ruffled Zoey’s hair. “And how’s my favorite flower girl?”

  “I’m good!” Zoey sang out. She was excited to be in Heidi’s wedding, and Harper was grateful to her sister for including her new daughter. Anything that made Zoey feel more accepted and at home was a plus.

  While Heidi deposited her bag and sunglasses on a nearby chair, Harper pulled the antique dress out of the box. It had been stored impeccably over the years, and while the lace had darkened over time, it was still a stunning dress by any standard.

  “Is he still as good-looking as he used to be?” Heidi asked.

  “Good looks only go so far,” Harper replied. But yes, he was—more so. He’d matured into a ruggedly handsome man with a steely gaze that could make a woman’s stomach flip. But what use was that when a man’s character didn’t match up?

  “Does he...know?” Heidi murmured as Zoey took the sunglasses to the mirror to try them on.

  “No.” Harper knew what her sister was asking, and she didn’t want to say too much within Zoey’s hearing distance. “He seems completely oblivious.”

  “Are you going to tell him?” Heidi glanced toward Zoey, too, but the girl seemed rapt in her game of dress up.

  “I don’t know,” Harper admitted quietly. “I feel like I should. He deserves to know at least, doesn’t he?”

  “Andrea didn’t think so.” Heidi met Harper’s gaze and held it.

  “That was a personal grudge, though,” Harper said. Andrea had been deeply hurt by Gabe’s inability to commit to her, and she’d never been able to forgive him. She said he hadn’t wanted to be a husband or a father, and she was protecting her daughter from the ultimate rejection. But Zoey was his daughter, and meeting her in person might change that.

  “Something can be both personal and the right choice,” Heidi replied softly.

  “One day, Zoey’s going to ask about her dad, and what then?” Harper asked. She couldn’t lie to her daughter, and without a really good reason otherwise, Harper couldn’t lie to Gabe, either. “I’d hoped to be able to put off thinking about Gabe until another time. But with him in town, I’m going to have to face this sooner than I thought.”

  Zoey tired of her game and came back to where they were standing. She wore the sunglasses perched on the top of her little head the way she’d seen Heidi wear them, and they slipped and dropped to the floor. Heidi bent to pick them up.

  Harper gently shook the dress out of its folds and held it aloft for her sister to see in full length. Heidi slowly rose from her crouch to collect the glasses, her gaze moving over the dress in wonder.

  “This is it...” Heidi breathed.

  “Grandma’s dress.”

  No one had worn the dress since Grandma Kemp, and while Harper had done a few repairs where the lining had fallen apart, nothing else was changed.

  “I’m thinking it will fit you at about a tea length.” Harper went on. “We’ll have to let out the waist a little bit...since I’m pretty sure you don’t want to be squeezing yourself into a 1950s girdle. And Grandma was tiny.”

  Heidi chuckled. “No girdle. And I want to shorten it to above the knee.”

  “Above the knee?” Harper gathered the dress back up and put it on top of the box. “That’s not even funny.”

  “I’m not joking,” Heidi retorted. “I don’t see myself as a traditional bride anyway.”

  “Not traditional?” Harper retorted. “Heidi, you quit your job to marry this man! If that isn’t traditional, I don’t know what is!”

  “Planning a society wedding is going to be a full-time job in itself,” Heidi said. “Besides, I obviously won’t need the income anymore. It’s not like the job was my dream career. I was a receptionist.”

  “That job was yours,” Harper countered. “That matters. Keeping something that belongs to you...” Harper sighed. In her humble opinion, her sister was fighting the wrong battle over keeping some independence. Heidi was waging war for a dress, but she’d given up her job. “I’m just saying, Chris’s family is very traditional. You’re marrying into one of the wealthiest families in the county. If you leave the dress as is, it’ll be tea length. So midcalf.”

  “That’s long, Harper.”

  Harper rolled her eyes. “Do you have to be so different all the time?”

  “I’ll still be me,” Heidi quipped. “Difficult as always. Thankfully, Chris thinks I’m pretty.”

  “You’ll want nice pictures. And so will he, for that matter.”

  “I’ll want pictures that show me as me,” Heidi countered. “I have never in my life worn a long dress anywhere. I’m a jeans girl. So I think a short, flirty dress is a nice compromise.”

  “And hack apart Grandma’s dress?” Harper gaped at her sister.

  “We could use the leftover material in a flower girl dress for Zoey.” Heidi shrugged, a smile coming to her face. “It would be perfect!”

  It would be perfect for Heidi, but what about any chance of Harper wearing her grandmother’s dress for her own wedding one day? What about Zoey’s wedding?


  “I want to wear it, too,” Harper confessed.

  “We always said that the first sister to get married would wear it,” Heidi interjected.

  “We were teenagers at the time,” Harper replied. “And quite frankly, being the older sister, I’d assumed that would fall to me.”

  “Well, sorry to beat you to it!” Tears sparkled in Heidi’s eyes. “So what are you saying—you won’t alter the dress for me?”

  Harper didn’t answer. She wasn’t sure what she was saying.

  “Why don’t you use the veil,” Heidi said. “I never wanted a veil anyway. I want a little fascinator like people do in London weddings.”

  “The veil is gone,” Harper said woodenly. “It was taken in the robbery.”

  She met her sister’s gaze and they were both silent for a moment. Heidi sighed.

  “I didn’t know...”

  “It would have been fair, though,” Harper said after a moment. “I might have agreed to that.”

  Tears misted Harper’s gaze and she looked down at Zoey, who was staring up at them, her gray eyes wide.

  “It’s okay, Zoey,” Harper said. “Auntie and I are just like little girls sometimes, and bicker. It’s nothing to worry about.”

  “No biting,” Zoey whispered, and Harper and Heidi burst out laughing.

  Harper scooped her daughter up into her arms and gave her a squeeze. “That’s solid advice, Zoey.”

  They’d figure out something, and Harper sent up a silent and slightly selfish prayer that their solution would leave her a piece of her grandmother’s legacy for her own wedding day...and that she might be as blessed as her sister in the romance department. Heidi’s fiancé, Chris, was a great guy—smart, loyal, sweet...

  But even if she didn’t find her own Mr. Right anytime soon, Harper had her daughter, whom she loved with all her heart. She’d never worn maternity clothes or given birth, but she knew that she was every bit a mom. Some blessings came along unexpected paths.

  * * *