The Cowboy's Healing Ways (Cooper Creek)

by Minton, Brenda

  “Not having her mother to tuck her in at night?” He said it with the slightest accent, his voice husky. She remembered he had a story. He hadn’t been born a Cooper.

  And she hated that she’d just become an emotional mess in front of him, spilling her deepest, darkest fears. She needed to get out more, to make friends and to remember that Jesse Cooper had a life and hadn’t signed on to be her shoulder to cry on.

  “You’re right.” She offered what she hoped looked like the smile an optimist would wear. “Of course you’re right.”

  “I know I’m right. You’re her mom. I love being a Cooper, don’t get me wrong, but when my mom first dropped me at the orphanage, and even for the first six months here, I could only think about seeing her again, finding her.”

  “Did you ever find her?” Laura let go of her story and focused on his, on a little boy who must have been afraid.

  “No.” He pulled up to the drive-through. “Do you want breakfast?”

  “No, I’m good.”

  He ordered two sausage biscuits. “I’m not pulling rank, but as your doctor, I’m telling you, you need to eat.”

  “It’s hard to eat.” She’d lost twenty pounds since her arrest. She didn’t tell him that.

  And yesterday her stepbrother, Ryan, had called. She’d made the mistake of answering and he’d asked for money. He’d apologized for running and leaving her to take the blame. She thanked him for that and hung up.

  “Coffee.” Jesse pulled her back to the present by handing her a steaming cup of coffee and a paper-wrapped biscuit.

  “Thank you.”

  He pulled back on the road and a few minutes later they were parking at the office where Laura was scheduled to meet with Abigail and the caseworker.

  The sausage biscuit Jesse had insisted she eat now settled in the pit of her stomach. She sipped coffee and told herself that worry was pointless. Whatever happened happened. Right?

  “It’ll be fine.” He glanced in the rearview mirror and smiled. “There they are.”

  For a second she focused on that smile. His smile made it easier. His smile made her forget, just for a second, that her stomach was tied in knots and her heart had a hole in it the size of Abigail.

  “Do you want me to stay for a few minutes?” He hit the button and unlocked the doors that had automatically locked when they took off from Dawson.

  “No, I’m good. And she would just wonder who you are.” She managed to laugh. “She’s a girl. At her age they believe life is a fairy tale and in her eyes you’d be a handsome prince who has come to rescue us.”

  His smile grew and her heart did a funny thump. “You think I’m a handsome prince?”

  “I said Abigail would think that. I don’t want her to get the wrong idea.”

  “Gotcha.” He handed her the purse she’d thrown in the backseat of the truck. “I’ll be back at noon. Right?”

  “Right.”

  Laura smiled a last thank-you and got out of the truck. As she did so, Abigail ran to her, throwing little-girl arms around her waist and holding on tight. Laura looked back at the truck she’d just climbed out of. Jesse tugged the brim of his hat and nodded just slightly.

  She mouthed thank you as he backed out of the parking space and then Abigail had all of her attention, pulling her toward the building and the caseworker.

  “Can you braid my hair, Mommy?” Abigail led her into the room where they would spend their quality time—a large room with green carpet, chairs meant for children, boxes of toys, a table with crayons and coloring books.

  “Of course I will. I even have new hairbands for you.”

  “Pink ones?”

  “Pink ones.”

  The caseworker took one of the few adult-size chairs. She pulled out a book and a notebook and watched them as they talked, did each other’s hair and then sat together and read books. Abigail wanted to do everything. So did Laura. She wanted to do everything they hadn’t been able to do in the months they’d been apart.

  After they’d done everything else Abigail climbed up on her lap. “I want to go home with you, Mommy.”

  “I know, honey. Hopefully soon.” She glanced at the caseworker, who had stopped reading and was writing in that ever-present notebook.

  The caseworker had a name. Annie. Laura even liked her. She was doing her job. She wasn’t the enemy.

  “Let’s read another book,” Laura suggested, hoping to get both of their minds off the reality that they would soon be separated again.

  Annie moved to the chair next to them. She sat quietly while Laura read and then she asked Abigail if she wanted a snack. Another woman appeared and Annie smiled and pointed for Abigail to go with her.

  “Liz will get you a sandwich.” Annie gave Abigail’s hand a light squeeze. Before she ran off with the other worker, Abigail hugged Laura tight.

  “She’s doing really great, Laura. The foster home she is in is one of our best. Though I know that doesn’t make it any easier.”

  “No, it doesn’t. I miss her. I need her back.”

  “I know. We’re going to have a caseworker from your new county of residence stop by your home and talk with you. We want to inspect the home, of course. We want to talk to your employer. Of course, we’ll do another lovely drug test.”

  “They’ll always be negative.”

  Annie touched her arm. “I know. Believe me, I’m on your side. If it was up to me, Abigail would be with you, no question.”

  “Thank you.” Laura closed her eyes tight against the sting of tears. Because someone believed her. Someone believed in her.

  “We have to do this in the proper way, but I promise, I’m going to move through the steps as quickly as possible.”

  “Oh, Annie, thank you.”

  “Laura, thank you for making my job so much easier. I don’t always get to reunite children with parents. And I don’t always get to feel good about it when it does happen.”

  Abigail returned, her smile wide as she bit into peanut butter and jelly. She walked to the window and looked out.

  “Is that the man who brought you here, Mommy?” Abigail climbed back on her lap.

  “It is. That’s my new boss. I clean his house. And he has horses, dogs and cats.”

  Annie smiled “Tell her about the home you live in, Laura.”

  “It has two bedrooms, Abigail. Your new bedroom has a pretty bed with a quilt and a white dresser. You’ll love it. When you look out the window you can see horses. There’s even a trail to the lake and we can go fishing together.”

  “I want to go now, Mommy.” Abigail leaned into her, the peanut-butter sandwich forgotten.

  “Not today, but soon.”

  “When is soon?” Abigail sobbed into her shoulder.

  Laura looked to Annie for an answer because she wouldn’t give her daughter false hope. All too often things didn’t work out as she planned.

  Annie brushed Abigail’s dark hair back from her face. “Soon means as soon as I can make it happen, Abigail. I hope by the end of summer.”

  Months. Laura closed her eyes at the reality of not weeks but months. She wanted weeks. She needed weeks. Or even days. Abigail moved in her arms. She looked down to see Annie taking her daughter from her lap.

  “Time to go, Abigail. Your mommy has a lot to do to get that room ready for you. And I think you’re going to eat pizza this evening and play miniature golf. Won’t that be fun?”

  Abigail didn’t nod; instead she shook her head vehemently.

  “I want to go with my mommy.”

  “I know.” Laura whispered the words that came out hoarse as her throat tightened.

  Annie held Abigail tight. “Let your mommy kiss you goodbye, sweetie.”

  Laura leaned to kiss her daughter. “Be brave, Abigail. I love you.”

  She ran from the room, from her daughter’s heartache, from her own pain, from the tears falling down her cheeks. She ran out the door and straight into the arms of Jesse Cooper.

  * * *r />
  Jesse had watched the scene unfold inside the building where Laura said goodbye to her daughter. He’d watched her tears, the heartbreak of her daughter. He had gotten out of the truck to open her door when she ran straight into his arms.

  He moved her to the side of the truck away from the window, out of view of those inside, and he held her as she cried. She leaned into his shoulder, sobs shaking her thin body. He brushed his hands down her back and held her close.

  “Shh, it’s going to work out,” he whispered close to her ear.

  She shook her head. “No, it won’t. How can it work out when it could be months before I get her back? What if she doesn’t want to come back with me by then? What if she can’t forgive me for doing this to her?”

  “You didn’t do this to her and she knows that. She loves you.”

  She continued to cry, wiping at her face with the back of her hand. “I wanted to take her, Jesse. I wanted to grab her up and run from that building with her.”

  “I don’t blame you.” He leaned close to her face, brushing a light kiss across her brow. And then he pulled back, before someone saw and got the wrong idea.

  Before he got wrong ideas. And that would be too easy with Laura in his arms. That realization took him by surprise.

  “We should go before she comes out.” Laura put more distance between them. She trembled and hugged herself tight. “I’m so sorry for that.”

  “Don’t be.” He opened his door. “Can you climb through to your side?”

  “I think so.”

  He stood back as she climbed in and then slid across to the passenger seat. Inside the building the caseworker had stood but she still held Abigail in her arms.

  “Where to now?” Laura’s eyes were still on the building they were backing away from.

  “I ran errands while you were visiting Abigail. We can go home, unless you have something you need to do in Tulsa.”

  She looked down at her phone as if she had something on her mind, and then she shook her head. “No, I’m good.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Yes, I’m sure.”

  He glanced both ways, waited for a few cars to speed past and then pulled onto the road.

  “It won’t be long and you’ll have her home with you.” He offered the assurance that he knew sounded like empty words when her heart had to be breaking.”

  “I know.” She let out a deep sigh. “It’s been so long. I know it isn’t her entire childhood, but at this point it feels as if it is.”

  “I’m sure it does.”

  She let out a shaky breath and smiled at him with tears still hovering in her eyes. “Let’s talk about you.”

  He grinned at that. “Sure, why not?”

  Before she could ask questions, her phone rang. She glanced at it and shook her head. Jesse shot her a questioning look that she didn’t seem inclined to notice.

  And he wasn’t inclined to let it go, not when she looked about ready to jump out of her skin.

  “Who is it?”

  “No one,” she whispered and looked away.

  He had half a notion to pull the truck over but thought it would push her to the point of jumping and running. Instead he gave it a minute, let her settle down, and then he tried again.

  “Laura, if it was no one, you wouldn’t have that look on your face. I’m asking because maybe I can help.”

  She glanced at the phone again and he thought she might be about to toss it out the window. Instead she shoved it in her purse. He kept his eyes on the road but glanced her way from time to time.

  “It’s my stepbrother.”

  “Have you talked to him?”

  A quick nod. “Yes. He needs money. I told him I don’t have money so he’s on his own.”

  “Has he threatened you?”

  “Not really. He asked how Abigail is doing in foster care and told me he’d heard that her foster family is real nice.”

  Jesse gripped the steering wheel a little tighter. “That isn’t a threat, but it does sound like he’s trying to make you think he knows where she is for some reason.”

  “I know. So on top of not having her with me, now I’m worried every second of every day that he’ll do something to her.”

  All of his life, Jesse had been pegged as the calm one in the Cooper household. He knew how to let things roll off his back. He could handle pressure in the emergency room of a hospital or in the middle of a Cooper-brother fight. He’d always taken that calm for granted and thought it was as natural as breathing. Until that moment. Looking at Laura, her face awash in fear for her daughter, he lost control.

  “We’ll take care of this.” Now he wanted to pull over and do more than talk. He wanted to pull the woman he’d hired as a housekeeper into his arms and make her feel safe.

  Messed up, that’s what this situation had become. He’d done a good deed for his grandmother and the ball kept rolling.

  “I’m fine, Jesse. I can handle it.”

  Because that’s what she did, he thought. She handled her life, her problems, her fears. Alone.

  “Laura, you have people who can help. It’s your choice. Hide your fear. Hide what’s going on. Or let the Coopers do what they do best.”

  “What’s that?”

  “We circle the wagons. And it’s a good feeling, to have the family circle the wagons around you.” He glanced at the clock on the dash of the truck. “As a matter of fact, Mom called earlier and said we should stop by for supper. We’re going to be a little early, but that’s okay. We’ll get this figured out.”

  She sniffled and glanced away. He let her have the moment to pull it together because he remembered what this felt like, to suddenly have people he could count on. He’d fought it for a while, thinking he still had to take care of himself. Then he’d given in and let the Coopers be his family.

  They’d do the same with Laura because that’s who the Coopers were.

  Chapter Seven

  Somehow Laura fell asleep. When she woke up they were driving up a tree-lined drive. Ahead of them she could see a two-story brick home, Georgian-style with a covered front porch flanked by shrubs. Jesse pulled the truck into a parking space in front of the two-story multicar garage.

  “Here we are.” He shot her a cautious look. “Good nap?”

  She nodded and continued to stare at the house because it was easier than looking at Jesse. Not that he wasn’t easy on the eyes. He was her boss and a decent man who didn’t mind helping out a woman in need. Caring came easy for him. She didn’t want to confuse caring with any other emotion, even attraction.

  “Yes, good nap.” She looked at her watch. “We’re a few hours early for supper.”

  “I know. I thought I’d show you around. And I know the best way to get your mind off your troubles.”

  “What would that be?”

  He smiled that megawatt smile that could melt a girl’s toes if she wasn’t strong. Laura liked to think she was strong.

  “Do you know how to ride?”

  She shook her head. “Sorry, never been on a horse. I grew up in the city. I can ride a bus but not a horse.”

  “Then it’s time to learn.”

  “I don’t know.”

  He opened his door to get out. “Trust me.”

  She wanted to, but her heart ached and she was all out of trust. It had been used up, poured out, stepped on and depleted long ago.

  She joined him on the walkway that led to the house. As they drew closer to the huge home, her breath tightened in her chest. Jesse glanced down and smiled.

  “Breathe.” He reached for her hand.

  “I’m breathing.” Barely. His hand on hers didn’t help. She knew he meant it to comfort her, give her strength. Instead it made her feel weak. Mostly in the knees.

  When they walked up the front steps of the house the door opened. A man a little older than Jesse stepped out. He nodded first to her, then to Jesse, and he shook his head. “Housekeeper my foot.”

  Jesse mutt
ered something in Spanish. The other man laughed and kept walking but he glanced back as he headed down the steps. Laura stumbled over the slight step into the house.

  “Ignore Blake. He’s in a good mood and taking it out on everyone around him.” Jesse led her through the living room, barely giving her time to study the family pictures on the walls or the massive fireplace that stretched across the far wall.

  “Blake is one of your brothers?”

  “Yes.” He led her through a dining room with two long tables set end to end. “He recently found his daughter.”

  “Found her?”

  “Her mother took off with her years ago. There have been a few phone calls, some pictures. He hired a P.I. who found her living in Africa.”

  “Amazing.” She could sympathize because she knew how it felt to lose a daughter. She couldn’t imagine years without Abigail.

  And then they were in the kitchen. A woman turned from the sink, her smile bright and welcoming. She wiped wet hands on a towel and then brushed back her short brown hair.

  “Mom.” Jesse hugged the woman and she stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. “This is Laura White.”

  “Laura, I’m so pleased to finally meet you. And I’m so glad you’re feeling better.” She patted Jesse’s arm. “And since we haven’t been officially introduced, I’m Angie Cooper, Jesse’s mother and Myrna’s daughter-in-law.”

  Laura held out a hand, which Angie Cooper took in hers and held.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Cooper.”

  “Call me Angie—everyone does.”

  “Angie.” Laura bit down on her bottom lip and then managed a smile rather than the tears that stung her eyes.

  Angie shot Jesse a look. He had moved to the stove and had a dipper in a pan that steamed and smelled wonderful. “Stay out of that soup.”

  Jesse lowered the dipper and grinned. Laura looked away, choosing to study the details of the large kitchen with its many windows and shelves lined with planters overflowing with herbs of all types. At one end was a large table, and French doors led to a patio where a swimming pool reflected the blue sky on its shimmering surface.

  “I hope you like the soup, Laura. It’s a new recipe. And I have homemade bread rising.”