His Lost and Found Family

by Sarah M. Anderson

  Jake gritted his teeth. He had no choice but to stay here. He looked at the baby girl. She was still crying—but at least now the decibel level wouldn’t shatter glass. Jake tried to smile at the baby, but the terror the tiny baby—his daughter, for crying out loud!—was sparking in his chest was making breathing difficult.

  He’d never held a baby before. He didn’t have the first idea how to do any of the basics—bottles and diapers and everything else. He and Skye had wanted to wait.

  That wasn’t true. Skye had wanted a baby from the very beginning. But Jake had looked at the reality of being a young couple barely scraping by and he’d convinced her that they needed to wait until their financial situation was more secure.

  That was another thing she’d thrown back in his face during the fight, another ultimatum she’d issued. Have a baby or it’s over.

  He’d said after the Bahrain job. He was going to make a fortune in Bahrain. Another year, and they’d be set.

  “Skye is going to be released to my care, maybe tomorrow.”

  “Are you going to be able to take care of her?”

  Jake would have normally taken umbrage at his brother’s attitude, but right now? Yeah, it was a danged good question.

  “I don’t know.”

  Near silence descended upon the room. “We could keep her,” Lark finally said, looking at the baby.

  “What?”

  “We could keep Grace—just until Skye gets settled. Keaton and I know her schedule. We know how to take care of her. She shouldn’t be out in this weather, anyway, not until she’s stronger. That way, you can focus on getting Skye back into shape. You can bring Skye over here to visit the baby, but she won’t have to get up in the middle of the night.”

  Could he do that? This was his daughter. A daughter he’d only known about for...five hours, but still—his flesh and blood.

  He didn’t want to be a monster about this. This wasn’t him abandoning the baby. This was him getting Skye to the point where she could take over, right?

  Plus, if he left Grace here, that would prove that he wasn’t going to skip town again. “Would that be okay? I don’t want to impose, but the sooner we can get Skye back to full strength, the better.”

  Lark sighed as she looked at Grace. “Keaton and I already have it all worked out and, really, she’s an angel.”

  “I’ll need to get a house of my own. The whole point of you keeping the baby here is to give Skye room to recover at her own pace.” To put it less tactfully, he didn’t want to sleep under the same roof as Keaton and Lark—even if they were being really good to Grace.

  “You’re actually going to stay?” Keaton sounded doubtful.

  Jake let the comment slide. “Skye’s doctors are here and I’m not going to do a damn thing that might set her back. I know you don’t believe this, but I didn’t know about the tornado until this morning. Hell, I don’t even know if Mom and Dad came through all right.” If he’d known...

  “Mom and Dad are okay,” Keaton said in a quiet voice. “Some property damage. The ranch house is being rebuilt, but they were in Florida and Alabama, checking out some retirement properties, so they weren’t in the line of the storm. We’ve had them over a few times.”

  “Good. I’m glad.” Strangely, he was. He’d spent the last four years pointedly not caring about what his family was doing. They’d wanted him to put the family above Skye. Nothing was more important to him than Skye.

  “They adore Grace,” Lark said in a way that made it pretty clear that this absolved most of their sins in her eyes.

  “And they’ve come to see that Lark is nothing like her parents,” Keaton went on. “I think they’re realizing that not all Taylors are lying, cheating dogs.”

  Bitterness rose up in the back of Jake’s throat. Oh, sure—now his parents were going to open their arms and welcome a Taylor into the family. But not for Jake and Skye when he had needed them to.

  “What about your parents?” he asked Lark.

  She dropped her eyes. “They’re...okay. Fine.”

  “Whit Daltry’s got some houses for rent in Pine Valley,” Keaton said, changing the subject. “I think a couple of them are furnished—not too far from here. I’ll call him.”

  “Thanks. That’d be great.” He was not buying a house. He was not staying in Royal long. Just long enough to get Skye back on her feet and figure out where they stood.

  Just then, the baby made a little hiccup-sigh noise that pulled at his heartstrings.

  Lark shifted Grace off of her shoulder. Keaton picked the baby up so smoothly that Jake was jealous. “Grace, honey—this is your daddy,” Keaton said as he rubbed her on her back. Then, to Jake, he added, “You ready?”

  Not really—but Jake wasn’t going to admit that to Keaton. He tried to cradle his arms in the right way. Then Keaton laid the baby out in them.

  The world seemed to tilt off its axis as Jake looked down into his daughter’s eyes. They were a pale blue—just like her mother’s. Up close now, he could see that Grace had wispy hairs on her head that were so white and fine they were almost see-through.

  She didn’t start bawling, which he took as a good sign. Instead, she waved her tiny hands around, so of course he had to offer her one of his fingers. When she latched on to it, he felt lost and yet not lost at the same time.

  He was responsible for this little girl from this moment until the day he drew his last breath. The weight of it hit him so hard that, if he hadn’t already been sitting, his knees would have buckled.

  This was his daughter. He and Skye had created this little person.

  God, he wished she were here with him. That they could have done this together. That things between them had been different. That he’d been different.

  But he couldn’t change the past, not when his present—and his future—was gripping his little finger with surprising strength.

  “Hi, Grace,” he whispered. He shook his hand a little, raising her fist with his pinkie finger. “It’s so good to meet you.”

  The baby smiled, which made Jake feel ten feet tall. “Hey, she’s smiling at—”

  Then a horrible noise—and an even more horrible smell—cut him off.

  Keaton began to laugh. The dog whined and put its paws over its nose.

  “Sorry,” Lark said, rising quickly. “She’s about due for another bottle, too.”

  “Time for your first lesson—diapers,” Keaton said as he clapped Jake on the back. “Welcome to fatherhood.”

  Three

  “Grace is with Lark, right?” Skye asked. She knew Jake had answered that question at least three times already, but she wanted to see her daughter.

  “Are you asking because you don’t remember the answer or because you don’t trust me?” Jake grinned at her from the driver’s seat. It was an easy grin that warmed her from the inside out—but there was something underneath it that had an edge.

  She was going home. With Jake. The past few days had been the longest of her waking life. Skye had been ready and willing to leave that hospital far behind and get back to making new memories with Jake.

  “I just...I just want to see her again. I remember you already said yes,” she hurried to add. “I feel like I’ve missed so much.” She laughed. “Probably because I have.”

  The process of being released from the hospital had taken most of the day. Late winter twilight settled over the landscape as Jake drove toward their new home. “And...we’re not going back to our apartment, right?”

  “That’s right,” he said gently. “The doctor wants you to stay close to the hospital. I rented a house. It’s close to Lark and the baby and not too far from the hospital.”

  “I wish I remembered Grace,” she said, an impotent frustration bubbling up. “Why is Lark keeping her?”

 
“Because Lark is a nurse and you need to recover,” he answered smoothly. “We’ll go over and visit, I promise. And I always keep my promises, don’t I?”

  “Yes...” She tried to make sense of that hidden edge to his words It was almost as if he was mad at her. But did that make any sense?

  No, it didn’t. He was probably just upset that she’d been hurt so badly. Jake had never been the best at expressing his feelings. She knew there were holes in her memory and she didn’t know if those holes would ever get filled.

  But she was still here and she was getting better. She’d just have to make some new memories with Jake. And with Grace.

  She looked around and was surprised to see that she recognized the road they were on. “Stop!” she cried, feeling hopeful. Now was as good a time as any to start making some of those new memories.

  “What?” Jake asked in alarm as he slammed on the brakes. His right arm flew across her chest to keep her from lurching forward.

  “We used to park here, remember?” She undid her seat belt and slid over to him. “We used to stop here on the way home.”

  She grinned nervously at him. Yes, she wanted to get home, but she’d been in a bed—by herself—for the last four months. Four months without Jake. It was time to fix that starting right now.

  Jake did not bend much in her arms. She ran her fingers through his hair and pulled him down to her. “We did stop here, didn’t we? I didn’t get that wrong, did I?”

  “We did,” he said through gritted teeth.

  “Are you going to kiss me, Jake Holt?” she whispered against his lips.

  He turned his head. “The doctor said—he said we shouldn’t stress you out too much. Physically.”

  Skye sighed in disappointment. “Not even if I want to be stressed? Just a little? Not even a kiss?”

  Jake didn’t reply for a moment. Then he sort of chuckled and said, “When we used to stop here, I don’t remember it ever being just a kiss.”

  Skye leaned into him, feeling his warmth. The hospital had been cold. But Jake had always run hot. She’d loved curling up against him in the middle of winter, letting his body warm hers until things started to get downright steamy.

  “I’ve missed you so much,” she told him. It felt like an important thing to say. She was pretty sure she’d said it before, but she wanted to say it again.

  He didn’t respond. Not the way she’d hoped. Instead, he said, “Sorry, traffic. Can you buckle up? I don’t want another car accident. I just got you out of that hospital.” He said it in a jokey kind of way, as if she was supposed to laugh along with him. But she didn’t.

  “All right. But later I’m going to kiss you. I don’t care what the doctors said.”

  “Later,” he agreed. He waited until she was buckled up and then he drove on.

  “How long will we be in Royal?” she asked. “I know how much you hate it here. I wish you didn’t have to stay just because of me.”

  He tensed. “Aren’t you glad to be back home?”

  “I guess...” He shot her a worried look. “What?”

  “I thought you’d be glad to be here, that’s all. You’d talked about coming home—remember?”

  “Oh, I know. I wish our families would see the light of day and put the feud to rest.” She sighed. She was missing something again. It was as if there were a fog over her mind that was so thick that it hid things from her. But when she tried to grab it or push it aside, it slipped through her fingers. It was both there and not there. Just like her memory, apparently. “But I’d rather be with you than deal with my parents. Have you seen them? I don’t think I have. I’ve seen Lark. And I want to say that... Didn’t Lark come in and talk to me? While I was sick? She’s with Keaton now, right?”

  “Yeah, that’s right.” He gave her a tight smile.

  “Good. I’m glad. I knew the Taylors and the Holts could get along if they just...just...oh, shoot. I lost another word.”

  “It’s okay,” Jake said quickly. “I understand what you mean. Hey—here we are.”

  Jake turned past a big sign that announced they were in Pine Valley. They drove past spacious homes set far back from the road.

  “Is this where we’re going to stay? This is nice,” Skye said, glancing out the window.

  “I wanted to get the best for you,” he told her. “This is a furnished house, but if there’s something you want from the apartment back in Houston...” His voice trailed off. “Or I can buy you new things, too. Money is no object.”

  “Since when?” she demanded. “I mean, we were just getting comfortable. I don’t think we should drain the bank accounts dry.”

  “Oh. Um, well—hmm. The last job,” he said, stumbling over the words. “I, uh, I did a great job and I got a huge bonus.”

  “You did? Oh, Jake—that’s wonderful!” But then confusion set in again. “Is that why you weren’t with me? In the accident? Because of the job?”

  “Yeah. This is it.” He pulled into a long drive. “This house has a small gym in it. That’s why I picked it. That way you can use a couple of machines to help you regain your strength.”

  “Oh, good thinking.” Because the one thing she did not have right now was a lot of strength. She hated feeling weak, but she wouldn’t be that way for long.

  Jake parked and Skye undid her belt again. She got the door open as he went around the front of the car, but when she slid out of the seat, her legs almost didn’t hold. “Whoa,” she gasped, clinging to the door for support. She’d gotten out of the bed on her own, but the rest of the trip had been in a wheelchair. She hadn’t realized how weak she actually was.

  “Easy, now,” Jake said. “I’ve got you.”

  The next thing she knew, he swept Skye up into his strong arms as if she weighed nothing at all.

  She giggled as he carried her up the steps to the front door. “It’s like we’re married,” she said, resting her head against his shoulder.

  “Yeah,” he said. He sounded unconvincing. “Just like that. I carried you over the threshold of that hotel the night we got married, didn’t I?”

  “Mmm.” Without loosening her grip, she twirled one finger through the short hairs on the back of his neck. “That was a good night, wasn’t it? You were so handsome.”

  Jake set her down long enough to get the door open. Then, after the barest moment of hesitation, he picked her up again. “And you were beautiful,” he said, sounding very serious about it. “You still are.”

  She laughed again. God, she’d missed this man. “I really need a shower before I’m going to start buying that line from you.” Which was not a half-bad idea. “Or a bath? What does this place have? I think I’d need a bench in a shower.”

  “Your choice. There’s a whirlpool tub that’ll be good for soaking and a separate shower. I think it has a bench in it.” He carried her over the threshold. “Welcome home, Skye.”

  “Oh, wow.” Dusky light streamed in from floor-to-ceiling windows, illuminating a massive, well-appointed great room with leather furnishings and a comfortable-looking couch. Along one wall was a stone hearth. Skye craned her neck and saw that the great room opened onto a kitchen. She couldn’t see much of it, but she caught glimpses of gleaming stainless steel and granite countertops. “Jake, this place is gorgeous! Are you sure we can afford it?”

  “It was a big bonus,” he told her. He carried her over to the comfortable couch and gently set her down. He tried to stand, but she wasn’t going to let him go.

  She held tight and pulled him down. He didn’t fall into her the way he normally did, but he didn’t pull away. “I missed you. This,” she told him as she brushed her lips against his. “Feels like it’s been forever.”

  “Yeah,” he agreed. He pressed his lips to hers and sighed. Skye knew that noise. He always did that when he was ready and wi
lling to take things to the next level. The first time he’d sighed against her mouth like that, she’d pulled away and demanded to know what was wrong, what she’d messed up. And instead of telling her she wasn’t a good kisser, he’d only pulled her in closer and kissed her hard.

  So she opened her mouth and traced her tongue over his lips and waited for him to take the next step.

  He didn’t.

  He stood up and damn it all, she wasn’t strong enough to hold on to him. “Um, yeah. Don’t want to overdo it on your first night home.”

  She frowned at him. “You won’t break me, you know.”

  “I know, I know. Hey, are you hungry? I could order some food. I drove past the Tower Pizza—it’s still standing. I’ll get you a green pepper and mushroom.”

  “Oh. Okay.” Something still felt...off. She groped around in her mind, trying to get the fog that had covered everything to shift or just go the heck away, but it didn’t. “But you don’t like mushrooms. You don’t have to eat them just for my sake.”

  He paused halfway to the kitchen. “I’ll get two pizzas. I know you don’t like pepperoni. Then we can have some for lunch tomorrow. Sound good?”

  She snickered at him. “Two pizzas? That must have been some bonus.”

  A shadow crossed over his face. But he said, “It was. I’ll be right back. Then we’ll see about getting you into the shower.”

  Skye liked the sound of that. She looked down at her loose-fitting yoga pants and unisex T-shirt emblazoned with the hospital’s logo on it. This was not a good look—in fact, she probably resembled an escaped mental patient more than anything else.

  She just wanted to put this whole brain-injury thing behind them and get back to their lives. And Grace—she needed to get Grace, although the concept of a small human that was her daughter wasn’t something she had a firm grasp on just yet. Grace Holt was still...an abstract idea.

  They’d get to Grace. Lark had the baby so Skye felt okay just focusing on Jake right now.

  It really did feel like longer than a few months since she’d been with him. But her dreams had been wild and varied and had always had a glimmer of something that might have been a memory at the core of them—like parking at that spot and making out.