The Cowboy's Little Girl

by Kat Brookes

  He lost sight of her for a moment as she leaned into the back of the brightly colored sports car. A second later, she took a step back from the vehicle and motioned to someone in the back seat. A tiny head with a mass of long curls hopped out to join her.

  With the little girl’s hand tucked securely in her own, a now unsmiling Autumn held his gaze as she walked back to the porch. She has a daughter, he thought to himself. One she must have brought along to meet her uncle by marriage.

  The fading rays of the afternoon sun glinted off the mass of curls that hung over the child’s downturned face as they crossed the yard. Chestnut curls. An unsettling sensation moved through him. Why that was, he had no idea. He looked questioningly to Autumn as she guided her young daughter up onto the porch.

  “Tucker Wade,” she said before looking down at the little girl who now had her tiny face pressed into her mother’s skirt, “this is my niece, Blue Belle Wade. That’s Bell with an e,” she clarified.

  Tucker’s thoughts scrambled to process the words she’d just spoken. Her niece.

  “Blue,” she continued, “this is—”

  “My daddy?” the little girl mumbled as she dared an inquisitive peek up at him through the protective barricade of her reddish-brown curls that served to hide most of her face.

  “Her what?” he gasped as her name filtered through his mind. Blue Belle. Summer’s favorite flower. The same ones he’d given her a bouquet of when he’d asked her to marry him.

  “Yes, sweetie,” she answered, her tone tender. “This is your daddy.” Autumn’s gaze lifted to meet his. “Tucker Wade, meet your daughter.”

  His daughter. How was that possible? But her hair was the same reddish-brown shade as his own.

  “Blue,” Autumn said, gently nudging her niece, “say hello to your daddy.”

  His daughter’s little face turned slightly as she peeked up at him. “Hello,” she said timidly, burying her face once again in the soft fabric of her aunt’s skirt.

  Autumn ran a soothing hand down over her niece’s curls. “Sweetie, we came all this way to meet your daddy. I think he deserves a chance to see that pretty smile of yours.”

  His little girl pulled away ever so slightly and tipped her chin upward. And then she smiled. The long spiraling strands of her hair fell away to reveal a heart-shaped face very similar to Summer’s and Autumn’s. But it was Blue’s wide green eyes and the lone dimple that appeared when she smiled that caused his heart to lurch. Those were his eyes. And that was undeniably the Wade family dimple that dipped into one side of his daughter’s baby-soft cheeks.

  His daughter. A barrage of emotions swept over Tucker as he stood looking down at her. He was a father. That revelation had his world tilting. He struggled to steady himself as spots danced around in his vision.

  “Tucker?” he heard Autumn say, concern lacing her voice. “Are you all right? You look mighty pale.”

  He gave a forced laughed. “I’m better than all right. I’m a daddy.” Yet, even as he spoke his words of reassurance, darkness began to fringe his vision.

  “How’s come he’s swaying like a tree in the wind?” he heard his daughter ask.

  “Tucker?” Autumn said, the concern-filled utterance bringing him back to full awareness.

  He blinked hard and then cleared his throat. “Sorry,” he said. “This is a lot to take in.”

  “Would you like to call someone?” she suggested, looking as if she expected him to drop into a dead faint any minute. “One of your brothers perhaps?”

  The only time he’d ever come close to passing out had been when he’d gotten bucked off Little Cyclone during the Pioneer Days Rodeo up in Lander several years back. Landing on your head in a rodeo was cause for a little head spinning, yet he hadn’t gone down. He was made of sturdier stock than that. However, the little bombshell Autumn Myers had dropped on him just moments before had nearly managed to do what Little Cyclone hadn’t been able to—bring this Montana-bred cowboy to his knees. Nearly.

  Tucker shook his head. “No need.”

  “You’re really tall,” Blue announced, craning her neck as she stood peering up at him.

  He chuckled at Blue’s observation, thankful that some of her shyness seemed to be easing up around him. “Not as tall as my brothers. Your uncles,” he clarified. “They both top six foot. I’m only five foot eleven.

  “I have uncles?” his daughter said excitedly.

  It was hard not to let the injustice of what his wife had done, shutting him out of their child’s life, seep into his tone. Summer had denied his parents the chance to get to know their only grandchild, and his brothers the opportunity to spoil their niece. “Two of them,” he said with surprising calm, as the anger he’d once felt toward Summer after she’d walked out on their marriage returned to simmer just below the surface of his lighthearted demeanor.

  “Do they live here, too?” asked Blue, looking around.

  “No,” he said. “This is my place. Your uncles have homes of their own that they live in on the ranch.”

  His daughter looked out over the land surrounding them. “I don’t see them.”

  “That’s because they’re spread out across our family’s nine-thousand-plus-acre ranch.”

  “What’s an acre?”

  “It’s a measurement of land,” Autumn explained.

  “Do we have acres?”

  “We do,” she answered, glancing around. “But your daddy’s property is a whole lot bigger than ours back in Cheyenne. We only have forty acres there and far fewer trees.”

  Blue swung her curious gaze back in his direction. “Do you have a swing set behind your house?”

  “I’m afraid not,” he said. “Never had the need for one.”

  She turned to her aunt. “Can I bring mine here if my daddy wants me to live with him?”

  Autumn’s eyes shot up to lock with his, a frown pulling at her glossy pink lips. “My sister’s last request,” she explained. “One I’m struggling to honor.”

  He hadn’t even given that any thought. Tucker knelt in front of his daughter and took her tiny hand in his. “Of course, I want you to come live with me. I would’ve brought you here to live with me sooner if I had known about you.” He looked to Autumn. “Thank you for bringing her home.”

  “Home is yet to be decided,” she said stiffly. “I’m only here because my sister asked me to let you know about Blue. I’m not about to leave my niece in anyone else’s care, not even yours, until I know in my heart that you’re capable of doing right by her.”

  And he wasn’t about to lose his daughter after only just finding her. “Understood,” he answered with a nod, appreciating the protective stance she’d taken when it came to Blue. “But you should understand, too, that I intend to do whatever it takes to have my daughter in my life.” Autumn Myers was about to learn that her niece’s daddy was a man of his word. One worthy of the daughter the good Lord had blessed him with.

  * * *

  Autumn drew the quilt atop Tucker’s guest bed up over her niece and then tucked it in snugly around her tiny form.

  Blue gave a sleepy smile. “’Night, Aunt Autumn.”

  “Sleep tight, sweetie,” she said, leaning in to kiss the top of Blue’s head. Then she walked over to the suitcase she’d packed Blue’s clothes in for their trip there. She’d chosen to bring a good week’s worth of outfits, not knowing if they would be staying but deciding it was best to be prepared just in case. It seemed tonight, at least, they would be staying.

  When Tucker had invited them into his home, even going so far as to fix them grilled cheese sandwiches because Blue had told him they hadn’t eaten dinner yet, her niece had barely been able to keep her eyes open. Autumn had decided it best to call it a night and set up a time to meet with Tucker the following day. She’d had every intention of taking Blue to one of the nearby hotels she’
d called before coming to Bent Creek to check on room availability, but Tucker had insisted they take one of his guest rooms.

  When she’d politely refused Tucker’s offer, not wanting to impose, he’d told her that his house was Blue’s as well, and it was long past time she had a chance to stay there. He topped that statement off with a heartfelt please before adding that he intended to take himself out to the barn to sleep on the cot he’d set up a few weeks prior when he’d wanted to watch over one of his horses that had been under the weather at the time.

  Not quite the actions of a selfish, responsibility-shirking cowboy, which she had believed him to be for the past five-plus years. He appeared to be quite the opposite. At least, when it came to first impressions. Tucker had accepted Blue into his life without a moment’s hesitation, seemed more than willing to prove himself and had even offered to sleep in the barn to give them some privacy. All of that and a soft spot for animals. Throw in that rugged cowboy look that both she and Summer had always been drawn to, something Autumn had learned was best to avoid. What was there not to like? Other than the fact that Tucker Wade’s very existence could mean a lifetime of heartache for her if Blue ended up being raised by her daddy.

  Autumn busied herself with getting Blue’s clothes ready for the next day, hoping to take her mind off the handsome cowboy who had managed to steal at least a piece of her sister’s well-guarded heart.

  “Does my daddy have horses?” Blue asked sleepily.

  Her daddy. How odd those words sounded coming from her niece, Autumn thought, struggling not to frown. “I thought you were sleeping.”

  “I am,” her niece replied. “Almost. Does he?”

  “He does,” she answered. “In fact, your daddy has a ranch filled with them.” From what she’d learned, Tucker Wade and his brothers were stock contractors for rodeos, dealing specifically in the horses used for events like saddle bronc and bareback bronc riding. Apparently, Summer had been keeping tabs on her husband from afar, collecting news clippings, and even a detailed report from the private investigator her sister had hired the year before, unbeknownst to Autumn. They all showed a man who was hardworking, always willing to lend a hand to help those in need and a man of unbending faith. He’d retired from the rodeo circuit to run stock horses with his two brothers.

  “But I didn’t see any.”

  “Maybe because you were fast asleep when we pulled in. Besides, they were probably off running through the hills.”

  “I don’t like horses.”

  While Autumn had never been as at ease around horses as Summer had, she didn’t fear them like Blue did now. Her niece had always displayed the same passion for animals as her mother had. At least, until Summer’s accident. Blue would spend hours on end out in the barn with her momma while Summer tended to Alamo, the eight-year-old quarter horse her sister had purchased that past year.

  Having a horse of her own again had given Summer back some of that spark that had been missing since she’d had to sell her beloved Cinnamon, the horse she’d ridden during her barrel-racing days, to help pay for the cost of formula and diapers for Blue. Her daughter’s needs had always come first with Summer. Unlike it had been with their own mother.

  Autumn settled herself onto the edge of the mattress with a sad smile. “Your momma wouldn’t want you to blame Alamo or any other horses for what happened. Snakes are very scary creatures, even to big, strong horses. Alamo just wanted to get away from it.”

  “I don’t like snakes, either,” Blue said with a yawn.

  Autumn managed the semblance of a smile. “That makes two of us, sweetheart.”

  “I miss Momma.”

  Just shy of five years old, her niece should still have her mother in her life. The sadness in Blue’s eyes whenever she spoke about missing her momma never failed to make Autumn’s heart break.

  “I know you do, sweetie,” Autumn replied past the lump that had risen in her throat, still trying to come to terms with the recent loss of her sister herself. Summer had been gone for nearly six months and it still didn’t seem real. Her twin, older than Autumn by mere minutes, had been called home to the Lord a week after being thrown from her horse.

  “Are you gonna leave me, too?” her precious little Blue asked fearfully.

  Autumn fought back an onslaught of tears. How was she supposed to answer that? Because if her sister’s last wishes were carried out, she would be leaving Blue in the care of a man who hadn’t even known his daughter existed.

  “Not a chance,” she heard herself reply. If this life-changing drive to Bent Creek, Wyoming, two counties away from Cheyenne, and the only home her niece had ever known, turned out the way Autumn hoped it would, her niece would be coming home with her for good. Despite the fact that she had been struggling since Summer’s passing to place her complete faith in the Lord, Autumn sent up a silent prayer that she would be able to keep her promise to her sister if Tucker managed to prove himself worthy. In that case, she would make sure she stayed in her niece’s life. Still, she couldn’t even begin to imagine her life without Blue in it. Her niece was a living, breathing piece of Summer. All Autumn had left of her sister. And it was the love she had for her twin, as well as her not-quite-three-year-old niece—because that was all the older Blue was at the time—that had motivated Autumn to sell her real estate business in Braxton, Texas, where she and Summer had grown up, and move to Wyoming to be with them.

  Blue turned onto her side, snuggling deeper under the blue-and-green-floral quilt. “Do you think my daddy liked our surprise?”

  She had told Blue they were going to surprise her daddy with a visit and not to feel bad if he didn’t seem happy about it, that some people didn’t know how to handle surprises. Truth was she was preparing her niece in the kindest way she knew how for Tucker’s possible rejection. If that had happened, Blue wouldn’t feel the least bit unlovable. An emotion Autumn had experienced firsthand. But Tucker, though thoroughly shocked, had seemed to be overjoyed to learn that he had a daughter.

  “How could he not when you’re the surprise?” Autumn said, reaching out to stroke her niece’s long curls.

  With a sleepy smile, Blue closed her eyes and gave in to the exhaustion she’d been fighting.

  Autumn closed her eyes as well, only not in sleep, but in one final prayer that night. Dear Lord, please have a care with my niece’s tender heart when Your will, whatever that may be, is done.

  Chapter Two

  Autumn, cup of freshly brewed coffee in hand, moved to stand at the edge of the porch, her gaze skimming over the vast land around her. She loved all the warm colors that came with the fall season. The brilliant golds and vibrant reds with bold splashes of burgundy. The same colorful palette that now dotted the towering trees that surrounded Tucker Wade’s ranch and filled the distant hills. Earthy shades of green and brown carpeted the ground below, making the colors in the trees above stand out even more.

  Closing her eyes, she breathed in the cool, crisp air that filled the mornings at that time of year. Much to her surprise, a feeling of peacefulness settled over her as she stood in the faint chill of the early morning, listening to the faint sounds of nature stirring to life around her. It was a peacefulness she hadn’t known for a very long while.

  The unexpected calm that filled her at that moment took Autumn by surprise. Especially when one considered her reason for being there. Maybe it was a sign from God that everything was going to be all right. She’d certainly prayed hard enough. And there was no doubt in her mind that Blue was better off with her than with a man whose entire life centered around horses, whether it was riding them or getting them rodeo ready. Tucker Wade would have a very hard time convincing her otherwise.

  Then again, what if this was the Lord’s way of telling her that Bent Creek was the right place for her niece? That Blue would find contentment in this vast, horse-filled land hours from the only home she’d ever kn
own.

  No, Autumn thought in a panic, the right place for Blue is back in Cheyenne with the one person who loves her more than anyone else ever could. She had to believe that. Surely, the Lord knew that, as well. He’d seen the sacrifices Autumn had made for those she loved. For Blue.

  That precious child filled her heart to overflowing. She didn’t need a husband or even children of her own to make her happy. Not as long as she had Blue.

  Not as long as she had Blue.

  No sooner had that thought gone through her mind than the feeling of serenity that had come over her only moments before began to slip. In its place, the very real fear of losing her cherished little Blue Belle. A fear she’d been struggling with ever since Summer let loose the secrets she’d been keeping for so long. Secrets Autumn found herself wishing her sister would have taken with her to the grave.

  Guilt filled her instantly at even harboring such a thought. Blue deserved to know her daddy, just as Tucker Wade deserved to know his little girl. They had both been denied the opportunity for far too long. Autumn couldn’t let her own selfish needs and wants stop her from doing what was right. Doing what the Lord would want her to do.

  “Morning.”

  Autumn jumped, her eyes flying open at the deep, baritone sound. Hot coffee sloshed over the rim of the cup she held clutched in her hand, causing her to wince.

  Tucker Wade was there in an instant, standing on the other side of the porch’s railing as he reached out to ease the cup from her stinging hand. “I didn’t mean to startle you,” he said apologetically as he set the coffee cup onto the railing a safe distance away. Then he pulled a red-and-white-print handkerchief from the back pocket of his jeans and handed it to her, asking worriedly, “You okay?”

  She took the offered square of colorful cotton and dabbed at her hand. “I’m fine,” she said with a halfhearted smile.