The Cowboy's Healing Ways (Cooper Creek) (7 page)

“I guess I do. But sometimes I don’t think they want me to feel better. They like for me to go to bed early.”

“Well, Charlie, I think you’re a grown man and if you want to stay up and watch the late news, you should watch the late news.”

“Thanks, Doc.” Charlie reached for Laura’s hand. “I have a new friend.”

“So do I.” Jesse smiled at her and winked.

Charlie looked from Laura to Jesse and back to Laura. “Don’t tell me she’s your girl. Here I was thinking I might ask her to the play this evening.”

Jesse laughed and his gaze hooked hers and held it. Then he smiled at Charlie. “She isn’t my girl, Charlie—just a friend.”

Charlie leaned toward Jesse. “Then I think you’re more senile than Bob, and I beat him at checkers every single time we play.”

“Hey!” Bob glared at Charlie. “I’m not playing with you anymore.”

Charlie pounded the table with his right hand and laughed.

“He says that every day.”

Jesse stood. “Charlie, you’re one of a kind.”

“You’d better believe it. And I’m telling you, don’t let this one get away.”

“Thanks for the advice.” Jesse patted the older man on the back. “See you next week.”

Laura joined him to walk out the door. He touched her back to guide her down the hall. Behind them Charlie whistled and laughed again.

“He’s quite a character.” Jesse walked next to her past the nurses’ station to the front door.

“Yes, he is. He doesn’t have anyone to visit him?”

“Not to speak of. He has a sister in Tulsa that gets over here every few months.”

“It’s sad, isn’t it?”

“More than most people realize. Some residents never have a visitor. They wait for holidays when the churches and schools show up to sing for them or bring them cards. Other than that, they have the staff and the staff becomes their family.”

“Aunt Sally has been here awhile and I had no idea.”

“She has friends from the community, people she went to church with.” He touched her arm. “Now she has you.”

Laura walked to her side of the truck and Jesse got there first to open her door.

“I really can do this myself,” she said as she climbed in.

“I’ve been taught two important rules, Laura. Take my hat off when I’m at church or in a restaurant, and open doors for ladies.”

A minute later they pulled out of the nursing home parking lot.

“Does Gayla understand that she’s being moved?” Laura asked.

“Yes, she understands.”

“I’m sure she’s upset.”

“She is.”

Laura started to ask how he was handling it, but she didn’t. She’d known him since Sunday night. That didn’t give her the right to push her way into his life.

When they got to her little house, he jumped out of the truck and came around to open her door. She smiled at the unexpected chivalry and how it made her feel. He helped her down, his hand on her arm.

“I’ll take you to Tulsa Saturday. I don’t want you to miss this visit with your daughter.”

“I appreciate that, Jesse. I just don’t know how I’ll repay you.”

“You don’t have to repay me. You have a daughter who needs you. I’m glad I can help.”

He had a story. She saw it in his eyes. Didn’t everyone, though? And she couldn’t let herself get tangled in his.

She couldn’t. But she stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek before she turned and hurried up her sidewalk.

Chapter Six

W
hen they set out for Tulsa Saturday morning, rain fell in sheets and the sky was a blanket of gray as far as the eye could see. Laura wore a soft jacket that someone in the Cooper family had donated to her. They’d sent a box of clothes with Jesse after a family dinner. There were things for her and for Abigail. She’d been touched by the generosity, but also humbled, embarrassed.

She’d also been amused because someone in the Cooper family thought she needed a stunning “little black dress” and heels so high she would have towered over most men. Jesse had warned her that Mia had contributed to the box and she should probably discard anything his little sister sent along. But Laura hadn’t. Instead she’d hung the black dress and another of pale gray, hoping someday she’d have a reason to wear something so soft and shimmery.

Today it helped to think about the clothes, the dress and Mia, whom she’d never met. Anything to keep her mind off visiting Abigail. It had been two weeks. A lot could change in the life of a child in that amount of time.

“You okay? Want to stop for coffee?” Jesse glanced her way and then nodded in the direction of a fast-food restaurant.

“Coffee would be good. And I’m fine.” She shivered and he reached to turn up the heat. “I think I’m fine.”

“It can’t be easy.”

She agreed with a sigh. “It isn’t. I’m so worried that I’ll never get her back. And then I worry that she won’t want to come back. What if she loves this family and wants to stay with them? What if it’s easier there, never worrying about having enough, never struggling?”

“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.

* * *

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?”