The Cowboy's Little Girl. Kat Brookes

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      Her gaze touched briefly on the coffee cup atop the porch railing and then back to Tucker Wade. “I didn’t sleep very well last night, so waking up to the aroma of freshly brewed coffee was a most welcomed thing.” Not only had Tucker insisted she and Blue spend the night there instead of driving into town, he’d set the timer on his coffee maker so it would be ready for her when she awoke.

      “That makes two of us,” he admitted with a sigh.

      “You should have slept in the house last night,” she said with a frown.

      “It had nothing to do with that,” he assured her. “We cowboys are used to camping outdoors, so a cot in a barn isn’t so bad. I just had a lot on my mind.”

      “Understandable.” She glanced toward the sun that was slowly rising up from the distant horizon and then back to him. “At least Blue slept well last night,” she said. “Not a single nightmare.”

      “You expected her to have bad dreams here?”

      “I didn’t know,” she said honestly. “They happen on occasion. Ever since her momma died.”

      “Maybe the distraction of being in a new place will help to ease her nightmares.”

      “I pray it does.” She glanced toward the rising sun and then back to Tucker. “So are you always up this early?”

      “Earlier, usually,” he replied. “I’m a bit off my game today.”

      She nodded in understanding. “The coffee’s still hot if you’d like a cup,” she offered. Despite his reassurances, she knew he couldn’t have been very comfortable doing so with the nights getting so cold, but she appreciated his willingness.

      “Coffee sounds good,” he replied.

      “Blue should be getting up soon. She’s an early riser, but I expect her to be up even earlier this morning, considering this is her first breakfast with her daddy.”

      He glanced toward the front door, his expression one of nervous apprehension.

      Autumn laughed softly. “It’s not as if you’re about to face a den of lions as Daniel once had to. Blue’s a very sweet, loving little girl.”

      His gaze shifted back to her. “My little girl,” he said as if in awe of the words that he’d just spoken, his voice choked with emotion. “And I don’t have the slightest idea where to begin.”

      That admission couldn’t be easy for a man like Tucker Wade. Cowboys were a proud lot. She should have been encouraged by his honesty, a sign that maybe he wasn’t mentally prepared to raise a child. But she found herself offering him a reassuring smile. “I’d start with a ‘good morning’ once she wakes up and then prepare to answer a lot of questions. Everything from ‘Are clouds made up of cotton balls?’ to ‘Why can’t chickens fly?’”

      Tucker chuckled.

      “Laugh now,” she warned playfully. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you once the questions begin. Your daughter can be very inquisitive.”

      “Duly noted.”

      “You cook?” she asked in surprise.

      The corners of his mouth lifted, revealing a lone dimple. The same dimple her niece displayed with every smile. “A man’s gotta eat.” That said, he started off around the house, dragging the garden hose behind him. “Plain to see where Blue got her ‘inquisitiveness’ from,” he called back over a broad shoulder before disappearing from sight.

      The moment Autumn realized she was still smiling, she forced her mouth into a tight line. She would not, could not, like Tucker Wade. He was the enemy. The one person who could take away the only family she had left. Not waiting for Tucker, she grabbed for her cup of coffee and marched determinedly back into the house.

      * * *

      Hearing the front door to his ranch house close, Tucker took a moment to calm his racing thoughts. There were times as he’d stood talking to Autumn that he found himself thinking of Summer. How could he not? Autumn was the spitting image of his wife, except for having shorter hair and more of a businesslike style of dress. And she was every bit as pretty. Not at all surprising, considering they were identical twins. Yet, Autumn seemed different. Where his wife had always lived her life being her true self, her sister seemed more reserved; guarded, almost. Not that the situation they found themselves in didn’t give her reason to be, but Tucker found himself wondering what she would be like with all those protective layers peeled away.

      When Autumn had let down her guard for those brief moments that morning, allowing her more playful side to come out, she reminded him even more of her sister. But she wasn’t Summer, the woman who had run out on him, taking with her a very huge part of him—his daughter.

      His daughter. A lump formed in Tucker’s throat, causing him to swallow hard. He was somebody’s daddy. Blue’s daddy. She was the most precious responsibility he’d ever been given. He knew nothing about raising children. She knew nothing about him. It felt as if he were going down a steep set of stairs in the dark with no handrail to hold on to. He didn’t want to fall. Didn’t want to fail. Not when God had chosen him to bestow this incredible blessing on.

      Blue Belle Wade. Wait until his family found out about her. They’d be as shocked as he’d been. Even more so, seeing as how they had no idea he’d ever been married. So many things he would have done differently if given the chance. But there was no going back in life, only forward. And with that in mind, he intended to make it up to Blue for being absent from her life for so long, even if that absence hadn’t been his choice.

      Taking a deep breath, Tucker headed inside, closing the front door quietly behind him as he made his way to the kitchen. The coffee mug Autumn had been using sat on the kitchen table, but she was nowhere in sight. Crossing the kitchen, he grabbed himself a mug and filled it with coffee. Then he busied himself with starting breakfast for his guests.

      Tucker caught himself, mentally changing that to for his daughter and her aunt. His daughter was not a guest. She was family. His family. That thought had him whistling a happy tune as he moved about the kitchen.

      “Care to tell us what’s going on with you today?”

      Speaking of family. Tucker turned to find Jackson and Garrett standing just inside the kitchen entryway, worried frowns on their faces. They’d clearly come before finishing up that morning’s tasks.

      “Everything okay with the horses?” he asked, worried that something might have happened with one. His brothers looked so serious.

      “They’re fine,” Jackson replied. “It’s you we’re concerned about. You never call off when there’s work to be done.”

      He’d spent a long, restless night, caught up in thoughts of his little girl. He’d also spent a good bit of time praying for the Lord to give him the strength to find it in himself to forgive Summer as Autumn had, because at that moment the depth of her betrayal was still too fresh to get past the simmering resentment he felt inside.

      “Judging by the happy little tune you were whistling when we came in,” Garrett said, “I’m guessing you’re not under the weather.”

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