47. Leah
47
Leah
“ I
think he likes your beard.” My heart flutters—but it’s lighter, so much lighter. Cooper didn’t break things off. He heard me out. He confirmed everything Arnold said. And he wasn’t angry when I couldn’t say those three words back.
The thing is, I want to be sure. I want to be careful. I want to say it, mean it, and never take it back.
I think I know Cooper—the good and bad. But it’s been two months. History tells me I need more time than that. I’ve made poor choices in the past, and while I firmly believe that Cooper is not one of those, I need to give myself some time.
I take one step closer to Cooper and little York. I take the boy by his chubby wrist and run his hand over the bristles of Cooper’s beard.
York throws back his head and yelps in delight.
“I think you’re right,” Cooper says. He leans in, filling me with mint and bergamot, and presses a soft kiss to my lips. “I love you, Leah. ”
Pulling back, I set one hand on his chest. “Coop!” We just talked about this.
“What?” He lifts his shoulders in a shrug. “You don’t have to say it. My cat’s out of the bag, though. So I’m going to.”
I groan. He is adorable—and impossible.
“Cooper?” Lucy calls from the other side of Cooper’s bedroom door. “Annie and Owen are back.”
“Ready for another Bailey family meeting?”
“Me? No. I’m not a Bailey. I should go?—”
“You’re staying,” he says, another peck to my lips. York leans in with him, leaving a slobbery, open-mouthed kiss on my nose.
“Whoa, Yorkie. That’s my girl,” Coop says.
I wipe at my nose and the mark York has left there. While he’s sweet, I’m a little grossed out. And yet, if the little boy moved in for another kiss, I’d give it to him. Cooper is rubbing off on me.
“Come on.” Coop is suddenly all adrenaline and energy. He snatches me by the hand and walks me out into the large family room—the same room where we watched a movie with Alice. The same place Cooper first kissed me.
My heart patters at the sight of Cooper’s entire family gathered. Levi and Meredith, Owen and Annie, Miles and Lane Jonas—still not quite used to that—Coco and Jude, their kids, and Lucy.
His family outnumbers mine times three. As a non-family member, it’s a little overwhelming. The couches are taken as Cooper, York, and I are the last to arrive. Still, I am happy to stand in the corner, in the shadows—hopefully going undetected.
“Did I miss anything?” Coop whispers to Owen.
“Not yet,” he says. “Mom would never let that happen.”
“Is Delaney going back on tour?” Annie whispers to me— as if I might know. She realizes I’m a very new variable here, right?
I shrug and keep my lips zipped. The less attention I gather, the better.
Miles’ hand is tucked into his wife’s. He gives a small grin to his family. I’ve never heard the man say much. It feels as if he likes being in the spotlight as much as I do.
“We’ll be quick,” he says. “It was recently brought to my attention that we need the support of our family. Even when things feel personal. Vulnerable together.” He peers at Delaney, who holds Miles’ one hand with both of hers. “Coop has offered to assist Delaney and me—” he says, and all eyes turn to Cooper and inadvertently to me .
I take one sidestep halfway behind that tall man beside me. They can all look at him .
“On our journey… to adopt.”
Coco gasps to my right.
“Starting a family in the traditional sense may not be in the cards for us,” Miles says. “We’re still hopeful. And we want to be parents.”
And then a sob escapes Coco’s lips. She holds a hand to her mouth, tears on her cheeks.
“We appreciate your love and support,” Miles says. “That’s it.”
Leaping to her feet, Coco embraces Miles and Delaney while the rest of the Baileys follow suit.
Cooper stands back with me, jostling baby York. A tear-filled Coco finds her way back to us. “You’re helping them.”
Cooper nods. “Of course.”
She reaches up on her toes and kisses her brother’s cheek. “I love you, Coop. This is important. It’s significant.”
“I know,” he tells her.
Her hand cups her mouth and her eyes fill again.
Little York reaches for his mother and she takes him, hugging the baby close. I know a little of the Bailey family history. I’ve learned a lot in the past few weeks. I know Coco was adopted at birth and that she loves her adopted and biological families alike.
Cooper wraps one arm around his sister, tender and sincere. I watch him. My eyes never leave him. He hugs his sister until her husband comes to replace him. Cooper finds his mother and wipes the tears from her cheeks too. He wraps Miles up in a hug and they stand there, holding one another until there isn’t a dry eye in the room.
I’m not sure how much time has passed until the meeting ends and the family says their goodbyes. I stand back as a viewer, taking it all in but mostly watching Cooper in his home, with his family, being his most genuine self.
How can I not love him?
How can I not?
No matter the timeline.
I’m patient—at least, I force the outer Leah to be patient. Inner Leah is a can of firecrackers, lit and ready to explode.
When most of Cooper’s family has gone, I snag him by the hand and pull him over to me. “Can we talk?”
His eyes narrow at my serious tone and his hand folds around mine. “Sure.”
I see the confusion in his eyes. We already talked. I came with concerns and we talked. He’s had this beautiful family moment, and here I am needing to talk again. It probably seems needy or crazy—or both wrapped into one. That’s me—Leah Bradford, the needy, loco burrito.
I refrain from shouting, You already said you loved me, Cooper. No takebacks!
This time, I lead him to his bedroom, where that six-foot- something, twenty-six-year-old man sleeps in a twin-sized bed. Seriously, does he even fit in that thing?
“Is everything okay?” he says, worry etched across his eyes and over his wrinkled forehead.
“It’s fine. It’s good.” I nod, swallow, and bare my soul. “You said you loved me.”
“I did.”
I breathe out. “Okay, well, here’s the thing. I—” I lick my lips and force eye contact. “I love you back.”
His brows hitch. “You love me back?”
“Yes.” My eyes drop and skirt the ground. “It felt too soon to say. But—” I lift my gaze back to his. “You might be the best man I’ve ever met. You give and you give. And yes, you’re a terrible bowler, you have an awful singing voice, and you’re much too overconfident at times, but you might have reason to be. You’re selfless and kind. You treat your mother like she is an angel and your niece as if she were your best friend?—”
“I think she is my best friend,” he says.
But I’m not done. “And I love you.” My breath catches with the declaration.
My words settle over the space, over each of us. He looks down at me and I look up at him. We take in the weight of what’s been said—by both of us. I hold my breath, sitting in the silence.
Until Cooper breaks it. His lips quirk up in a crooked grin. He wraps one arm around my back and then another, pulling me close to him, inch by inch. “You love me?” he says again.
I nod, heat flushing over my cheeks and neck. It’s true. I love Cooper Bailey.
“But,” he says, “here’s what I really want to know.” Cooper’s eyes flash, boring into me. “Do you, Leah Bradford, think I’m sexy?”
My nerves implode and I breathe out in a gust. I shove his chest, pushing him backward. Walking toward him, I shove again. “Are you kidding me?” I shove once more and Cooper’s calves hit that twin bed in the corner. “I tell you I love you and you ask if I think you’re sexy?”
“Too soon?”
I jab at his chest—solid beneath my touch—one more time and Cooper sits. Now, I’m at eye level with him. I step into the cove between his thighs and thread my arms around his neck, pulling him close. “If you must know,” I say, the bristles of his beard tickling my lips, “I do. Okay?”
Cooper’s lips sprout a grin—it really is one of his best features. He drops backward onto the bed, and I fall with him, my arms still wrapped around his neck.
Cooper pecks my lips, his nose brushing mine. “Do you have any idea how long I’ve been waiting to hear that?”